Naturalist Neal Taylor remembers it well. A busload of school children had come to visit the Nature Center at Lake Cachuma. They gathered in a group, and one of the children picked up an object he saw lying on the ground. He approached Taylor. “What’s this?” he asked, holding out his hand. “Why, everyone knows what that is,” Taylor replied. “Well, I guess I’m not everyone because I don’t know what it is,” the boy answered. The object in question? A rock.
This true story exemplifies the guiding principle behind the Cachuma Lake Nature Center (CLNC), whose purpose is to give children — and adults — an opportunity to learn about the unique ecosystem that exists practically in their backyard.
Located within the Cachuma Lake Recreation Area, the Center was founded in 1988 and occupies the original ranch house that was part of the old Lazy Red Gate Ranch. The Center, a non-profit entity, is a hub of activity with a year-round schedule of special events and educational programs.
Among them are the “Food for Thought” speaker series which made its debut this year on Sunday, September 12, with Nakia Zavalla, cultural director for the Santa Ynez Band of the Chumash Tribe; “Creepy Creatures,” in which visitors have close encounters with owls and other birds of prey, bats, scorpions, and spiders; and the “Kids’ Old-Fashioned Fishing Day,” which usually takes place on the first Saturday in November.
Other events include the Annual Trout Derby, fishing workshops for children and adults, and wildlife cruises and nature walks led by Santa Barbara County park naturalists. The two-hour cruises focus on area wildlife, flora, cultural history, and geology. The half-mile nature walks explore the Oak Canyon Trail with its chaparral and oak woodland wildlife, lakeside waterfowl and the native plants that once served the Chumash Indians. Last year alone, over 3,400 children from 65 schools and 11,000 other guests visited the Nature Center to learn about the natural environment and cultural history of the Cachuma Lake area.
“There’s a lot of history here,” said Taylor, the Center’s head naturalist and a treasure trove of knowledge regarding the flora, fauna and history of the area. “I’ve been told that Roy Rogers bought his first horse Trigger here, and also that the Palomino horse breed was developed here.” More significant, however, are the artifacts that have been unearthed, particularly in the area around the house. Among them, according to Taylor, is a stash of Chumash jewelry and a collection of bead money that had lain hidden underneath large pieces of shale. There is a long-term curation agreement with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and the Cachuma Lake Foundation to care for collections excavated from this area.
All of these are on display in the Nature Center, along with other objects such as Chumash bowls, grinding stones and personal items. In the “Chumash Beauty Shop,” for example, visitors can see a hinged clamshell, which would have been used for shaving; white clay that served as a treatment for lice; and a crushed amole bulb from which shampoo would have been made. In the “Chumash HMO,” visitors get a glimpse into Chumash medical care.
On display are splints made from small branches that were covered with tar and used to set broken arms and legs; ground leaves of the native Datura plant that were applied to sores and snake bites as an anesthetic and, perhaps, as an antidote; and the mugwort plant, whose leaves are still used to treat various rashes, including poison oak. “The Nature Center is here to share with kids and let them discover things themselves,” said Taylor.
To that end, many of the exhibits are hands-on or include a hands-on component. In the wild animal room, for example, where stuffed specimens of native animals are presented in a diorama of their natural environment, visitors can touch samples of the animals’ fur to know exactly how it would feel to pat a coastal mule deer, coyote or gray fox. In the bird room, visitors can compare their own arm spans to the wingspans of the area’s largest fowl, including the bald eagle, golden eagle, turkey vulture, great blue heron, osprey and red tail hawk.
“This is our backyard and we should get to know it,” Taylor said of Cachuma Lake, the Upper Santa Ynez River and the watershed of the San Rafael Mountains. “The Nature Center is intended to help people do that.”
With one paid employee — executive director Julie McDonald — the Nature Center relies on a coterie of devoted volunteers who operate the center, build displays and exhibits, serve as docents, assist naturalists with interpretive activities and maintain the buildings and grounds.
“It was Neal’s dream,” McDonald said of the board of directors and other volunteers, “but the volunteers make it happen.”
On one Sunday afternoon, children and adults wander through the rooms, taking in the history and natural science that surrounds them. Near closing time, a young girl, not quite ready to leave the Chumash artifacts, turns to her mother and asks, “Can we come back here?” One more example of Taylor’s dream coming true.
INFORMATION: The Nature Center is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free, but the Center is located within the Cachuma Lake Recreation Area and there is a park entrance fee. 2265 Highway 154 (805) 686-5054.
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