By Laura Pavliscak, Conservation Director at Ventura Land Trust
Spring has sprung and the vibrant unfurling of leaf and bud, bird song and butterfly wing are upon us.
It’s always a good time to be outside here in balmy Southern California, but never a better time than in the mesmerizing eruptive technicolor of our busiest growth season when shrub, tree, vine and seed awaken to the moisture and warmth of this nurturing season.
But here in the most populated region of the most populous state in the country, it is worth a reminder that our engagement in wildlands isn’t impact-free, and there are meaningful ways to support our beloved natural spaces.
In Ventura’s first landscape-scale publicly accessible natural area, Harmon Canyon Preserve, Ventura Land Trust supports over 150,000 visitors each year—that’s about 30% more than the total population of the City of Ventura! While we celebrate the community's interest, and we strive to provide sustainable public access, we can’t do it on our own—only you can make it happen.
Well intentioned people that pick flowers, collect animals, walk or bike off trail, trample the fragile wet environment of the creek, leave garbage, and let their dogs run loose may not realize how damaging their seemingly small indulgences are when multiplied by the extraordinary number of visitors to the preserve.
And in this tender green window of spring, it is precisely because our growing season is so dramatic that makes it so fragile—seedlings, new plant growth, and new generations of wildlife occur in response to the limited resources provided by our one wet season per year, and often only in average or above average rainfall years like this one.
So please do your part to support our spectacular and well-loved open spaces. Stay on marked trails, leave only footprints and take only photos and memories.
Let’s practice low impact, high appreciation love for our natural areas and harvest only gratitude and wonder. And let’s provide this example to our kids: the future recreationists, conservationists, ecological stewards, and wonderers who will care for and be inspired by these extraordinary wild places after us.
