(Cylindropuntia prolifera) San Diego's Coastal Cholla Colonies Still Thriving on some Wildlife Islands within the city

And so does all the wildlife who call the colonies home. This is a continuation of the day I spoke about where Native Chaparral plants were retaking their former home territory at the Vons Grocery Store commercial center near Jamacha Rd and Hwy 94 south of El Cajon in Rancho San Diego. Across the street is one of the largest Coast Cholla Colony islands I've seen with a developed Urban environment still untouched. 

Photo Credit: Mine!

Incredibly, the most predominant Chaparral scrub throughout this are was California Sage Brush (Artemisia californica) which I would have guessed to be 75 % of the main chaparral plant followed by California Buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum). The California Sage Brush is the main reason you will generally find the endangered California Gnat Catcher. 

Photo Credit Mine!

Hiking/Walking through such areas is a tricky endeavor, especially when you are looking for fresh Cactus Wren Nests. You always have to have your nose to the ground as well as straight ahead. These areas are loaded with things that will stick you, stab you and bite you. For me it were all the 100s of Coastal Cholla joints which had fallen off the cactus plant's arms. This is the first major way I have ever seen them spread as opposed to seeds from the fruit. But still so Kool!!!

Photo Credit: Mine!

I'm always thinking in terms of taking many of my observations and making practical application into the landscape. One of the more interesting uses I have imagined for Coast Cholla aside from the usual Desert themes, is if someone has a large piece of land, they could utilize Coast Cholla as a formidable barrier security screen which would blend nicely into the landscape and put off any creeps who may have ideas of criminal activity. Seriously, take a long look at this. Is there a more intimidating obstacle to a criminal than a natural setting such as this ?

Photo Credit: Mine!

Of course Coastal Cholla is not the only Cacti out here in the back country. Prickly Pear Cactus is also present, though not as abundant as the Coast Cholla. I have often found nests in these plants as well. Okay, the next couple shots will be of the red flowering blooms which are still present and the greenish fruits (Apples or Tunas) for which I have never seen or heard of any animal, bird or human ever eating. Of course that doesn't mean they don't, but I've never even found wild evidence. Bet if I started a rumor that the taste and effects are like those of Peyote Buttons that might soon change. Let's see who bites!


I have to admit that getting close and taking these shots was a bit tricky, not only from above, but also watching for Cactus arm joints and fallen fruits all over the ground below. Plus it was also a lousy idea to be strolling around these areas in short pants. Because of this, Star Thistle was also an issue on my legs. I was smart this time out. Before hiking, I put on long pant Jeans. Star Thistle has butchered up my legs too many times before. Dried dead vegetative skeletons of the Mediterranean Mustard are bad enough.

photo: Mine

The next above photo shots are of bird nests, though I am not sure if the nests belong to Cactus Wrens. Mourning Doves will also build nests in Cactus. Most of what I found were older abandoned nests used last year or even prior to that. This is reminiscent of the Cactus Wren nests I've found on Rattlesnake Mountain between El Cajon and Santee in and around the Coastal Cholla Colony I established up there in 1980 after the last huge fire. At least it was a complete, but pleasant surprise two decades later when I came back from a visit to find them a permanent resident.

Photo Credits: Mine!

Getting back to things which are hidden and can surprise you while walking, these little young Cholla plants are everywhere, hence the need to be keenly aware of your surroundings and be watch.

Photo Credit: Mine!

Speaking of being watchful for things with sharp pointy thingys, you'll never know about what maybe lurking under cover of chaparral or cacti. 

Photo Credits: Mine!

These Black Harvester ants are also interesting and a necessary wild component to coastal chaparral Sage Scrub habitats. They are also another reason to be vigilant when out hiking. Stop in the wrong location next to their nest to observe some other kool eye catching object of your attention and they'll crawl up your pants leg and sting. Another fascinating thing about these ants that I have not really seen with the Red Harvester or any other ant is their bull dozing ability to cut pathways with their powerful jaws. Even if you stumble upon a trail like this that is not presently being used, you at least know they are nearby.

Photo Credit Mine!

And now finally perhaps many here know what this hole in the ground is. Here's a hint, it doesn't have it's door and it was probably abandoned by the former occupant. That's easy enough to deduct as they would have built another door. Well, even with the door, many will recognize a Trap Door Spider burrow. Man I've really been missing a lot. Again, when out and about in chaparral plant communities, there are multiple reasons to keep your eyes peeled.

2003 Cedar Fire Recovery & Chaparral Plant Community's Natural Recovery

 . . . . . and the ongoing ignorant behavior & actions of Human Beings that sparks these reoccurring disasters !

