Earth Systems Science, Inc.

NWF Visits LA Area Habitat Stewards

May 08, 2006

Photo: Melinda Hughes (left) with Alan Pollack and Erika Rodriguez with Alan?’s Backyard Wildlife Habitat sign and a flyer promoting his next habitat activity.

Melinda Hughes, NWF Volunteer Program Manager, visited with LA area Habitat Stewards Alan Pollack, Erika Rodriguez, and Greg Lee (also a Habitat Host). The lunch meeting was held in the Backyard Wildlife Habitat created by Alan Pollack during his training as a Habitat Steward in Spring 2004.

Patricia Pollack, Alan?’s spouse commented, ?“I?’m glad he is involved. When he retired, I was afraid that he would be underfoot and following me from room to room.?” Since Alan got trained and certified as an NWF Habitat Steward, he has put into practice all that he learned, expanded his basic training with practical experience, and is a driving force in his community to talk about landscaping with California natives for habitat gardens and water conservation. Alan provides his landscape/habitat consulting services free of charge to local groups and individuals. He often gives presentations to groups interested in habitat conservation gardening. ?“Alan is the type of neighborhood / community spark plug that Habitat Stewards are intended to be,?” commented Greg Lee. ?“We are so grateful that he had the motivation and interest to come and get trained in our workshop.?” It is obvious Alan has the passion for this activity. Though a retired medical doctor, he has discovered he seems to have a natural talent and eye for landscape design. Listening to him, and walking through his Backyard Wildlife Habitat, the proof is in the pudding. [Note: Alan was featured in a local news article. You can read it at http://www.dailynews.com/joshuasiskin/ci_2995733]

It is difficult to do anything 100%. Reality has a way of upsetting ?“perfect plans.?” Most often households need to compromise with a balanced mix of California natives and more thirsty plants that many people have come to cherish and love over the years. As like many homeowners, Alan and Patricia bought an existing house. It came pre-landscaped with several mature trees. Many of the plants were not California natives. After starting his NWF Habitat Steward training, he began a process of carefully observing, and judicially replacing certain plants and landscape features. A major effort involved the removing the asphalt driveway and replacing it with compacted layers of decomposed granite. ?“It lets rainwater soak in but makes it very tough for weeds to take root,?” said Alan.

In the backyard, he put in a small pond / waterfall and selectively replaced plants with California natives. He solved a drainage problem by creating a ?“dry stream bed?” to handle the overflow from rain gutters. The end result is a tranquil garden that is a blend of natives and non-natives. Bird songs abound, accented with the gurgling of a small watercourse and pond he installed. Sitting in this habitat oasis, you are oblivious to being one of America?’s largest cities that has the least amount of green space. This is exactly with Backyard Wildlife Habitats are all about.

Depending on the size of your property and the amount of landscape watering needing, you can be like Alan who took advantage of a special program that allowed him to install a separate water meter for landscape water use. ?“You can save a lot of money on the sewer charges. It is almost as much as paying for the water,?” said Alan. Basically the city assumes that every gallon of water used in a household goes down the drain to the sewers as wastewater. But those with large yards or thirsty plants are paying sewer charges for water that goes into the ground and their plants, not the sewer. Of course, the preferred choice for habitat gardeners is to use drought tolerant, low-water consuming native plants as much as possible to eliminate both the water and the sewer charges all together.

Part of the purpose of the visit was for Melinda to get ideas for a strategy in the LA area. She was also encouraging all volunteers to log their hours as the tabulated results is used for input to the NWF budgeting process that could have significant impact on support programs for volunteers in the field. So if you haven?’t been logging your hours, please do so. ?“If folks are to busy to do it online, send me the info and I will enter it into the system,?” said Melinda. So keep good records and either log your hours or e-mail Melinda hughes@nwf.org.

Erika Rodriguez and Alex Arboleda are planning to get trained and certified as NWF Habitat Hosts. They recently assumed responsibility for Earth Systems Science, Inc. (the California community-based educational non-profit co-founded by Greg Lee). Greg and Saifon Lee have shifted their focus and energy to co-founding the Rural Training Center-Thailand. The summer 2005 Thailand volunteer project included a Habitat component in a rural Thai elementary school. Melinda supported the volunteer effort with donations of NWF logo T-shirts and green NWF wristbands.

It is hard to solve all of the world?’s environmental problems. But with dedicated volunteers working one yard at a time, change is occurring. Hat?’s off to all these dedicated individuals who used education to be empowered to make a difference in the lives of others and the community!