Restoring Southern California Riparian Ecosystems

I do follow the work being done by the San Diego River Park Foundation, but perhaps I can offer some personal experience in restoration techniques for which I have done before in Riparian restoration. This sign below is where I have on example seen my trip the chocking of invasive plants like Tamarisk in places like the San Diego River in Lakeside California. Although I must say that I have neither heard nor read about any programs to eradicate this riparian habitat menace. I've previously written about this plant Here , but I in no way blame it for the problems facing southwestern ecosystems problems. I put it squarely on the shoulders of those responsible for the present fiasco, humankind.

Photo Credit: Mine


Highway 67 bridge over the San Diego River
just north of downtown Lakeside California.

On my stay for two months in Southern California, almost every single riparian area I crossed over on a bridge somewhere  whether it was the San Diego River, Sweetwater River, Santa Ysabel Creek, San Luis Rey River, etc,etc, etc & almost every single waterway period, had areas choked by the invasive North African/Middle-Eastern tree we call Tamarisk (Salt Cedar) which was the unfortunate & ignorantly brought over as a Desert Windbreak tree and not just one variety, but several which now have infested just about everywhere in all the southwestern United States. What I should have done is include all these pictures in with my post on Climate Change, Warming, Shifting ????  which dealt with the native tree Palo Verde's movement into coastal chaparral plant community and California Sycamore tree successes at higher elevations where they formerly had remained stunted at best as a result of late cold snaps, but clearly have started to succeed with the climate changes. The two trees are native and I have no issues with these improvements, but Tamarisk successes where I had not seen them as prolific before, although present in the past, do pose a more serious problem. Below are some photos which expose the real problem of this invasive plant which crowds out Cottonwoods, Sycamores, Willows, Velvet Ash, Mexican Elderberry and possible Oaks along the outer fringes of riverside bordering. I actually have seen from even Satellite photo imagery these invasive trees all along the entire San Diego River. Another major invasive in many hydrological channels in coastal San Diego County and even with the city limits where rain run-off channels utilize existing washes are the Baja Native, Mexican Fan Palm (Washingtomia robusta). Maybe I wouldn't be so sensitive against these had the been California Fan Palm (Washingtonia filifera).

Photo Credit: Mine

Photo Credit: Mine

Both above photos are of the view from the Hwy 67 bridge in Lakeside California looking eastward towards El Capitan High School and the El Monte Valley beyond.

Photo Credit: Mine

Looking west towards the direction of Santee California from the Hwy 67 bridge in Lakeside California.

Photo Credit: Mine

Photo Credit: Mine


The two photos above not only exposed the problem of Tamarisk, but also the increasing intrusion of Red River Gum Eucalyptus which is an Australian Native tree. Sadly, both Africa & Australia do battle with one of our southwest natives, the Mesquite Tree.

Eradication and continued prevention of Tamarisk would involve many challenges. First and foremost like anything that is a natural problem disaster issue, it has a human cause component. It would almost become necessary to outlaw Tamarisks to be planted in either city municipalities or in County Rural areas. I say challenge because in our world's modern day culture there is this obsession  with freedom on the brain and rights. The problem with most Rights Activism is that often times some of those rights demanded by whatever rights movements often times infringe upon the rights of others or in this case the natural world. Single tree Tamarisk tree specimens will always be a source of ongoing seed origination  which will easily blow in the wind and be a constant menace or threat to reintroduction. But again, the mentality of modern humans is to resent authority and fight against any restrictions no matter how beneficial they would be for everyone in the long term. The prevailing attitude is, "Don't tell me what I can and cannot do" (or plant in my garden)

Also, timing of eradication would have to coincide with Seed dispersal which fortunately has only a small window of viability for germination to be successful. (I believe no more than 30 days) This could actually be an advantage. The other problem I see with Tamarisk woodland thickets which crowd out riparian natives is that from what I have observed, they are a greater mega-fire risk  than pure riparian species which often act as a fire barrier and if nothing else at least slow an advancing fire down as far as it's rapid progress. Anyone who has ever witnessed a Tamarisk woodland burn knows that it burns with an intensity generally associated with Chaparral. This makes for another reason it needs to be completely eradicated. Mechanical removal and possibly burning the stumps out through a charcoal method in wintertime when they are dormant may be the only way. But you cannot leave any live roots which will re-sprout. I would definitely forbid the use of chemical treatments with products like Roundup which already contain  warnings for usage in and around Riparian areas anyway. The root systems easily sprout back as they do when fire pushes through an area, so it is imperative to destroy as much of that infrastructure as possible. Other trees like removal of Eucalyptus and Fan Palms would be a no brainer. However, once removal is completed, there must be a rapid rush towards replacement with native species and quickly. This is where proper planning and acquisition of 1000s of various plants would have to be on the ready.  Now take a look below at some places where specimens could be obtained.

