Santa Lucia Coast Range & Big Sur California: An Environmental Wreck ???

While news reports have focussed on Nature, the real spotlight should be aimed at human mismanagement of the region, from the region's land management policies right on down to the average land owner

Image from YouTube

Image - nbclosangeles.com

This iconic image above is of Bixby Creek Bridge along central California's Big Sur Coastline. This region is one of the prettiest gems for which tourists are attracts people to visit California. This bridge is probably the most photographed feature on the Cabrillo Highway (Route 1) in California. But the area has also had a long troubled history infrastructure issues here along this coast highway. During this past year (2016) it has been a tough time to for visiting tourists and even tougher challenge if you are a local permanent resident or business owner. For almost a year they have been isolated completely from the outside world. First, there has been a long period of drought, with this region listed on maps as being far above the rest of the state's "severe" & "extreme" designations to the high rating of "exceptional." As time went on, that extreme designation on the map spread, but has always been exceptionally bad between San Francisco & Santa Barbara in the coastal mountin ranges. Second, there was the  Soberanes Fire (& multiple other fires) which started on July 22nd 2016. On August 2, officials announced that their investigation found that the fire had been caused by an unattended illegal campfire. While no suspect was identified, Monterey County District Attorney Dean Flippo said that, if an arrest were made, the culprit could be charged with negligence and manslaughter. Yeah that's right, someone died. And finally third, after 5 years of intense exceptional drought, this past 2016/17 record rainy season brought the mud and landslides. Bridges gone, roads collapsed and massive slides of whole mountainsides coming down obliterating everything in it's path. Now while Nature certainly played a role, it's often the lack of foresight in planning and critical mistakes in decision making during the crisis which exacerbate these problems which has a domino effect later on. In this particular post (Part I), I'll mainly focuss on the Soberanes Fire & human error.

Image by Stan Russell - The Big Sur Blog

Looking north from Soberanes Point about 10:30 PM, 7/23/16
Working its way down steep canyons towards Highway 1

This fire at it's very beginning blitzed through an area I had first discovered back in 1985 called Palo Colorado Canyon north of Big Sur which is well hidden from most outside tourists unfamiliar to the region. Locals know exactly where this area is. This place was a beautiful hidden paradise when I first found it back in 1985, but it's mostly gone today. My second trip there in 2014 which you can read from the link above, I also wrote about an amazing phenomena from this region where streams and rivers still ran even after years of exceptional drought. The question was why ? Especially since I did point out the numerous dead trees I saw first hand back up in that canyon in 2014. In 1985 there were no dead trees. But there are a combination of two natural components that allow streams and rivers to flow here even without normal winter rains & absence of summer monsoonal rains that the interior part of the state experiences and that would be Hydraulic Descent & Fog Preciptiation which is the very reason water sources are so dependable here. But human error changed all that. Here is a blog account and discussion by locals in the Big Sur area about the problem of illegal campfires on June 30th 2016 just a couple of weeks before the July 22nd 2016 Soberanes Fire. 

Xasauan Today Blog - Because Nature Bats Last

Image - Xasauan Today Blogger

The Campfire Conundrum 

"On a Sunday walk along the Pine Ridge Trail during Level IV fire restrictions in 2013, we looked at dozens of fire rings and couldn’t find a single one that hadn’t been used the night before."   

"Level III fire restrictions are currently in effect in the Los Padres National Forest. This means that all wood and charcoal fires are completely prohibited outside of a few designated Campfire Use sites (in designated car campgrounds). Smoking and recreational target shooting are similarly restricted. Lanterns and stoves may only be used with a Campfire Permit."   

"This isn’t a secret. Signs informing the public that campfires are prohibited abound. In spite of this, and in spite of the fact that fire danger is obviously quite high, campers light dozens of fires along Big Sur’s backroads and trails every single night."  

