The Rattler Sponsored by the Placerita Canyon Nature Center Associates Visitors to the Nature 19152 Placerita Canyon Road, Newhall, CA 91321 Center Drop
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Hello Nature Friends, Typically as tempera- tures climb into the tri- ple digits, numbers of The Rattler Sponsored by the Placerita Canyon Nature Center Associates visitors to the Nature 19152 Placerita Canyon Road, Newhall, CA 91321 Center drop. Though www.placerita.org (661) 259-7721 we had an especially Placerita Canyon Nature Center hot summer, it did not slow us down at all this year and the place is active with new Over 50 Years of Nature Education projects. September-October, 2017 The visitors showed up early in the morn- ing to use the existing trails or came in the evening to check out the twilight hikes. The docents went on a bus trip to the Getty Vil- la, a Seeds and Pods presentation was given by Ron Kraus, and on August 28 Sue Wal- The 2017 NCA Annual Recognition Event lander gave a tree presentation and shared All the docents and volunteers from Placerita Canyon are invited to join the her personal experience, developed over members from other Nature Centers to attend the Annual Recognition and many years. General Meeting to be held at Eaton Canyon Nature Center on Saturday, Plans for the restoration of the Botany September 9. Coffee and juice will be served at 9.30am and the meeting will trail are moving along with Omar Pena. The start at 10.00am. A light lunch will be served afterward around 11.00am. We Annual meeting and recognition event will will ask you to call with your RSVP at 626-398-5420 to confirm you will be take place at Eaton Canyon on September attending lunch so food can be ordered accordingly. Business Casual dress 9. A fall kick off is planned for September is suggested. 25, and a trip to Stoneview will happen Location is: sometime in October. Stoneview is a new Eaton Canyon Nature Center urban Nature Center working hard to be- 1750N Altadena Drive come a chapter of NCA and we want to give Pasadena, CA 91107 them some support. The PCNCA docents who have 5, 10 and 15 years of service will receive The Braille trail has been completed and their gold name tags : Five years :Lanita Algeyer, Jim DeLill, Andrea Don- the amphitheater is in the starting phase, ner, Michael Elling, Robert Grzesiak,Irene Heerlein,Laura Skorich. Denny with the benches arriving on September Truger; Ten years: Linda Ioerger, Linda Parr; Fifteen years: Roger Gibson, 19. If your head is spinning reading all this Ron Kraus. news, mine is too! Schools are back in ses- If you would like to car pool, please be at the PCNCA parking lot at 9.00am. sion and Placerita is in full swing. Enjoy the new fall season. The Birth of the Amphitheater A few years ago, we had a very popular Nature Education program about wolves at Placer- ita. Because the crowd was so large, it was determined that the meeting should be held outside in the amphitheater to the right of the building. This amphitheater was built long ago and over a period of time, as a result of several Eagle Scout projects and PCNCA. ADA regulations were not in effect, and we found out there was a problem when Sue Sutton, in a wheel chair, tried to attend the program. A few docents tried to carry her over the stream but did not succeed. She alerted us that a program open to the public should be able to serve anyone who wanted to attend. Building over the stream or disturbing the stream bed was not possible, so we started to look for another option. With the construction of the Braille Trail, it became obvious that the meadow area, just after the bridge and adjacent to the picnic area, would be a great option. Construction has begun, and as a result some picnic benches and a large concrete area have been removed. The grading started in June. PCNCA (the docents) will pay for the materials and the County will provide the labor, equipment, etc., necessary to complete the project. The decom- posed granite for the walkways and the rock dust for stabilizing the seating area have been deliv- ered. The docents were responsible for buying 52 benches for installation in the new amphithe- ater; they have been ordered and will be delivered in September. Congratulations and thank you all. It will be a great addition to Placerita. A Day at the Getty Villa by RuthAnne Murthy On July 24th, Placerita docents boarded a coach for a fantastic trip to the Getty Villa. The coach was supplied by our Los Angeles County Supervi- sor, Kathryn Barger. Thank you Ms. Barger! We toured the art collection and many docents went on the