News of the Arroyo
Title: | Nature centers just unnatural |
Subtitle: | |
Date: | 2004-12-04 |
Summary: | December 4, 2004 - Editor Steve Scauzillo has his say about nature centers, their uses and usefulness. |
Author: | Steve Scauzillo |
Publication: | San Gabriel Valley Tribune |
Content: | THEY are curious affectations. Nature groups pour millions into buildings that sit alongside building-less nature preserves. Often, these same groups fight tooth and nail to prevent rooflines from spoiling mountain ridges. What gives? They may all be well and good, but the nature centers I\'ve been in at Whittier Narrows, Eaton Canyon and Monrovia Canyon are pretty pedantic. Before we pour millions into another one the next one to be built will be on the San Gabriel River let\'s take a look at what we\'re getting for our money. You know, the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District has poured a quarter million dollars into a future San Gabriel River Discovery Center. These are the same folks that many of you pay taxes to go ahead and check your property tax bill, which by the way, is due Friday. The Sanitation Districts (you also pay taxes to them) kicked in $100,000 for the river museum. The Central Basin Water District, not wanting to be outspent, recently announced it is donating $750,000 of cash toward the $15 million project. Monuments to water districts? Donors immortalized in stone and wood? You bet. Too often, these so-called nature centers are nothing more than banal buildings that advertise politicians\' names and are stuffed with useless paraphernalia. You\'ve seen them. They pop up along creeks, in the shadow of majestic canyons, beneath towering sequoias. But I\'ve never been all that wowed by them. These places are so less interesting than the surrounding terrain. God\'s creation always trumps man\'s. After a bike ride along the San Gabriel or down the Arroyo Seco, or after a hike to Eaton Canyon Falls, visiting them is like seeing a movie made from a great book you\'ve recently read. The film adaptation always pales in comparison. Take the Eaton Canyon one. It is so typical of the rest, with the giant stuffed birds and the stuffed and mounted mountain lion suspended from the ceiling, and the bank of fish tanks filled with lizards and snakes. Lions and tigers and snakes, oh my! The rest of the place contains glass cases of Polaroids of people who hike and watch birds. Not that inspiring. Neither are the trinkets sold at the front- and-center cash register. Isn\'t there a new thought, a newer, more dynamic design for the inside of nature centers? I am not just talking about architecture, which is important. But design should marry function. Nonprofits who work tirelessly to raise money for these things often put less time and effort into their function. There are many nature centers that do work. The Big Bear Discovery Center is chock full of useful things, such as docents who really answer questions about hiking and habitat, hand out trail maps and spread insider advice. One time, a ranger had his high-powered scope trained out the window on a nest of bald eagles. You could see the mother bird feeding her young. Now that\'s a nature center. Another one worth noting is the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana. There is a miniature river running through it, with sand that the children can move to dam it up or change its course. There is an exhibit on the history of weather, a sort of Fox program on natural disasters. The stuff is really interesting. I spoke with the Sierra Club\'s Jeff Yann, who is supervising the restoration of the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo rivers, as well as the plans for the nature center. He shared my concerns and said this one will have a fascinating story to tell. \"There\'s the story of the Whittier Narrows habitat and wildlife. The story of the people who settled there, where the Gabrielinos had villages and where the settlers built the first San Gabriel Mission, on the Rio Hondo next to the Montebello Hills.\' Yann says the church missionaries learned a lesson that remains true today. The San Gabriel, like many rivers in Southern California, appears dry in summer but floods in winter. When the waters rose on the first mission, they packed up and moved to San Gabriel. Nature centers must be alluring, hands on, interesting. Or they shouldn\'t be built at all. As a colleague shared, these places must pass the cool test: \"Would you want to go there if there was no river or canyon next door?\' -- Steve Scauzillo is the editorial page editor of the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group. Write him at 1210 Azusa Canyon Rd., West Covina, CA 91790, or by e- mail at steve.scauzillo@sgvn.com . |
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