"What gives?  My guess is that it’s a function of the same human failing that prevents us, in so many contexts, from seeing how seemingly harmless individual behavior can have a devastating cumulative effect. The campfire builder likely perceives, correctly, that there is little chance that his or her fire will be the one to cause a conflagration. After all, it’s probably fewer than one in a thousand illegal campfires that becomes a wildfire. To these campers, the suggestion that they are endangering life, property and forest resources seems uptight and exaggerated."

Follow the rest of the story and comments section discussion about the potential for disaster (HERE) and keep in mind that three weeks later that devastating Soberanes wildfire started and burned for four months from July 22nd thru October 28th when it was declared 100% contained with only some hotspots still to be dealt with in the fire perimeter. But this wasn't the only damage done to the area. Despite heroic efforts by firefighters, much damaged was done by the Bull Dozer construction of Fire or Fuel Breaks along almost every major ridge, even some impossible access areas on the edge  of wilderness. And these were not just one or two bulldozer blades wide fire breaks, these were often 5 or 6 blades wide or more. Admittedly this is a tough wild extremely steep rugged impossible canyon terrain. But the problems they created in attempting to stop the wildfire will be with this area for a long time to come.

Image - Big Sur Kate Blog

Well, you can google more Bull Dozer fuel break cutting work on the Soberanes Firelines and many more done far away from the actual firelines in anticipation of the fire breaking out and making big runs which quite often did happened. There were so many big equipment companies called to fight this fire that the region in some places looked like an all out war preparation by a German Army Panzer Division. Maps at the time showed an extensive networks of bull dozed fireline roads everywhere which seriously did look like Battle Plan maps and I suppose they really were. But the real damage here was to the underground mycorrhizal grid and infrastructure of both native tree and chaparral root systems which took centuries for this part of the natural world to construct. An Absence of the mycorrhizal grid will be a major invite over the next few years for non-native noxious weeds to grab a foothold which will eventually become permanent residents into this once pristine untouched landscape.

Image - Cal Fire San Benito-Monterey Unit

Crews work on putting in control lines for the Soberanes Fire
 near Big Sur, California in this August 4, 2016

 (Vern Fisher - Monterey Herald)

Bulldozers work on a fire break in the Rancho San Carlos area
 of Carmel Valley while fighting the 23,568 acre Soberanes Fire
 on Wednesday, July 27, 2016 just five days after the fire began

(Vern Fisher - Monterey Herald)

A private contractor dozer operator works a fire line
 west of Cachagua in August 2016

 (David Royal - Monterey Herald)

Panzer Divisions Dozer Crews cut a containment line on
Daniel’s Ridge east of the Old Coast Road as firefighters
battle the Soberanes Fire in Big Sur

Photo from CAL FIRE

The dozer that rolled over on the Soberanes Fire in 2016,
killing Robert Reagan

"Both a private contractor and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) were issued citations by California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) related to a fatality when a dozer rolled over. Robert Reagan, 35, of Friant, California, was killed while fighting the Soberanes Fire south of Monterey, California July 26, 2016."   

"Minutes after Mr. Reagan began operating the piece of equipment for Czirban Concrete Construction on contract to CAL FIRE, it rolled over. Not wearing a seat belt, he was thrown from the cab and was killed when the dozer rolled onto him."

(Source; wildfiretoday.com)

Sadly the Army of bull dozer operators used to stop this wildfire and save property owner dwellings not only took it's toll on the environment, but also one bull dozer operator's life. Often times and especially in terrain like this, many firefighters are asked to do impossible tasks at the risk of their very lives. I've previously written about and voiced my opinion about firefighters having to risk their lives for people who have built buildings on property with impossible death trap access. The image below I watched on television Live in May 2014 where wildfire in San Marcos, California in 2014 which moved towards one hilltop Mansion which was surrounded by more than a dozen giant dead Aleppo Pine trees in the homeowner's landscape. Nobody should be made to risk life and save that and homeowners who choose such locations should accept the inevitable. You can read that post below here:

Image - NBC San Diego

Should Firefighters be expected to save Homes which are located in fire trap geography and where the owner cared less about landscape hygiene ?

