Environmentalist Roy van de Hoek was hauled into court and threatened with prison the last time he tried to eradicate an invasive, nonnative plant in Los Angeles' endangered Ballona Wetlands area.
So it's no surprise that the 51-year-old biologist is treading lightly these days as he tries to remove another nonnative from a tiny park at the edge of the sensitive nature preserve.
This time the intruder is a hand-painted sign reading "Titmouse Park" that was planted there 20 years ago.
The sign popped up at the tiny Playa del Rey park after the local junior women's club helped prevent a city-owned, 100-by-125-foot parcel from being turned into a parking lot.
But the titmouse is not native to the Ballona Wetlands area, and a controversy has erupted over the park's name.
One environmental group asserts that the name was an attempt by local businessmen to belittle the women who had blocked their parking lot in the busy Playa del Rey commercial district.
Organizers of the Ballona Institute say they plan to petition city leaders to drop the titmouse label and rename the quarter-acre park after a native plant or animal or natural landmark.
Supporters of the titmouse name deny sexism played a part. But some acknowledge that they were confused over exactly what a titmouse is, and when the sign was painted.
The titmouse tumult is drawing unexpected attention to the tiny recreation area, made up of five narrow lots. The land was acquired by the city during the Depression when individual property owners were unable to pay their taxes.
The Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks ended up with the land. But it remained unused and covered by ice plant until the parking lot plan surfaced. Playa del Rey residents and other volunteers responded by creating pathways, planting trees and shrubs, and installing benches. The owner of a sign shop next door eventually hand-lettered a name for the park on a wooden signpost and erected it next to Culver Boulevard.
"When they started digging up the ice plant over there, thousands of these little mice all ran out" toward the adjoining wetlands, said now-retired sign painter Bud Harris. "I thought they were titmice."
That's because Harris had spied a bumper sticker behind the bar at the Prince O' Whales pub down the street. "It said 'Save the Titmouse.' I liked it, so I painted 'Save the Titmouse' on the side of my building. Later, when it became a park, I painted out the 'Save the' and painted in 'Park' beneath 'Titmouse.' "