Photo Credit: Mine


These suckering aggressive sprouts are of California Sycamore  on the north side of California State Route 74 leaving Hemet towards Idyllwild. The Power Utility Edison has been battling with these poor trees for decades. In the early days, these two specific trees still had large trunks and were topped off just under the power lines, but passing by a few weeks back I noticed they were aggressively dealt a heavier blow all the way to the ground.

Photo Credit: Mine


There is a chain link fence next to these trees with a Utility Maintenance gate. This location along the Route 74 is where the North Fork  of the San Jacinto River merges with the main channel of the San Jacinto River canyon. The South Fork canyon and branch is further east up the road. The first time I saw the utility company severely top the original trees, I remember months later while passing along this spot and seeing the luxuriant growth fighting to come back with a vengeance, what great cane pole specimens they would make for transplantation out directly into an area for rapid riparian recovery. Well now it looks as if this task  just got a lot easier.

Photo Credit: Mine


Look at all those prized cane pole examples. Are you taking notes Robert Hutsel and Jim Platel ? Remember that location on Hwy 74 east of Hemet CA ?  Hey, I'm serious!

Cutting inch to two inch poles for planting which is merely harvesting extremely long poles, can be a major head start of sorts if done correctly and babied with care that first year or two. Sycamores, like Willows and Cottonwoods have an amazing propagation adaptation which allows a branch to be broken off during high flood periods and become buried way down stream only to re-sprout a new tree somewhere else. They have a high growth hormonal content within their tissues. Some folks even make a tincture of willow bark as a natural rooting hormone for other unrelated plant cuttings for their gardens. While excessively large cane poles which may even require a boring agar with tractor may seem extreme overkill, I believe such techniques will become more and more necessary as time and deterioration of various ecosystems picks up the pace. If the present failed System of Things persists for very long, Mankind will become more and more forced into desperate & dire circumstances where such major forcing techniques will become necessary to accomplish things they should have done decades ago. One such rapid riparian establishment technique is being used in Arizona with both the Fremont Cottonwood  (Populus fremontii) and Arizona Sycamore (Platanus wrightii) where surface water is 7 to 15 foot below the surface in dry washes,  but which have a moist subsoil layer.  They do recommend to cutting 20 foot cane poles, pre-soaking in water and planting at least two thirds of the pole in the deep drilled planting holes. Again, this may sound extreme, but the extreme countermeasures must be forced for a rapid repair of long ago destroyed former riparian habitats. Here's a link to some of the recommendations given by some government agencies.



Source: Cooperative National Park Resources Studies Unit Arizona

PROPAGATION 

Plants may be propagated either by seed germination (see section on Germination Requirements) or by cuttings. The greatest results for cuttings are from one year old vigorously growing seedlings, for which there is a 66-80% success rate (Fowells 1965). Fowells (1965) suggests fall plantings of cuttings made close to the root collar that are 20 inches (50.8 cm) long, buried 15 inches (38.1 cm) into the ground. For areas in Arizona where groundwater is 7-12 feet (2-4 meters) below the surface, a new method of propagation has been tried that might be successful with Arizona Sycamore. Twenty foot (6 meter) long poles were planted in drilled holes with 4-6 feet (1.2-1.8 meters) extending above the ground, leaving 14-16 feet (4.3-4.8 meters) below ground and penetrating into the groundwater. Poles were 2-3 inches (5-8 centimeters) in diameter. They showed a greater chance of survival if a portion of the poles were in saturated soils year around (Swenson and Mullins 1985). 

Photo Credit: http://www.riverpartners.org/
This two year old Cottonwood planted as a cane cutting) was excavated by a heavy flood and found to have five main individual roots that were each over 25 foot long. It shows the possibilities of aggressive root structural growing under the ideal conditions if large pole cuttings are properly installed and cared for the first two years and then left on their own. Isn't this a fortunate beautiful illustration of potential root infrastructure ?

