Vision
Back to Natives assists in the recovery of Orange County’s biodiversity through the restoration of open spaces, and the development of habitat gardens. Our environmental education programs educate students and community members about the importance of native plants and biodiversity. Through our efforts we increase public understanding and appreciation of our quickly diminishing resources, and as a result, inspire the public to use wilderness resources wisely and respectfully, and to assist in the effort to protect our wildland areas. Back to Natives works to create public awareness of the rich environmental resources the County and the State have to offer, and the need to preserve them for generations to come.
Goals
- Restore open space (private and publicly held land) with appropriate plant species, while reaching out to the community through restoration-based education programs and volunteer opportunities.
- Coordinate with land managers to provide service-learning programs using curriculum aligned with the California state science and social science standards.
- Assist land managers with the recruitment, training and retaining of volunteers to assist with the task of restoration and education at their sites.
- Promote native plant gardening to local schools and public facilities.
Restoration sites and habitat gardens provide additional habitat for arthropods and birds, while promoting awareness of and public support for the protection of wild, open space. While not everyone is interested in providing habitat for animals, interest in native plants is on the rise due to health concerns and saving money. Many of the synthetic pesticides used agriculturally and in conventional gardens contain suspected carcinogens and/or mutagens (a "mutagen" is a chemical that causes mutation, for example, a birth defect). The negative public health consequences of synthetic chemicals are not limited to pesticides. Fertilizer run off is known to foul water supplies, create algae blooms and kill fish, etc. Landscaping with natives eliminates this risk because chemical pesticides and fertilizers are not required.
