Coastal Sage Scrub & Chaparral Exhibit @ San Diego Safari Park

image mine

San Diego Safari Park Chaparral Nativescape Exhibit

I've visited here many many times in the past and unfortunately I've always known that the Safari Park's Sage Scrub exhibit was the least visited of all the Park theme areas. But this time was worse and I'll actually go as far as to fault those in charge of oversight for this exhibit. Way back at the beginning of creating & constructing this exhibit, it's apparent that not a lot of attention regarding forward future thinking was undertook into the design planning that went into the layout. This isn't unique to San Diego Safari Park (former Wild Animal Park). I've found some of the same identical gross errors at the city of San Diego's Mission Trails Park near Santee, particularly near the old Padre Dam parking area. Next time you visit the parking area of the old Padre Dam area, see if you don't notice something odd about the Sycamores there. Same exact problem that exists here at the Sage Scrub Exhibit. But first, take a look at this *cough-cough* California Fan Palm below.

That's Not a California Fan Palm 😕

image: Mine

Listed as Washingtonia filifera or in Spanish as it's
common name of 'Palma de Abanko', but in reality it's a 
Guadalupe Island Fan Palm (Brahea edulis) from Baja California

There is a very interesting and truthful ancient biblical text which can be used to draw a comparison of what we observe in the botanical world and ability and insight in providing a true identification for the plant by the fruit it bears. Of course the original application was in identifying kinds of people by their actions, but it still never goes out of style when it comes to field identification. It reads like this:

"You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles?" Matt 7:16

Not very tough to tell what is meant by the text above, but can anyone tell me what is wrong with the botanical label stake at the foot of this Fan Palm tree when you compare it to the photo above ? It is listed as Washingtonia filifera, but I know better. The fruits of California Fan Palm are black and much tinier than the large round dates seen here. The Spanish name given on this label, 'Palma de Abanko' is apparently misspelled and should be "Palma de Abanico" which is basically a translation of the palm native to southern Baja California which we all know as Mexican Fan Palm or Washingtonia robusta. Mexican Fan Palm likewise does NOT have large dates on it's flowering fronds. They are like the California small and black little seeds. These palms were 5 together in the Baja part of the display. It is certainly similar in frond shape, but much smaller than the filifera and the spread is smaller. Clearly what it lacks in frond size and spread is more than made up for in date size. This is none other than Guadalupe Island Fan Palm (Brahea edulis). The main point here is the so-called University educated professionals who no doubt are paid high wages for their expertise in putting this display together dropped the ball big time on this one. In the Chaparral section where a typical desert oasis is incorporated within the SoCal Chaparral exhibit, those palms are indeed correctly labeled  as a visit would reveal. 

Image: Mine

I hope everyone appreciates what I am criticizing here is the lack of responsible expertise as I simply expect more out of Science Experts and Professionals who are promoted as being above the visiting layman public Park visitors when it comes to their understanding and knowledge of any particular section of this Safari Park. Now look at another extremely glaring example of incompetence below here. I often find this in other public venue areas such as the Mission Trails Regional Park in San Diego. This photograph below was listed as a California Sycamore (Plantanus racemosa). So can anyone tell me what's wrong with this picture ? Many in Southern California have a negative opinion on the chaparral plant community mainly because they lack in education on how to care for it. An exhibit which is badly maintained and choice of specimens planted in the wrong geologic location is yet another reason the plants look so dry jagged and rangy and many of the former lush types of species are now dead because of the wrong irrigation methods.

