Malibu residents get free native Santa Monica mountain plants, seeds, and Legacy Park tour.
By Benjamin Hanson
Special to The Malibu Times
The City of Malibu and the Fire Department’s Forestry Division teamed up to give Malibu residents free native Santa Monica Mountain plants and seeds at Legacy Park on Sunday, Nov. 3.
Malibu Recreation Supervisor Chris Orosz also led residents on a tour of the park while teaching them about the pond and each native plant.
“Our goal was to provide the community with native plants that are going to positively impact the native pollinators like your bees and butterflies and hummingbirds, but also, to provide them with plants that are going to be beautiful plants for their home landscape,” Orosz said. “They’re also drought tolerant.”
Orosz said the city wanted to partner with a nearby agency that they really value.
“The city partnered with the Fire and Forestry Department today to provide free native plants and also to give them more tools for fire mitigation around their homes,” Orosz said.
Aaron Williams and Rob Walton from the Forestry Division of the Fire Department were on hand to give out plants, seeds, and advice to residents. Williams said the goal of the giveaway was to inform residents on wildfire safety while providing plants.
“The Forestry Division has a nursery up on Malibu Canyon, and Rob Walton, the deputy forestry in charge of that nursery, and he grows these plants for distribution to the public,” Williams said.
Williams said some of the plants being given away were toyon, sage, manzanita, and island snapdragon.
Orosz said it was important for residents to know what plants are native to Malibu.
“We just want to educate them about what resources they have in the community, like the Fire and Forestry Department just up Malibu Canyon that gives away free plants to them,” Orosz said.
When Orosz returned from the walk around the park, he was happy to see very few plants left.
Orosz said his favorite part of the event was how much residents showed interest and asked really good questions about the plant life.
“The fact that we had some really interested residents who were interested in trying to create a landscape that was more of a habitat for their local wildlife and pollinators,” Orosz said. “It just shows me that this is something that was of interest to the community.”
Malibu resident Tom Molloy attended for the free plant giveaway but stayed for the tour. He said he enjoyed learning about the pond’s role in keeping Malibu waters clean.
“How it’s been created and the challenges with it,” Molloy said. “With the salt table and what they’re trying to do to mitigate it. And about the varieties of ducks and how they live here.”
Molloy said he highly recommends that people should take a tour of the park and learn about the plants and pond.
Orosz said he’s looking forward to the next event at Legacy Park. The city will host an Audubon Bird walk.
“We will have a walk with the Audubon Society,” Orosz said. “It’s another free program and registration is online so that we can try to get a good general headcount. That will be on Nov. 17, at 9.30 a.m.”
Interested residents can register at parksrecreation.ci.malibu.ca.us/CourseActivities.aspx?id=18.