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IN THE FIELD: Corte Madera Mountain

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.

IN THE FIELD: Corte Madera Mountain
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In The Field: The New Santa Fe Valley Trail

By Jürgen Schrenk

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).

In The Field: The New Santa Fe Valley Trail
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The Desert a Month after Monsoonal Rains

By Jürgen Schrenk

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

The Desert a Month after Monsoonal Rains
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CNPS-SD Helps With Rare Plant Surveys

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!

CNPS-SD Helps With Rare Plant Surveys
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The Mount Laguna Surprise

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…

The Mount Laguna Surprise

Restoration

Restoration Update: Watercress (Nasturtium officinale)

We treated artichoke thistle (Cynara cardunculus) at Lusardi Creek.  We also treated four areas where Carnation spurge (Euphorbia terracina) is persisting. One of these was near the end of a berm extending into the Creek.  We had to fight our way past thick native brush that we had restored in order to reach it.  This was encouraging despite our leaning toward despair at ever getting rid of this invasive. There are two additional areas but we didn’t have time to tackle them. 

This week's photo is of native Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) against a backdrop of drying pond scum along the banks of the San Dieguito River. According to Calscape, it is a water-loving plant spread almost worldwide, from Europe to central Asia to across the US. It is also one of the oldest known leaf vegetables consumed by human beings. It is botanically related to garden cress and mustard, all known for a peppery, tangy flavor.

This week I have Monday and Saturday to lead work parties.  Email me if you can help.

— Robert Byrnes

Co-chair

Habitat Restoration Committe

CNPS-San Diego

Native Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) . Photo by Bob Byrnes

Restoration Update: CA False Indigo

We surveyed current restoration sites in the San Dieguito River Valley and potential sites near Santa Ysabel in the upper reaches of the watershed.

California False Indigo (Amorpha californica). Photo by Bob Byrnes.

Here is a photograph of California false indigo (Amorpha californica).  We see this native along the San Dieguito River every spring.  This year it is appearing much more robust than we've seen in the past.  This is probably because we've removed the invasive weeds which confined it at these locations.  The high water which lasted for months likely also contributed. 

Arne and I are looking for individual(s) who may want to become co-chairs with us on the Habitat Restoration Committee.  As Committee members know, our group has an established stewardship program where we do restoration through hands-on training.  A typical training period is one complete growing cycle to see annual change.  Benefits include meeting great people, spending time outdoors, learning native and non-native plants and the reward of seeing the changes that result from our activities.  Contact Bob Byrnes and Arne Johanson at invasiveplants@cnpssd.org.

This week I have Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday to lead volunteers.  Email me if you can help out.

--Robert Byrnes

Co-chair

Habitat Restoration Committee

CNPS-San Diego