After any Wildfire the Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) assessment would have conducted a survry and an implementation clean-up & repair work would be on-going for perhaps months. 

Inciweb.com

Excavator moving previously cut vegetation to cover fireline.

inciweb.com

Excave placing vegetation material on fireline

Inciweb.com

Working on suppression repair

Inciweb.com

Brush and cut vegetation from suppression repair work.

After it's all said and done, this is the result of clean-up repairs. Areas where the wildfire were untouched are repaired from a human eye-candy appeal point of view where brush is placed on top of the fuel break scar to hide it and provide some measure of runoff control with the next seasons winter rains. What they don't tell you and probably most of them are ignorant of or if the know, view it as trivial, the mycorrhizal fungal network grid which previously supported native chaparral and trees has been erased and obliterated under the ground. The scar is now ripe for take over by non-native invasive annual grasses and other noxious weeds which were generally kept in check by the former fungal network, but now that this has been removed, a bacterial soil system has replaced it and this scenario is what annual weeds will thrive under. Some scars will be left untouched like this once below from the Sherpa Fire. It will be viewed now as a strategic fuel break for fighting future wildfires. But given some months it could later look like older historical fuel breaks which are densely weed infested and will move future wildfires along more rapidly. Like this one below in Southern California.

Inciweb.com

West Camino Cielo Fuel Break, Los Padres National Forest

Image - Chaparral Institute

Trabuco Ranger District of the Cleveland National Forest
fuel break along the ridgeline of the Santa Ana Mountains

Other victims in nature weren't so lucky to escape. An irreplacable world record Pacific Madrone is gone forever 

Photo: California Department Of Fish And Wildlife

Image - Mine 2014

Pacific Madrone
(Arbutus menziesii)

The largest madrone tree in the United States in 2007 (left) and in 2016 (right). The tree, located in Joshua Creek Canyon Ecological Reserve in Monterey County, was severely burned in the Soberanes Fire. A giant in Big Sur registered as the largest of its kind in the nation appears to be a casualty of the devastating wildfire. Madrones really have no defenses against wildfire other than resprouting from the trunk base after being burned up. They have a very thin bark much like that of a Manzanita. Even when they get older and have the characteristic rugged bark like the old growth one above, they are no match for a wildfire. Most likely in youth this one above was burned and resprouted from the truck. This is proven by the fact is has multiple trunks. I've photographed young Madrones in Palo Colorado Canyon and they will start out as a single trunked tree. Much like the one on the right that I photographed in 2014. But once burned, that single trunk Madrone becomes a multi-trunk resprout from it's stump's base. Sadly though this time around, the Soberanes fire was just too hot and appears to have burned down deep into the rootsystem and surrounding soil.

Image - Dr Aljos Farjon

Santa Lucia Fir (Abies bracteata)

The other potential for wildfire victim here is the highly restricted habitat belonging to the Santa Lucia Fir or Bristlecone Fir (Abies bracteata) which is endemic to the central California Coast Ranges. Many of the largest known pocket woodlands of Santa Lucia Fir at various locations (particularly Ventana Wilderness) were effected by both wildfire and Forest Service backfires. But even still at this time there has not been a lot of assessment on the conditions or status of this Santa Lucia Fir in some of the remote regions. Perhaps this year will change that. The other danger for all plants which endure an extreme or rather in this case "exceptional" drought designation for four or five years is at the end of that period trees will have produced less seed/cones (offensive strategy) as opposed to putting all it's resources into survival mode (defensive strategy) for the adult tree itself, so that when a fire does come along and wipes a forest out, there is very little release of seed resources to counter the damage caused by the catastrophic event. This goes with every tree and shrub caught in the middle of massive unprecedented drought followed by wldfire. Change could be permanent and sometime irreversible. So time will tell. This particular tree has been hit hard by previous fires in the past, but again we will have to wait and see. 