Here are some links showing the Colorado River Delta restoration going on and their pre-soaking cane pole techniques and seedling plantation & nursery in Mexico:

Collecting bundles of Cottonwood poles
Pre-soaking Cottonwood poles utilizing an abandoned irrigation ditch

Condensed planting fields which later can be thinned

Other Resource Material: Riparian Restoration in the Southwest – Species Selection, Propagation, Planting Methods, and Case Studies

Some of the studies recommend applying a slow release fertilizer, but there is no way on earth now that I would recommend such a measure. Riparian habitats for the most part are extremely nutrient rich anyway as a result of flooding and silting from upstream higher elevation runoffs every year for 1000s of years, so nutrients are not an issue. However, I would definitely inoculate the pole cuttings at time of planting with a good blended mycorrhizal mix containing both Endo & Ecto mycorrhizal fungi. Many people still don't realize that riparian species like willows, alders and cottonwoods are actually both endo & ecto mycorrhizal. Sycamores are strictly endo mycorrhizal as I believe. Root growth potential no doubt will be rapid and healthy as long as plenty of water is maintained to replicate wild heavy rainfall cycling periods which are foremost in major establishment of riparian woodlands, especially those in areas which will later be dry with no surface running water other than underground water flow movement. 

Two years old in 2007 California Sycamores which were 6" one gallon planted in 2005. Please note all were inoculated with a species blended mycorrhizal mix. I never leave anything to chance  by making the mistaken assumptions that spores are ever present  in the air. I don't take that chance and neither should you landscapers or habitat restorationists.

Same Trees in May 2011 four years later,
 no further watering was required after 2007
and today they are monstrous. Watering is still absent, other than yearly seasonal rainfall.

Photo Credit: Mine

And these are the same trees viewing from behind the small house on the left which was viewed from the front in the top two photos. This was taken on April 2013 this year. It illustrates the potential for dry barren riparian woodland habitats which have underground water close to the surface. These no longer receive water other than season rainfall.

With all the Cal-Fire money being loaded into worthless prescribed burning programs which scientifically offer no real lasting solutions and only exacerbates the problem along with habitat destruction for both plants and wildlife, one would think these funds could be more constructively utilized in worthwhile lasting ventures like Tamarisk Removal and Native Riparian Tree Species being reintroduced into formerly healthy hydrological systems. Even a labor force of Folks on Government assistance (welfare) who unfortunately having been on such programs for years or even decades and have no feeling of purpose or self-worth, could be greatly benefited and be paid for it. Nothing gives purpose more than worthwhile healthy surroundings like restoring things in the Natural world. And I'm not talking forced menial labor. Such attitude about physical work is merely flawed thinking. As I've stated in the past in establishing landscapes in cities or in the wild, a welfare system of handouts is a failed program. Offering a healthy hand up is entirely different and helps establish an independence in both humans and Nature. Same goes with plant establishment, don't welfare your yard on a permanent irrigation system. Wean them off the initial life-support irrigation system handout and allow them to grow & search for themselves with only minimal offering during harsh times until fully established. Works every single time. Only time will tell if the present human leadership will actually get a clue, but their window of opportunity at proving mankind does indeed have the answers towards proper Earth custodianship is rapidly disappearing. 



Here is yesterday's link on how I've personally learned & benefited much by observing Bajadas or Alluvial Fan Habitats:

Lessons Learned from the Bajadas (Alluvial Fans)

Other great references: http://www.riverpartners.org/

Lessons Learned from the Bajadas (Alluvial Fans)

What is a Bajada (or Alluvial Fan) ?

Source:  Structural Geologist Mike Norton

Alluvial fan in the Cirque d'Estaubé, French Pyrenees

Great Definition Source: http://en.wikipedia.org

An alluvial fan is a fan- or cone-shaped deposit of sediment crossed and built up by streams. If a fan is built up by debris flows it is properly called a debris cone or colluvial fan. These flows come from a single point source at the apex of the fan, and over time move to occupy many positions on the fan surface. Fans are typically found where a canyon draining from mountainous terrain emerges out onto a flatter plain, and especially along fault-bounded mountain fronts.

