Banner Photo
      
In This Issue
PHOTO GALLERY - JEEP ECO TOUR: FOUR-WHEELING INTO THE WILDS
FROM THE FIELD - BATTLE AGAINST INVASIVES WAGED ON ISLAND
FROM THE FIELD - EDUCATION DEPARTMENT REACHES OUT TO KIDS
PARTICIPATE - PARTICIPATE
PARTICIPATE - ARTIST BEN FENSKE WORKS IN WILD SIDE
PARTICIPATE - WATER BOTTLE SPECIAL AT EXPLORE STORE
PARTICIPATE - CIC MARATHON REGISTRATION STILL OPEN
PARTICIPATE - GRAN FONDO COMES BACK TO THE ISLAND
Calendar
For more information on all of these Conservancy events, and more, click here.

Saturday, April 14, 2012
17th Annual Catalina island Conservancy Ball. Sponsorships available, tickets on sale.

June 22 - 23, 2012

2nd Annual Catalina: The Wild Side Art Show and Sale     

Marathon logo
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Catalina Island Conservancy Marathon. Register HERE.
 
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Catalina Island Conservancy Half Marathon. For more information, seeHERE.

AIRPORT IN THE SKY

Second Saturdays
 Historic Aircraft Display Day at Airport in the Sky 

VOLUNTEER

Thursdays
7:30 a.m. to noon
Volunteer at the James H. Ackerman Native Plant Nursery
[email protected]

 

Second Saturdays
Windward Beaches Cleanup
 
ISLAND CALENDAR

To check out the complete Catalina Island Chamber of Commerce events calendar, click HERE.

Avalon Casino
 
Saturday, February 25, 2012
31st Annual Avalon Harbor Underwater Cleanup

April 21, 2012
Earth Day on Catalina
Location to be announced

May 4 - 6, 2012
2nd Annual Santa Catalina Island Film Festival. For more information, click [email protected].


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March 2012
 

Greetings!   

  

In its 40th Anniversary year, the Conservancy wants you to be a part of the festivities at the annual Conservancy Ball! The 2012 Conservancy Ball - History in the Making - will take place on Saturday, April 14, in the beautiful Avalon Casino Ballroom. The Ball is the largest single fundraising event that the Conservancy holds each year. We ask that 40th Anniversary Logoyou consider joining us as a Ball Sponsor for this special year. The success of the Ball and the funding of many Conservancy programs are dependent upon the generosity of supporters like you. We hope you will participate this year as we partner with Balboa Yacht Club to present an exciting evening. For information about tickets and sponsorships, go to www.catalinaconservancy.org and click the Ball logo.

 

Banner photo: 


Diverse Interior Landscape -- Jeep Eco Tours get you up close and personal with Catalina's wild landscapes. This view, from this month's Photo Gallery, looks west from Airport Road across Cape Canyon Reservoir toward several small, jagged peaks, including the pointy Castle Rock, near dead-center in the photo. The yellow flowers in the foreground are bush sunflowers (Encelia californica). The silver foliage in the lower right corner is St. Catherine's lace (Eriogonum giganteum var. giganteum), a Catalina Island endemic shrub. The Conservancy's supervisor of the James H. Ackerman Native Plant Nursery, Peter Dixon, points out that this image depicts three of Catalina's most common habitat types - the dark green of island chaparral, the low gray of coastal sage scrub, and the bright green of grassland.  

 

Photo by Jack Baldelli

PHOTO GALLERY

JEEP ECO TOUR: FOUR-WHEELING INTO THE WILDS

Flora and fauna emerging in late winter      

       

By Katelyn Horn and Bob Rhein    

 

The Conservancy's Jeep Eco Tours into the Catalina Island wildlands offer some of the best opportunities to see

spectacular plants in full late-winter and early-spring
Cat and Shark Harbors - This magnificent view of Catalina's windward side from Ranch Escondido Road depicts Little Harbor just beyond the near landscape, and the ocean out from Catalina Harbor with the West End in the distance. Magnificent views on Catalina Island come with or without flowers and wildlife. Photo by Stuart Palley
bloom. In a Conservancy enclosure in Avalon Canyon grow tall and luscious specimens of Island Ceanothus, currently in bloom with white and pale blue flowers. On Divide Road wafts the strong scent of black sage from small circular bundles of light purple flowers. Also, the hybrid grey sage is prevalent in areas where black and white sage grow next to each other!  Click HERE for more on this story... For an array of images of the flowers and other wildlife encountered at this time of year, please see this month's Photo Gallery by Stuart Palley unless otherwise noted - by clicking HERE.

 

FROM THE FIELD

BATTLE AGAINST INVASIVES WAGED ON ISLAND

Pistil-packing invaders kept at bay by CHIRP              

Lupine

Bush Lupine Preserved -
An American Conservation Experience (ACE) team leader (named Katherine Mortenson, originally from Denmark) stands next to bush lupine, a perennial native plant and important component of coastal sage and chaparral habitat on the island. Bush lupine can be outcompeted by invasives, such as genista, and can gradually disappear from the landscape when invasives take over. Catalina Island Conservancy file photo



By Linda Farley
Conservation Department Operations Manager

The Catalina Habitat Improvement and Restoration Program, commonly known as CHIRP, is the front-line protection for Catalina's wildlands from invasive plants. Invasive plants are species of non-native plants which adversely affect the habitats they invade. The harm from invasives can be gauged economically, environmentally, and/or ecologically.

