Camp Girl here, your one and only source into the awesome lives of
Catalina’s Volunteers from Rutgers
University. Thirteen young men and
women came together to travel to Santa Catalina Island and spend a week of
Winter Break volunteering at the Catalina Conservancy. Lucky for you, I have the inside scoop…
Last week on the Adventure Club…
Erin and Will prepared to lead 11 individuals 3,000 miles across the
country to an island of only 22 miles in length and 8 miles in width. Their mission was to assist the
Catalina Conservancy in any way possible
Episode 1: Sunday, January 6
All
of the Adventure Clubbers awoke bright and early to start the long journey to
Santa Catalina Island. While some
went directly to the airport via car, others had to catch the train in New
Brunswick at 6:27 am. Even though
Lizzy forgot to purchase her ticket and had to run back with almost no time to
spare, Erin was able to hold the door for her while getting yelled at by the
conductor. There was no way she
was starting the trip by leaving someone behind.
The
group met outside the United Airlines Check-In area to begin making their way
through the many obstacles of Newark Airport. Will missed his train so they had to start without him, but
he caught up at security. Everyone
made it through security and found the gate quickly. Soon after, the group boarded the plan, and the day took a
turn that would greatly test the flexibility of the group.
After
the plane was boarded, it was discovered that there were some maintenance
issues. A crewmember made an
announcement assuring the group that it would just be a few moments, and then
the plane would be leaving. But
then there was another announcement a while after informing the flight that
there would be free television for the flight because of the delay. Everyone was excited about that, until
they were informed that they were being deplaned. The only bonus was the food vouchers they were promised.
With
each delay of the flight, it became clearer that they were going to miss their
ferry. But Erin and Will were
flexible and led everyone in a game of catch phrase that preoccupied the group
until boarding time. About 15
minutes before the plane was supposed to board, the Adventure Club finally got
the meal vouchers they had been promised.
Unfortunately, they had to wait until they got to LAX to eat.
Finally,
the plane took off and the Adventure Club was on their way to California. It was only the first leg of a long day
of traveling. The plane landed and
everyone went to get food before the shuttle ride to the next stop on the
journey. The plane got in with
just enough time to catch the very last ferry to Santa Catalina Island. The shuttles showed up right on time
and took the Adventure Club to the Catalina Express.
Everyone
was excited to board the ferry and get to Catalina. However, there were still more obstacles in the way for the
Adventure Club. The waters in the
channel were extremely rough. Many
of the Adventure Clubbers had just eaten burritos they bought with their food
vouchers. For an hour and fifteen
minutes at sea, the Adventure Club fought off feelings of sickness, some more
successfully than others. When
they docked, Cindy, the volunteer coordinator, was there to pick them up. She brought them to Von's, the grocery
store, to pick up some necessities to hold them over until they could do a full
shopping trip the next day. Cindy
drove the van up to the Laura Stein Volunteer Camp to give them an
orientation. As the van reached
the campsite, the skies opened up.
The Adventure Clubbers were soaked as Cindy quickly ran through all of
the important information she had for them. When she was done, everyone ran for their tents and burrowed
deep into their sleeping bags for warmth.
Though no one spoke up at the time, all of the campers were asking
themselves the same question: "What on earth did I get myself into?"
Episode 2: Monday, January 7
The
Adventure Clubbers awoke bright and early to prepare for their first day of
service. It was so dark and rainy
when they came to the campsite the night before that they couldn’t see much of the scenery. They got their first view of their home
for the next week that morning, and no one could believe that they had really
made it. The unsure thoughts from
the night before quickly dissipated from everyone’s
minds.
The
group ate breakfast and packed lunches for the day and then Cindy came to pick
them up. On the ride down, the
group got their first real look at some of the interior and the town of Avalon. Cindy began talking about the plan for
the week and how appreciative she and the other conservancy workers were that
they were there. It had been a
long time since they had a volunteer group come to the island, so they had a
lot of work for them to do. But
before they could begin working, the group needed to become educated about the
island.
Cindy
brought the group to the conservancy’s main building where two of the workers,
Frank and Alexa, were prepared to present information about the island. One of the main goals of the
conservancy is education, so they wanted to begin by informing the group about
the island. The mission of the
conservancy focuses conservation, education, and recreation. Most conservancies do not include
recreation as part of their mission.
The Catalina Conservancy acknowledges its location and the fact that it
is a tourist destination. The
focus on recreation allows people to use the land, which makes them better
understand it and appreciate it.
