Taste for the Wild

This Saturday, a pair of “Plant Adventures” will be offered at two National Park Service sites in the Santa Monica Mountains: one is in a canyon above Encino and features dangerous native plants; the other is in the hills above Newbury Park and features edible native plants.

Dennis Chernoff will lead a 10 a.m. walking tour at the William O. Douglas Outdoor Classroom at Franklin Canyon Ranch, near Mulholland and Coldwater Canyon drives. A volunteer docent with 10 years of experience, Chernoff has become an expert in identifying and explaining wild plants of the area, including, he said, “the seven most poisonous plants in that canyon.”

He doesn’t worry, by the way, that kids who participate in his three-hour program will inadvertently come to harm by eating any of those nasty greens. “They all taste bad; there’s little chance of [their] being eaten by mistake,” he said.

Actually, Chernoff is vigilant as a guide and as an individual about plants. He has to be, because he is responsible not only for his charges but himself as well. “I got into this [giving tours] because of my allergies,” he said. By now, he has developed an ability to identify such a wide range of plants, he said, that this tour “is different each time--depending on what we encounter, what questions are asked and whether there are kids along.”

Also on Saturday, at the National Park Service’s Rancho Sierra Vista site near Newbury Park, Dana Deirkes, a veteran forest service ranger, will lead a hike and demonstration entitled, “Plant Uses--95% Fat Free.” This program, she said, will center on “taste treats from the outdoors.” Clearly, these are an entirely different group of plants.

“Plant Uses” is a new event, which Deirkes and fellow ranger CQuvator Gatson initiated earlier this year. It will be repeated Nov. 15 and Dec. 6.

The hike begins with a half-hour safety orientation in which, Gatson says, “We have to calm visitors down about the idea of eating wild plants.” There follows a half-hour hike to identify plants. Then, a final hour devoted to eating.

Yup, eating.

“It’s a lot of trouble for us, putting the program on,” Gatson said. She and her colleagues put out a native-plant-based picnic spread Saturday, which they’ve prepared at home and brought to the site in coolers. For her, presentation is important. “Why should folks just eat off the bush--we like things fixed up fancy,” she said.

By the way, it’s legal to eat native plants in a national park. “But if visitors take them out of the park, we’ll have to bust them for collecting” the plant material, Gatson warned.

The recipe books used by the rangers come from the University of California Press: “Edible and Useful Plants of California” by C.B. Clarke and “Early Uses of California Plants” by E.K. Balls.

Things like agave root, yucca petals, mustard greens and prickly pears may, as snacks go, seem unappetizing, no matter how well prepared. But the first time the rangers put on the program this spring some bicyclists showed up unexpectedly, and they were hungry from their exertions. “They ate everything we had prepared,” said Gatson. Either the food was very good or the bicyclists were very hungry. Or perhaps both.

Gatson pointed out another great feature. “The good thing about wild plants is that they’re all fat free--except nuts.”

BE THERE

“Plant Adventures,” hiking tour of Santa Monica Mountain flora above the Valley, including poisonous plants, Saturday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., William O. Douglas Outdoor Classroom in Franklin Canyon Park, 2600 Franklin Canyon Drive, near Beverly Hills; free. Calling for directions to the site is strongly recommended; (310) 858-3090.

“Plant Uses--95% Fat Free,” hike and taste treats from the outdoors, Saturday, 2 p.m., Rancho Sierra Vista Park/Satwiwa Site, 4122 W. Potrero Road (at Pinehill Road) Newbury Park, free. Information, (818) 597-9192, Ext. 201.