Parks Project Takes On Aliso Wilderness: Planting Flora for Fauna

ALISO VIEJO, CA — An ongoing Parks Project in Laguna Canyon recently brought together area residents who wanted to do their part to green up the Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park. Partnering with the Laguna Canyon Foundation, the group planted a record-setting 229 native species plants. It's a drop in the bucket for one of the last remaining coastal canyon in Southern California.

Volunteers included Parks Project staff, community members, local fashion bloggers, and Laguna Canyon staff members, who helped plant native flora including buckwheat, prickly pear cacti, bush mallow, toyon, lemonade berry, and primose.

The Orange County park area was previously overgrown with mustard plant, which, if left unattended can overtake an area, killing off other native plants and invading the habitats of native wildlife.

This, part of a restoration project they like to call "Habitat Restoration in Orange County."

"Over the last years, the California drought has caused the only two lakes in the park to dry up. In the dry lake beds, many invasive weeds (like the horrible bull thistle, ouch!) have landed and claimed real estate. ¡No bueno!" they said on the Parks Project website. "By getting in and removing all of the invasive species we can hopefully help restore this lake habitat for the El Niño rains! A lot of wildlife benefit from this preservation include Mule Deer, Long-tailed Weasel, Bobcat, Red-tailed Hawk, and many more."

Planting these new species will prevent the mustard from overgrowing again, allow the current native species to flourish, and encourage wildlife to return to the previously overgrown and inhabitable area.

Socal-based Parks Project is an outdoor lifestyle brand that lives by the mantra, “leave it better than you found it.” Parks Project was born through a love of the outdoors and a vision to reinvigorate us all to care for and respect our U.S. National Parks.

Through its collection of classic men’s, women’s, and children’s apparel, home goods, and outdoor accessories, Parks Project is able to support 30 U.S. National Parks, funding vital projects inside each, and organize consumer and employee volunteer days.

Every Parks Project product not only tells a story about the park it supports, but contributes to habitat restoration, animal conservation, educational initiatives, and visitor services across America’s parks. Parks Project is an official partner of the U.S. National Parks, serves as a supporting business partner to the National Parks Foundation<http://www.nationalparks.org/>, is carried in over 100 retailers around the country, and will expand into all REI stores in the U.S. in Summer 2018. Shop and learn more at www.parksproject.us<http://www.parksproject.us/>

Photos, courtesy Parks Project