What We Need Here is Wildfire to Propagate !!!

"What we have here is (a) failure to communicate Educate ?"

Credit: Grolsch Filmworks

Ideology and Philosophy are often times like a terminal  disease which infects not only when it comes to this world's Leadership policy making and other governance schemes, but also when it even comes even to our own understanding of the Earth's Natural World. The sad state of our natural world's health is a testament to human leadership's misuse and abuse of natural resources and lack of understanding when it comes to not only management of these, but also attempting to put it all back together again when humans have blundered somewhere once again. This post will deal with what should be our education and understanding about Fire Ecology and the Big Business intrusion which attempts to profit from it.

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We all remember that line by Strother Martin in the classic 1960s film "Cool Hand Luke", where the penal system was trying by force to get the convicts to comply to their totalitarian Authority. In many instances, this world's various authorities (Political &  Business, Science & Religious) do the same thing when it comes to education and communication. It's almost like the old time saying about young ones, "Children should be seen and not heard." Today's authority resents being questioned. Unfortunately the general public is often times so apathetic that such failed leadership gets away with it. Many of the average folks appear to rather like  feeling a sense of laziness in letting others do their thinking and research for them. Some people today are like sponges; they soak up whatever they come across. It is all too easy to absorb whatever is around us. As long as their personal comfort isn't disturbed too much, they allow that authority to dictate how the world around them should work and function. This is also true of our conventional understanding and official teaching on how Nature itself operates. The fact that Nature is presently in dire straights everywhere globally should give us pause. So as to not to suffer the consequences of being a mere blind follower, we need to be selective about the information we take into our minds. We need to scrutinize whatever is presented to us, deciding what to accept and what to reject. However, we do not want to be so narrow that we refuse to consider facts that can improve our thinking. How can we find the right balance?  By adopting a standard with which to measure the so-called new and enlightened information. On the one hand, we need to have an open mind, that is, receptive to new information. On the other hand, our minds should also see the danger of information that is entirely inconsistent with the reality and the truth of just how the Natural World really works.

First off, people need to acquire the quality of discernment in their ability to properly critique what they are being told by those claiming power of their authority.  Discernment is  "acuteness of judgment and understanding."  It is  “the power or faculty of the mind by which it distinguishes one thing from another.”  A person who has this discernment perceives subtleties of ideas or things and has good judgment as to what to believe and how to properly act upon what he/she is being told. Using discernment, a person will be able to recognize those who are merely using smooth slick talk and complimentary speech for a purposed outcome in order to seduce the hearts of inexperienced ones to back a plan, proposal or scheme with reference to an ideological concept. Discernment enables you to discard irrelevant information or misleading facts and distinguish the substance of a matter. But how can anyone really discern when something is misleading?

Credit> Youtube - Craig Chaddock (thumbwave)

Tecate Cypress Regeneration

Let's take an example of the mismanagement of the Natural World and focus on one particular narrow subject of interest which is fire ecology. This would be the propaganda fed to the general public on the need of a fire's importance in Nature for many living plants in the Chaparral Plant Community in order to propagate and  germinate it's species. Narrowing the focus even further in our figurative fire ecology microscope, let's take all things Cypress.  It is said by many experts and parroted by your ignorant average Joe/Jane world citizen who comment on countless public forums & other public boards that Cypress trees cannot propagate unless fire rages through an area causing cones to release 1000s of seeds and consuming everything that would be competition for growth and resources. For example, in 2006, the Orange County Register (see Reference below) had an article about the U.S. Forest Service helping Tecate Cypress trees recover. There was a subtitle and other specific one liners in the article which actually revealed what much of the rest of the story line was going to contain, it said this - 

"Heat Frees Seeds, But Flames Decimated Trees"

"The Fire that trees can't live without might in this case prove lethal."