Invasives can out-compete native plants for resources such as nutrients, light, physical space, water and/or food. Many of the invasives that CHIRP battles have extremely long taproots, which enable them to access water unavailable to Catalina's natives. Successful colonizations by non-native plants disrupt ecosystems when important host plants for native pollinators are lost. Ecological harm also occurs when plant food sources for the island's native animals are reduced in range and population size, and when soil conditions are altered and seed-banks of native plant species gradually decline and disappear. In short, invasive plants can and will drastically change the appearance, species composition, and ecology of Catalina - if left unchecked. To read more, click HERE
FROM THE FIELD

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT REACHES OUT TO KIDS

Involvement is the key to understanding

    

Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may not remember. Involve me and I'll understand.  ~  Native American Saying

By Rich Zanelli
Education Department Programs Specialist

Before they reach middle-school age, the students from

Investigating a Spider Web -
Kindergarteners take special interest in getting a close look at a spider web. The Conservancy's Education Department emphasizes a close-look, hands-on approach to nature.
Photo by Rich Zanelli
Avalon will have had no fewer than six experiences with Catalina's natural wonderland and the Conservancy's Education staff.  In addition to getting to spend time in places where they may have never before been, students actively participate in projects, sometimes right alongside Conservancy experts who perform the work on a daily basis.

Whether they are participating in Kids In Nature, Island Scholars, or any of the Conservancy's other place-based, immersive programs, students learn about habitat, seed dispersal, erosion, native and invasive plants, and many other topics that relate to the conservation, education and recreation aspects of the Conservancy's mission.  Along the way, students get to know, love and care about their Island home.  What's more, they begin to see themselves as the next generation of Catalina's stewards. Learn more HERE.

PARTICIPATE

LET US KNOW HOW TO BETTER SERVE READERS

Free Gift for taking Online Update survey

               

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Online Update - This monthly communiqu� brings you news of the Conservancy's successes, activities, and developments. Click above to complete the survey - and win a free gift from the Conservancy
The Catalina Island Conservancy offers its readers a free gift this month for taking the survey concerning Online Update to better understand the needs of our readership. Please take a few moments to give us your feedback so that we can present the news, images, features and events that particularly interest you about the Catalina Island Conservancy and its exciting work to protect and restore Catalina Island's eco-systems -- by clicking HERE.

PARTICIPATE

ARTIST BEN FENSKE WORKS IN WILD SIDE

Plein Air devotee to join 10 other artists

               

By Bob Rhein 

Art for the Island's sake is always the theme at the heart of Catalina: The Wild Side, the art show and sale benefiting the Conservancy, which will be seen in its
Ben Fenske Self-Portrait

Ben Fenske Self-Portrait -
Nine returnees from last year's Wild Side exhibit will join three artists new to the event: Fenske, Karl Dempwolf and Andy Evansen.
Portrait courtesy of Ben Fenske
second annual incarnation from 2 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 23, at the Catalina Island Country Club.

Ten renowned artists from across the country will display their plein air artwork created exclusively on Catalina Island. Three artists new to The Wild Side will show this year. Two of them, Karl Dempwolf and Andy Evansen, were profiled in February's Online Update. The other artist new to the event, in which the artists' works portray aspects of Catalina's wildlands, is Ben Fenske.

Born in Minnesota, Fenske first studied painting in Minneapolis with Joseph Paquet and Peter Bougie before moving to Italy to study at the Florence Academy of Art. He now paints in New York and Italy and has produced a varied and accomplished body of work that includes landscapes, portraits and still lifes. Find out more about Ben Fenske HERE.
PARTICIPATE

WATER BOTTLE SPECIAL AT EXPLORE STORE

Perfect for lunch boxes, hiking wildlands

          

Water bottles
Slaking in Style - Earth Lust water bottles in a variety of colorful designs are available in the Explore Store in Avalon. Photo by Scott Dennis   
The famous and very stylish Earth Lust water bottles in various colors and pro-environmental design are 20 percent off their regular prices at the Explore Store, 125 Clarissa Avenue, in Avalon. Prices are $14.36 for 13-ounce bottles, $15.96 for 20-ounce bottles and $17.56 for one-liter models.

Made from strong stainless steel and with a hardy carabineer for clipping onto a hiking pack, these bottles are perfect for hiking the wildlands and for lunch boxes. Call (310) 510-2595, extension 100, to place an order, or for more about Explore Store items and deals.

PARTICIPATE

CIC MARATHON REGISTRATION STILL OPEN Jeep Eco Tour deal available for medalists

              

Marathon LogoThe Catalina Island Conservancy Marathon will be run on Saturday, March 10, 2012. This event will feature the exciting marathon course used historically on the Catalina Island Conservancy lands, including much of the rugged terrain, spectacular vistas and special challenges enjoyed by Hans Albrecht and friends in the earliest days of the event under his management. Come to the Conservancy House, 125 Clarissa Avenue, Avalon, and show us your medal, and you'll get 20 percent off on a Jeep Eco Tour and any purchases in the Explore Store that day. Register for the race now by clicking HERE.  

PARTICIPATE   

ISLAND'S FIRST GRAN FONDO COMING IN MAY 

Cyclists gear up for three-tier May event         

                                                                

Three distinct routes will be used for Catalina's first ever Gran Fondo race, offering something for cyclists of all ages and abilities. A percentage of proceeds from the race will help to fund protection and restoration of Catalina's wildlands.

 

The routes include the 50-plus-mile route out to Two Harbors ($99), Middle Island Route of 35-plus miles ($80) and the Ridgeline Route of 12-plus miles ($50). Registration (click HERE) for the Saturday, May 12 event ends on Thursday, May 10. For more information on the U.S. Cup Mountain Bike Race Series, click HERE.

 

 

We hope you've enjoyed this update. Thank you for your continued interest and participation in the work of the Conservancy. 

 

Sincerely,

 

Leslie Baer Signature

Leslie C. Baer
Chief of Educational Outreach and Marketing, Catalina Island Conservancy

Members Services: [email protected]
Conservancy House: (310) 510-2595 x 114