In spring on 2021 I took a class, the UC California Naturalist Program (CalNat), to get certified as a California Naturalist. Part of the class objective is to provide training and education so that former students can be better volunteers at local non-profits. As a hiker who enjoys the outdoors locally in Los Angeles I had wanted to find a way to give back to the ecologies that I loved but had always had hard time knowing what to do. I didn't have much training for anything outdoor related so anything from trail maintenance to planting native plants seemed daunting. Add to that several years of minor but significant injuries and then a multi-year pandemic and the span of time between me wanting to volunteer and actually doing it was longer than I had hoped.
Several factors aligned for me to finally feel ready to show up to a volunteer event. First of all my health and energy was at a place where I had more to give than just getting through work, secondly the CalNat course really helped me feel like I understood local ecologies better, and finally the pandemic was letting up some so that outdoor volunteer events were starting up again.
My first volunteer gig was a morning in July 2021 spent with The Santa Monica Mountains Fund (SAMOFUND) at the Portrero Creek Restoration Project. This land now owned by the National Park Service used to be oakwoodlands before it was used as a cattle ranch. Now the National Park Service and several partnered organizations are working to plants thousands of native plants to restore this area to it's previous oak habitat.
Next was National Public Lands Day in September of 2021 spent with Nature For All at the Peck Road Water Conservation Park planting native plants. This area is in need of a lot of love and it felt good to be a part of making this space a bit greener. The nearby reservoir used to be a rock quarry and the surrounding dirt is really just left over debris that had been left to harden over many years. It took a lot of work to dig these holes and by the amount of water you can see sitting in them the ground was really compacted. This area is used mostly by bikers who are using the Emerald Necklace Trail as it exists today and it felt good when many of them shouted out a "thank you!" as they rode by.
The third volunteer opportunity came shortly after when I saw the River and Lands Conservancy was hosting an event to harvest California Buckwheat seeds at a location in Fontana, CA. The hours flew by as we peacefully harvested the maroon seeds that I had so easily overlooked prior to taking the CalNat class. California Buckwheat is a staple source of food and shelter for many animals here in Southern California. The River and Lands Conservancy was going to take the seeds we harvested from this land that had an abundance of buckwheat and use it to seed other lands they were restoring that did not have enough.
The most recent event was volunteering with the SamoFund's Native Plant Nursery helping to move propagated native plants into bigger pots. I knew from my class that many native plants were able to self propagate from cut branches but I had never seen it in action before! I worked mostly with Golden Currant getting the newly formed tiny plants into their own individual pots. The whole morning was beautiful and enjoyable... I mean just look at this view we got to enjoy while putting our hands in soil (also we got to take three plants home with us for our time)!
So in conclusion I have really enjoyed being able to finally show up for these kinds of events. It took me waiting to be in better health and to have the time and energy to be able to drive to these locations and do some manual labor. Not everyone is going to be interested or able to do this kind of work and thats ok. I'm just really happy that I got over feeling like I didn't have much to offer and that by taking the CalNat certification course I was able to feel like I knew a little about the plants and animals that these organizations are working to protect.
The last benefit I'll share about these volunteer events is that at each event I have met great like minded people. It is a fun way to make connections to other nature and outdoor minded activist, artist, and scientist. My line of work is not related to this interest at all so getting to meet new people who have all this knowledge is just really amazing. I've enjoyed every event so far and I look forward to more in the future. Thanks to CalNat for helping me move towards my goal of volunteering to give back to the land of Southern California.
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