Fire that trees cannot live without ? While there certainly is an excessively large scale propagation strategy these Cypress trees have in the event of a localized environmental destruction and for getting things off to a fast head start, this is NOT the ONLY way in which these trees propagate and move into virgin territories. Still it's those large stand out one liner quotes in headlines that sticks in people's minds. And these are what are used as a propaganda tool for most of these unnecessary Prescribed or Controlled Burns associated with other words or terms like 'Fuel Management' which for the most part are conducted in remote wilderness type locations far far away from any Urban development. I know this from living in the San Jacinto Mountains for over 20+ years.  I have over the years discovered many locations of mature Cypress tree forests where actual germination does occur within mature stands of old growth chaparral. One such location is the turnout on Hwy 79 south of Julian California where many many years ago Cuyamaca Cypress trees were planted, I presume as a decorative addition to the area we know as "Inspiration Point Road" which is nothing more than a large loop for viewing the Anza Borrego Desert State Park to the east below. Long before the 2003 Cedar Fire blew through this Hwy 79 Overlook, these trees were actually already spreading around everywhere. Just to the south side of this Turnout Overlook on several hills, there were hundreds of these trees spreading into what can be described as pure dense stands of old growth stunted wind blown Manzanita scrub which had been shaped to the hilltop environment by constant never ending prevailing west winds from off the Pacific Ocean. Yet you won't really find any literature written about this. 

One of the best ways to understanding how Nature actually works is quite literally to question and put to the test many of the conventional logic and reasoning being fed to the general public as to land management. It actually takes personal effort of literally dumping the electronic devices, getting off one's back side and getting out into the field regularly. And I mean regularity. It is far better for each individual personally to choose what he will feed his mind with when it comes to references. You've heard it said that we are what we eat, and this can not only apply to food for the body, but also what you feed the mind. No matter what you are reading or watching or listening to when it comes to Scientific Land Management, test to see whether it has propagandistic overtones or is truthful. Clearly in these later days, much of the Fire Ecology does not deal with the reality of how Nature actually operates. Also keep in mind that if you really want to be fair-minded, you also have to be willing to subject our own personal biased opinions and ideas to continual testing as you take in new information. You have to realize that they are, after all, opinions, which no doubt were formulated through the opinion of those with Authority who educated you in the beginning. Even our own ongoing education and understanding's trustworthiness depends on the validity of our own facts, on the quality of our reasoning, and on the standards or values that we choose to apply to them.

Getting back to the flawed understanding with regards Fire Ecology, here's one of my personal favourite locations of old growth Tecate Cypress trees regenerating without fire and these are the isolated pocket stands found on Quatay Mountain near Descanso CA. Take a look at the map below. Please pay close attention here.

Credit: GOOGLE

Traveling here from Interstate 8 on Hwy 79 north which takes you beyond the town of Descanso itself and beyond the Jct of Hwy 79 & old US 80 which heads towards Quatay and Pine Valley. Look for a development with a sort of Grand entrance which is called Tecate Cypress Trail, then proceed a half mile beyond that to the east up the grade. When you come to another road on the left called Samagatuma Valley Road and directly across from that road you will see this fence on the south side which is the secret  Tecate Cypress Stand Trailhead . Now it's not an official one, but someone a decade ago did cut a easy pathway up to those trees. So access is  possible.

Caution should be in order here as I have no idea as to who now owns this part of Guatay Mountain and in the past I did stumble upon an *cough-cough* Illegal Farm Irrigation pipe if you know what I mean. My main point here is that once up into these trees, you can locate and find many young Tecate Cypress seedlings in among various chaparral plant undergrowth. You will also often find some open cones on the trees themselves. It actually took me a couple of visits in my seed collection before I began noticing there were all these seedlings (which I actually had seen before but gave no thought) and finally I started questioning the reasons for their existence which defied the traditional storytelling I had bought into in my formal education. There among the old growth Cypress and actually much of the old growth Chaparral, I began to discern various age groups among all the Cypresses. Some a foot tall, some five foot tall, some taller. Why ? If it have taken a fire to create these large older Tecate Cypress Forests in the first place, then why were there all these numerous decades younger aged trees ? But a clue was the sound I often heard up here. The sound of a bird pecking on wood. Looking around I discovered these small brown birds pecking on the cones themselves attempting to get at the seeds. I'm no bird expert, but hopefully someone else living there or reading this experience will be alert enough with camera to document this phenomena. Clearly, these birds have a measure of success in penetrating the hard cone, but that doesn't always mean they get every seed. I'm sure some fall out and drop onto the ground or sail into the breeze and land far away from the parent tree. I haven't gone to this place on my present 3012 Spring visit here this time around, but at least you all have a reference point for a personal educational visit. 