A convergence of neighboring alluvial fans into a single apron of deposits against a slope is called a bajada, or compound alluvial fan.

The above definition by Wiki aptly describes what most around the world, but especially those in drier locations have observed at one time or another with regards geologic features which emerge from most mountain canyons. If you notice the picture above of the alluvial fan in the Pyrennes Mountains which border France and Spain, take note that there is generally one main channel in which the stream or river flows out, and yet, there appears to be a greater historical pattern spread all across this Bajada. In actuality this main channel can oscillate back and forth depending on heavier flow patterns brought about by a wetter than normal rainy period. But there have always been a number of questions that plagued my mind over the years. For the purpose of simplicity (my wife says I write too much text), let's restrict this post to Southern California and in particular Riverside County (although San Bernardino Co fits in nicely as well). There are several Bajada land formations which define most of the inland empire cities from San Bernardino to Los Angeles. Most people don't even realize they are living on many of these alluvial fans or flood plains. Many while commuting never give them any thought or second look. Most river or stream beds have been straightened and channelized for commercial convenience sake. But there are several tree establishment puzzles that took place decades ago which question beg. How did such large examples of old growth Sycamores and Cottonwoods become so well established when they appear to be so far away from the stream bed channel ? From what I always knew of such riparian species, they need generous amounts of water to survive the early years of their life, so what gives with these examples on dry locations ? Cyclic wet periods are extremely key to establishment and should be studied as such and remember not for their destructive potential, but for habitat establishments in the wild.



This next photo below is of a Bajada or Alluvial Fan which emerges from what I thought was once labeled as Portrero Wash or Creek at the bridge on Gilman Hot Springs Rd, but the sign is now removed. It's source is the city regions of Beaumont and Banning CA and in particular the Sun Lakes Country Club and Golf Course. As you may see from this Google Satellite map link Here , the Alluvial Fan was at one time much wider than now. It is restricted by an eastern Earthen barrier or Levee on the east which protects the Scientology Military Compound and the raised easement of Hwy 79 on the western edge. What is left can be seen with several lines of stream channels which fan out at massive flood stages which are characteristic of most alluvial fans, and hence the name. 

Photo Credit: Mine
This photo is looking directly north on Hwy 79 leaving the Hemet/San Jacinto Valley heading north through Lamb's Canyon to it's destination at city of Beaumont. You can see the canyon at top center where the force of water over the years has created this massive Bajada. Not sure why the name of this Portrero creek in the Canyon was removed, but it once had a name on the bridge which crosses over it on Gilman Springs Rd which is actually the old original Hwy 79 before the political realignment. While this alluvial fan is fairly dry looking now, it always wasn't so, especially between the wet years of 1987 thru 1983. Take a look below at some surround city and town historical rain totals. Keep this in mind as it is important.

Credit: city-data


Hemet California

Historical Annual Rain Totals of a wetter period

1978  -  26.60 inches
1979  -  13.47 inches
1980  -  18.86 inches
1981  -  08.29 inches
1982  -  16.90 inches
1983  -  21.03 inches


Riverside California
Historical Annual Rainfall Totals Same Period
1978  -  12.92 inches
1979  -  12.87 inches
1980  -  15.77 inches
1981  -  08.10 inches
1982  -  15.07 inches
1983  -  22.91 inches



Idyllwild Calfornia

Historical annual Rainfall same period as above

1978  -  46.99 inches
1979  -  29.62 inches
1980  -  45.65 inches
1981  -  15.81 inches
1982  -  49.47 inches
1983  -  56.87 inches

Credit: Riverside Flood Control

Flooding in the vicinity of State Street (Highway 74) and Ramona Expressway,
 February 21, 1980, as a result of the breach of the San Jacinto River Levee. 

Again, keep in mind please and burn into your memory if you can, this six year heavier than normal time frame which has valuable learning potential aside from destructive forces which often are the result of human poor planning anyway.

