Monday, August 25, 2014

Environmental Fair, Oct. 18, Fall Cleanups

Can you believe the park is 10 years old!! And yes, we are having a celebration. Mark your calendars: 

October 18 (Saturday), 9 AM - 1 PM 

This means we will be working hard to make the park look its best (even during its most dormant time of the year). We will have tables staffed by environmental groups, tips on water conservation, park tours and more. Plants in the park will be labeled so if you have been wondering what that beautiful red flower is, you can check it out and see for yourself. Check back again for more information on activities for our 10th Anniversary Environmental Fair. If you are interested in participating, please email me, or contact Debby Figoni.

The next scheduled cleanups are:
- Sept 24 (Wed), 8:30 - 10:30 AM
- Sept 27 (Sat), 9 - noon
- October 8 (Wed), 8:30 - 10:30 AM
- October 11 (Sat), 9 - noon 
- November 12 (Wed), 8:30 - 10:30 AM
- November 15 (Sat), 9 - noon
No cleanups scheduled in December 
There are enough weeds to go around, so if you would like, pull a few whether it is an official cleanup or not. You can find pictures of many of the weeds at the following link. Tumble pigweed (Amaranthus albus) is not shown in the booklet. Click here for pictures of this noxious weed. If you are unsure, leave it be.

plandrawing_130728_600px.jpg
Map of park with areas labelled.

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
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).