Exploring with Kids

It’s late on a hot summer night. I want my 3-year-old to lie down and sleep.

He won’t — he’s busy nesting. Perched atop his scrunched-up blue blankie, he informs me “I can’t lie down, my eggs will get cold.” I suggest he keep them warm by lying on top of them. “They’ll break!” he wails.

I’m guessing he was a sea turtle that night, because a recent trip to a turtle rescue center had made a big impression on him. But he could just as easily have been a flamingo or an alligator. Could there be anything cuter than Mateo pretending he’s an animal? Well, yes

Read the rest of my story from the September, 2010 issue of Arroyo Monthly Magazine.

Family Nature Walk

Explore LA's Franklin Canyon Park

Franklin Canyon is a great spot for a family outing. Our visit here began a stop at the nature center to pick up a park map. Then we strolled around "Heavenly Pond." It's brimming with turtles! Most of them aren't native. (I'm not sure any are, but a docent here has recorded a sighting of one Western Pond Turtle.) All the more reason not to worry that my son got this close to the turtles. (I'd never let him approach Western Pond Turtles as I'm especially concerned not to disturb native species.) Even so, your child should not touch any turtles. For one, we want to respect all wildlife. Two, turtles carry salmonella.  

The pond was also full of ducks: mallards, wood ducks and mandrins. This very short trail is paved and accessible to people with disabilities (also good for strollers). For best wildlife viewing, arrive early before the weekend crowds. Also, check out the native plants along the trail, including this monkey flower.

Franklin Canyon is home to smorgasbord of local and exotic plants from oaks to palms and redwoods (which don't occur naturally in So Cal). Next, we meandered the trails that rim the upper reservoir. We listened to the bird chatter coming from the cattails rimming the lake, and watched a red tailed hawk circling overhead. 

Finally, we returned to the Sooky Goldman Nature Center. Never pass up a nature center.  At this one, our son enjoyed an exhibit where he pressed a button to make a stuffed mountain lion roar. I peeked at the log where docents and visitors record the critters they've seen. Quite a few folks had seen bobcats. I surprised to find "mountain lion" on the list. I scoffed at the idea to a park ranger, only to find out he was the one who saw it. (Mountain lions are extremely rare in the Santa Monica Mountains.)

The Mountains Recreation & Conservation Authority offers a variety of nature walks and activities for kids at Franklin Canyon Park.  

Other notable trails:  The short Discovery Trail and 2.3 mile Hastain trail. You can also hike (or drive) from this park--crossing Coldwater Canyon Blvd--to Coldwater Canyon Park and the Tree People Center for Community Forestry.

Franklin Canyon Park

2600 Franklin Canyon Drive

Beverly Hills, CA  90210

310-858-7272

You can also enter the park near intersection of Coldwater Canyon and Mulholland Drive, i.e. from the San Fernando Valley.

Park map and directions.

TIPS FOR FINDING YOUR WAY

From Studio City, drive up Coldwater Canyon to its intersection with Mulholland. You'll see Coldwater Canyon Park on your left; that's not what you want. Instead make a gentle right onto Franklin Canyon Drive (the sign is hard to see). A sharp right would shunt you onto Mulholland. Drive down the road and turn left into the parking lot by the nature center. "Heavenly Pond" and Upper Franklin Reservoir are a short walk down the road you drove in on.

So Close and Yet So Far Away

EXPLORE THE VERDUGOS

This dudleya is one of the many gorgeous blooms you can see in Stough Canyon in the spring. The nearby nature center makes this a sweet destination. But I wouldn’t hike this with little kids, simply because the trail is so steep. It’s also quite hot in summer. However, after huffing and puffing up the big hill, you’re rewarded with good views of Burbank and the Verdugo Mountains. I’ve trekked here a couple of times in spring with botanist Ileene Anderson. We say nearly a hundred species of wildflowers, including wooly bluecurls;6-foot-tall scarlet delphiniums; caterpillar phacelia (they have curved, fuzzy, purple flowers); golden-back ferns; bright red members of the carnation family called "Indian pinks"; elegant clarkia, monkey flower, and California sunflower (encelia).

Stough Canyon Nature Center: 2300 Walnut Avenue, Burbank

From the 5 Freeway, exit Magnolia Blvd. Turn right on Magnolia (heading toward the hills). Turn left on Sunset Canyon, then right on Walnut Avenue. Follow Walnut until it ends at the nature center. The trail is to the left of the center.

On one of our hikes here botanist Ileene Anderson said, “I’d really love for everyone in California to recognize that we don’t have to go to a rainforest to find biodiversity, you simply have to get out into California open space, and you can have the same experience.”

We stopped to listen to a towhee twitter. She reminded me, “If it wasn’t for plants none of the rest of us would be here, because [we can’t] capture the energy of the sun and turn that into carbon-based living materials, which are the food that everything else eats. If it wasn’t for plants, there wouldn’t be any oxygen in our atmosphere. Their generosity is the reason we can live here. So I have great respect for them.”

I asked her if rare plants have the same legal protection that endangered animals do. She shook her head. “Unfortunately, they don’t. Under the state and federal endangered species acts, plants are what I consider second-class citizens. If a development is going to wipe out all the plants on a site, and it doesn’t jeopardize the plant to the point of extinction, then there’s really nothing the [wildlife officials] can do about that.”

For more on native plants, check out my Southland Ecology and Gardening posts.

Recommended reading: California Native Plants for the Garden by Carol Bornstein, David Fross, and Bart O’Brien.

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