Image - nbcsandiego.com (May 2013)

"Someone using a weed trimmer sparked a small brush fire in the Alpine area Thursday, the same day the region was on alert with a red flag warning."

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Let's be totally honest here about the weed trimmer incident in Alpine California, this was NOT your typical fishing line fed weed trimmer, this was a Brush Cutter which is uses steel blades for cutter tough dense woody brush trunks and branches like those of the chaparral plant community. These blades are used on the same weed trimming instrument which are normally used on dry grasses and other non-native invasive annual plants that have overwhelmed Southern California as a result of bad management practices of humans. But the fire started on Thursday (yesterday) in Alpine CA was NOT a mere weed trimmer. As earlier reported, this was a Brush Cutter which will often create a spark when it comes into contact with rocks in the rocky decomposed granite soils of the So-California  backcountry. The astonishing thing & question is, "Why would anyone be brush clearing this time of year and during a 'RED DAY' heat alert ?" This is more common than most people think. This actually is the very cause of fires especially in the Southern California rural areas, although you may not always here of these being reported. But in today's MegaFire phobia hysteria and Media feeding frenzy for anything to do with potential disaster, such reports may become more common, but the events have always been around. With the terrible science that has been fostering debate about Brush Management, one wonders why the News Headline doesn't read, "In what appears to be a defensive measure to save it's own life, an old growth Ceanothus deliberately started a fire after being threaten with a Bush Wacker." Okay, I know it sounds stupid, but given usual asinine version of scientific chaparral management programs being pimped as great science, this absurdity is perfect for illustrating Scientific Absurdity. But let's move on from here. Last week I drove up to Alpine CA to photograph the landscape between Alpine and the Descanso old hwy 80 exist off Interstate 8. I had seen some interesting things on my way back from Ocotillo to El Cajon almost a month ago and wanting to recapture them here. 


This is a look from the shoulder on Interstate 8 west of the Descanso Hwy 79 exit. The view is looking north towards Old U.S. Hwy 80 which is now abandoned. Several Oak, Sycamore and Cottonwood skeletons are visible even long after the 2003 Cedar fire. Lack of good healthy normal rainfall was never a problem in the past for recovery, but the idiocy in human management of this planet is calling into question survival for many things. Unfortunately for the Ideologues out there on both sides, this doesn't have a thing to do with a bunch of stupid politics. It's about doing the right thing.

Once again, a view of a chaparral plant community and the Woodland Islands & riparian ribbons struggling to make a come back almost 10 years after the 2003 Cedar Fire. The island woodland pockets (Oaks, Big Cone Doug Fir etc) and large ribbons of riparian plant life within the chaparral plant community are having a harder time of recovery as are many chaparral plants which normally rocket back after fire just after a couple of years. This was actually sad to watch and view, knowing what is once was and how beautiful and pristine it once appeared. But unfortunately this is becoming the same exact scenario all across the southwestern United States.In chaparral country, there are generally numerous pockets of woodland island environments which are separate and distinct from the surrounding chaparral plants. They are pockets of habitat for all manner of larger diverse wildlife and use to be more common. Now with the common mega-fires, even these old growth pockets of woodlands are disappearing fast. As time goes on, the generations of people who remember these special places will also disappear and the knowledge & experiences they have will go with them. The younger generations for the most part will have no clue as to what once was. Indeed, they are already disconnected from the real outdoor life by means of being reconnected to an artificial one indoors by way of the Electronic Addiction age.  Below is an example of a large Chaparral skeleton that would have been erased by the normal rapid growth of the newer chaparral vegetation so common just a couple of decades ago. 

photo: Mine!

This is the burned out woody skeleton of  Laurel Sumac (Rhus laurina) which is definitely struggling to come back 10 years after 2003 Cedar Fire. In the old days decades ago, such a new growth come back after only a couple of years would more than likely covered the entire skeleton of dead burned branches. The resulting extremely low rainfall since that fire exacerbated by global climate disruption no doubt is a contributing factor. There was really no way of preventing that disastrous event.

This is an example of the beautiful "Flannel Bush", so named for it's fuzzy velvety hairs which cover it's twigs and small branches. I have to assume being this close to the Mexican Border that this must be Mexican Flannel Bush  (Fremontodendron mexicana) which is associated with chaparral and Tecate Cypress forests in San Diego County. When I first drove past this particular bush on my way back from Ocotillo on April 7th, this bush was in full bloom. Now just three weeks late only a few flowers remain.

photo: Mine! 

These are an example of the Mexican Flannel Bush flowers. Now there are only a handful on this particular shrub to be found. The kool thing about these flowers is they often appear to be made of a thick yellow orange wax, even up close.

photo: Mine!

