When Jan D. Wellik ends her nature writing workshops at the Point Loma Native Plant Reserve, she traditionally invites students to donate a line from their individual observations to create a group poem.
The founder and director of Eco Expressions, a program designed to reach out to local youths, Wellik offers the workshops to underscore a powerful point: Preservation of nature and the written word are a collaborative blend because the gardens and stories will not bloom from a solitary hand, she said.
On a recent afternoon, standing on the sloping hill of the reserve, lush and colorful with foliage from February’s rains, just above the din of traffic on Nimitz Boulevard, Wellik held just such a workshop during which participants of the day contributed in the mesh of nature and spirit:
Yellow caps floating in the sea of textured greens
the hues of a verdant rainbow
Sky hazy cream and light pale blue
cirrus clouds bellow by
Inner-city park is a little sanctuary
for humans, birds and insects
Full and thick with wonder
black sage a whirl of buds
The moment is one like so many she uses to touch the lives of young people and create inspiration and passion for nature.
“Through the healing powers of nature and writing, students improve academic and behavioral performance,” said Wellik, an environmental journalist with a writing degree from Middlebury College.
Wellik has just has published a new book entitled “Nature Writing Field Guide for Teachers.”
The 50-page guidebook ” with more than 75 nature writing and art activities ” offers young people a chance to explore the wonders of the natural world while expanding literary and creative expression. The 6-by-9-inch book is easy to use in the field and is available for $25.
Elementary, middle and high school students are empowered with the task of preservation through writing, Wellik said. Students observe and actively participate in the outdoors while learning about the history of place.
Though geared toward students, Wellik’s workshops are appropriate for adults and flourish with reminders of the world around, specifically San Diego’s biodiversity, which, in this case, is tucked neatly into an urban oasis between a major thoroughfare and residential dwellings. For her workshop at the reserve, Wellik is joined by John Nobel from Coastal Sage, a garden center in Point Loma that, among other things, also teaches botany to children. While Wellik instructs writing, Nobel provides an education on plants and a history of the reserve.
The Point Loma Native Plant Reserve “” accessible at Mendocino and Greene streets in Ocean Beach “” is part of Collier Park, which consists of about 6.7 acres of open space on both sides of Nimitz Boulevard. With its pedestrian veneer, the park is a neighborhood workhorse of fields used for youth baseball, soccer and day camps on one side and the reserve on the other.
Collier Park is named after Col. D. Charles Collier, who, according to the San Diego Historical Society, was a developer and builder. Collier, who died in 1934, left an imprint on San Diego through his business, government and philanthropic endeavors, among them donation of a wide swath of land to the city in the early 1900s.
By 1970, Collier’s donated land was fast disappearing to development. According to Nobel, the Point Loma Garden Club stepped in and insisted that the “asphalt of society” be stopped. On Sept. 21, 1972 the park was officially dedicated. In the 1980s, the Point Loma Garden Club, California Native Plant Society and community members set aside a portion of the park to grow California trees and plants. Individual members of the garden club labored to install the native landscape that gives the park its moniker.
Today, the reserve is tended by the San Diego River Park Foundation and has evolved into a plant haven “” native with a few interlopers that just take up seed “” with areas of cactus and succulent, coastal sage scrub and chaparral. All the greenery gets deserved attention during Wellik’s workshop as she encourages her class to “zoom out” “” or to look around with a wide-lens view ” and “zoom in” “” to pick a plant to get up close and study and write a description of its leaves, stems and flowers using all of the senses.
Just before the group poem, Wellik instructs the class to look at the human impact.
“Write about the interrelationship between humans, wildlife and plant life connected to this place,” she said.
Wellik’s next workshop will take a look at coastal wildflowers at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 5 at the Torrey Pines State Reserve. The cost is $15 per person. For more information, visit www.ecoexpressions.org.
The San Diego River Park Foundation is currently seeking volunteers for its regular watering, planting and maintenance parties at the Point Loma Native Plant Reserve. For more information, visit www.sandiegoriver.org.
