By Aria Ellett
Class of 2013
Ojai Valley School’s oak woodland by the amphitheater looks vastly different than it did two years ago.
What was once completely covered by dark green, deceptively beautiful ivy, is now dotted with various plants and significantly less ivy than there was before. The ivy, while beautiful, has terrible effects on the local ecosystem.
It creates a monoculture underneath the oak trees, halting the growth of smaller and weaker native plants and climbs up to the tops of the oak trees, stealing their sunlight and nutrients, slowly killing them off.
The Ivy League, started by English teacher and Outdoor Education Director Crystal Davis, did most of its clearance in the school year of 2009/10, and removed large vines of disastrous ivy that resided in the woodland.
“One of the things I think is really cool about this project,” Ms. Davis said, “is that it’s becoming a legacy, because each new class that works on it, each new group, adds something new to it, and takes away something different.”
During that school year, the Ivy League planted native plants where the ivy once was, like monkey flower, hummingbird sage, wood nettle, and polypody ferns.
Over the span of two years, those plants grew and thrived in their new open space, along with native plants that grew spontaneously when the ivy was removed, like the wild cucumber, clematis, gooseberry, and even oak tree seedlings.
The plants would not have survived if the ivy was not cleared out beforehand and maintained by Ms. Davis and her various groups of students. Ms. Davis is not selective with her group of students, and welcomes anyone — faculty and students alike — to help clear out and maintain the oak woodland.
“It’s hard work,” said sophomore Ailing Dong, “but we’re trying our best to save the environment, so it’s worth it.”