Now only the seed pods from which will mature and hold several medium sized pea shaped seeds with a hard black shiny coats are all that remain on this bush along the Interstate 8 freeway.

photo: Mine!

Just by way of reference in other varieties of Fremontia, this photo here is from 2011 at my old property in Anza California. This is Fremontodendron "San Gabriel" which I purchased from "Tree of Life Native Plant Nursery" in San Juan Capistrano. This form grows taller and more tree-like than the mounding shrub appearance of the Mexican Flannel Bush. 

photo: Mine!

For me on this 2011 visit in the summer of that year was the fact that this 'San Gabriel' Flannel Bush had reseeded it self on my old property after I sold the place. Above is an example of the cultivator Flannel Bush "San Gabriel" flowers.

photo: Mine! 

This is an abundant example along Interstate 8 of a chaparral plant called Bush Poppy (Dendromecon rigida) which was everywhere on these interior south facing slopes. In the San Jacinto mountains, you will see many of these as you drive west on Highway 74 leaving Mountain Center on your way to Hemet California.

photo: Mine!

This is a close up shot of the flowers from the Bush Poppy. There is a coastal form and even native to the coastal islands off Southern California that I believe is called Island Bush Poppy. It's foliage is larger and lusher and flowers bigger as I remember.This was pretty much what I had to share. Things haven't necessarily progressed in a positive way in the wilds after the 2000 decade fire events and from what we are seeing here this year, there are more to come. Keep in mind that human idiocy and ignorance are what are causing these fire events in more ways than you can imagine. Everyone has to take the logical precautions, but not to the point of harming the plant community around you. Before I leave, I have some good examples of what people should not do around their rural properties. In most cases they have made the situation worse. There were other photos i wanted to take in Alpine town community itself where land owners have trimmed up Sugarbush (Rhus ovata) and Scrub Oaks into small picturesque multi-trunked trees, but there was nowhere really to pull off the small neighbourhood roads to take photos without looking like some suspicious creep if you know what I mean.

Despite Reports to the Contrary, Invasive Plants will Cause Natives to go Extinct

Credit: James Cornwell

Native plants on a California reserve. Most natives are on mounding islands where they are trying to hang on. Once the mycorrhizal network grid system within the chaparral plant community has been replaced by a bacterial one, this actually favours the invasive annual weeds which thrive in such an environment. The California natives simply cannot compete. Sadly, it's not just the ignorant activities of the early cattle ranching pioneers who deliberately made an irresponsible business decision to alter the chaparral & oak woodland landscape to a grassland-scape using foreign grass species from Europe to feed more cattle than the land could support, but also the irresponsible actions today by what should be educated & informed Forestry Officials utilizing bad science to control mega-fires through a  proven flawed method called prescribed burns that have actually exacerbated the problem causing invasive weeds to spread rapidly. There is a war raging across the planet to stop the invasive species  from other countries from invading other lands. There is no country or region of the planet which has not been effected. For example, for all you south-westerners who demonize the Tamarisk for destroying 10s of 1000s of acreage of riparian habits in your desert regions, you should know that your beloved Mesquite is a horrible  invasive species in Asia and Africa where Tamarisk comes from. Both trees are wonderful plants in the correct balanced setting, but put the blame where it really belongs, on human idiocy, not the plants. Agribusiness in the United States had the bright idea years ago to bring Tamarisk over to the desert regions to create windbreaks. In their ignorance they never once utilized their powers of observation to consider the actual resources available around them that nature creates natural barriers like the Mesquite Mounds which could have been replicated by the constructing of large berms running for miles along fields and/or along roads and railway right-of-ways with various native mesquites, palo verdes ironwoods, etc. 

 

Southern Xinjiang Railway
windbreak

The example of utilizing a berm next to a railroad by use of heavy equipment has been done in China as the photo to the right proves. Extend this further back and plant with southwest natives and an artificial Mesquite dune could have been created for further height next to the Coachella Valley Southern Pacific or Interstate 10 right-of-ways. But it's the Mesquite from the southwest that has ruined the landscape in Africa and India where it has spread like an invasive weed, thanks to the bright idea of the United Nations (another inept made made organization). Here is what the Invasive Species Council based in Australia had to say on this matter.

"Aid agencies face pressure to provide quick solutions to long-term problems, so they recommend plants that thrive on degraded lands - in other words, plants with the attributes of weeds," Mr Low said today.

"Mesquite, a prickly firewood tree heavily promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, is now causing great suffering in Africa, where it is invading farmland and national parks."

"Sudan has passed a law to eradicate it, and Kenya and Ethiopia have declared it a noxious weed," Invasive species Biologist Tim Low said.