garden tour or the architecture tour. We ate lunch outdoors at the café and some even enjoyed a class of wine. It was a delightful day and offered an opportunity for us to get to know each other better. Thank you so much RuthAnne for planning such a fun day for the do- cents and thank you Fred Seeley for your help taking care of the reserva- tion (photos by Glenda Perl) Trail Treasures By RuthAnne Murthy This time of the year many hikers are discouraged by the lack of wildflowers. It is a time to look at the amazing transformation that is occurring along the trail. This month’s Trail Treasure is the scrub oak. Scrub oaks generally grow up to 10 feet tall and are thicket-like. They prefer dry slopes and don’t like “wet feet”. The catkins occur from March–May, and male and female catkins share the same plant. The leaves are stiff and leathery which is the adaptation that allows them to be evergreen. The margins are spine-tipped, heavily toothed. The hairy undersides of the leaves and twigs along with the convex shape of the leaves help with identification. The acorns start forming in June. They grow to about 1 inch in length, and the caps are short and warty. This variety is endemic to the San Gabriel Mountains. The tiny Beaked Large Raptors Presentation Sprindle Gall Wasp lays her eggs on a twig, and the scrub oak responds by Fred Seeley by producing a bright red gall as shown in the photo. The galls do not Father's Day, 2017, was a great day for me Scrub Oak harm the shrub. The acorns are food for many birds including the as I felt privileged to be a father and I felt Scrub Jay, California Towhee, and Acorn Woodpecker. It is also a lar- very privileged to attend the June Commu- Queracus dumasa var. gabrielensis val plant for the California Hairstreak and California Sister butterflies. nity Nature Education Series Large Raptor So slow down and look for this amazing Trail Treasure. presentation. Kudos to Frank Hoffman for arranging for his friend and fellow Master Falconer, Weed Celebration Tony Suffredini, to show us his beautiful (No, not that kind of weed!!!) and LARGE birds and answer many, many By Fred Seeley questions about them. It was a beautiful day under the oaks in the PCNC picnic area He started off with his very smart Raven, for the "End of Weeding Season Luncheon" held on June 5, 2017. and after that he worked with a Eurasian The pizza lunch was held after a team of 8 spent several hours Eagle Owl, a huge African White Back Vul- clearing invasive plants from the stream bed, and enjoying the ture, and finished his presentation with a wildflowers blooming among the weeds. The Teams statistics since beginning in Novem- fantastic Golden Eagle. Wow, what beau- ber of 2015 through May of 2017, are very impressive: tiful and powerful animals; true rulers of 41 individual Docents volunteered a total of 528 hours of service! Several Docents had the sky! very impressive individual hours, for example, Ingrid Brown had 60. Team leader, Robert We had a full house that was very respect- Grzesiak reported only 57 but we all knew he puts in far more than that. Certificates of ful of Tony and the birds and asked many Appreciation were presented at the luncheon and the other team members will find theirs quality questions that enhanced the educa- in their folders in the Docent desk. tional aspect for everyone in attendance. The next activities will begin when the weather cools off. Please join us next season! Thank You for the Water Fountain One water fountain has been repaired on the trail leading to the cabin, and we are very grateful. It is one of the most popular trails and in these hot summer days, our visitors appreciate having a cool drink. PCNCA was responsible for this repair as well as donation for the fountain. You might not have noticed but at the foot of the fountain you can read a plaque: Donated by David and Joycelyn Turner Placerita Canyon Nature Center Associates 1985. We have discontinued the use of plaques to preserve the natural aspect of the park but we do not forget. Two more fountains are pending installation, but the pipes must cross the bridge, so all construction must be finished first to be able to repair those pipes. An Interview with Dan Duncan Where did you grow up? Lancaster, not only did I grow up there, I’m still there! I can remember in the mid-70’s getting on the Antelope Valley Freeway at 5:30 AM in Palmdale and driving down to Sand Canyon without seeing another car. There have been a lot of changes. What was your education? Initially, I wasn’t sure so, I took all the science classes they offered at the junior college in town.