Is That Really a California Sycamore ??? 😲

Now take note of the photograph below of what is supposed to be a native California Sycamore (Platanus racemosa) planted within an Oasis setting with California Fan Palms in the San Diego County native plants Chaparral/Sage Scrub exhibit. Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this picture here ???

image mine:

 San Diego Safari Park Chaparral
 exhibit @ Oasis setting 

Let me help you out. Below are just three examples of three separate Sycamore trees which have a characteristic Maple leaf pattern which a California Sycamore does not have:

Mexican Sycamore (Platanus mexicana)

American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)

London Plane (Platanus acerfolia)

At worst both trees (SD Safari Park & Mission Trails) are in reality a cross bred hybrid of these non-native species of Sycamores with the characteristic Maple Leaf pattern with one of the Southwestern native Sycamores listed below here which in shape and form are almost identical in leaf pattern:

California Sycamore (Platanus racemosa)

Arizona Sycamore (Platanus wrightii)

image - landscaperesource.com

This is the same exact mistake or blunder at the San Diego Mission Trails Regional Park near the Padre Dam Parking area when I visited there in June and along also the old winding Mission Gorge Rd in the Mission Gorge Canyon just west of Santee. I have also seen this same common mistake in many of the conventional retail Nurseries with a label advertising California Sycamore when clearly it was one of the eastern North American or European varieties. Now I could almost excuse a mistake if Arizona Sycamore was being mislabeled as a California since both these Western Sycamores have a long fingered leaf design as opposed to the obvious maple leaf pattern. But there is no excuse whatsoever for the mistaken identity by credentialed university educated staff who were hired to be in charge of such an important native plant exhibit for the purpose of educating John/Jane Q-Public. The other thing is that the eastern North American and European [maybe even Eurasian Sycamore] are a darker green instead of the lighter green which is characteristic of western Sycamores. Also the non-native leaf is thicker, smoother surface & has more of a glossy texture on the surface than the native Sycamores. The natives also have a more fuzzy velvety leaf hairs covering the entire leaf surface. Again, I can forgive a rookie gardener or greenhorn landscaper for this type of mistake, but it's flat out irresponsible and lazy coming from those people in charge of exhibits or displays at public locations where biologists and botanists are supposed to be in charge of oversight and in the business of nature education of the public. Even Landscape Company owners or supervisors and owners of Retail Nurseries should have a measure of responsibility for the glaring mistakes where I often see California Sycamore labels on what clearly is a London Plane or American Sycamore tree. At times I have stumbled upon a mistaken label and mentioned this to Nurserymen. But my experience has been that they don't exactly appreciate you pointing this out and dismiss the complaint as nonsense. Whatever !!! It should be noted however that at Native Plant Nurseries, I have never seen this since their reputation is at stake and they pretty much have an intense passion for their native subject and know their specific plant IDs. Another give away of incorrect tree identification is the tree's overall silhouette, shape and form when older. California Sycamores as well as Arizona have a more picturesque twisting contorted shape or form and often can be multi-trunked with competing leaders, but of course as in anything, it's not always the rule. In the urban landscape where most of the non-natives with Maple-like leaves are found, they are generally a long single straight trunk tree with rounded ball-like crown or conventional tree form that most people consider ideal in the landscape. Even when young the differences are obvious. 

It's not just me saying this folks:  

Evidence for genetic erosion of a California native tree, Platanus racemosa, via recent, ongoing introgressive hybridization with an introduced ornamental species

Irresponsible Irrigation Infrastructure 😞

But back to the other problems I had with the chaparral display at the San Diego Safari Park. They unfortunately use an inappropriate exposed drip irrigation system on the ground's surface which is normally a horrible idea for native California plants anyway. The result is an  unsightly, in decline and rangy dead appearance of the shrubs on display for the public to view. I'm not a real fan of drip irrigation as a permanent maintenance solution. While starting out it has the appearance of being the perfect fit, it creates a type of welfare dependency in the plants which does not encourage the plant to pursue a deeper more effective root system infrastructure like they have in the wild.

image mine: chaparral display with exposed improper irrigation

One of the main goals of any public landscape exhibit is to educate  and instill deeper appreciation of the subject being displayed. The Chaparral Plant Community in general gets bad press from an ignorant public relations land management service whose loyalties generally lay within groups with vested interests in money making. The Park's exhibit had a rangy appearance and degradation of the Chaparral and other native plants in the area which taken together  only serve to reinforce pre-existing negative viewpoints of the native plant life of Southern California in my opinion. I have posted time and again how imperative deep pipe irrigation is to California Natives and an irrigation system which should not be used all the time on a continuous basis. The other factor which hurts many of these plants they have selected is the exhibit's location on a southern slope exposure which have geologically shallow soils with a massive granite bedrock base below a few inches of soil in some places. For the Cacti displays that's great, like the one below of the Baja Exhibit.

