Nature Center's Entryway Refurbished

Things are new at the El Dorado Nature Center.

The entryway and plaza at 7550 E. Spring Street have been newly built. Visitors celebrated the official unveiling during a dedication ceremony Saturday, May 20.

The renovations include a new gateway with a separate entrance for tour groups. New sidewalks line the ground with fresh overhead lighting for night-time guests.

A paved amphitheater for lectures, children’s field trips and special events was built with wooden benches for seating 80.

A number of trees were removed for the remodel and native saplings and foliage were planted. The bridge that connects to the Nature Center building is brand new and ADA-compliant. And a monument sign visible from Spring Street welcomes people to the park.

“It’s spectacular,” said Fourth District Councilman Daryl Supernaw, whose district includes the Nature Center. “It’s just absolutely perfect; the amphitheater; everything. It’s just great.”

Supernaw worked with the Nature Center during his two years in office and said completion of the pedestrian bridge, entryway and plaza caps off a series of improvements.

The entry plaza plan started in late 2014 when Patrick O’Donnell was fourth district councilman.

Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia attended the dedication ceremony. In a statement released a few days before the event, he said, “El Dorado Nature Center is truly a historic place that has been connecting people and nature for over 48 years. This beautiful new entryway and plaza adds more function and flexibility to further these connections and to foster a sense of respect, understanding, and stewardship of the natural world.”

Three sources of funding paid for the improvements.

A press release states, “The new entryway and plaza was funded with $200,000 from California Proposition 84 through the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, $30,000 from the Center for Natural Land Management and $1,215,000 in general funds approved by Long Beach City Council as part of the FY13 and FY14 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) budgets.”

While the entryway and plaza are new, the park and trails beyond the pedestrian bridge remain unchanged, said Nature Center volunteer Stan Edwards.

“Everything beyond the bridge is beyond 47 years old,” he said.

Edwards said when the Nature Center was being developed in the late 1960s, dirt was brought in from nearby freeway construction and used to set the park’s hills and valleys. Then trees and bushes were planted.

“The Nature Center started out as a bean field (over) 47 years ago and now you would not recognize it today,” Edwards said. “It’s a piece of heaven as far as I’m concerned, in the middle of the city.”

Many animals live freely within the park’s 105 acres of protected space, which includes lakes and a stream. The creatures sometimes are witnessed by visitors walking the trails.

Daytime animals include 150 species of birds – some of which are migratory – rabbits, squirrels, many insects, gophers, turtles, snakes and lizards. Some of the turtles are native while others are not, said Nature Center Naturalist Erin Kellogg.

Nocturnal animals mainly come out at night and include skunks, owls, raccoons, bats and insects such as moths, she said. Coyotes can come and go as they please. They can scale a fence.

“A lot of important stuff goes on at night in the dark,” Kellogg said.

As annual pass holders, Lyndsey Zapalac visits the Nature Center a few times per week with her 5-year old son, Merric.

Zapalac said she likes the renewed entrance. “It’s very welcoming and open.”

She asked her son what he wants to be when he grows up and he responded: “A naturalist.”

Merric said the red-shouldered hawk is his favorite.

Trails at the El Dorado Nature Center are open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. The museum hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

The Nature Center is closed Mondays, July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Vehicle entry is $5 Monday through Thursday, $6 Friday, $7 weekends and $8 on holidays. Pedestrians and bicyclists enter free.

Various nature programs, special events, classes and volunteer opportunities take place during the year including “Friday Night Walks,” “Meet Your Backyard Butterflies,” “Nature Kids Discovery Camp,” “Out of the Wilds and Into Your Garden” lecture series, “Drawing in Nature,” “1st Saturday Stewards” service and learning opportunity, and others.

For more information, people can visit www.lbparks.org and click on El Dorado Nature Center.

kirt@beachcomber.news