Lately I've noticed, in the face of Climate Change and Global Warming alarm, that there are a number of movements out there trying to downplay the dangers of change and invasive species as not being all that bad and we should accept the inevitable. We should learn to live with these consequences and adapt to the change. That is bunk. I'll never except human stupidity and make excuses and concessions for it. There has even been an attempt to downplay the bad role that invasives will play in destroying native species from their traditional habitats. Yet a new study came from the University of Toronto, shedding light on the reality of the serious situation and exposing the falsehood of that propaganda. 

http://media.utoronto.ca/media-releases/arts/invading-species-can-extinguish-native-plants-despite-recent-reports/

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Ecologists at the University of Toronto and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) have found that, given time, invading exotic plants will likely eliminate native plants growing in the wild despite recent reports to the contrary. 

 A study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) reports that recent statements that invasive plants are not problematic are often based on incomplete information, with insufficient time having passed to observe the full effect of invasions on native biodiversity. 

 "The impacts of exotic plant invasions often take much longer to become evident than previously thought," says Benjamin Gilbert of U of t's Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (EEB) and lead author of the study. "This delay can create an 'extinction debt' in native plant species, meaning that these species are going extinct but the actual extinction event occurs hundreds of years after the initial invasion." 

 Much of the debate surrounding the threat posed to biodiversity by the invasions of non-native species is fueled by recent findings that competition from introduced  plants has driven remarkably few plants to extinction. Instead, native plant species in invaded ecosystems are often relegated to patchy, marginal habitats unsuitable to their non-native competitors. 

 However, Gilbert and co-author Jonathan Levine of ETH Zurich say that it is uncertain whether colonization and extinction dynamics of the plants in marginal habitats will allow long-term native persistence. - "Of particular concern is the possibility that short term persistence of native flora in invaded habitats masks eventual extinction," says Levine. 

 The researchers conducted their research in a California reserve where much of the remaining native plant diversity exists in marginal areas surrounded by invasive grasses. They performed experiments in the reserve and coupled their results with quantitative models to determine the long term impacts of invasive grasses on native plants. 

"Invasion has created isolated 'islands of native plants' in a sea of exotics," says Gilbert. "This has decreased the size of native habitats, which reduces seed production and increases local extinction. It also makes it much harder for native plants to recolonize following a local extinction." 

"Our research also allows us to identify how new habitats for native flora could be created that would prevent extinction from happening. These habitats would still be too marginal for invaders, but placed in such a way as to create 'bridges' to other habitat patches," says Gilbert. 

The findings are reported in the paper "Plant Invasions and Extinction Debts" in PNAS Early Edition this week. The research is supported by funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Packard Foundation. -

Credit: James Cornwell

Once again take note of the Chaparral islands which were referred to in the above article. Many of these chaparral islands also contain a native type of bi-colored sunflower called "Tidy Tips" which are also endangered as seen here in yellow on those mounds. This is the beautiful green time of year in California chaparral country. The lush looking meadows are however mostly made up of annual non-natives which will dry up and turn brown in summer. It's these plants which burn like gasoline during mega-fire season and it's generally the chaparral which gets the blame. Modern government mismanagement practices and policies have made this spread of invasives far worse as the latest article.

Image - Maureen Glimer

Tamarisk, helpful to settlers, can be a pest in the long run

Many long time native Californians will remember this plant from the old days when they were once plentiful. The flower is called "Tidy Tips" (Layia platyglossa) and they were heavily growing on Rattlesnake Mountain in El Cajon when I was growing up as a kid in the 1960s. Unfortunately there is not a single plant existing up there any longer. I know because when I visited California in 2011, I made a deliberate attempt to look for it. What I remember most about the thick patches of them which grew interspersed with California Buckwheat & Coastal Sagebrush which also contained some Sea Lavender, was the biodiversity of insects, especially the butterflies population varieties which were very heavy. They too are now gone.

Credit: Me!!!

The beautiful bicoloured "Tidy Tips" were always thick and dense at the top of this street where that SUV is now parked, all the way halfway up this mountain. The yellow you now see is a mix of non-native Mustard, Star Thistle, Foxtail grasses and so forth. Other than the coastal sage scrub, most annual wild flowers are long gone, including the Blue Bells which use to sprout the next spring after a brushfire. Above that parked SUV is a naturalized Palo Verde Tree which volunteered from a seed source of a 50 year old Palo Verde tree to the far left of the SUV, but which is out of the picture. I'll give that one a pass.

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Further references:

http://www.vcstar.com/news/2008/oct/08/tamarisk-helpful-to-settlers-can-be-a-pest-in/

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/01/04/1212375110.abstract