The educational aspect helps people to better understand the unique
ecological system of the island.
Santa Catalina Island and the other Channel Islands were never attached
to the mainland. They were formed
with the movement of tectonic plates and came up out of the ocean. Therefore, every species on the island
came by way of wind, wing, or wave.
The species present on the island before European contact are considered
to be the native species. Some of
these can be found in other places, but there are also species of plants and
animals that are endemic to the island.
Some plants have evolved over time to have different defense
mechanisms. Each and every species
on the island has a specific niche and a purpose in the ecosystem. Preserving the native species and
protecting the island from invasive species is extremely important. For example, in the early 20th
century, Mr. Wrigley (owner of the Chicago Cubs as well as Catalina Island)
introduced cattle, goats, pigs, and other large animals to the island to make
it a hunting destination. The
grasses were not high or thick enough to be grazed by such large animals,
considering the largest native animals are the foxes and squirrels. The land was overgrazed and destroyed
very quickly. The conservancy
removed the large animals in the 1970’s, with the exception of the deer because
they are too difficult to capture and control, and the bison because they are a
tourist attraction and can be kept to a manageable number. The Adventure Club sat through a
two-hour lesson with Alexa and Frank where they learned these facts and much
more. At the end of the lesson,
they were officially level one certified naturalists.
After
the lesson, the Adventure Club had the rest of the day to relax and explore. Cindy took them to the botanical
gardens to see some of the endemic plants and the mausoleum where Mr. Wrigley
was buried until his wife later moved his body. Then, the group went into the town to go grocery shopping and
explore. Then the group returned
to camp to help clean up the kitchen areas and sew the tents that had blown
open in a recent storm. When they
finished, they made spaghetti for dinner and then Tom built a fire. It was a little windy, so Erin was
worried, but everyone appreciated the warmth. Everyone was exhausted and ready for bed, but it was only
seven o’clock. Between the time
change and the early sunset made it difficult to stay up. Lex and Will decided to go to bed while
everyone else fought to stay awake.
But everyone still turned in before 8:30 PM.
Episode 3: Tuesday, January 8
The
day started bright and early again when Andrew came to pick up the Adventure
Clubbers. After a long night of
sleep most of them were well rested.
Some still had not adjusted to sleeping in the tent with the wind making
noise all night. Everyone was
excited to start the first service project of the week. They learned a little bit about Ben
Weston beach from Cindy, since it had been a recent subject of controversy. The beach is a spot that is kept to the
locals. Not many tourists know
about it or how to get there. The
controversy came about a few years ago when a storm wiped out the roadway that
led to the beach. It constantly
flooded, but this time the road was taken out completely. Locals wanted the roadway restored, but
the conservancy wanted to leave it.
The conservancy was able to win the battle, so now there is a mile hike
to reach the beach.
Andrew
parked the car and led the group to the trail and it was actually a beautiful
hike. When they reached the beach,
Andrew directed some volunteers to begin digging a hole to bury kelp. The amount of kelp on the beach
attracts and holds bugs and it can pollute the beach. Other volunteers searched the beach for plastic and other
garbage and found a variety of things ranging from rope to Styrofoam. It only took a few hours to clean the
beach, but it looked much better.
Andrew told the group that they consistently come out to the beaches to
maintain them, and would need to continue to do so in the coming months. Apparently, there is a huge dark spot
being tracked via satellite right now that is two miles wide and the length of
California. It is the debris from
the tsunami that hit Japan, and is due to wash up on the shores of Catalina
Island and California in the next few months. They have already found some items from the tsunami, but
they are waiting for the rest to come through.
After
they were done cleaning the beach, Andrew took the group to another beach to
eat lunch and look around. He
showed them Shark Harbor and Little Harbor where they were able to hike from
one beach to the other. They were
also able to explore a campground at Little Harbor that was once used as a
movie set, so it has a large number of non-native palm trees to make it look
like Tahiti.
Then
Andrew brought the Adventure Clubbers to Avalon for their day off. They took a semi-submarine tour to look
at the wildlife off the coast of the island. Then they went to get ice cream at Big Olaf’s, a popular ice creamery. After that the group got to go to Luau
Larry’s, and then back to the
campsite. Tom built another fire,
and once again everyone struggled to stay awake. The group got excited for the next day of service, which was
going to be their first full day project.