Credit: SDSU.EDU

The large list of areas where Tecate Cypress exists in large woodland settings. Tecate Peak, Otay Mountains, Quatay Mountains, Santa Ana Mountains and a colony on Cedros Island off Baja California are the prime locations given for viewing these trees, and yet smaller colonies in Peutz Valley near Apline CA and Lawson Valley near Jamul CA to name a few. The photo above comes from the Otay Mountain Wilderness Recovery Program in 2005. This was a fire that occurred simultaneously in 2003 south of the 2003 Cedar fire. As an important side point here, take note of the reference to the Peutz Valley region where it is listed as an area of Tecate Cypress naturalization. Interestingly, there historically were no Tecate Cypress woodlands prior to human intrusion into the area west of Alpine and north of El Capitan Reservior. What happened was that some residents back in the 1970s planted some as landscape features on their property. There was never fire here in Puetz Valley like that of the 2003 Cedar Fire, so the question becomes:

 "How did Tecate Cypress Seeds advance themselves and naturalize out in the surround chaparral and adjacent canyons without the 'Dogma of Fire Ecology' being foremost in this process ?" 

Hmmm, could birds pecking on cones be the answer ? I do have one other easy example location, but unfortunately I believe the 2003 Cedar Fire would have easily devoured this spot. I use to collect a lot of seed here at this location as well. There are actually many such places not mentioned in much of the literature dealing with Tecate Cypress habitats. Mostly what are written about are four or five main locations. This place however is on the western face of Cuyamaca Peak along Boulder Creek Road. The location has a name, Wildcat Spring which is a concrete Water Storage Tank, but next to a moist seep area. There were always many older Oaks associated with this place and old growth Tecate Cypress. Underneath the tree canopy and out in the fringes of the surrounding chaparral there were various size seedlings, but always newly fresh year old seedlings every time I visited. Curiously it was experiences like this that made me again question this flawed Fire Ecology thinking. It was clearly evident that these trees were in no need of fire, something you will hardly find anywhere in any literature or textbooks. I did once scoop an 8 inch high seedling into a five gallon pail at Wildcat Spring and brought it home to my place in Anza California. Here I took this photo this past 2013 Spring.

Photo Mine

 To the right here is a photo I took last week of that very tree as it appears today on that property within the Redshank/Ribbonwood, Mountain Mahogany, and Holly Leaf Redberry where I planted it. Take note below here. This was planted in the late 1980s, inoculated and nurtured for a couple of years and then left to it's own thereafter. It is now about 10 foot tall. These next sets of photographs are taken on a neighbouring property of my Brother's home in Ranchita California which is directly south of Anza and in much of the same chaparral at 4000' elevation. These are his neighbour's Arizona Cypress planted along a western fence line border for privacy and a windbreak. They appear to be no longer watered or cared for and have actually spread themselves not only several yards away from the parent trees, but also across the dirt road into the Chaparral. These trees have spread across the road into the Chamise. But also please take note of the chainlink fence line in which numerous seedlings have germinated and the question is why ? For me it's the best proof, other than being an eye witness to birds pecking at Cypress cones and eating seeds, then some seeds making through their intense digestive track only to be pooped out as they perched for a rest. Always take special note of fence lines to understand a bird's favourite diet. *smile*

Photo Mine

Photo Mine

New trees have spread outside of the fence area where the much larger trees are 10 foot away from the fence. I find many fences are great places for many seeds of any kind to germinate. It has a sort of artificial protection and organic build up which creates a mulch and nutrient catchment.