Photo Mine

Major construction of San Jacinto River
bridge on Hwy 79 in Riverside County 1994

I've given some averages here of three locations which give an average perspective of the overall rainfall to western Riverside County. For those folks who remember this wetter rainy period of time, this was during a significant "El Nino" event. For many, it was the first time the term really came to life and had meaning. It was a major time of bridge washouts and road closures. As you can see, the closer to mountains and foothills, rainfall amounts are far more significant, than the interior valleys. Even still, rainfall for all of southern California everywhere was greater than in times past or for that matter ever since. Because of the greater rainfall during these six winters, ground water saturation was at it's greatest and summer monsoonal thunderstorm build up was vastly improved during this period as a result of greater electrical conductivity between the negatively charged ground and positive charged atmosphere. Previously in a couple of earlier posts, I have alluded to the anomalous weather pattern of isolated thunder storm build up in and around Anza which is incredibly easy to spot and observe during periods of less winter rainfall which creates less ground surface conductivity with the exception of specific heavy old growth vegetated areas where good healthy hydraulic lift and redistribution takes place bringing moisture up to the surface from deeper soil layers and for which cloud formation and/or Thunderstorm development is much greater as a result. During these wetter winter periods, because the ground water table is very high and saturation is so complete, such storm development was never an isolated incident. In fact it was so complete that development was common in those days from the deserts all the way to the Ortega Mountains above Lake Elsinore. Now this is where noticeable heavy vegetation increase could be observed in most alluvial fans, but I'll focus here only on the one originating from the mouth of that Portrero Creek for which the drainage came from the higher elevations of Banning and Beaumont California. There were several times when the Gilman Hot Springs Rd had closures. During this heavy rainfall period, water ran completely over the entire alluvial fan all year long in the wettest of these years. Thousands of Willows, Cottonwoods and Sycamore trees created a triangular carpet of bright green all the way to the San Jacinto River main channel to the south from the Gilman Springs Rd bridge.

Photo: Mine


This shot is a closer view from the Bridge. Prior to this greener look above which resulted from this heavier rainfall period, there were only a couple of large Cottonwoods and a single large California Sycamore specimen for which seemed always somehow out of place to me back then because all the rest of the alluvial material was like dry desert wash, there was no riparian green as you see it presently. At the beginning of the change, the entire fan was a complete mass of green as 1000s and 1000s of young riparian seedlings competed for space. Now as you see, natural forces have allowed only the most successful to have made a permanent place in the newer ecosystem. This was more like it was when Juan Bautista de Anza saw and wrote about it , but on a much grander scale than this example which is still greatly restricted as compared to times prior to European settlement.

Photo: Mine


This is looking directly to the east on the Hwy 79 bridge looking east towards the actual town of San Jacinto and the mountains beyond which bare the same name. This concrete barrier was created when the Hwy 79 bridge over the San Jacinto River was built in 1994. Traffic was diverted east towards the city of San Jacinto via the Ramona Expressway to State Street and north across a now replaced Iron Truss Bridge to Gilman Hot Springs Rd and then back west again to Hwy 79. In those early days Hwy 79 wash nothing more than a giant flood plain wash and when flooded, closures were common.

Photo: Mine


This shot is on the complete opposite side from the one above it looking west towards a normally dry lake bed called Mystic Lake, so named because of it's often times appearance and then disappearance depending on the amount of water flowing down the San Jacinto River which drains off the San Jacinto Mountains on the eastern side of Hemet Valley. The river itself runs through Lakeview and Nuevo making it's end at Lake Elsinore which also filled completely during this flooding rainfall period between 1978 to 1983. Even Lakeview itself had numerous shallow lakes giving viewers an historical perspective of what this region was as a massive riparian wetlands for which Juan Bautista de Anza first wrote about in his journal or diary. I first encountered this diary from the Riverside County Library as it was recommended to me by a Forester up in Idyllwild in 1981. One passage Anza wrote about was when ascending Bautista Canyon from Anza Valley to the Hemet Valley. He saw a massive bright colouration on the valley floor of solid white and thought it was snow. Mind you, he and his troops had spent all winter in and around Anza before hitting Valle Vista east of Hemet in March the same year. When he arrived on the valley floor at what is now the city of San Jacinto and west to the area of Mystic Lake, he found that the white colour he saw up in the higher elevations were nothing  more than masses of wetland habitat birds of various kinds. Mostly white Snow Geese. Almost hard to believe such great quantities of wildlife once existed. 

Photo: Mine


This shot is on the same north end of the bridge looking south, not just at traffic, but down into the River bottom. The river itself is channeled as usual, but the bridge extends a mile further south above the flat bottom landscape. This is because when at full flood stage, the earthen channel levees often disintegrate and those fields south of here turn into massive shallow lakes, the type that would have supported huge vast Riparian Cottonwood and Sycamore Forest woodlands which would have successfully even withstood drier periods as the water table here has always been close to the surface. I'll have later posts on that.

