Alondra Park Island Native Plant Garden

 
 

Alondra Park Island History

Plans for a Lake at Alondra Park were first mentioned in the Torrance Harold in June 1936. The Lake at Alondra Park was created in the late 1940s by digging a large depression in an area near the Dominguez Channel that had collected water. The excavated earth was left in the center to create the island, what is known today as Alondra Park Island.

Until the 1980s, the island was under basic maintenance, until Professor Jeanne Bellemin came along. As part of her Environmental Biology class at El Camino College (located adjacent to Alondra Park), Professor Bellemin decided to include a hands-on requirement - a volunteer project working five hours during the semester in a park or natural area like Madrona Marsh near the campus, improving the local environment by helping to build trails or in the local mountains or picking up trash on the beaches.

In 1998, she explored the possibility of a California native plant garden on the closed island in the lake at Alondra Park. She made it official with the Torrance County Parks and Recreation Department. Once-a-month student workdays were open to those in Environmental Biology, Field Zoology, and Field Entomology.  Eventually, other faculty told their students and we began to grow and maintain a sizable garden. With all the planting it became necessary to install an irrigation system, a walkway, and a garden shed to house tools and supplies. Professor Bellemin’s passion and support for the native garden had two clear goals:

  1. Community volunteerism – It is important to encourage a community to invest time in enhancing their local environment. This garden has allowed El Camino College students and concerned residents in the local community to plant and maintain a California native plant garden.

  2. Native California plants increase the habitat value for endemic birds and insect pollinators and other wildlife.

As Professor Bellemin retired from teaching, and the Covid pandemic hit in 2020, the next phase of the Alondra Park Island Native Garden began. South Bay Parkland Conservancy, sharing the Professors’ passion and purpose for the Native Garden, came together to once more increase volunteer workdays for students and the community and continue the restoration of the Alondra Park Island Native Garden.


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