Image - SD Safari Park

One of the things they could have done in preparation prior to planting is something home builders often do in rural environments where soil percolation for septic lines needs vast improvement. They drill fairly deep holes in strategic locations within an area and place specific sized explosive charge in each hole. The goal is not to blow things up, but rather to simply fracture the underground down deep. Had this preparation been done here, the chaparral and other native tree roots would have had an easier time of penetrating more deeply through the surface to subsoil layers. Water would also have a better chance at percolating down into deeper layers of the earth where native plants prefer it for summer survival. Now here was another disappointment for me below.

Image Mine: Former Tecate Cypress display which contained at least half a dozen trees which are all now dead and removed.

This was sad. All Tecate Cypress with the exception of the small one to the right here are all dead and removed. There are still some Cuyamaca Cypress, but even some of them are gone and the ones that are left are unfortunately defoliating. Once again the culprit is poor maintenance and an inept irrigation system which had an "enabling effect" on the trees which probably grew to fast and out performed the root system which could not later support the needs of the larger trees. Drip irrigation can be compared to putting and keeping plants on life-support. Take them of that drip life-support and they die just like a critically ill patient at a hospital. Despite the present California mega-drought, the power of an urban landscape garden is that it doesn't have to reflect how poorly things are doing in the wild. This doesn't mean they need to water during summer, but they could have supplemented the poor showing of winter rains by irrigating slowly and deeply during the cooler months of the season. Below here is an example of what is left from the Cuyamaca Cypress display in the garden which was always right next to the Tecate Cypress location along the service road.

Cuyamaca Cypress

Unfortunately, this Cuyamaca Cypress above is also in dire straights as it sheds foliage to weather the drought period until the next winter season's rains offer some hopeful respite from the heat. But to restate the main purpose behind an educational display such as this nativescape should always reflect the beauty of a Chaparral and other coastal sage scrub native plant community which will draw the average person into appreciating such ecosystems more fully. Maybe even encouraging them to use natives in their own garden landscapes. After all, this is a replica not so much of the wild, but of an urban landscape setting where people have the power to control the climate settings. Heat is no obstacle to chaparral and other native plants as long as they have deep access to available subsoil moisture. In fact that was the very purpose of creating the Nativescape Gardens in the first place. As their own website states, their goal is to influence as many visitors as possible to replicate this Nativescape Garden in their own urban landscape back home. Here is what the website and page on Nativescape project actually says:

"The garden's 4 acres (1.6 hectares) show off Southern California's plant communities: chaparral, coastal sage scrub, cypress, desert transition, high desert, island, low desert, montane, palm oasis, and riparian. With names like Apache plume, California buckeye, and monkey flower, these intriguing but often overlooked plants show that there's considerable variety and splendor to California's native landscape. Once you've experienced these unique plants, you can help restore some of California's botanical heritage by including them in your own garden!"

San Diego Safari Park: Nativescapes Garden

Now on a Positive Note 😄

image: Mine

One exceptionally bright spot in this garden was the health and vigor of the Parry Pinyon which once numbered in the 1000s up in and around Anza Valley where I lived for 20+ years. Unfortunately as I last informed readers on Parry Pinyon's health condition and survival up there in Anza, they are in a major steep decline. Many Parry Pinyon skeletons are everywhere on the southeastern end of the Thomas Mountain range where they once dominated. But it's still nice to see this one could indeed inspired landscape designers in building a nativescape and using this tree as a choice addition. I've always considered the Parry Pinyon the most beautiful of all the Pinyons and yet under used as a potential landscape tree. The closest pinyon competitor which is also beautiful would be the darker green Pinus edulis which is native to New Mexico thru Arizona on into the Mojave Desert's backyard in the New York Mountains. But still, the Parry is so unique and probably has smallest concentrated locations more than many of the  Pinyons.

