Ex soldier’s skills benefit wildlife and visitors at Riley Wilderness Park

Most people would have taken one look at this dead log (shown left) and said, toss it!  But when we offered it to Orange County Parks Senior Park Ranger, Ed Bridges, and Groundskeeper, Matthew Tratz, they immediately saw it’s potential benefit to Riley Wilderness Park.  The log (originally removed from private property in Coto de Caza), illustrated the work-record of Acorn Woodpeckers.  The birds used it as a storage site for acorns.  But what catches your eye immediately is that five cavities (made over a period of years) show the persistent nest-site excavations of the woodpeckers.  Granted we at the Cavity Conservation Initiative hear and see things many others don’t, but had we discarded the log, we could imagine the outcry from the wrens,  nuthatches, lizards, spiders, carpenter bees and others.  After all, it would be the equivalent of demolishing a perfectly good condo high-rise when they are already in short supply.  We could not be happier that Ranger Bridges gave Matt permission to devise a way to install this log just outside the park’s nature center.  In time a sign will speak for the old relic!

When next you visit Riley, please do not miss the pond that Matt made.  It’s a well-designed and ingenious work in progress.  In our drought conditions it is a critical water source for wildlife.  Matt hopes one day to install a webcam to record the animals that come to it at night.
The pond is only one of many projects that Matt has completed at Riley. I was impressed by some of the interpretive signage and taxidermy items he installed in the park’s nature center.  (He is quick to credit other contributors as well.)  Matt sometimes serves as an educator by providing guided tours for visitors indoors and out.  Along the rock-lined paths and garden beds where he might guide you, Matt has planted native plants and rooted out the invasive ones.  Expect to come upon his Lizard Lodge.  At last!  Someone gives lizards the recognition they deserve!  And by the way, please pause to appreciate those well-placed rocks.  Matt hand carried and hauled them in from another wilderness park, one truck-load at a time.  It took grit, determination and perseverance.

Matt has developed those skills better than most.  He also knows about disassembling, clearing and ensuring safety.  You see, in-between his employment at Riley, Matt has completed three tours as a soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan.  He was injured in the last one.  Convoy security, route clearance, looking for trip wires, booby traps and roadside bombs.  That’s what he did.  So he’s switched uniforms again and is back at Riley, protecting the park’s natural resources, keeping the public safe and dreaming up new projects to benefit wildlife.  Matt says, “The relative quiet of the park allows us to do some fun and interesting projects.”  We applaud Matt for his service to our country and to our natural world.  And we hope that the peace found working with nature at Riley will help to restore a slice of the peace stolen from him while he served us abroad.