Among the many sweet spots of arriving at senior status is the relative abundance of time. No more school car pools to drive, fewer errands to run, fewer lives to organize and meld into a well-functioning whole. We now have the opportunity to contribute more time, but we don't necessarily want to be confined to the boardroom.

For those of us who also wish to spend time outdoors, volunteer work projects abound. Leaders welcome seniors who may not have the brawn of our younger years but have diligence and stick-to-it-iveness to spare. My experience on a naval island off California convinced me we still have what it takes.

Only a few could attend the first-ever invasive plant removal project on San Clemente Island, read the brief email from Ken Owens, founder of Channel Islands Restoration. Exclusivity is a tempting enticement. The list of interested volunteers was winnowed to 20 who were allowed the privilege of pulling ice plant on the southernmost Channel Island, an active Navy bombardment area since 1934.

After identifying our way onto the naval base in San Diego, we flew a half-hour west past Catalina Island to a long, skinny land strip reminiscent of a surfacing blue whale. Four of our group promptly celebrated their qualification into the "All 8 Club" with photos on the tarmac, having visited each of the Channel Islands.

Gathering in the Commons, we listened dutifully to mandatory ordnance training. Once our trainer, Tom, described the island as "one of the most contaminated places I've ever seen," he got our undivided attention. We'd brought gaiters to protect ourselves from cholla and opuntia, but those wouldn't help against UXO - unexploded ordnance. Rule number one: "If you didn't drop it, don't pick it up."

We unloaded our luggage into clean rooms in a building descriptively called "the 3-story." Outfitted in long sleeves, leather gloves, gaiters, and combs for yanking cactus spines from our clothes, we piled into vans for our first afternoon of work. The top invasives on SClI include fennel and two mustard species, but ice plant removal was our project's goal.

Hiking to a 55-acre site overlooking a beautiful stretch of dunes and shoreline, we looked over our project: rescuing native boxthorn, cactus, Ambrosia, Stephanomeria, Bronia, and deerweed from ice plant's smothering tresses. Within the first few minutes we discovered another obstacle: black widow spiders. By the end of our project we'd seen many dozens in the depauperate ice plant.

A depauperate ecosystem is one that can't support much flora and fauna and thus lacks biodiversity. Besides the black widow, very few species survived under the tangled vines. Boxthorn and other natives they smothered are the preferred habitat for the San Clemente sage sparrow, a federally threatened species.

This sparrow and the San Clemente loggerhead shrike, a federal endangered species, are two of the species the Navy is working to protect. The original catalyst was the 1970 Endangered Species Act, but the Navy has since taken a proactive role as a land steward, hiring and empowering biologists to bring the island back to health. Emily Howe, Restoration Ecologist for San Clemente Island's Native Habitat Restoration Program through San Diego State University's Biology Department, is often asked by visiting admirals and captains to show them her projects.

We got used to working carefully among the cactus, black widows, and UXOs. On the second day we came across a metal disc that we marked for Tom the Bomb Guy's inspection. We also discovered about 15 rifle bullets in a sandy pile. Several times per day we heard a loud kaboom! and demanded Ken's assurance that the Navy knew our location.

Except for unimaginative sack lunches, lunch times were heavenly. Each day we drove to a different site, admiring outflanking sites, visiting the captive breeding programs, and lounging above beautiful rocky beaches. On Sunday we admired some of the finest examples of marine terraces in the world. We also encountered several of the 7500 midden sites showing habitation dating back at least 8000 years. Navy archeologists research and protect these sites.

We wound down Sunday afternoon, our efforts earning us Emily's effusive gratitude. We admired the hundred or so chest-high piles of ice plant cascading over the hill in three directions. Returning to the Three Story, we removed the last bits of cactus spines, iced sore wrists, and eased aching backs with a glass of beer at the Salty Crab Pub.

Oh yes. The ordnance discovered on the second day was inspected by Tom. It turned out to be an empty can of sardines.

Karen Telleen-Lawton, CFP®, is the principal of Decisive Path Fee-Only Financial Advisory
(www.DecisivePath.com) as well as an environmental and economics author and writer (www.CanyonVoices.com). She can be reached at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .