Youths Explore Greener Side of Life at the Beach

If anyone wanted to pave over any part of the rocky shore at Leo Carrillo State Beach, they’d have to first get through 9-year-old Laura Claire Lombardi.

And 7-year-old Ryder Brown.

And 12-year-old Vaughn Calandra.

Don’t underestimate them because of their ages, either. Thanks to the state parks department’s Ecokids day camp, they and dozens of other youngsters ages 7 to 12 are armed with all of the information they need to argue against any development proposed for the state beach at Ventura County’s border with Los Angeles County.

They can tell you about the marine life in the tide pools that would be vulnerable to contamination from runoff. Or the importance of undeveloped land in the canyons for wildlife you can’t see anywhere else. Or how the water quality in the creek and the native coastal sage scrub habitats could become polluted.

Camp organizers hope the lessons learned by the 15 or so youngsters who take part in the one- to five-week summer program will come in handy later in life, when they may sit on some governing board and be confronted with such land-use controversies.

And, not surprising for a camp targeted at environmental lessons, these kids appear to be firmly on nature’s side. Vaughn of Newbury Park said he would oppose any construction near the coastal zone.

“I wouldn’t like that--it’s not a nice idea,” the boy said. “This place saves a lot of wildlife that would be taken over by roads.”

The Leo Carrillo beach program, in its second year, is one of only a few day camps in Southern California tightly focused on conservation, said state park interpreter Cara O’Brien, who developed and coordinates Ecokids. Enrollment is up this year, she said, and the program is also offering scholarships for those who can’t afford the $100 weekly fee.

“It’s really important for them to realize that parks are there and vital to their survival, and they can see how everything is connected,” she said. “It’s great because with a long-term program, you can really make an impact. By the end of the week, it’s their park. They feel invested.”

Parents agree.

“It’s good, because they don’t just put them in the water like other programs do,” said Ventura County resident Rena Patterson, whose son, Hunter, 12, is enrolled. “He’s told us all about the wild animals they saw, and yesterday they built a solar oven--it was cool.”

Malibu resident Hiroshi Saito said of his 12-year-old daughter, Wren: “She’s learning how to save the ocean and save the forests--and that I like.”

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In Ecokids, activities are pegged to daily themes, O’Brien said. Mondays, leaders cover the sage scrub habitat and the watershed. Tuesdays focus on intertidal habitats. Wednesdays, the kids learn about the open ocean, and Thursdays deal with linking humans to natural resources. Fridays include a wrap-up lecture and often a guest speaker, ranging from archeologists to members of Santa Monica’s Heal the Bay environmental group.

“It’s very fun,” said Tristan Hediger, 9, who lives just north of the state beach. “I learned all about the tide pools and that the animals have different adaptations.”

On Wednesday, the attentive group learned about the kelp forest that flourishes off the coast and the grunion--silvery fish famous for midnight runs from the ocean to the sand, where they lay their eggs.

For the kelp lesson, O’Brien explained the components of a piece of seaweed and helped the kids form a “human kelp chain.” Laura Claire of Oxnard was thrilled to be chosen as a “float,” the piece of the kelp chain that keeps the plant at the water’s surface.

“It’s kind of like wet oxygen,” she said.

Pepperdine University biologist Karen Martin talked about how larvae grow into adult organisms and helped the day campers hatch grunion eggs in paper cups filled with sand and water.

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Aimee Hamel, 8, of Malibu marveled at the grunion larvae.

“We tried to see them once before, but we didn’t find any,” she said, satisfied with the tiny swimming creature she witnessed come into the world.

Even playtime has an eco-twist. Between lessons, the youngsters play games like “Steal the Eel” and “Find the Tree.”

To test the campers on what they have learned, O’Brien’s husband--a building inspector in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties--will drop by Friday, posing as a developer who wants to build condos in the state park.

The kids will have to explain why he should or shouldn’t be able to do so.

“Of course we need housing, but you wouldn’t want to build it in a pristine environment like Leo Carrillo, with resources that have been protected for decades,” O’Brien said. “That’s what we want to teach them.”

FYI

The Ecokids program at Leo Carrillo State Beach runs weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. through July 28. Information: (805) 488-1827.