Photo Mine

This view is looking over the chain link fencing and revealing several seedlings within the property itself.

Photo Mine

This photo is far away from the property with adult trees and is across the road on the other side, and admittedly is not much to look at. The tree is barely hanging on though still alive below near the ground and the growth is new this year. Still this location is across the road, west of the road and property. The trend here is an east to westward movement. That is interesting as this area receives heavy Santa Ana Winds which come in Fall and early Winter. Do the dry hot winds open and disperse the cones and seeds ? Who knows, but it is clear that the wind direction does have a direct effect on these trees spreading westward through the chaparral.

This post isn't really a slam against anything forestry, but it is puzzling why such outdated flawed understanding which influences and dictates the need for Prescribed or Controlled Burns are justified to help nature. That just isn't the case. I have worked with many of these officials before and I will tell you that pride of academic accomplishment and credentials means everything to them. Sometimes you have to explain things to them in a way that makes them believe it was their idea in the first place. Or at least subtly send them in the right with the illusion of it being theirs. What ever it takes to get things done. Mostly I post hoping the private land owner, gardener or landscaper gets the point and  benefits the most, but not on my word, but getting out there and seeing for themselves. Nothing burns understanding into those brains cells faster than personal observation and experience coupled with practical application back home. I entertain no such hope that government will ever change. People today are told and even encourage to question everything today. I'm not necessarily for that as all I'm seeing now in the Global News Reports are more chaos and disunity. As we have seen, there are many in authority today who would like to delude us with so-called Scientific persuasive arguments about fire ecology.  Therefore, when we are presented with these modern day persuasive science arguments, we should ask questions.

For example, examine whether there is any bias. (there almost always is) Next, what is the motive for the message ? (in other words, who's going to profit off the venture) If the message is rife with name-calling and loaded words (Chaparral is boring & mundane or Fuel in need of Management), why is that ? Loaded language aside, what are the merits of the Fire Ecology practices themselves ? Also, if possible, try to check the track record of those so-called experts in authority who are speaking. Are they known for speaking the truth ? And If “authorities” are used in reference, who or what are they ? Why should you regard this person - or organization or publication (Textbooks) - as having expert knowledge or trustworthy information on the subject of fire Ecology or the land management in question ? If you sense some appeal to emotions, ask yourself,

‘When viewed dispassionately, what are the merits of the land management message ?’

Photo Mine

This is a side point, but also fits in with the rest of the post subject. This tree, which I believe was Alligator Juniper (Juniperus deppeana) was acquired from a old growth forest floor high above Sierra Vista Arizona up in the Huachuca Mountains. It was about 5 inches tall when planted in 1994 and now is about three foot in height among the chaparral where I planted it. Other than inoculation with Pisolithus tinctorius (the infamous 'Dog turd Fungus') which did take hold as evidenced by that first year's truffle formation, which even surprised Dr Donald Marx of Plant Health Care Inc or PHC in Frogmore South Carolina, nothing more was done for the tree after that. This photo was taken in the Spring of 2013 and although still small, it has successfully made it under it's own with the help of mycorrhizae. BTW, there are artist drawings by naturalists depicting the extinct South Carolina Parakeet up in Bald Cypress trees with cypress cones in their mouths. What a pity that some things go extinct before we understand the full complexity of the roles they once played in Nature. 

Further Interesting Reading:

Orange County Register: "Forest Service helps tecate cypress after fire"

Also check out the link on Tecate Cypress Seed germination which also should illustrate some pertinent points made above: 

 Seed Germination & Old School Ideology vrs How Nature Actually Works

Cal-Trans Diversion of Baldy Mountain Creek Shut Down One Ecosystem and Destroyed Another

Google Maps

Off California State Route 74 from Hemet to Idyllwild there was a historical diversion of a major stream which totally shut down a major hydrological flow from a once beautiful pristine area for  which many biodiverse plants, animals, birds, etc were dependent upon and then they proceeded to straight channel it westward collapsing an entire mountainside of the South Fork of the San Jacinto River course. There are no historical accounts or other records of this ecological misdeed for which there was no purpose nor justified reason for doing so other than laziness and somehow profiting more on the deal. As the map shows  to those familiar with Hwy 74, this location along the highway is at the Cal-Trans Highway Turnout where gravel bunkers are located and the South fork Trail head for hiking down to the San Jacinto River southern branch of the drainage area. The actual area where a bridge should have been constructed is just a couple hundred feet to the east of this turnout and has nothing more than a culvert for water drainage. Perhaps I should reveal what got my curiosity going about the major water course origins. Originally, I was never suspicious of any misdeeds. I simply wanted to know the seed source of the lower elevation plants I saw growing in a narrow canyon down to the floor of Cold & Dry Creek Canyons. For years I traveled to work back and forth up and down Hwy 74 to Hemet and back up the mountain. I'm obsessively curious about things I notice in the plant world along many roadways I travel. Take a look at these two photos which show a steep canyon which appears to have a wealth of water which support and large group of older growth Forest trees for which radically contrasts the surround Chaparral Plant community. So one day I stopped at a turn out east of the Strawberry Creek bridge over Hwy 74 and the photos below here reveal what I saw.

Photo Mine

The vegetation here is radically different than the chaparral on both side of the V shaped Canyon. There are clearly Pines, Cedars, Oaks and especially Sycamores and Cottonwoods which would indicate more water. Also, one had to wonder from where did the seed source for this forest come ? What was upstream ?

Photo: Mine

This is the same turnout looking directly east up the Cold Creek Canyon looking towards the direction of Mountain Center. This canyon is especially rich in Big Cone Douglas Fir trees.

Photo Mine

This is a shot from the truck looking back from another angle east of the turnout for a contrasting view of the vegetation.

Photo: Mine

Cal-Trans Turnout

Photo: Mine

Both of these next two shots are from the South Fork San Jacinto River Trail head turnout with the Cal-Trans gravel and sand bunkers. Notice the vegetation lines along those mountains across the valley ? Clearly the geology has some fault lines which seep with moisture from a series of Springs. Just another interesting puzzle I never explored mainly because of the heavy bush whacking that it would take in virgin untouched Chaparral.

Photo: Mine

Fast forwarding up the trail from the parking area and coming around the first bend where you can see the South fork Canyon from which Lake Hemet spills over if and when there is a heavy rain season. Most of the trees here on this steep terrain are Big Cone Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga macrocarpa)

Photo Mine

Coming further around the bend and looking down where the dense foliage of the green Big Cone Doug Firs are below is the first indication of a slide to the left in the picture where the geology is a much brighter white. The other side of the canyon is rouse Ridge or Hill where there is a campground at the end of this trail. This ridge has also been an area of traditional targeting for control or prescribed burns and yet no fire has ever burned through here on it's way to Hemet and other parts west. On the other side is Bautista Canyon where fires by humans have traditionally started and burned towards Red Mountain and the community of Sage.

Photo: Mine

This point here is the unnatural Creek bed that the south Fork Trail crosses over before falling into the abyss a hundred yards further to the west. Here you can see some of the native Bunch grasses that have made a permanent home among the boulders and cobble stone river rocks.

Photo Mine

This is hiking the trail beyond the unnatural man made creek we just past over and going a bit further south on this trail, we take a photo from the south side of the unnatural slide area. Keep in mind, when I first discovered this human caused disaster, I was not expecting this AND I actually came in from the other side to this point, not from the turnout and hiking trail. So my first discovery was NOT this slide, but rather the deliberate diversion earthen soil berm or dam they Hwy Construction Crews dug by hand to change the water course straight west as opposed to the natural sharp turn north towards the Hwy 74 which even older maps will indicate.

Photo: Mine

Photo: Mine

Both these pictures are looking towards the canyon as the dry wash cuts unnaturally through the top soil layers eroding aggressively into the mountain on either side and dislodging the chaparral. There are no Riparian vegetation built up whatsoever through this wash which would have been normal had this feature been hundreds or thousands of years old like the canyon cut on the other side. Very steep and very dangerous in parts.