Parry Pinyon (Pinus quadrafolia)

There were of course some other bright spots like many of the Native Oaks which looked healthy and some Manzanitas which also looked to be in healthy peak condition, but could have done with a bit of trimming and sprucing up. There were also some other negatives like the California Holly, Lemonade Berry, Dudleya and other plants needing cages around them to prevent the local wild Mule deer population from eating the display. Well you can't blame them, like the opportunistic gopher, they just do what they do. Every living thing is desperate in California at the moment. Again, while I understand the need to show or illustrate the wildness of the chaparral and other native trees and plants, the idea is to impress and inspire the public to develop deep appreciate for a beautiful but misunderstood and often demonized plant community. The demonization has always been unfair and the motives behind the Critics [who generally have no expertise on the subject] have always been influenced by power and money. I admit that I've been a critic myself of the way things are done at the San Diego Safari Park in other areas before, but not because I dislike what they are attempting, which I believe goes well beyond entertainment and a mere profit making venture. But I'm just jealous for things to succeed and work out towards a positive outcome. But I do hold what clearly must be the cream of the crop highly educated ones whom the Park hired in the first place because of their specific education and expertise in certain areas who were hired and placed in positions of  responsibility and oversight, for making what I consider countless rookie greenhorn mistakes that one would find at a high school level. If it's a landscape workers or laborers issue, then educational programs should be mandated as a requirement for anyone hired for a specific area of maintenance. Deep appreciation has to be instilled within the figurative heart of those assigned to care for such an area or the result is exactly as what exists now. In fact it should be a employment hiring qualification. Again, this is the one area of that entire massive Safari Park which has always been the least visited. I have been there maybe 100+ times, often as a yearly member since 1972 and people will stop short of the Baja exhibit and turn right around and go back to Park Central because nothing inspires them to continue beyond that point. Below here is a website which offers Garden Tours and one of them was this past season's winter period when moisture however slightly greened up the area a bit. It illustrates how beautiful the area could be. And using the wrong plants and labels ? go figure - rookie stuff

http://www.gardenvisit.com/garden/wild_animal_park_gardens

 Just so that everyone is aware, this region up on that hill is still my favourite area of the entire Safari or Wild animal Park whatever you want to call it. I'm a freak for native chaparral woodland environments and so again if I'm critical, it's because I want their entire program up there to succeed and not fail. Generally when I come with family I have to tolerate several hours of seeing all the bottomland exhibits with the birds and animals before climbing up the hill to where I wanted go in the first place. But at least in the end I get my way. 😉

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Further Reading Educational References of Interest

http://www.californiachaparral.org/

Deep Irrigation Methods for Training Deeper Rooting networks 

California Native Plant Resources

http://www.laspilitas.com/

http://www.matilijanursery.com/

Tree of Life Nursery: California Native Plants

Biological Soil Crusts: Boreal & Temperate Forests ?

Biological Soil Crusts on a Granite Rock Slab

This is actually a continuation from an article I did on Biological Soil Crusts which dealt with the more traditional focus of Desert Dryland habitats by those dedicated to studying them. My other blog "Earth's Internet" goes a bit deeper into these topics. Here is that article's link:

Biological Soil Crusts: What Are They and Why should I care ?

 I was out walking through the woodlands with my wife just recently and observed something normally considered only a desert phenomena, yet there it was behind my house. Biological Soil Crusts in a Boreal Forest setting ? Hey, how about a Temperate Forest setting ? Most of the literature and folks who study these amazing natural wonders usually don't even come here with their research work and the question has to be asked - Why Not ? It's usually a sort of Drylands Desert Thingy!!! But cannot those same biological components above in the photo on the granite rock slabs also be considered biological soil crusts in the forest floor ecosystem like the one behind my house here in Sweden ?

Let's see now, Biological Soil Crustal mechanisms by their very definition from a reading taken from  soilcrust.org are officially cataloged as  

"Major components are cyanobacteria, green algae, microfungi, mosses, liverworts and lichens." 

