NATURAL PERSPECTIVES:

As Vic and I made our preparations for a family Thanksgiving dinner earlier this week, we reflected on all that we have to be thankful for this holiday season.

Our focus was mainly on the many people who make a positive environmental difference in our community. Some will be names familiar to you. Some won’t be.

First of all, we’d like to give thanks for the many people who volunteer their time as docents, board members or helpers in the many environmental groups in town: Amigos de Bolsa Chica, Bolsa Chica Conservancy, Bolsa Chica Land Trust, Friends of the Huntington Wetlands, Friends of Shipley Nature Center, Huntington Beach Tree Society, Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy, and the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center.

These groups could not function without the time, talent and treasure donated by volunteers. If you’re not one of the volunteers or donors to these groups, take some time to get involved. You’ll find it amazingly worthwhile.

We’d like to single out a few people for special mention, in no particular order.

First of all, we’re thankful for Mark and Julie Bixby, and Dena Hawes for their tireless efforts to safeguard the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve as well as protect the Shea property from environmental degradation, including development, trespass, vandalism and a host of other insults.

Their latest activity was alerting the media about a glass fence erected by Hearthside Homes with Coastal Commission approval.

This 4,400-foot-long, virtually invisible glass barrier around the Brightwater development on Bolsa Chica Mesa has been the cause of death of many birds since it went up in August, including a Northern harrier, formerly called a marsh hawk.

According to some sources, more than a million birds are killed every year by collision with glass windows, especially at night and during migration. It’s sad to see something like this happen at Bolsa Chica, an important stop on the Pacific Flyway.

This glass wall is only a few feet away from the Ecological Reserve where the birds are supposed to be safe. Ed Mountfort, senior vice president of Hearthside Homes, has directed their project biologist to look into a solution. Let’s hope they come up with one quickly, before more avian lives are needlessly lost.

At this year’s Conservator of the Year luncheon, which took place last week by the Bolsa Chica Conservancy, recognition was given to several major organizations whose generosity we are also grateful for.

The Conservancy honored the Boy Scouts of America for their environmental good works. The Conservancy announced a number of donations made toward construction of the planned pedestrian bridge south of Warner Avenue. Pacific Life Insurance Foundation donated $25,000.

Added to the $95,000 donation from the County of Orange for the walkbridge, and donations from other sources, this brings the total to $120,500 that the Conservancy has raised for construction of the bridge. This is 27% of the funds needed. A number of partners have come together for this worthy cause that is being spearheaded by the Wildlife Conservation Board, including the Bolsa Chica Land Trust, Amigos de Bolsa Chica, and the California Department of Fish and Game. The Land Trust, along with the Amigos de Bolsa Chica, raised $75,000 for the project, with $25,000 of that amount coming from an individual private donor. For all of the people and organizations who have worked toward this wonderful goal, we’re grateful.

We’re also thankful to other donors who have come forward recently to support the Conservancy. At the luncheon, Conservancy Executive Director Grace Adams announced the Griswold Foundation had awarded the Conservancy a donation of $30,000. The decision-maker at the foundation, Ros Griswold, had looked at all three nonprofit groups working at Bolsa Chica. He chose to donate to the Conservancy because of its educational program and interpretive building and displays. But that wasn’t the end of the good news. In a surprise announcement, Simple Green said they will be gifting the Conservancy with a check for $10,000 next year.

There really doesn’t seem to be an end to the number of good people who donate so willingly of their time. Shirley Dettloff, Carol Williams, Kay Goddard, Steve and Shari Engel, and Tom Livengood are mainstays of the Shipley Nature Center. Inside the Outdoors runs a fantastic environmental education program for elementary school children at the nature center. The indoor area for pre-schoolers at the interpretive building is incredible. Shipley Nature Center changes every month as the weather shifts, plants grow, and birds and other animals reproduce and thrive.

Our community is also blessed with Debbie McGuire and a host of volunteers at the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center, including Lisa Birkle, Gordon Smith and Jim Robins. They rescue and rehabilitate thousands of birds and other animals a year. Many volunteers, including Lena Hayashi, also work for the Huntington Wetlands Conservancy, working toward the planning, purchase and restoration of the Huntington Wetlands at the south end of town.

Space will run out before we run out of people for whom we are grateful. However, before we close, we want to mention Jean Nagy and her host of volunteers at the Huntington Beach Tree Society. They find funding to buy trees, and then work with the city, school and scout groups to plant those trees throughout our city. These trees not only make our city more beautiful, they provide homes for birds and help combat global warming.

And finally, we want to thank the many people who have worked over the years to plant native vegetation as part of habitat restoration at the Bolsa Chica, the urban forest, and Shipley Nature Center, in particular Nancy Harris, Kim Kolpin, Marinka Horack, Shirley Grindle and Juana Mueller. These women have put in untold hours of landscaping labor to make our town a better place to live. Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours.

VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and environmentalists. They can be reached at [email protected] LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and environmentalists. They can be reached at [email protected].