Photo Mine

Photo: Mine

Image  .  Google Earth

This sad scenario can only be clearly seen in whole from the vantage point of Google Earth satellite imaging. Notice the location of the Hwy 74 turnout, South Fork Hiking Trail, the existing stream and old stream bad and exact point of where the alignment was trenched and a diversion berm created to redirect the waters which pointed straight for the canyon and which led to the entire muntainside collapse. Interestingly, the collapse now is not as pronoused a cliff-like drop off, but has eroded back to where there is more slope.

Photos Mine

This is the area Patrick Dennis followed and took the photos with my camera. Now the look here is far different than when I first saw it in 1983. In that last picture above, notice the granite rock on the left ? The flatter creek bed use to extend out to that point and when you looked over the edge, there was nothing but a straight drop with large waterfall cascading into the deep cave in below. There was no vegetation as you see it now. There was no foothold for it. now that the erosion has met a harder rock layer and tapered a bit, any chaparral and riparian seed can now get a foothold which it clearly has as you can see. So there is something of a positive here.

Photos Mine 

Preview: Highway Department's South Fork Canyon Stream Course Reroute & Diversion Scheme
Now this is looking east from where the South Fork Trail crosses the creek and we are heading back towards where the Highway Construction crews cut into the higher ground west and built up a dam on the portion starting to head north towards the Highway where no doubt in the old days of a poorly constructed wagon road, it no doubt washed out from time to time. The deep erosion cuts through this geology are deep and sheer vertical to about 15 foot high from wall to wall. Very unnatural and again no indication of any mature Riparian Trees had the pathway been through here for hundreds of years. For further views, see the previous preview post I wrote of the older tradition stream bed which I illustrated the cuts in a series of photos between the South Fork Trail and the Diversion dam.

Photo: Mine

Here is the opening to the diversion area with the built up soil and rock berm on the left. The older traditional natural stream bed is on the other side of this berm on the left. Straight ahead through the pass is McGaugh Meadows and Lake along with Baldy Mountain watershed drainage on it's north face.

Photo Mine

Standing on the soil berm looking at the older channel now cut off from it's once historical centuries course by one act of ignorance and greed. 

Photo Mine


Looking back and photographing the actual man made soil/rock berm which created the blockage and diversion decades ago.

Photos Above all Mine

The series of photographs above are of all following the former stream bed down it's once robust course where we good imagine a wide flowing stream with lush habitat on both sides. However, down further we do run into indications of vast amounts of water still below the surface and sustaining water loving plants.

Photo Mine

Here is a Mexican elderberry (Sambucus mexicana). On an interesting note, below this former waterfall behind the Elderberry and on the opposite side of the boulder it's up against to the right, we saw a fairly larger plastic industrial grade irrigation pipe and in good shape, running from a cave and extending down this former creek where it disappeared into some impassable vegetation areas. There were also some trash where someone had been residing keeping watch over who knows what. Spooky, some thing never change out here. That's why you have to keep watch.

Photo Mine

And sure enough there is the Irrigation Pipe
where no doubt a marijuana farm was nearby

Photo: Mine

Photos Mine

Walking behind Mary Anne Kiger towards our first real Riparian tree, a California Sycamore (Plantanus racemosa) and further on down vegetation increased no only in size, but also abundant diversity for moisture loving riparian vegetation.

Photo Mine

Photo: Mine

These last two pictures are of Pink Chaparral Currant (Ribes malvaceum) which was abundant along hwy 74 on the way up traditionally, but they has severely made fire breaks along the highway and took out some of the best roadside scenic examples. I've planted two of these that I purchased at Las Pilitas Nursery for shade planting under my mum's six California Sycamore trees in her backyard.

Bush Poppy (Dendromecon rigida)

Photo: Mine

This is an incredible find as a young Pine sapling is pushing up through the chaparral which is in no way impeding it's growth at all. In fact it's very survival is dependent on the chaparral system. The older generation from ancient times past has moved over. Sadly this area was NOT so over grown when I first went through move up through the creek bed in 1983. The fire from the 1990s hadn't done it work as yet and the dense cover of many plants including Poison Oak were not present, the forest understory here along the stream bed was open and easy to navigate.

