Bolsa Chica Wetlands Restoration

One of the past division events this month was a restoration event at Bolsa Chica Wetlands. As both a lover of nature and a passionate advocate for both restoration and conservation, I knew I had to attend this event!

The volunteers arrived bright and early at 9 AM where the people in charge of the restoration greeted us. We learned that it takes a lot of manpower and time to restore damaged habitat and that having so many Key Clubbers there would definitely be a big help. It was really inspiring to see so many Key Clubbers want to get involved and help out, and since Key Clubbers were not the only volunteer group there, it was even more heart-warming to see such a big group of people come together for a good cause.

We began by picking up empty kitty liter containers that would be later used as watering cans. I thought this was super innovative because watering cans aren’t super expensive, but to think of using empty containers instead that work just as well was just genius!

Once we reached the area we would be working in, we gathered around the learn about what we would be doing. Volunteers were tasked to pull out a really nasty invasive weed called Russian thistle, and once we learned what it looked like, we realized it was EVERYWHERE. Each and every direction you looked, you would see a small patch at the very least. The volunteer managers told us that it was super important to bag the thistle, also known as tumbleweed, because their seeds fly everywhere, and it’s super important that we don’t let the seeds fly to other areas.

After we finished weeding, some volunteers continued to weed but the majority went off to begin watering the sea grasses that the restoration team recently planted this year. I stayed back to help weed because I personally like weeding, and I had the help of my friend Alan Lim!

There were huge piles of this thistle just sitting around waiting to be bagged, so Alan and I got on that right away. By the end of the volunteer event, we had finished bagging nearly all of the piles, save a few. Additionally, all of the other volunteers finished their job watering the plants they needed to water! We actually finished about 15 minutes earlier than expected, which really shows how effective communication and leadership, and well as LOTS of manpower, can make volunteering so much more fun and easy!

Because this event occurs two times a month, I would definitely want to see Key Club get more involved with this organization and continue with service!