Earthroots Field School Inc
PROGRAMS
Habitat Restoration Program at Big Oak Canyon (Phase 1 - Facilities Storage and Welcome Center)
This program takes place at Big Oak Canyon, our 39-acre site in Silverado Canyon. Big Oak was acquired by Earthroots in 2013 as a dedicated space for nature connection and environmental education programs, providing opportunities for children and people of all ages to engage meaningfully with the land through nature awareness, habitat restoration and sustainable living skills programming. Participants educational experience will vary over time as the site becomes restored to its natural state. Objectives include restoring the above ground riparian corridor by clearing the area of invasive plants, transplanting locally sourced native vegetation, implementing ecologically sound erosion control measures, creating a dry-season, low impact camping area for school groups, and providing opportunities for hands-on ecological education for volunteers and ongoing education for future visitors.
Our proposed solution has three phases of implementation (in addition to long-term maintenance). For Phase 1, 2 20-foot shipping containers will be delivered to a more accessible location next to the main gate, after preparing the area to fit them while leaving space for parking and a small composting yard/delivery area. In front of the containers will be a welcoming center and booth for orchard sales. The top of the containers will be turned into green living roofs to help keep it cool inside and to not take away from growing space on the ground. Native succulent plants will be planted.
Habitat Restoration at Big Oak Canyon (Phase 2 - Failing Structure Demolition and Terrace Construction)
The existing storage site at Big Oak Canyon has inherited infrastructure including steep paved driveways, lots of pipes, water tanks, and the original building. The structure was originally built as a concrete water cistern. After decommissioning, it was turned into a storage building with a garage-style metal door. It sits in the middle of what would have been the natural flow of the spring before it was diverted into a channel to the side of the building. The building is difficult to access, via a narrow steep dirt driveway. It is basically inaccessible, yet it serves as the only storage facility for class materials and land maintenance tools. The original grading of the driveways left the slopes of the canyon (with the spring at the bottom of it) steeper. Ivy was planted on the steep slopes, and various makeshift structures were made with utility poles and metal cables to help stabilize the slopes. The ivy currently covers much of the surrounding land.
Earthroots sees these problems of old failing storage infrastructure and invasive plants as an opportunity to build systems that are more sustainable and better for the future of the ecosystem and the people. In Phase 2, the current concrete storage building is demolished, and the pieces are used for building terraces for easier access and maintenance of the orchard.
Habitat Restoration at Big Oak Canyon (Phase 3 - Wetland Restoration)
This final stage of the Habitat Restoration Project will allow for this land to be restored to its original state, making it a place of education, training, and enjoyment for the Orange County community.
Phase 3, the site of the old storage building, and the area around the spring above it are turned into a diverse ethnobotanical garden and wetland by:
*Mark out trail and level gathering area
*Cut and remove dead brush, prune or cut crowded trees or low branches from fig trees down to the bridge
*Build retaining walls and steps for the trail
*Move any animals temporarily upstream for safety
*Shape waterways for lower wetland - plunge pool, shallow and wide basin for wetland, channel for inlet to wetland, rock-lined overflow to the channel just above the bridge
*Plant culturally important wetland and moisture-loving plants for medicine, food, basketry and fiber, grown in onsite nursery or purchased from local nursery - cattail, tule, Yerba mansa, dogbane, basket rush, basket bush, giant chain fern, deergrass, Humboldt lily, marsh fleabane, arrow weed, giant creek nettle, sandbar willow, phragmites, wild grape, stream orchid, rein orchid (rare species), Carex barbarae, thimbleberry, wild rose, false indigo, seep monkeyflower, scouring rush, Aralia, columbine, leather root, elderberry
*Place logs for habitat/walking paths through the wetland
*Remove ivy from within 5ft of the stream channel up to the large culverts
*Shape check dams and small plunge pools along the course of the spring flow down to the wetland
*Continue planting plants along the spring flow up to the large culverts
Ecoliteracy Programming in Schools
Earthroots is committed to offering our programs, free of charge, to school districts desiring to offer ecoliteracy programs to their students but lacking the resources to do so. Ongoing fundraising to bring programs to students, pre-kindergarten through 5th grade, will address this need, made even more necessary as a result of the impact the pandemic had on education in our county. Approximately $25,000 allows us to put a full curriculum in place for one full school year for one elementary school. The curriculum can also be customized to fit the needs of each school.
Earthroots ecoliteracy programs support academic standards taught in the classroom. These classes provide students with engaging, hands-on environmental content that is a major component of the California Next Generation Science Standards. Environmental topics are incorporated into many of the disciplinary core ideas and performance expectations for students at every grade level. Both the Common Core and the Next Generation Science Standards require students to engage in rigorous thinking and problem solving. By supporting student environmental literacy, we are directly supporting the California Standards. These interactions help make classroom instruction meaningful, as students connect what they do in Earthroots programs to academic content they are provided by their teachers. Teachers report improved course material understanding, improved academic confidence, and more positive behavior and socialization as a direct result of time spent in Earthroots programming.
Forestry Management Plan & Implementation
In 2024, an invasive beetle was discovered at Big Oak Canyon, that had already interrupted the intricate ecological balance on the land. The Gold Spotted oak borers (GSOB) do not have local natural predators sufficient to control their populations, and many oak trees have died throughout California due to its appetite for oaks. This article in the LA Times mentions Earthroots and our struggle to keep the oaks alive. https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-05-28/gold-spotted-oak-borer-santa-monica-mountains In 2024, there were twelve mature Coast Live Oak trees at our 39-acre property that died due to the GSOB infestation, some over 100 years old. Each one is a host and resource for hundreds of birds, insects, mammals, fungi and other native species. The oaks are shade for our field trip participants, our source of acorns for educational workshops, and countless other benefits for humans and the environment. The loss of one mature oak tree impacts much more than we can see. If not protected, many more oak trees will continue to die each year, resulting in a complete change in ecosystem structure and function. This beetle infestation opened our awareness to the inherent value of the forest life we are caring for, and strengthened our resolve to protect it. We have begun experimenting with a non-toxic lime wash coating in addition to insecticides to protect over 120 mature oak trees in a 10-acre experimental area in the heart of the property. Yet there are 29-acres that have not been assessed or treated. Creating a Forestry Management Plan, to include a detailed biological survey (habitat assessment, rare plant species, and wildlife assessment) continuing to experiment with non-toxic solutions, and increasing care for the entire forest of Big Oak Canyon is a top priority.
With a comprehensive Forestry Management Plan and a year of implementation for the full 39 acre property, we will be able to see which areas of the land to prioritize in the effort to slow the spread of the Gold Spotted oak borer, and strengthen the ecology of our valuable outdoor learning facility. The results of our efforts will be shared with other communities, individuals and organizations dealing with the same issues in hopes to preserve forests beyond our site.
CONTACT
Earthroots Field School Inc
PO BOX 504
TRABUCO CYN, CA 92678
jodi@earthrootsfieldschool.org
Phone: 949-709-5777