Photo: Mine

View looking in the direction of the Scientology Compound and the mature Cottonwood trees well established which had not existed prior to the flooding period. 

Photo Credit: Mine



This view of the Bajada from Hwy 79 eastward is near the Jct of Hwy 79 & Gilman Springs Road. During the massive flooding stages pouring out from points north in Beaumont which has records of over 30+ inches of annual rainfall at times, the mass of water sheened completely all across the triangular bajada like some giant river delta. Even curving around this direction here. The Trees never really sprouted much on this side away from the main channel, but those that did, didn't linger long, a few years at best and dwarfed or stunted. A small lake did form at the left of this photo, but dried up or percolated into the porous ground in little less than a year. Prior to Hwy 79, water spread out over the entire plain to the west. Such land of course has been consumed by Agricultural Ventures, so any original riparian forests would have been eliminated in favour of what seemed at the time more profitable usage of such valuable nutrient rich landscape. 

Photo Credit: Mine

Photo Credit: Mine

Photo Credit: Mine



The top photo here is taken from the Gilman Springs Rd bridge looking north up the throat of the Canyon and Portrero Creek. During the yearly rushing of water through here for a few years, cars were always parked here during the hot summer months and hikers and bathers would make their way up this canyon to pristine water holes and waterfalls. The region was leased up stream by a private country club who always had Security Guards kicking people out or arresting them. There was always controversy about this in the Press Enterprise which is the official Riverside Co newspaper. 

The bottom photo is of a small tree-like shrub called False Indigo Bush (Amorpha californica), which previously I personally had only seen from Santa Rosa Indian Reservation eastwards through the Santa Rosa Mountain range. The last photo is simply a close up of the compound leaf which is similar to Black & New Mexico  Locust which I have written about before. The flowers that I have seen are almost like an upright lupine flower stalk and dark purple.

Photo Credit: Mine


And finally we have a direct south facing view from the bridge over Portrero Creek on the Gilman Springs Road. It's strange as to why they removed the sign at the bridge identifying the name of the waterway, but here is a link which removes all mystery as to it's historical identity.  The only thing that I can come up with is they wanted to disguise it's identity to hikers and other Nature explorers out from a sensitive area.

http://bridgehunter.com/ca/riverside/56C0523/

For the moment, this is what I have and my personal account of what physically took place at this geographical location called Portrero Creek & it's Bajada particularly during the 1980s. This was of course a major part of my work route in commuting for many years. But I did promise to discuss what lessons could be learned from this, so what are they ? Well I always had personal questions in my mind about isolated tree establishments of large solitary trees which existed on dry locations for no apparent logical reasons, especially water loving riparian tree species. Numerous areas like Waterman Canyon in San Bernardino or Cable Wash in Devore or Lytle Creek, all have similar riparian tree establishment puzzles which have clear explanations for their presence if time, observation and experience are taken into account over a period a couple decades. My good fortune was to have seen the Portrero Creek Bajada (alluvial fan) when it was at it's driest barren state and to be observant when the transformation took place especially towards the middle 1980s. 


From such observation, one can glean from such experience that not only riparian, but even several other plant community ecosystems can become establish anew when these cyclical wetter periods emerge. Although with climate change it is doubtful that such periods will reveal themselves any longer. Still, much can be learned and practical application be created artificially in an urban landscape setting, or habitat restoration project, or with simple home gardening projects. During such unique wetter periods, plants are babied and nurtured during these times of plenty, then gradually the system tapers off in it's generous abundance and allows the earlier established plants to fend for themselves. The stronger plants/trees with the deeper root systems will become the winners, while the weaker ones fail and naturally thin out as the natural program demands. I have used this technique in replication, not only in urban landscape establishment, but in remote habitat restoration and it does indeed prove successful over time. Of course for me, I always inoculate with a good blend of mycorrhizal mix at time of planting. I found myself the last week before I left to come back to Sweden in a disagreement with this inoculating at planting time with a Native Plant nursery person who said that the micro-biological activity is everywhere floating in the atmosphere and it was not necessary. Why yes, there are spores everywhere in the air. But there is also more and more damning evidence that microbiological ecosystems in the ground are suffering some decline just as everything else above the ground. Toxic acid rains and many more chemical and GMO Plant contamination are having an effect on mycorrhizae. I've actually inoculated trees in wild out-plantings and had surrounding Chaparral like Scrub Oak and other trees make drastic improvement through the interconnections, which indicates to me all is not well in the wild. As time goes on, more and more researchers will come to the conclusions that Nature alone cannot function as it normally once did and that some major artificial assistance to speed things up will become necessary. I not only do not like hearing this, but hate having to say it as well. One more important side note about Bajada Basins and Alluvial Plains. Throughout the western North America, they have been huge storage components for water. Many streams or rivers that emerge from mountain canyons will often be seen disappearing deep into the alluvial fan. This is not the result of evaporation, but the looseness of the course rock and sand which allows water to easily filter and percolate deeply into the earth inside these geological forms. The best place to store water is underground, not behind dams or any other surface lake. It's also the best place for the plant world to access water during lean times. (See footnote @ bottom)