Some Local Blogger References for Central California which are far better than Main Stream Media Outlets

Big Sur Kate's Blog: Big Sur News & Events – Road Conditions & Fires

Xasauan Today Blog - Because Nature Bats Last

And what about the next big bit of bad news ??? 

And Finally the Rains Came and Deluged all of Californnia!

ABC 10 News January 2017

I won't spend any time on this portion of the ongoing disaster to this region. That will be in my second post. I mainly focussed here on Nature and what has taken place, although it has to be acknowledged that many many homes and commercial buildings were lost which devastated the human population here. But the misery and inconvenience continue and it's still not over. But maybe there is some good news as far as infrastructure repair if anyone out there is paying close attention. Stay Tuned!

Big Update: While Palo Colorado Canyon seem to be spare numerous Wildifre, January 2022 is a different story. Imagine wildfire season starting in a January

https://www.montereyherald.com/2022/01/22/wildfire-in-palo-colorado-causes-residents-to-flee/

Gunnebo House (Castle) & Gardens

Image - dwedishgardens.se

This for me started out as one of those journeys where, "Oh man, not another boring trip to Göteborg and viewing the sites of some ancient historical rich European Aristocrat"  For me, once you've seen one castle you've seen them all and I don't care what country it is located. I learned this the hard way back in 1976 when a friend of mine and I came to Europe and hit almost every famous Castle Landmark to be found on a tourist map. Besides , I hate going to town (Göteborg) or any other city on the planet for that matter. So I would have prefered staying home, but the reality is I'm glad I went. Besides we were going with some good friends we haven't seen in a long while.

For a further read on the actual estate, when built, who built it and so forth, please visit this website. I won't be going into those particulars much here.

http://gunneboslott.se/english/the-house/history-of-the-estate 

Okay, let's get through some of the formal gardens and buildings settings first. This first picture is of an Oak Tree native to Sweden called Quercus robur. It's the most common found all over Europe and goes by many common names. What intrigued me most about this particular tree was the many wildlife features like holes and other cavities for various birds and small animals to live. Something that I find rather lacking in most Swedish woodlands that I've seen since forst moving here. This oak was on the pathway walking up to the Estate. Incredible oak and one that under the right circumstances makes a straight tall trunk which is perfect for lumber, unlike the numerous species of Oak I grew up with throughout California which are always tristed and contorted.

Image - Mine

Then just below this tree was this nature sign explaining a bit of what I already figured out by just looking at the tree.

Image - Mine

Translation: Ek (Oak)

"For a few thousand years, the oak was the most common tree in the western Swedish deciduous forest. An oak can be very old, at least 1,000 years."

"In the dense oak forests oak tree growth habit is a straight trunk and narrow crown. Stand alone out in the open oaks, have a short, rough trunk and very broad crown, with a typical large round appearance."

"The oak harbors very rich insect life. In England it has about 600 species of insects associated with this oak. There are many endangered insects in Sweden, especially beetles living on these ancient oaks. Several common insects are also available in oak, such as 'Ekvecklaren' (oak folding holder = don't ask, just name of insect). It is a small moth whose larvae can almost overwhelm the  trees in some years. The oak trees survives them though to form new leaves anyway."

Okay, now for more of the main estate building and formal gardens.

Image - Mine

Yeah, yeah yeah, that's me. Let's move this along and get it over with. This first shot is of our friends and their young boy below.

Image - Mine

Image - Mine

Image Mine

Image - Mine

Image - Mine

The vegetable & Spice/herb garden above is where I was roped into an interview questionaire by a young girl there whose job it was to find out what visitor impression are of the Estate Park. She asked what I thought about these gardens and I replied that I would still have to wait a bit to provide an opinion because most of these gardens, landscapes and woodlands were just beginning to emerge from their winter slumber. Believe it or not total Spring bloom was still beginning for many things. Where I come from Spring starts in February and peaks in March.

