-
Nov 21, 2007 8:15 pm US/Pacific
-
Digg |
Facebook |
E-mail
|
Print
Preserving the Bay Area's Native Plants
Jefferson Award Winner: Charlice Danielsen
(CBS 5)
Charlice Danielsen points at a leafy green plant.
"One of my favorites," she says.
It's surprising she can even pick a favorite when there are more than six thousand species of plants native to California.
But Charli, as everyone calls her, has spent more than thirty years studying, collecting, saving and educating the public about native plants. Fifteen years ago, she sprouted the idea that became the Native Here Nursery. Almost all of this she's done as a volunteer.
"Well I usually log between a thousand and fifteen hundred hours a year just on Native Here," she explains. "And there's all the time spent on the phone, going to meetings -- meetings, meetings, meetings!"
Over the years, Charli has recruited scores of other volunteers for the nursery, located in a remote corner of Berkeley's Tilden Park. Janice Bray has been one of Charli's volunteer angels for 20 years.
"It's easy to work around her. She's an inspiration to everybody. She inspires me to learn more, to plant more natives in my yard, get rid of my non-natives," Janice says with a laugh.
Charli and the volunteers collect and sow seeds from every native plant growing in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. The plants are then arranged by the areas they come from so landscapers, homeowners and others can purchase the species that will grow best in their cities.
"I like to get the stuff that is grown from seed here because I know it's going to survive better here," says customer Fred Andres.
And native plant survival means others in the eco-system will survive, too.
"The plants determine which animals you have," explains Charli. "It all starts with them having a place to live and something to eat."
Losing habitats for insects and animals and destroying the uniqueness of a place is what makes Charli sad every time she sees a new development clearing away native plants.
Charli says, "Sometimes we can get some changes made. We had a huge conservation success with Livermore, when the developer wanted to get the general plan changed and we did a lot of meeting and they decided not to change that plan, so the development did not go in."
Native plants were saved and Charli planted one more seed in her vision for the future.
What inspires her?
"Knowing that there may still be some wild places left when my grandson grows up, that it's not all going to be paved over, it's not all going to be homes and businesses, that there will be parks and the parks will have native plants in them," she says.
For her dedication to preserving and propagating California's native plants and educating the public about their importance, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Charlice Danielsen.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)