Well that would classify my backyard as a typical Biological Soil Crust Habitat , would it not ? But wait a minute, there's more to that soilcrust.org definition, take a look:

"Biological soil crusts are the community of organisms living at the surface of desert soils." 

Woah, wait a minute, back up the Science Train for a moment. Why doesn't my "cyanobacteria, green algae, microfungi, mosses, liverworts and lichens" in my backyard qualify as official Biological Soil Crust ? Well I'm assuming it's because by the officially approved Panel of Peers definition such plant community can ONLY be found in Desert Drylands. Yeeeaah and all Ferns only grow in moist lush Tropical, Temperate or Boreal Forests ONLY!  Hey I didn't just fall off the Crust Truck you know. I appreciate and naturally so do many others who know me that I am not exactly your basic conventional Science Dude.

I have a habit of actually watching and observing nature and making practical applications on those observations. I tend to toss out the Ideological Assertions, Assumptions and Speculations for the FACTS as I observe them with my own eyes. I am also burned out with the way conventional science-based wisdom infected with various ideological philosophies has ruined our planet. So over the years I tend to be a healthy open minded skeptic. Sometimes that puts my understanding which has always resulted from making practical applications at odds with the conventional science follower types.

 What I do know from experience and from personal first hand observation is that things sometimes CAN be what they SEEM. The Biological Soil Crusts behind my backyard covering every exposed Granite Rock faces or shallow soils all through  these Boreal Forests serve the exact same function and purpose as those Desert Biological soil Crusts. And what is it that they do ? They make Soil and hold it in place, just like they do in any other varied ecological habitat around the Earth. When I first came here I was astonished at the sheer amount of granite bedrock everywhere and just how shallow many of the soils were here around western Sweden. I wondered how anything grew at all in these Forests. Obviously LOTS of water takes care of that and it rains here all the time. Now in the past when we've had some periods of no rainy days lasting for a month and a half, many of even the bigger shrubs & trees on Hissingen Island (it's really a Penninsula - but don't ask why !!!) will die. The soils are shallow here, but what soils there are come from these magnificent biological machines. Take a look below at this photo of how common it is to have wind blown downed trees here. The average soil is just not that deep and it doesn't take an extremely violent windstorm to topple down the trees here.

 

Now to give you some geological perspective of Western Sweden, take a further look at the Göteborg Archipelago where the majority of the geology is exposed to the elements. However, in some small niches on these islands, there does exist some soil and vegetation

One of the things that first struck me when I first observed this tough seemingly harsh rocky granite  landscape is where did all of this soil come from in the first place ? If you listen to and believe the story that is told of the history of these particular geological formations of western Sweden with it's extremely abundant Archipelago island chain strung along all around it's coasts, is that it's formation came from the time period of when the Ice Age ended and the great Glacial receding came along and reveal this rock hard sterile looking landscape. Of course like all receding glacial landscapes, for many years there is this sterile appearance to it. Take note of this series of photos which reveals a seemingly lifeless barren landscape after glaciers disappear.

Upsala Glacier, Argentina 1908 to 2004

Krossfjorden, survey of Fjortende Julibreen Glacier

Okay, as you can see and take note above, this is common around the globe. But notice the sterile landscape for which is left behind after the glacier recedes. Makes sense. Every landscape starts with a blank canvas, so how did this particular soil develop over time to allow plant life to be possible ? Clearly seeds just don't blow in on the wind and take hold automatically transforming it into a brand new forested ecosystem. There are clearly a series of successional biological mechanisms which need to take place prior to this seeding event. This is where Biological Soil Crusts come into play. So assuming the Swedish nature Signage along the trail pathway was telling me the truth about how the Ice Age World  finally disappeared, then how did this Soil come about anyway ?

Spores of all these Lichens, Algaes, Mosses and various forms of fungi need to enter the scene first to create a foundational Soil system for the succession of life to begin. A clue for me on how this soil could have developed over time came from that top photo on this page. There was just something interesting I noticed.The rock face with the biodiverse colonies of Lichens, Mosses, Algae and Fungi/Bacteria was pock marked in a sort of checkerboard pattern and I wonder why and what could have done this. Take a closer look:

Now if you look closely, you'll see the area is clearly pockmarked as of some bird or animal were foraging around for some sort of sustenance. And you would be right. It's the local Scandinavian Magpie which does all of this. I've actually watched some of these feisty birds tear up someone's nice lawn before looking for Earthworms for which there are millions in these northern Boreal Forests.