Below you can see where they actually cut down and utilized some of the Estate's woodland trees and milled their own lumber from those trees for some of their building projects like this shelter in the photo below.

Image - Mine

Image Mine

Image - Mine

Well, they've got to have something for the kids. Modern kids will only take so much of the hiking trails. This wooden cow was located just behind the horse barn. (BTW, Barn is the Swedish word for Child - don't ask, it just is)

Image - Mine

Image - Mine

Now let's take that walk in the woods. What excited me about this part of the adventure, was that it was like going back in time to what Swedish forests use to look like. Most of southern, central and western Swedish forests were historically mainly dominated by old growth Oak and other broadleaf deciduous Forests with a widely varied mixture of other old growth Alder, Aspen, European Mountain Ash, Norway Maple, Willows, etc. But oak was the most prominent.

With this type of biodiverse forest like we visted on this day, you can see first hand how the forest is alive with the sounds of animals and multiple species of birdlife, something saldy lacking in most all Swedish forests which are industrially managed with failed out-dated science-based technology which replaces the already perfect balance of the wild program. Most Swedish forests have been horribly clear cut and replaced by tree planting with monoculture of straight trunked tall pines or firs for lumber or mostly pulp wood production for paper. This will be discussed in a link at the end of this post.

Image - Mine

Image - Mine

Image - Mine

The picture above is an example of what a closed forest environment will do to any tree in shaping it throughout it's life for later usage by humans. Unlike the oak found in or on the edge of a meadow which will have a stout truck and multibranched round large crown pattern.

Take a look at these Norway Maple trees. Here's the parent tree followed by hundreds of seedling trees most likely to never make it through the canopy unless they get lucky by various environmental circumstances. Trees like these need a nurse tree. Maples won't amount to much out in the open. Mostly I've seen them stunted and shrubby looking, same with oaks trees. Very rarely do you find them volunteering out in the open. But the excess of seedlings on the forest floor does provide a food source for grazing and browsing animals.

Image - Mine

Image - Mine

Okay this photo above is an Oak tree with a tiny hole in it where there was once a branch at one time but now has since rotted out and been bored out to create a nest hole cavity. This tiny hole provides nesting for a slender dainty little forest bird which is called a Nuthatch. In fact I watched it fly in and out. I actually saw this same small birds utilizing small crevices in a rock wall up by the main buildings in a pond feature they had there with slender sandstone rocks in a dry wall design. Here is a post I've done about Nuthatches and attracting them into your landscape.

Nuthatches and Brick Porthole Habitats

These following shots are of a train that past over head, and I love trains, so had to take this shot. Also some shots of my wife and our friends walking through the meadow and some shots of forest floor thinning and then finally the old growth oak forests view at the end in all it's wild glory as we left.

Image - Mine

Image - Mine

Image Mine

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More nature explanations about the local birdlife and while they are not so visable in the pictures, there is a rather large Swedish forest pigeon which is similar to the ones up in the forests of Idyllwild California where I use to live. Like the California pigeons, these are extremely shy as well and hard to get near for taking a photograph, unless you have the right powerful lense to capture from a distance. These birds are nothing like their pesky nusiance domestic city dewelling cousins. They group together scratching around on the ground looking for food and look very much like a large covey of quail foraging the ground with one male as lookout. And finally the old growth Oak Woodland beauty at the end of our hike.

Image - Mine

Image - Mine

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Image - Mine

Now down below all that old growth Oak Woodland habitat is an area around the parking lot down in a river valley with a lake where there are a lot of natural boggy conditions. This environment for the most part is where the pure stands of Björk (Birch) and other wet habitat loving plants also prefer to reside.

Image - Mine

Image - Mine

Image - Mine

This concludes my visit, but at least you folks know what much of Europe was like long before industrialization took over and changed things for good in the late 1800s in all Europe and not just Scandinavia. 

Enjoy! 😸