By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine
Photos by Reginald I. Durant

When the people at Back to Natives see a piece of trashed open space, they know what to do: team their own volunteers with students and community members, mobilize corporate and government support, and replace imported weeds with native plants. You can see their projects for yourself, and even join up as a supporter or volunteer. What better way to learn about native plants?

Started just two years ago, this nonprofit group has already restored butterfly habitat at Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center in Upper Newport Bay, and is currently replanting native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers on 3 1/2 acres of Mason Regional Park Nature Preserve in Irvine. You can stop by to watch the transformation any time: maps at the information booth at the University Drive entrance (between Culver Drive and Harvard Avenue) direct you. Wildflowers—everything from lupines and poppies to baby blue eyes and tidy tips—start blooming on site in March.

Much is at stake. After the land here was smothered with dredge spoils from Newport Back Bay, initial landscaping attempts failed, and weeds took over. Habitat was lost for California gnatcatchers and least Bell’s vireos (both protected under the Endangered Species Act), to say nothing of the reptiles, butterflies, and myriad other arthropods that lived here.

By methodically finding out which natives grow well here (and some of that is done by trial and error), Back to Natives aims to restore this flood plain’s role in purifying water, and make it productive habitat for all kinds of wild creatures. Funding for the project is provided by grants from REI, the Wachovia Foundation, and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Vons Pavilions provided the compost for the wildflower study.  

Individual support is critical too. You can join Back to Natives for $30, or volunteer free at nearly any level, from pulling weeds to collecting seed from native plants already growing in the park, to raising native plants for the project at home. Contact Back to Natives online, or email them at info@backtonatives.org.