Clearly you can see something has foraged around and turned over some of the mosses here in the photograph to the left, no doubt looking for earthworms or Sowbugs, both of which are abundant underneath this layer of living biological material. It's a sort of natural tillage being done without harm to the mycorrhizal grid infrastructure. Below, let's take a closer zoomed in magnification look at what has happened exactly.

Okay so we get a good idea and picture of just what happens to these granite rock slabs and interestingly, these organisms seem to repair it themselves much more rapidly so that by next year the whole process starts all over again the following year. But what happens to this material once it's turned over by these critters ? Well these granite slab and boulder formations here run for great lengths from north to south and there are many fissures, crevaces and cracks running the same directions. It is here where the soil builds up and let me show you how. This next photo illustrates where the uplifted material goes once it's disturbed. It falls off the edges and into these voids or spaces only to collect and decompose. Not only organic matter, but bits and chips of the granite pebbles and sand grains themselves appear here. Take a look.

This build up here is about 10 inches thick just from this season. Here is an window into the world of the creatures I've seen responsible. These are birds for in or around the forests here. Take a look.

This first bird here you will recognize, but it's far different than the common city pigeon you are use to seeing. It's called a European Wood or forest Pigeon (Columba palumbus) and this is the same ground foraging bird I photographed at the Gunnebo Estate in my other post. They looked like a covey of giant quails in groups of 12 - 15 rummaging around on the ground there. These pigeons are huge and shy. Not like the city pigeons and probably make a better meal for those who enjoy hunting and game foods.

This next bird is not just your common black bird. It is much larger and the male seen here with the yellow ringed eye and orange beak sings like a Western Thrasher or Mockingbird for those familiar with them, The female is dull sooty brown with dull brown beak. The male's singing is beautiful and echoes everywhere through the forest. The are ground foragers like the Pigeons and pick through the easy to turn over mosses and lichens.

This next bird is probably more recognizable to most as they are found not only throughout northern/central Europe, but across North America and Asia in Siberia. We know it as the common Magpie, but they also are ground foragers and are often picking and turning over the mosses and lichens here. With that in mind, let me show you some other images of just where all of these Biocrustal Colonies love to show up here in Sweden. Actually anywhere they want. Often times houses with the clay tile or stone roofs will need replacing if old enough. That's because on the north sides of roofs there are usually heavily encrusted mats of these lifeforms eating and chewing their way through the mineral material. After all, that's what they do. They also chew through headstones at the Cemeteries here and I have some photos of this. People after some decades will have to replace a family member's headstone if it has been severely damaged and crumbled by these crusts. These first two pictures are from the surrounding walls of one cemetery just to illustrate their prolific ability to colonize just about anywhere.

These next pictures are examples of grave stones. when my wife's grandmother died and we went up north for the funeral in this little small town with a small church with an attached cemetery, which was very very old, the wear patterns on the granite stones were extremely well worn and these living things were responsible for this break up of tough mineral rock material. Like the man made material of concrete and such, nothing is safe from these biological mineral breakdown machines.

Well that is enough material to illustrate just what these organisms are capable of doing for a healthy planet, even if we are inconvenienced at times. This cemetery was actually one of the more better maintained one's I've seen. It appeared to me that they have from time to time gone in here and pressure-washed most of the stones as a regular maintenance procedure. Unfortunately on many of these stones, the biological material in manufacturing some of those strong enzymes for which they accomplish their soil building and fertility processes have taken their toll on the normally rock hard material where even the pressure washing will pockmark out chips and chunks of stone which defaces the writing on the grave marker. Eventually the stones almost always have to be replaced, but not for some couple decades depending on how bad the environmental circumstances.

