Pools will remind workers of a shining star

VIC LEIPZIG AND LOU MURRAY

It has taken many people many months to get the job done, but two

vernal pools finally have taken shape at Shipley Nature Center.

Vernal pools are ephemeral freshwater wetlands that appear during

the rainy season. They dry up with the passing of spring. During the

short time that they hold water, vernal pools are cradles of creation

for frogs, toads, salamanders and odd invertebrates known as fairy

shrimp. As the pools dry, an ever-shrinking ring of wildflowers

blooms at the muddy periphery.

These pools and the surrounding meadow have taken a long time to

create. Last spring, poisonous hemlock grew so tall that newly

planted little oak trees at the meadow’s edge were completely hidden.

The Orange County Conservation Corps crew that works at Shipley

Nature Center attacked the seven-foot hemlock. Day after day, they

whacked the poisonous weeds, first with machetes, then with a

commercial-grade weed whacker.

During the heat of summer, sweat dripping down their faces and

backs, they hauled ton after ton of deadly hemlock stalks to trash

bins generously provided by Rainbow Disposal. Once the ground was

bare, they covered the dirt with plastic sheeting to use the sun’s

energy to kill any remaining hemlock seeds.

Finally the area was ready for pool construction. Landscape

architect Guy Stivers arranged for a donation of mixed clay and loam

and brought bags of saponite clay to line the pools. Arranging for a

donation of grading services took a bit longer, but finally the

Friends of Shipley Nature Center were able to find a day when

Stivers, the corps’ workers and Steve Espenscheid of Kennah

Construction were all available. That day just happened to be New

Year’s Eve, the last day the corps was going to be at Shipley Nature

Center. Funding for the corps had run out.

Espenscheid brought his backhoe and donated his time to grade and

contour the pools. First the backhoe scraped out soil, then the work

crew jumped in to level the pools with large landscape rakes. They

built mounds to provide varied elevations for invertebrates and

tadpoles. After the final pool contours were achieved, the work crew

spread the white saponite in the smaller pool. That is the layer that

holds water. Then Espenscheid dumped bucket-loads of clay-loam mix

into the pool and the workers spread that on top of the white clay

layer. Finally one pool was finished, but there was no time to

complete the second pool.

The Friends put out a call to various scout groups, but almost no

one was available for the regularly scheduled restoration day.

Probably due to the holidays, only a handful of volunteers from the

Friends, the Bolsa Chica Stewards and the Tree Society were available

for the hard work of constructing the pools. Benny Ramirez, the

corps’ crew supervisor, volunteered on his day off and even brought

his girlfriend, but there still weren’t enough people to get the job

done.

Almost miraculously, an ecology club from La Quinta High School in

Westminster arrived unannounced. Club president Paul Nguyen had

noticed a need for volunteers on the Friends’ Web site and showed up

with a group of 15 students, who finished construction of the last

vernal pool. This involved a lot of rolling, raking and tamping.

Volunteers planted black poplar and black walnut trees at the

periphery of the meadow, as well as coffee berries and flannel

bushes, but nearly 100 irises and rushes remained to be planted along

the perimeter of the pools.

The Friends often seem blessed with good fortune. Just when they

thought their work crew was gone, they received notice that the crew

would continue working at the center for several more months. Corps

management had decided to donate a significant amount of their park

bond funding to the Shipley restoration project. This past week, the

crew finished planting the irises and rushes around the pools. The

meadows are now ready for hydro-seeding with wildflower and native

grass seeds.

Sadly, one of the corps’ crew members will not be there to see the

irises bloom around the vernal pool this spring. She will never see

how high the new poplars and walnuts grow or how beautiful the trees

will look in fall, their yellow leaves contrasting with the evergreen

of the live oaks behind them. You may have seen the articles about

her murder in the newspapers last weekend.

Yolanda Acevedo, 17, was stabbed to death in an argument with a

neighbor outside her apartment in Anaheim on Jan. 2. Another of our

Shipley crew members was with Yolanda and was injured in the fight.

The neighbor and a companion were arrested in connection with the

assault.

Yolanda was a shining star in the crew -- a very bright, capable,

and hard working girl, cut down before she had even begun her adult

life.

As the crew planted the irises around the pool that Yolanda helped

build, they talked about how much they will miss her, about how her

sparkling personality made their day pass more quickly. Part of the

water that the vernal pools will hold this spring will be tears shed

for the loss of this beautiful girl who was taken from us all too

soon.

* VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and

environmentalists. They can be reached at [email protected].