Volunteers spend Saturday morning watering baby oak trees in Topanga
As the sun shined on the Santa Monica Mountains, 40 bright orange buckets surrounded a giant water tank on the fire road in Topanga State Park. The cool morning air breezed softly as 20 people gathered at the top of the Santa Ynez Trail.
The Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains (RCDSMM) hosted another Trippet Ranch Tree Care charity event where volunteers spent a couple hours hiking and watering baby oak trees on Saturday, Aug. 24.
There are 250 young oak trees in Topanga State Park being nurtured by the RCD and volunteers.
Before volunteers split off, RCDSMM Conservation Biologist Alyssa Morgan gave instructions and led the group through a warm-up stretching session.
Morgan then led everyone to different oak trees scattered along the trails. The trees are surrounded by a small cage of wires to protect them as they grow. Volunteers carried buckets of water and poured slowly to give the roots enough time to soak it in.
According to Morgan, the coast live oak is one of the most important species native to California. Two hundred and fifty species would not exist without it.
“These oak woodlands are in a bit of danger due to habitat fragmentation, as well as some fire, drought and invasive pest risks,” Morgan said. “We’re trying to fill in the live oak woodland so we can preserve this habitat for more species and more people to enjoy for hundreds of years.”
Pamela Smith said she volunteers to get outdoors, exercise and nurture the environment. Smith also volunteers with the Santa Monica Mountains Task Force maintaining trails.
“I love baby oaks,” Smith said. “They’re so cute.”
Vincent Paternoster took part in caring for the trees the previous year with his wife and enjoyed it enough to do it again.
“I thought it was a great way to volunteer, contribute to the environment and see what’s going on in the Topanga watershed,” Paternoster said. “Volunteering is a lot of good effort that we each need to contribute too.”
Morgan said she grew up in outdoor environments and wants to see it persist for many years and future generations.
“I think we as a species have the unique ability that we can be land stewards,” Morgan said. “I think we’re blessed with cognitive reasoning and we have an obligation to manage the land in a way that’s beneficial to every species in it.”
Volunteers can take part in future events or by adopting a baby oak tree. See how at www.rcdsmm.org/tot/.
