Marsh Mailing-09/06
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Fall2008 MadronaMarshPreserveandNatureCenter ANewBuzz InOur Insect Collection ––Jeanne Bellimin In the late 1970s when the Nature Center was merely a trailer run by Walt Wright, Norm Hogg and I donated a drawer of insects from our collection to Hide Kato, who spent more than 110 hours this past summer helping to be on display and to be carried to events. organize and refurbish the Preserve’s insect collection, seeks new Now, after 30 years those insects were specimens for the collection. rather dusty, rumpled and broken. In 1997 a wonderful wet collection (i.e., stored in alcohol) of aquatic life, including many teacher in Santa Ana, and is currently serving as insects and other invertebrates found in the Marsh, a Captain in the National Guard. was completed by Mark Angelos and stored in the Curation Lab. This year I had a very interesting and ener- getic group in my Field Entomology class, two of In the Fall of 2004 a former Entomology stu- whom want to go on in the field of entomology. I dent of mine, Duminda Wijayaratna, created a very thought it would be good experience for Hide Kato attractive new two-drawer collection as part of an and Sanson Lin to combine the old collections at Environmental Restoration Class project. the Nature Center and build a new collection by adding specimens from the El Camino College stu- Last December the Friends of Madrona dents and newly collected specimens from the Marsh received a generous $1000 donation from Madrona Marsh. the Medina Trust, in the name of Howard Medina, to refurbish the insect collections at the Nature Hide Kato has spent more than 110 hours Center. Howard was an avid insect collector in this past summer organizing and building the col- the South Bay and at Madrona in the 1970’s be- lection. Sanson Lin has helped with nearly 20 fore any restoration had occurred, and he had do- hours of work keying and collecting insects. Per- nated a pre-restoration collection to the Center. haps you have seen them working on the collec- He went on to become a high school biology Continued on page 2. -1- Continued from page 1. tion on visits to the Marsh this summer, or if you walked by the Curation Lab in the Nature Center. We started back in June taking several boxes of insects from the student collection at El Camino College. Hide and Sanson then incorporated all the separate old collections of pinned insects and combined them into one 6-drawer collection orga- nized by Order. Hide and Sanson have also gone out collecting and blacklighting (using a light source at night) to get additional new specimens. They are now working on keying all speci- mens to the level of Family. In some cases they will be able to get even the full scientific names for Hide Kato, left, and Sanson Lin, who plan to pursue careers in Entomology, display some of the insect collections they have helped to organize and preserve at the Nature Center this past summer. many common insects with the help of local ex- perts. Former Entomology collection manager David Faulkner, of the San Diego Natural History Museum, was on hand September 7th to check their work on the Diptera Order (true flies and mos- quitoes) and Hymenoptera Order (ants, bees, wasps, sawflies). It is still a work in progress but the insect collection at the Madrona Marsh Nature Center is growing. Many thanks to Hide and Sanson!!! Jeanne Bellemin is a FOMM Board Member David Faulkner, former Entomology Collection Manager of and Professor of Zoology at El Camino College the San Diego Natural History Museum, left, examines the insect collection with student Hide Kato. Donations--$100orMore The Friends of Madrona Marsh would like to say Marsh Mailing is a quarterly newsletter Thank you to the donors below, all of whom gave us designed to provide information about activi- $100 or more. ties and upcoming events at or relating to the Madrona Marsh Preserve. Contributions are June 29 Evelyn Wisneski $100.00 welcome and may be e-mailed to Diane July 1 Karen Schaffer $100.00 August 6 Bobbie Snyder $300.00 Gonsalves at [email protected] or Bill August 16 Iris McKinley $100.00 Arrowsmith, [email protected] September 12 BP Matching Funds or dropped off or mailed to the Nature Center. for K. Schaffer $100.00 ––Ellen Peterson, Treasurer -2- travel, you might be interested in a coastal vernal fromthepresident wetland very much like Madrona Marsh, but which ––Bill Arrowsmith has not yet been exposed to man’s destructive hand. There, native plant species far in excess of IntheBeginning... those we have on our Marsh flourish, challenged Thanks to the happy accident of very produc- only by the change of seasons and the vagaries tive oil wells being located on the