Environmental Nature Center

MICHAEL ARMSTRONG Third-grader at Adams Elementary School, Costa Mesa "The interesting thing about the Nature Center is it used to be a dump. When I was in first grade and second grade I took classes here. It's fun to go around and learn about animals and plants. They tell you the names of plants and their histories and if they can hurt you or make you sick like poison oak. They also showed us snakes and lizards."

The DAISIES timidly enter the Butterfly House at Newport Beach's Environmental Nature Center. Holding hands, the young Girl Scouts slowly inspect the native plants that fill this 1,700-square-foot greenhouse. There is almost absolute silence. "Where are the caterpillars?" one girl whispers. Suddenly, a shriek. Over the girls' heads, a mourning cloak flitters past with a monarch close behind. Walking cautiously past a willow tree, the girls discover hundreds of black alien mounds (i.e.

The Environmental Nature Center has wanted to buy the Newport-Mesa Unified School District headquarters for years. Now that the offices next door are for sale, they need to raise money to realize their dream. "It is going to be an incredible challenge to do it," said Bo Glover, the center's administrator. Though the nature center, based in Newport Beach, is a rich resource for the community, it is not wealthy.

Greg Miller has an unusual idea of what constitutes good weather: The more rain, he said, the better. "With all the sun out here it's sometimes terrible," said Miller, a wildlife biologist who volunteers at the Environmental Nature Center in Newport Beach. This year's abundance of precipitation has made him a happy man. To show just how happy he has become, Miller recently led the season's first wild mushroom walk at the center.

From the parking lot of Newport Harbor High School, the place looks like little more than a portable classroom. Tucked next to the school's athletic field, surrounded by houses and apartments, it reveals little of its own true form. Step through the gates of the Environmental Nature Center, however, and you enter another world. Unfortunately, it is a world now threatened by Orange County's economic crisis. Here, hidden on 2.

Greg Miller has an unusual idea of what constitutes good weather: The more rain, he said, the better. "With all the sun out here it's sometimes terrible," said Miller, a wildlife biologist who volunteers at the Environmental Nature Center in Newport Beach. This year's abundance of precipitation has made him a happy man. To show just how happy he has become, Miller recently led the season's first wild mushroom walk at the center.

The Environmental Nature Center, in an effort to raise money for expansion, is holding a fund-raising event Sunday. Bo Glover, the center's administrator, said the Fall Faire is the first of several events the center will hold to raise $1 million to buy the adjacent former offices of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. The Fall Faire will feature a silent auction and a drawing for a Fashion Island shopping spree. There also will be several arts and crafts activities for children.

The Environmental Nature Center may have to put off its expansion plans if the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board cuts its funding of the outdoor classroom in half. The district's citizens budget advisory committee recently decided the school district should cut its $36,000 annual contribution to the center as part of its effort to trim the district's budget. The district needs to cut $3.2 million to pay for a 7% raise for teachers.

The Environmental Nature Center's Save Acres for Nature fund-raising campaign recently received a $200,000 grant from the Steele Foundation. The grant is the second major campaign contribution from the foundation within the last year. The funds will be used to help the center with expansion and operation, according to Executive Director Bo Glover.

The Environmental Nature Center, across 16th Street from Newport Harbor High School, is seeking 40 to 50 volunteers to help prepare two new habitats at its 2 1/2-acre site. For nearly 25 years, the nature center has given educational tours to students of all ages. Last year the center, at 1601 16th St., gave tours to 8,000 students who saw representations of 12 California habitats from desert areas to a redwood forest.

The sun has finally burned through the Newport Beach morning fog, its warmth coaxing butterflies from where they've been sleeping amid the California buckwheat, deer weed and scrub oak. Soon, the leaves, stalks and stamens begin to pulse as the insects sun themselves in preparation for flight -- like tiny pilots running up their engines before takeoff. As nature's sun worshipers, butterflies can soar only after their body temperature reaches 86 degrees.

The Environmental Nature Center's Save Acres for Nature fund-raising campaign recently received a $200,000 grant from the Steele Foundation. The grant is the second major campaign contribution from the foundation within the last year. The funds will be used to help the center with expansion and operation, according to Executive Director Bo Glover.

The hidden jewel of Newport Beach may soon be thrust into view. The Environmental Nature Center could reach an agreement Tuesday with the Newport-Mesa Unified School District to buy an adjoining lot that would give the center more room for parking, offices and classrooms. Mainly, though, it would help people find the place. With just a tiny sign revealing its location, 1601 16th St.

The Environmental Nature Center, in an effort to raise money for expansion, is holding a fund-raising event Sunday. Bo Glover, the center's administrator, said the Fall Faire is the first of several events the center will hold to raise $1 million to buy the adjacent former offices of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. The Fall Faire will feature a silent auction and a drawing for a Fashion Island shopping spree. There also will be several arts and crafts activities for children.

The Environmental Nature Center may have to put off its expansion plans if the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board cuts its funding of the outdoor classroom in half. The district's citizens budget advisory committee recently decided the school district should cut its $36,000 annual contribution to the center as part of its effort to trim the district's budget. The district needs to cut $3.2 million to pay for a 7% raise for teachers.

The Environmental Nature Center has wanted to buy the Newport-Mesa Unified School District headquarters for years. Now that the offices next door are for sale, they need to raise money to realize their dream. "It is going to be an incredible challenge to do it," said Bo Glover, the center's administrator. Though the nature center, based in Newport Beach, is a rich resource for the community, it is not wealthy.

The eighth annual Children's Discovery Faire will take place Sunday at the Oak Canyon Nature Center in Anaheim. Children will be encouraged to participate in activities that include petting snakes, dancing to live music and making crafts related to nature, fair officials said. The event is sponsored by the Oak Canyon Nature Center and the Oak Canyon Committee of the Sea & Sage chapter of the National Audubon Society.

Birds of Spring--This year's spring bird migration, especially in April, has been an especially strong one, both in numbers and varieties of birds seen in Orange County. "It's been a good year for migrants," said Doug Willick, who compiles a list of rare bird sightings in the county. Species of warblers, tanagers, grosbeaks and other perching birds have been plentiful at Huntington Central Park and other favorite birding spots in the county.

The Environmental Nature Center, across 16th Street from Newport Harbor High School, is seeking 40 to 50 volunteers to help prepare two new habitats at its 2 1/2-acre site. For nearly 25 years, the nature center has given educational tours to students of all ages. Last year the center, at 1601 16th St., gave tours to 8,000 students who saw representations of 12 California habitats from desert areas to a redwood forest.

Faced with the prospect of cutting up to $8.2 million from their budget, trustees of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District on Tuesday waded through a task force's recommendations of programs to spare and those to sacrifice.