The Eagles have landed

VIC LEIPZIG AND LOU MURRAY

Russ Paxson is one of the leaders of Boy Scouts of America Troop 1 in

Huntington Beach. When he joined the troop at age 10, it was 1933.

Russ said that he’s been involved in scouting ever since, “except for

the war.” That’s quite a commitment to scouting.

We had the pleasure of meeting Russ Saturday when we worked with

Eagle Scout candidate Justin Legg on the first phase of Justin’s

habitat restoration project. We had permission from developer

Hearthside Homes to collect coastal prickly pear and coastal cholla

cactus from the south slope of Bolsa Chica mesa. We would give a

third of what we collected to the Bolsa Chica Conservancy for their

restoration of Little Mesa at Warner Avenue and Pacific Coast

Highway. The rest of the cactus will be planted next month in an oak

woodland habitat at Shipley Nature Center during Justin’s restoration

project.

We gathered in the parking lot by the Bolsa Chica Conservancy

Interpretive Center on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Justin was well

organized with a handcart, plenty of buckets, some hand clippers, and

kitchen tongs -- all hauled in Russ’ van. Tim Alvarez, who has been

active in scouting since 1958, brought along a machete. Justin’s

mother, Joyce Legg, joined us, along with scouts Alex Strayer,

brothers Colin and Chris Bill, Kevin Reichenthaler and his dad, Wayne

Reichenthaler.

We hiked from the parking lot south along Bolsa Chica mesa to the

tide-gate overlook, then east past the tall eucalyptus where great

blue herons nest in the spring. Kevin, the youngest member of the

group, did all the hard work of pushing the cart. Soon, our target

came into view. A wide area of the slope was covered with the thorny,

round pads of coastal prickly pear cactus.

Gathering the pads turned out to be simple. By grasping a pad with

kitchen tongs and twisting it, we were able to get an outer pad off

each plant easily. This pruning does not harm the cactus. We dropped

the cactus pads into either a metal bucket or a paper grocery bag.

But no matter how carefully we worked, there were occasional yelps as

sharp thorns found tender flesh. Collecting cactus isn’t for sissies.

The first patch was all prickly pear cactus, with no cholla in

sight. So was the second and third patch. Vic, Justin, Colin and

Chris went farther inland on a recon mission to search for cholla

while the rest of us turned around with the cart laden with cactus

pads.

Despite an intensive search, Vic and his party failed to locate

any cholla. We know that at least a few cholla had been growing at

Bolsa Chica last year. Their fate was a mystery. Perhaps they are

hiding underneath the rampant growth of bush sunflowers. Justin will

have to buy coastal cholla for his project.

Once we got back to the Warner Avenue parking lot, Joyce brought

out cold vanilla Cokes and delicious homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Maybe first-class treats such as these are one of the reasons Russ

has stayed with scouting for more than 70 years and Tim for nearly

50. With refreshments like that, anyone would love Scout outings.

Well, at least those of us who weren’t picking cactus thorns out of

our fingers had a good time.

Vic had a key to the Bolsa Chica Conservancy Interpretive Center,

so we went inside to admire the new cabinetry that Colin Bill

completed recently for his Eagle Scout project. The cabinets were a

big improvement over the odd collection of tables they replaced. The

table-height cabinets had plenty of room on top for display of the

skunk pelt that I picked up for the conservancy at an Indian Pow Wow

a few years ago. The cabinet tops also held displays of a coyote

pelt, a long gopher snake skin, several terrariums of live snakes,

and many natural objects. After we admired the fish and huge stone

crab in the marine aquarium, we drove to Shipley Nature Center to

drop off the cactus. The Friends of Shipley Nature Center haven’t

quite completed construction of their nursery, but it was functional

enough to hold our cactus until planting day.

Because habitat restoration is expensive, Eagle projects like

Justin’s are a Godsend to environmental groups. It’s small projects

like Justin’s that flesh out restoration and improve habitat at low

cost.

At Shipley Nature Center, most of the trees and some of the

thousands of shrubs that have been planted in the past two years were

installed as Eagle Scout projects. The trail markers and almost all

of the trail improvements were Eagle Scout projects, as well.

Eagle Scout candidates have to progress through the ranks of

scouting from Cub Scout, Webelos and Life Scout before they are

eligible to attempt an Eagle Scout project. They have to choose and

plan their projects, raise money to purchase materials or arrange to

have them donated, organize the workers, and supervise the

installation of the project.

The completion of an Eagle project is a big day in the life of a

Boy Scout. Over the years, Russ Paxson and Tim Alvarez have helped

many young Scouts attain the rank of Eagle Scout. How marvelous it is

to have people like them in our community to encourage and guide

young Scouts, while improving our environment.

* VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and

environmentalists. They can be reached at [email protected].