Episode 4: Wednesday, January 9 and Thursday, January 10
For
the next two days, the Adventure Clubbers worked with the Catalina Habitat
Improvement and Restoration Program, or CHIRP, to remove invasive plants. The first day started with an education
about the island that was more specifically geared toward understanding the
importance of removing the invasive plants. The problem that they addressed in their two days was the
growth of fennel. On day one, Tony
and Grant took the group to Thompson Reservoir. This area was treated with herbicides to kill most of the
fennel. The Adventure Clubbers
broke up into two groups to attack the fennel. The plants they were working with were small and sparse
because the area had been treated.
They were looking to remove the last of the fennel in the area. The biggest challenge faced by the
group was to stay motivated even when they weren’t
finding a lot of fennel. Everyone
was searching the area and climbing through the brush to find all of the
invasive plants they could. Some
dedicated members of the group even went through poison oak to try to find
fennel. However, it was not
intentional since none of the New Jerseyans really knew what poison oak looked
like in the winter. Many of them
are still paying for that mistake now…
On
the second day, the Adventure Club returned to Ben Weston beach with Grant and
Jeff to remove more fennel plants.
This time, the area had not been pretreated, so the plants were taller
than most of the group. Unlike the
day before, the fennel was easy to find, and it was all over. The group broke up into smaller teams
to attack the giant fennel bushes.
Walking through the area at the end of the day looked like a
battlefield. There were dead
fennel plants all over the place.
Ruthie led the group in a prayer for the departed fennel. After they were done, the Adventure
Club returned to camp.
Wednesday
and Thursday were the coldest and windiest nights the campers had seen. There were gale force winds with some
gusts over 50 miles per hour. On
Thursday, they couldn’t
even have a fire, and had to huddle in one tent to eat dinner and talk. The nights were so cold that many of
them stuffed their sleeping bags with their clothes – a trick they learned from Andrew to
keep warm. Since it was so cold,
windy, and dark, the Adventure Club went to sleep early yet again.
Episode 5: Friday, January 11 and Saturday, January 12
For
the last day of service in Catalina, the Adventure Club worked with the
nursery. The past two days were
spent removing all of the plants that invaded the island, so the group was
excited to be able to work with some of the plants that are native to the
island and help make it such a special and unique place. Cindy picked up the group and they went
to a campsite not far from theirs.
It was just a long and bumpy ride down into a valley. They were left with workers from the
nursery at the Catalina Marine Institute at Toyon, where they would be working
all day.
The
day started with some light weeding and mulching of an area where the nursery
had recently planted. Then the
group dug holes to put in new plants along a pathway at the institute. Rebecca helped demonstrate how to
properly dig the holes and plant so that the native plants would be able to
thrive. The dirt was dry, since
Catalina had not received a lot of rain in the past year, so the holes had to
be filled with water before the plants could be put in. The morning flew by, and when the group
finished digging, it was time for lunch.
The
marine institute was kind enough to give the group lunch, which is not
something they do all of the time.
They had heard about the Adventure Club from Andrew, and had seen
pictures of them on Facebook. Like
everyone else on the island, they extremely grateful to have volunteers come to
help them out. They gave the group
delicious food and then they went right back to work. After lunch, they went right back to work and put all of the
plants in the holes. It didn’t take very long for the area to
look much better and healthier.
Cindy picked up the group for the last time and drove them back to their
camp.
Everyone
helped with either cleaning the camp or cooking breakfast for dinner. Unfortunately, it was still too windy
to have a fire, so the group cuddled into the tent for reflection one last
time. It was bittersweet, since
everyone was ready to go home to his or her warm beds, but no one was excited
for the trip to end. The next
morning, the group woke up and reversed the long journey home- from the van, to
the ferry, to the shuttle, and finally the plane.
The Adventure Clubbers parted ways, but they decided they would come
together again for more service and outdoor trips. Now that they’re
level one naturalists, it is their responsibility to bring back what they learned
on Santa Catalina Island to New Jersey, and to help conserve nature at home. The campers also saw how passionate all
of the people of the conservancy were about their environment and home. The attitude toward their island was
inspiring. Each person felt that
they could make a difference and that the Adventure Club had played a great
role in helping in their mission. The
trip to the Catalina Conservancy was not only a service opportunity, but also
motivated the Adventure Club to look for ways they can bring the excitement and
passion back to New Jersey. They have
many adventures ahead, and I will be there to report them all. Until next time…
XOXO,
Camp Girl
