By Tom Oberbauer
Back in January of 1978, I hiked up onto Corte Madera Mountain with a friend, Tom Scott (now with UC Berkeley and UC Riverside), who had been studying Golden Eagles in San Diego County. Bald Eagles were wintering at Corte Madera Lake. After postponing the hike due to rain, that was a good rain season, we drove out to Corte Madera Lake, which was accessible because Tom Scott had a key, and we hiked up the north side of Corte Madera Mountain on a little used trail. The trail climbed through a woodland of mostly coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia), but also Coulter pine (Pinus coulteri), as well as Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi). It was foggy going up and the view was obscured.
Recently, the new Santa Fe Valley Trail, connecting the San Dieguito River Park’s Del Dios Gorge Trail with the Lusardi Creek Preserve, was opened to the public. The beginning of the trail took us through fields of Menzies’ Goldenbush (Isocoma menziesii var. menziesii).
After yet another week of waiting for the temps to go down watching our Monarch production and limiting our walks to local parks, I was worried that I might completely miss the monsoonal “spring” in the desert. So, I went on a quick drive along S-2
By Justin Daniel, Vice President, Rare Plants Co-chair
With vaccinations allowing more contact outdoors and a workload a year behind, it's been a busy time a few of us to help some of our fantastic environmental conservancy organizations around San Diego County by assisting them in their rare plant surveys. The following are glimpses into some of the recent surveys. Come along for the ride and reach out to support our partners, too!
By Tom Oberbauer
…The next week, I drove up and hiked to the location I visited in December and sure enough, the display of Platystemon californica (above) was pretty amazing. Sheets of color extended across the slopes leading into the center of the meadow. I spent some time attempting to photograph and create video of the breeze gently shaking the small flowers. From this location, the view of the meadow ranges across its full length, extending more than three miles in the distance to the south. Laguna Lake also contained a good level of water reflecting the blue sky, apparently left over from the previous two good rainfall seasons. I attempted to capture the view of the flowers with the lake and end of the meadow in the distance. The breeze and the movement of the flowers in this manner always reminds me of when I was a child and my family visited Estes Park in Colorado and we observed alpine wildflowers…
Since I’m working on the Cottonwood Sand Mine EIR, having just finished commenting on the De Anza Natural NOP, I figured it’s time to admit something a little weird: not all the issues I deal with in my letters are the CNPS topics of native plants, conservation, and wildfire. Here’s what happens, and here’s what I try to do about it.
That bit of irreverence might become my theme for 2022. Environmental planning is “rocket science,” not because it involves complex equations, but because it involves planning for and managing a complex program that takes years to plan, execute, and manage. MSCPs, for example, run for 50 years, and the North County MSCP has been in preparation for almost 25 years now. Working with projects on these timespans is not simple.
By Frank Landis, Conservation Committee Chair & Rare Plants Chair
Another year disappeared somewhere. So, what does 2022 hold?
I’m looking out my window at my neighbor’s majestic queen palm. Its fronds overhang my roof, while its trunk is wrapped in Christmas lights. It’s a festive sight, and with the rain, I don’t have to fret about it catching fire and raining embers down on my roof for a while. And people wonder why I advocate for more native plants in gardens, even though I’m supposed to be fighting CEQA battles?
