Photograph by George Sakkestad
De Anza College professor Doug Cheeseman explores an environmental area at De Anza College that replicates California's landscape.
By Lester Chang
You don't have to travel farther than De Anza College to find the mountains, the beach, forest and desert, all in one place less than two acres square.
Samples of each are showcased in the college's Environmental Study Area, creating a mixture of redwood trees, cacti and coastal shrubbery that draws birds and insects.
The little plot on the southeast corner of campus is a biological laboratory used by students in zoology, biology, ecology and environmental studies to better understand nature.
The community school has recreated a dozen habitats found only in California. Students learn about 270 plant species, insects and birds and how they interact with one another. They take samples and do research in a small laboratory there.
The project, created in 1971 by Director Doug Cheeseman and other biologists at the campus, is designed to show students and residents why it is important to value and preserve the environment.
"California is a diverse state with tremendous habitats, and people should know about them," Cheeseman said.
"We are trying to show our students and others who come that we have to save what we have left for future generations."
More than 3,000 elementary and high school students and residents visit the fenced refuge each year, Cheeseman said.
The project almost didn't get off the ground.
In the early 1970s, college administration officials wanted to use the site, then a vacant lot, for physical education programs. They changed their minds after biology instructors convinced them of the need for a biological study area.
Work got under way in 1971 with a $12,220 grant from the federal government and the De Anza-Foothill College District.
Nurseries from Cupertino, Redwood City and other nearby towns donated about $20,000 in plants. The Audubon Society and the California Native Plant Society also donated plants.
Cheeseman, who photographs wildlife professionally and teaches ecology and zoology classes, designed the preserve with biology teachers Lorraine Lyon, Ed Burling, Dennis Peterson and Bill Sauer.
The refuge features 12 of the 30 habitats found in California: pond, marsh, sand dune, island community, desert, coastal sage scrub, chaparral, coastal redwoods, grassland, forest, conifers and stream.
Collectively, they are home to at least 90 bird species, fish and plants.
The mainstay of the refuge is the waterway system, which includes an artifical waterfall, a stream, a marsh and a pond.
A pump pushes 750 gallons of water a minute through an underground pipe to the waterfall. Water cascades down a rocky stream bed, runs into the stream and marsh and settles into a pond before it is recirculated.
The marsh is used by redwinged blackbirds, belted kingfishers and herring gulls, birds once abundant in the Santa Clara Valley but whose numbers have declined in recent years as urbanization takes away their habitat.
Twenty percent of the ducks and geese in North America were once found in marshes in the San Francisco Bay Area, Cheeseman said. Now, the figure is less than 1 percent.
Other birds, like warblers, use the redwood trees for protection against the sun and bad weather conditions.
Birds also find insects in chaparral and grassland. Mallards nest in the pond in spring and hummingbirds use trees for shelter, feeding and nesting.
Colorful flowers are found in the woodlands, grasslands, chaparral and coastal areas. The trees on display are found in many parts of California. The redwood trees, for instance, are found in Yosemite and Kings Canyon national parks, and pine trees are found in Monterey.
A desert habitat features a prized specimen: a 50-year-old, 13-foot saguaro cactus, a endangered species in California.
Not all of the habitats in California could be represented because of limiting climatic factors, Cheeseman said. The Sierra Nevada environment couldn't be replicated, for instance, because Santa Clara Valley doesn't normally get snow.
It took two years to create the refuge, but there no plans to expand it because of the lack of space, he said. Cheeseman is seeking foundation funding to supplement a yearly $4,000 budget for the refuge.
The refuge has been a good training ground for students aiming at conservation careers, Cheeseman said.
Some students have gone on to become biologists for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the state Department of Fish and Game, and the Smithsonian Institution. Many have become lifetime members of national environmental groups, Cheeseman said.
Helen Koch has led public tours through the center for the past three years. Her work there has encouraged her to return to college to pursue a four-year degree in biology.
"I have a degree in English, but working here has gotten me interested in studying the plant community," she said. "California is an amazing place. It is a land of incredible diversity. I am glad to be able to study it."
Cheeseman could retire in a year, but it is a thought he doesn't relish.
"This is my baby here," he said with a smile. "We have done a lot here. I just want to make sure it goes to the right hands."
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, April 3, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.