Endangered Shaw’s Agave Gets Room To Breathe

Endangered Shaw’s Agave Gets Room To Breathe

Boy Scouts from Troop 801 re-route fence for endangered agave

 

Shaw's Agave.

We care about plants at the Living Coast Discovery Center as much as the animals in our care.  On Dec. 27th, eight Eagle Scouts from Troop 801 came to the Living Coast to assist our Horticulturalist Mark Valen with a prickly problem. Our Shaw’s Agave, an endangered plant, was growing onto the fence that separates it from the general public.

Jacob Blauser and his friends rerouted the fence, removed a large Salt Bush, and replaced it with plants that will provide good habitat for birds and provide a better view from our outdoor classroom.  Eagle Scouts plan and execute community projects in keeping with their code, of which conservation is a leading principal.

Jacob, who can be seen third from the right in the “After” photo, planned to be here for two days. With a lot of help from his friends, the task was completed in one.  Thanks Jacob, and friends — and Troop 801 in Coronado — for being South Bay Proud!

For more information on Shaw’s Agave and Jacob’s Troop, visit these links: Shaw’s Agave and Troop 801.  More photos follow…

 

Did you know? Other names for Shaw’s Agave include Coastal Agave and Agave shawii. They can be found along the Pacific coast of Baja California, extending north into the coastal chaparral of southernmost California.

Christmas Bird Count

Christmas Bird Count at Sweetwater Marsh

and the Living Coast Discovery Center

The Living Coast Discovery Center — along with some intrepid volunteers — participated in the Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count on December 20, 2014.

Some of the most notable sightings included a Tundra Swan, an adult Reddish Egret and adult Little Blue Heron, which is the first recorded on the refuge. Unfortunately, some species continue to decline, including Costa’s Hummingbird which used to breed around the Living Coast, but now appears to have vanished, and Loggerhead Shrike was missed again after being recorded for several straight years, a sign of its serious decline throughout the county.

Here at LCDC, three birders headed out at 11am and finished at 2pm. Living Coast volunteers Jeanne Raimond, Judy McIntosh and Lura Cox took the refuge road and walked for a mile and a half on the trails surrounding the exterior of the center. Here’s what they saw.