Winter 2017 Nature Park Cleanups

PLEASE NOTE THE FEBRUARY DATE CHANGE DUE TO FORECAST OF HEAVY RAINS.
 
The next scheduled cleanups are on the following Saturdays from 9 am to noon:

• January 21

• February 18  February 25

• March 18

Be sure to confirm dates on Facebook page before coming or email me (barbara.eisenstein@gmail.com).

We will be planting and weeding in the park. We will concentrate on planting in the Monarch Butterfly Waystation at the east end of the park and on the slope below the main Outlook area. We may also be planting some oak trees in the Park Annex area adjacent to the golf course driving range.

Map of park with areas labelled.

Some of you may be wondering about the sign in the central sign holder. It is part of the SPACELAND III - Aftermath biennial art exhibit. The exhibit which ran from September 10 - October 9, 2016 and is described on the Bermudez Projects website as:

Approximately 10 works, ranging from two large-scale mural installations, mixed-media drawings, fiber based sculpture, paintings, and photography, will be made specially for this exhibit. An originally produced soundtrack will be available both in the gallery and online. And, a site-specific installation will take over a local park along the Arroyo Parkway.

Interestingly, the sign has remained undamaged for many months. Maybe it is time to put in new interpretive signage in the park? If you are interested or know of any scouts or environmental science students who are interested in working on the design and execution of signage for the park, please have them contact me. 

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Volunteers should:

• wear sunscreen, hat, sunglasses
• bring water
• bring gardening gloves and tools (weeders, trowels, whatever you use in your own garden)
• wear comfortable work clothes, including work shoes (sneakers or boots) and long pants
• bring binoculars for birdwatching (optional)

Children must be under adult supervision at all times. There is poison oak in the park that we will point out before starting.

The South Pas Nature Park is a four-acre habitat park along the Arroyo Seco. The entrance, marked by a small plaque on an attractive river rock wall, is in the 100 block of Pasadena Avenue in South Pasadena, east of the York Street Bridge. There is plenty of on-street parking on Pasadena Avenue.

The park is graced with mature coast live oaks, southern walnuts and western sycamores. Planted with sage, buckwheat and other native coastal sage scrub plants, the park provides an inviting environment for birds, lizards, squirrels and numerous other critters. Locals too enjoy walking, jogging and horseback riding through the park.

Coast live oak

Since 2006 an informal group of park stewards, Friends of the Nature Park (FONP), have been removing invasive weeds and litter on Saturday and Wednesday mornings.  Cleanups are held approximately once a month. For notification of cleanup dates, contact Barbara Eisenstein (barbara.eisenstein@gmail.com), or check the Nature Park blog, (http://www.nativebydesign.blogspot.com).