Back to Natives Santiago Park Nature Reserve Volunteer Program

Back to Natives is working with the City of Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Department to provide a habitat restoration volunteer program within the Santiago Park Nature Reserve. Volunteers gather in the Reserve once a month to pull weeds, collect seed, and plant seed/cuttings/plants. Here are a few shots from a recent event!


Thank you to the Orange County Community Foundation, REI, Ralphs & the Wells Fargo for funding our 2011-12 Service Learning habitat Restoration Volunteer Program!


Removing invasive Fountain Grass from Santiago Creek!


Volunteers removed ALL of the seed heads, and now they are going through and removing as many of the plants as possible.


Removing the invasive, non-native weeds allows space for the natives to grow. Native plants provide habitat for animals and a diverse ecosystem is more enjoyable for humans that visit the reserve!

Come join us! Upcoming volunteer dates are listed at http://www.backtonatives.org/volunteer.shtml - see you soon!

Back to Natives teaches campers at Audubon Summer Camp!

Reggie leading campers on a Riparian Plant Scavenger Hunt!

Narrow leaved milkweed.

Feel the fuzzy leaves!

False Indigo.

Seed collecting at Mason Park - we "released" the seeds in our restoration site there.

Brownie Girl Scouts earn their "Plants" Try-it

Building a tree!


Discussing how animals use plants.


Planting natives to provide habitat for birds and butterflies in our yard.


Hiking thorugh the El Dorado Nature Center.


Making our "seed" grow.


Hiking through the El Dorado Nature Center - discussing non-native invasive weeds - a monoculture of them!

San Juan Elementary Native Plant Garden in the Fall

This school garden was planted last December & January, and it has filled in nicely!

The yarrow has turned a chocolate brown in time for Fall!



This is my favorite view - a row of aster chilensis, followed by a row of California Sagebrush, followed by a row of buckwheat. Once the coyote brush behind these plants fills in it should look marvelous! Especialy NEXT fall when the coyote brush goes to seed and it looks like snow! Deergrass is in the foreground.



A blue butterfly stops for nectar on one of the last remaining buckwheat flowers.


The milkweed was successfully pollinated and has gone to seed - there will be lots more next year!

Can you believe this was the same spot just last year?

Harvesting Seed in Mason Regional Park

How appropriate that on the day after the August Full Moon - the Grain Moon - we took a few hours to collect seed at Mason Regional Park in preparation for our Service Learning restoration project that will begin in September.

Harvesting buckwheat seed, just as the Tongva and Acjachemen did for throusands of years before the Europeans arrived. I wonder if they had any better luck finding the seeds?
Encelia seeds

harvesting deerweed
Prickly Pear Cactus

California Fuchsia

August Full Moon Walk in Crystal Cove State Park - the Grain Moon

The August Full Moon was called the Corn Moon, Barley Moon or Grain Moon by ancient peoples. August is a time for harvesting. Each culture had its staple grain, so that grain was celebrated as a symbol of life. As we hike through CCSP on the evening of the Grain Moon, we took a look at some of the plants the native people would have harvested at this time of year, and tasted cherries, currants, poppy seed and chia seed.