So should we consider these as Biologcal Soil Crusts ?  I think so. They are the same organisms with slightly differing functions in the habitats they are found but ultimately accomplish the same goals. This is not a definitions shell game or word semantics debate. Definitions have a way of changing as we gain more understanding. Why even the Antarctic and Arctic regions are technically deserts by definition. The both have extremely low humidity levels somewhere around 3% and extremely low precipitation averages, though you may not think it so. Cynobacteria which is often spoken of as part of these desert crusts also accomplish this in the photo below.

Would you consider after viewing the above photo that these Cynobacteria a desert ONLY organism ? No of course not. What the Swedish example does is focus attention on an otherwise ignored and discounted amazing biological process found in our desert environments. Yes they are different and yet the same. They work faster and greater which allows one to illustrate a process otherwise unseen or regarded as of little importance. This is now obvious with all the NOT-SO-ECO-GREEN ENERGY VENTURES which are now being bulldozed into the Deserts around our planet which is creating other ecological nightmares for which many of the companies involved couldn't care less.

What will they now do as a means of maintenance with these places ? Once the soil is stripped of their Biological Soil Crusts in these deserts, dust storms become far worse. As a means of maintenance, these companies cannot allow and biological grow in between these solar panels or other wind energy units. Yet like the Oil companies who create moonscapes inside of their oilfields for a purpose, then Eco-Not-So-Green Companies will most likely employ some of the same methods used by the Big Corporate Oil Industry to sterilize the soil arounf their oil wells. Ever see a sterilized looking oil field ? Wanna know why they are sterilized ?

Oil Fields No. 1, Belridge, California 2002

You'll first off take note that I did NOT pull a picture out from a Saudi Arabian Desert Magician's black Top-Hat here. This is Belridge California. First off it should be noted that Oil Companies CANNOT afford to have dry grasses or anything else to facilitate the movement of a grass fire inside any of their fields. When I worked for Coors Bio-Tech back in the late 1980s, we had an Orange Peel Solvent much like the picture here to the right called Bio-T Max. It is known by another name in the chemical industry called D-Limonene. It is water soluble and has numerous practical cleaning and degreasing applications. As a Manufacturing Representative for Coors Bio-Tech (yes the same Golden Colorado Company that makes Beer) it was my job to canvas for official distributors for this product. One of these was a Chemical Distributor of products to the Oil Industries from Santa Barbara to Bakersfield California. Very well known oil producing areas to many. This individual sold a chemical herbicide that was guaranteed to destroy the soil and prevent any kind of plant (trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, etc) seed from germinating on those oil field sites for at least 7 years. I bet most of you didn't know such a hideous thing even existed. Monsanto created Agent Orange for the Vietnam War as a Tropic Forest defoliant for which these areas today are still mostly desert regions. And yet these Oil Companies still need or require a strong chemical sterilizer to keep fields plant life free. 

What do you suppose the Not-So-Green-Energy Companies will be using as a means of an ongoing disinfecting Soil Sterilant program ? Will they even use one ? They have to maintain a plant-free zone and hiring manual labor for a permanent maintenance solution would be cutting into profits which is what all of this is about in the first place. On that note there are other companies that will pursue the opposite. Terraderm is one of those. The application of their product could restore soils destroyed by strip mining istes, solar farms, wind turbine farms etc.

Images - terraderm.com

Here is the company which manufactures a Biolgical Soil Crust Inoculum approach for which a healthy more ecologically sound solution would correct an already mistake ridden system, Terraderm. Someone should monitor what they intend on doing to the soils out there as a means of regular maintenance. In the interest of responsible sustainable technologies moving forwards in this area, we have this company's site to provide a viable idea:

Terra Derm: Restoring Soils on a Global Scale

The facts here show and prove that there are many many amazing things out there in the natural world yet to be discovered, researched and understood for use as a practical application for proper custodianship of this Earth. No matter what or how we want to define these amazing organisms, or what personal professional bias we have on these subjects, the work with which they accomplish everywhere around our planet Earth should be admired by everyone. To that end I hope I've made an otherwise boring science subject fascinating to the average person.