Earth’s Angels : Young and Old, Ecology-Minded Honor Their Planet

The ecologically aware came with their children and ideals in tow Sunday to celebrate Earth Day at the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve and Regional Park.

For six hours, young and old alike filed in and out of the carnival-like setting to visit booths and exhibits and to experience a hands-on approach to honoring Mother Earth.

It marked the fifth annual event organized by the Upper Newport Bay Naturalists volunteer group in conjunction with the California Department of Fish and Game and the Orange County Harbors, Beaches and Parks department.

Cathy Nesselroad, 33, of Lake Forest, said the experience was important for her son, Matthew, 5.

“He needs to learn about the environment, all the plants and animals around him and how to take care of his environment,” Nesselroad said.

The festival, which drew about 2,500 visitors, featured information booths by organizations ranging from the Sierra Club to the Orange County Fund for Environmental Defense. There were also fish-touching tanks and face-painting stations, both popular with young people.

But perhaps no attraction drew more attention than two llamas, Duke and Windwalker, standing in a booth of their own near the water’s edge.

David and Cheryl Libby, who feel about their llamas the way most people feel about their house pets, were promoting better understanding of the gentle, humpless relatives of the camel.

“We’re backpackers,” explained David, a 32-year-old airplane mechanic. “We can put 80 pounds on the white guy and the other is good for about 40 pounds,” he said of the two llamas.

The Libbys, who live in Orange, have volunteered their llamas to carry provisions for the U.S. Forest Service when it surveys frogs, newts and other amphibians in the Angeles National Forest.

Cheryl Libby, also 32 and a dental technician, said she once had a horse. But “the horse hated my husband and my husband hated my horse.”

Replacing the horse with a llama not only appeased David, it provided a wonderful side effect.

“It was stress relief,” Cheryl Libby said. “I just sat down and listened to the llamas hum. They have a way about them. You stand out in the middle of the whole herd and you can’t help but relax.”

Nine-year-old Kimberly Carl of Irvine took a turn feeding Duke and Windwalker. She had never seen a llama, except in pictures.

It was like nothing she had ever felt before.

“It feels kind of weird,” Kimberly said. “It has a different feeling to it.”

Such an awareness--an appreciation for the natural surroundings--was an underlying theme at most booths and exhibits.

Not far from the humming llamas, Dr. Kathleen P. Hutton, a Newport Beach dermatologist, offered a word of caution.

“I’m not selling anything,” Hutton said. She was, however, giving away samples of sun block lotion provided by the product’s manufacturer.

Hutton’s booth was nearly as popular as the llama feeding station because of a small, boxlike gadget that allowed people to see via ultraviolet light the as-yet-unnoticeable damaged caused by sunlight on their faces.

Freckles, Hutton explained, are no more than mildly sun-damaged blotches of skin.

“The American Academy of Dermatology says no tan is healthy,” Hutton said.

Therefore, Hutton had ventured into the gathering of hundreds of Earth Day enthusiasts, knowing many of them spend much of their time outdoors, hiking, backpacking or bird-watching under the sun’s harmful rays.

“These are people who would be at more risk because they’ve been out in the sun,” she said.

On the plus side, she said, all forms of skin cancer can be cured if detected and treated early enough.

As many exhibitors might agree, Hutton knows awareness is only the first stage in the campaign to promote a cause. Hutton said she has a running debate with her husband, an orthopedic surgeon, over how much sun a person can be exposed to without harm.

“My husband, who has a tan, hides my sunscreen from me, by the way,” she said.