Nature Center

Since its founding in 1975, Shipley Nature Center in Central Park has seen major changes. At first, oak, sycamore, alder, willow, redwood and pine trees were planted at the former county dumpsite. Shrubs grew, flowers bloomed and wildlife flourished. Then, due to neglect during the 1990s, the center went into decline. The entire east side became a jungle of nonnative castor bean, passion vine, giant reed and Brazilian pepper trees. Tamarisk and myoporum crowded out native plantings on the north side, and the pine forest on the west side was dying.

NATURAL PERSPECTIVES A crew of young workers from the Orange County Conservation Corps has been working at Shipley Nature Center since 2001. Quietly, steadily and without fanfare, they have worked a minor miracle on the landscape. In 2001, the city hired the corps to remove Arundo donax, also called giant reed, from the nature center. One trail had shrunk to a mere tunnel through the dense reeds. Arundo is a fire hazard even when green; it sucks up the ground water; it crowds out native plant life; it provides no food for local wildlife.

NATURAL PERSPECTIVES In only a few short months, the Friends of the Shipley Nature Center have taken great strides toward their goal of restoring and reopening the nature center in Central Park. The group hopes to prove that they are up to the challenge on Saturday, from 9 a.m. to noon, when they formally kick off their restoration efforts with a major celebration at the center, which is on the west side of Goldenwest Street near Talbert Avenue. According to group's president, Stephanie Pacheco, the morning restoration party will include members of the organization, 60 Boy Scouts, a troop of Girl Scouts, a group of 50 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a UC Irvine ecology class and members of the general public.

Public television will highlight some of the landmarks of Huntington Beach as part of a weeklong series on Orange County. The episodes from the series ?California?s Gold? and ?Road Trip with Huell Howser,? will air on KOCE-TV Orange County through Sunday, with Huntington Beach Central Park featured tonight. Howser toured the Redwoods at the Shipley Nature Center April 29 and watched as children were learning about how the Native Americans hunted, according to a news release. He also spent time learning about the California Native Plants exhibited in the Demonstration Garden.

El Dorado Nature Center is part of the El Dorado East Regional Park and provides a quarter mile worth of paved trails and two miles of dirt trail around two lakes and a stream for visitors to enjoy. The 102.5 acre center was opened to the public in 1969 and offers a place for visitors to see various wildlife, like coyotes, ground squirrels and hawks as well as extensive plant life. The nature center began as a barley field, but was soon turned into a ranch by Spanish settlers in 1772.

Tariq Malik HUNTINGTON BEACH -- City officials and environmentalists have a renewed sense of hope for restoring a wetlands habitat at the Donald G. Shipley Nature Center, just weeks after losing the half-million dollars slated to fund the project. The Robert Mayer Corp., developers of the Waterfront Hilton Beach Resort expansion, have agreed to contribute restoration plans intended for the Central Park nature center whenever the city decides to plow ahead with the project.

NATURAL PERSPECTIVES With all the restoration activity going on at the Shipley Nature Center, we had worried that this might be a silent spring in that little corner of Central Park. Far from it. Those of you who are familiar with the nature center know it as a lush woodland surrounding Blackbird Pond, a place filled with green meadows, singing birds and skittering lizards. Children from the inner city were so in awe when they toured that they would ask Ranger Dave Winkler if he was afraid to be there alone.

VIC LEIPZIG AND LOU MURRAY If ever there was a nature center deserving of help this Christmas, it's our own Shipley Nature Center in Central Park. If you've followed the story of the nature center in our columns, you know that the city closed the center in October 2002 and turned management over to Friends of Shipley Nature Center. You know that the group, in cooperation with the Orange County Conservation Corps and an army of volunteers, has made great progress in restoring the various habitats at the center.

Jenny Marder Volunteers are working long hours to restore the Shipley Nature Center to a vestige of its former natural splendor by September when it will open part time offering tours for children and the community. When the city yanked the center's funding five months ago, gave away all the animals and padlocked the gate, many looked to the volunteers to keep the center running. While that has not been possible, the Friends of the Shipley Nature Center, an organization committed to restoring the center, has been working nonstop to return the closed nature park to a thriving sanctuary and to bring back tours, educational programs and nature walks for children.