Audublog

Volunteers brave heat to make a better place for birds

Volunteers at the Audubon Center at Debs Park help turn urban park in a bird-friendly oasis.

Volunteers from TripAdvisor were hard at it on Tuesday at the Audubon Center at Debs Park. Photo: Natasha Khanna

In the midst of a heat wave, volunteers at Debs Park this week were hard at work removing invasive tocalote (Centaurea melitensis) and mustard (Brassica) plants. The volunteers from this past week hailed from TripAdvisor -- and their efforts were greatly appreciated. Now that the rainy season is over, the dry swath of invasive plants creates a golden landscape at Debs Park and are a potential fire hazard. The Audubon Center at Debs Park regularly partners with organizations like L.A. Works to bring volunteers to the park for restoration days. Eventually the Audubon Center at Debs Park will replant the hillside with native plants. However, native plants are hard to find in an economy that encourages non-native landscaping. That is why the center has partnered with the National Parks Service to create a native plant nursery from locally collected seeds. Audubon is committed to transforming our communities into places where birds and other wildlife can flourish. By creating bird-friendly communities, we can create environments where people flourish, too. 

Piling up the non-native plants for disposal. Photo: Natasha Khanna
Volunteer Leader Dave Mull leads the charge with piling the weeds. Photo: Natasha Khanna

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