Photo: Mine

Photo: Mine

Incense Cedar was also present back then and indeed was one of the trees I detected in great number down below in the steeper canyon bottom. Sadly there were no live Incense Cedars here.

Photo: Mine

Ferns were also in abundance everywhere in this shaded lower moist region of the stream bed, along with all manner of herbaceous moisture loving plants.

Photo: Mine

Here is Mary Anne and I making a separation from Patrick who went uphill but we decide it was easier to go back down into an opening in the Creek bed for which we would have missed that giant Holly Leaf Cherry specimen along with it's family. First time ever I had seen such large examples.

Photo: Mine

And finally we can see the Hwy 74 rounding the bend in the distance. This last leg was tough and hot. I think I drank three and a half liters of water during this trek before and after. This rich chaparral area was a pleasant and beautiful surprise. I debated about going at times as I wanted to photo so much from my past experiences and exploration. But i just don't have the time. I hope in some way this provides some historical info as well as to how easily humans can destroy, even when they are in positions of official decision making as experts in their respective fields.

Preview: Highway Department's South Fork Canyon Stream Course Reroute & Diversion Scheme

Image Credit:

Wikipedia - Prunus ilicifolia

Mostly with this preview Post here, I want to show an example of an incredible find We (Myself, Patrick Dennis and Mary Ann Kiger) found on our South Fork San Jacinto River Trail hike off Hwy 74 of an old growth Chaparral plant that many here reading are already aware of, but probably have never seen a specimen of this extraordinary size. The plant of course is Holly Leaf Cherry (Prunus ilicifolia). We were on a hike on the South Fork San Jacinto River Trail to photo document the old Highway 74 construction manipulation of a major stream tributary of which drains most of the north face of Baldy Mountain's old growth forest which is just south of Mountain Center. Making the deliberate stream diversion saved the Highway construction several 1000s of dollars in bridge building costs by instead installing a pathetic little culvert by comparison. But the cost to the environment was much greater in the long run as i will later show in a future post. First a description of a rarely seen giant. In the upper right hand corner above here is an image from Wikipedia which also has a description about the actual size of the Holly Leaf Cherry as being any where from 8 foot to 30 foot in height and leaves any where from one to two inches in length. Okay, most of us have maybe seen the 8 to 10 foot examples that we thought were huge and which are easily found in many places. But 30 footer trees ? With recent decades of mega-fires, any giant specimens would surely be a rarity. This last leg of our hike was not exactly through any well worn trail, but rather true bush whacking. In fact it was at the very end of the hike, but took us the longest to finish. The example below might be pushing close to 20 foot in height, but I'm not sure. It did take your breath away when you first stumble upon it. Clearly though as you first encounter it, it's very large features first cause you to think it is something else, but you soon realize many of the familiar identification marks. Here is the first photo looking down from the formerly very large flowing stream bed towards the San Jacinto River valley and other tributaries like North Fork, Strawberry Creek, Cold Creek and Dry Creek. Hemet Valley and the town of San Jacinto are to the left in the photo.

photo credit: Mine 

Looking north from the upper reaches of the old now long diverted large flowing stream which now empties west into South Fork Canyon and eroding the entire hillside in that region. There were no trails here. Everything from this point to Hwy 74 was true bush whacking through dense chaparral which was incredibly still very moist with a rich heavily diverse abundance of chaparral plant community supporting an incredible amount of wildlife life.

Photo Credit: Mine

Here you can see the Holly Leaf Cherry which at best is maybe 30+ feet in height. Unfortunately the camera really doesn't do it justice. This entire area was devastated by arson set fire some time back in the 1990s which was I believed named either the South Fork Fire or Baldy Mountain Fire, but it happened in the 1990s some time ago. Notice the old long dead burned branches. This also made the last leg of the hike most difficult as the stream bed was loaded with all manner of down trees and their branches. Also, with the canopy opened, massive amounts of Poison Oak made other stumbling blocks with going forwards, so adjacent hillside brush whacking was the only way to go in short sections.