property we call of weather patterns. Madrona Marsh, we were ultimately able to save the land as a nature preserve. Last week I was among a few dozen people fascinated by Jess and Donna Morton’s descrip- That was because, by the time the oil finally tions of Mesa Colonet, Mexico. As Donna and began to play out and the owners made plans for Jess ably demonstrated, habitats like those at a very dense development in the early 1980’s, lo- Madrona and Mesa Colonet exist without regard cal environmentalists (joining others across the to man-made borders. The vernal pools and country) had become aware of how valuable and marshes of Mesa Colonet, about 100 miles south important wetlands are, and how many had been of the US/Mexico border, are among the finest ex- lost–forever–to development. amples of that habitat on the west coast of North America. There is still time for you to travel there And so, with great effort and support from and see them. And there is still time to save them. many wonderful citizens, homeowners’ groups and civic organizations, we were able to save it. That’s AnotherChancetoProtectandPreserve the story in a very small nutshell, and most of you Yes, save them; for these wetlands may soon are familiar with it; many were part of it. face the scourge of outrageous development, very much like that which occurred here in the Los An- Many were upset with the amount of dam- geles basin years ago. Mesa Colonet overlooks age inflicted on the Marsh land, which was used the possible future port of Punta Colonet, which for oil recovery for about 80 years, until the last Mexico is proposing as an alternative to the ports wells were capped in the spring of 2003. To be of Long Beach and Los Angeles, both of which sure, great amounts of iron pipe and other equip- are reaching capacity. ment had to be removed, and some occasionally still show up when a new area is prepared for res- We were also privileged to hear a report from toration. Alan Harper, an associate of the Mortons who has long championed preservation of the mesa. Jess AStepBackinTime and Donna are planning another discussion group. One has only to look at the ‘discovery table’ For more information email them at next to our classroom at the Nature Center to see [email protected]. If you didn’t have a chance to such remnants. There, next to hummingbird nests help in the fight for Madrona Marsh, this may be and fossils, sit some old, rusty wrenches and sec- your opportunity to help save another wonderful tions of pipe, ugly and incongruent in this collec- wetland area. tion of natural items. The FOMM Board of Directors They are there to remind us of the history of • Bill Arrowsmith, President the land. And although portions of the Preserve • Connie Vadheim, Vice President were severely damaged by heavy equipment or • Ellen Peterson, Treasurer deposit of waste oil, the area as a whole is still • Carol Roelen, Recording Secretary very little changed from its condition 100 years ago, • Jeanne Bellemin one of very few such places in the South Bay. As • Bill Forrest our restoration continues, and beautiful native • Bobbie Snyder plants once more adorn the ground, a visit to the • Sarah Noddings Ex-officio: Marsh is increasingly like traveling backward in • Archie Phillips • Jack Knapp time a century or more. • Mary Garrity • Maxine Trevethen • Pam Ryan • Shirley Turner (one open position) If that whets your appetite for historical time -3- AndThenThereWasthe‘Corner’ ––Venora Lee dogs?) and great personal financial gifts, to bonds and grants via government. We can’t say it grew like Topsy—the Madrona Marsh Preserve. But reaching the goal of a first class And participation by people who cared. nature preserve has been like “…eating an elephant— one bite at time.” The dedication of the “Chevron Corner” was a mile- stone, and we thank everyone who made it possible. It Clichés aside, there are those Friends of Mad- is one of many milestones through the years, including rona Marsh who have participated in a 35 year odys- the initial securing of the land, building the Nature Cen- sey—an ever-changing, always fascinating trip through ter, formation of a foundation and maintaining viable, nature, finance, law, government, public works, team vital and visible Friends of Madrona Marsh. building, talent seeking …on and on. Need we note, too, a versatile FOMM. There are Along the way were the educators who brought experts and loving laymen engaged in everything from their classes to the Marsh, first to peek through the bro- art to zoology at the Marsh. Yet experience tells us that ken and bent chain link fences, hovering over street there is another issue to be dealt with, another chal- runoff puddles to note the natural ecology of a local lenge before us.