TOPANGA : Docents Seek Funds for Nature Center

When wildfires raged through the nature center on the old Stunt Ranch site, members of the Mountains Restoration Trust were focused on what they could save.

Now though, with the fires behind them, they are turning their attention to what was lost.

Nancy Helsley, president of the Cold Creek docents--volunteers who ran the Katharine Spensly Nature Education Center--said the program has always run on a shoestring budget that barely covers operational expenses. Now it’s faced with the burden of replacing the nature center building and much of its contents.

Helsley said the trust has not yet calculated the dollar loss from the fire, but she said they are hoping to build a new structure with indoor toilets on the property.

In early November, when the flames decimated the site, the docents evacuated schoolchildren and loaded their cars with microscopes, insect collections, stuffed animals and murals.

But they couldn’t prevent the charring of the renovated barn that served as the center, nor of the furniture, life-size statues, books and display cases it contained. Even the portable toilet on the site was destroyed.

The center was not insured, said Mountains Restoration Trust program director Jo Kitz.

Kitz said the trust, a nonprofit organization funded entirely through donations and grants, is exploring several options for replacing the losses.

Kitz said the donation requests were sent out this week. It’s too early to know how much the trust can raise through donations, she said.