Photo Credit: Mine

This is a close up shot of the beautiful interior of the tree. Notice the clean smoothness of the almost perfectly straight multiple trunks, The colour and texture of the trunk is reminiscent of the sapling growth of a Fruitless Mulberry tree when cut back very hard to a few main branches. Seeing the stunning large attributes of this Holly Leaf Cherry made you wonder what it may have once looked like pre-turn of the century Baldy Mountain Fire. That fire burned all the way from the Hwy 74 CalTrans gravel bunkers or bins and the South Fork Trail head all the way east to Lake Hemet and Hurkey Creek Campground.

Photo Credit: Mine

This is another angle of the tree's interior further up. In another post later I'll show much of the biodiversity in plant life, much of which is still riparian. In fact, though up stream the diversion was deliberately routed west instead of allowing it to continue northwards as the geography dictates, the water still must somehow be moving underground to still support such moisture loving plants. The newer unnatural creek channel even to this day DOES NOT support such an abundance, with the exception of some Bunch Grasses. Mostly though it is a dry wash with shear steep walled erosion on both side.

Photo Credit: Mine

Here is a close up of the very large size of the leaves. I'm using my adult male hand here for some sense of scale. Unlike the smaller specimens we saw on the trail above and to the west of this location, this one was not yet in bloom, other than showing signs of buds. This great largeness was such a pleasant shocker when we turned the bend and there were other more large leafed examples further down stream. I truly wish there had been berries, as I'd love to collect samples. When I looked for chaparral seeds in the past decades ago, I'd truly be looking for such beautiful examples.

Photo Credit: Mine

And here is the highway, which should have had a bridge or at least an extremely large concrete built double culvert. I can't for the life of me tell you what the name of this old stream was once called, although you will find it on older Topo maps showing it's original course which turns sharply northwards. But it does drain from the flat meadows and McGaugh Lake to the east of this point for which I have written about before.

Photo: Mine

Patrick Dennis and Mary Ann Kiger (both Anza residents) with me on the hike. Patrick with the short pants had the bright idea of following the former stream bed back down to the Highway. We weren't all in favour, but I'm glad we did. He led the way in eventual brush whacking a trail down in some parts.

Idyllwild Postcard - Riverside Co.

Highway 74 as it was in the early days as an original dirt or gravel Wagon Road finally to paved road in 1937-40s coming up from Hemet Valley in the background to Mountain Center with either Lake Hemet or Idyllwild as a final destination beyond.

There are certainly more answers that need to be found on this unnatural disaster and the reasons for which a channel was deliberately cut diverting a beautiful stream bed into another completely different direction which caused and indeed continues the collapse of an entire mountainside which is truly hidden from public view. In a future post I'll show the entire trek we made and the detailed photos showing the unnatural river bed and comparison to the older 1000s of years old historical stream bed. Clearly, saving money on bridge construction costs were the motivation. It's obvious that in it's early days, this section of the old dirt wagon road of the Hemet to Idyllwild highway no doubt washed out several times and was a pain to fix, hence the great effort made to use hand crews to dig another channel and provide a diversion berm of rock and sandy soil to divert the flow westward instead of it's historic northward course. Nothing in any historical records or other writings even remotely hints at such a major riparian diversion to save money in road construction. Clearly a bridge or at least a  major double concrete culvert should have been constructed. More on this later. 

Next post will focus FIRST on my reasons for something not making sense for such a rich riparian habitat being present and spilling out of the chaparral plant community for no apparent reason. It was actually over a period of years from my employment commuting up and down the hill on Route Hwy 74 that got my curiosity from observing out of place plant community anomalies that defied the surrounding chaparral vegetation by contrast.

Update: Here is the link to the main article: 

Cal-Trans Diversion of Baldy Mountain Creek Shut Down One Ecosystem and Destroyed Another