Now as far as the urban landscape goes, most ecosystems or plant communities you install should only have surface drip irrigation for the first few years at most. This replicates the cyclic flooding events that in times past made their appearance and created the wild landscapes centuries ago. Now unfortunately while visiting here, I had the opportunity to observe several public and professional landscape systems installed for development utilizing Native plant settings or themes, but employing a method of irrigation that employed large rainbird sprinkling systems which created large surface soil coverage over vast areas which has allowed massive amounts of weeds to grow to 3 or more foot of height and often times out competing the native plants.  The goal is to merely establish the plants are the beginning with just enough regular water for root development and later as I have written about before, installing a method of Deep Irrigation Methods for Training Deeper Rooting networks  and then later updating this with IRRIGATION ISSUES: Why Isn't Nature Replicated more often ? The bottom line is that people just don't get the gist of allowing plants to maintain health and vigor without forcing new growth during hotter months through excessive watering and fertilizing which not only encourages weeds, but attracts all manner of insect pests and fungal diseases and/or other blight. Go out into the wild and you don't see this. This is because they are in maintenance mode by means of sustenance from a deeper underground hydrological system which works well when properly established. 

A prime bad Big Brother Government example is of a Cal-Trans Landscaping Project under and around the Interchange on and off ramps of Hwy 52 & Hwy 67 between El Cajon and Santee employing the wrong irrigation techniques of massive Industrial Strength Rainbird displays, though I was happy to see Natives being used. They'll eventually have killed  off what they had set out to accomplish with the utilizing of Native Plants.

In the Rattlesnake Mountain chain far above this Freeway Interchange where the Sky Ranch Development was established, they have followed the same identical flawed pattern as that of the Cal-Trans Native Plant Landscaping Project.  We're talking Mega-Overkill with regards another industrial sized Rainbird Irrigation System which has a double daily watering regimen which has not been changed since the initial installation. The photo to the left here is on the top ridge of the development which buffers between the neighbourhood housing and the wild Conservation No Trespassing protected area. While I applaud the use of Coast Live Oak and other ornamental chaparral shrubs, there are weeds overwhelming the system everywhere, especially in the lower valley near Pepper Drive Elementary School. If they were worried about some naturalized Torrey Pines potentially causing brushfires and insisted they had to be chopped down, then they have almost guaranteed fire disaster by the multiple hectares of weed infested landscape which now encircles this entire Private Rich Folk Community Habitat. The really sad part is when Government, which everyone assumes knows better, pulls blunders like this terrible landscape layout, then to be followed by a large commercial Landscaping firms, what chance is there that your average home and/or land owner will ever get the message ? I'm telling you, this simple basic fundamental stuff about nature needs to be taught long before College or even High School level learning. It should be elementary School teaching.

Photo Credit: Mine

While it is commendable they have established some Coastal Live Oak trees and other native chaparral plants, they will ruin it all if they don't change a flawed irrigation system that has existed for over 8 years now. 

Further Interesting Reading:

Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail Historic Resource Study


I'll have a series of posts dealing with Juan Bautista de Anza's Journal and Natural World documentation experiences and divide them into three or four parts. They are seriously important to what nature once was and how it functioned. They were also detailed in such a way as to report on the local Natural resources which were present and potential money making Ventures for the Empires for who these expeditions were funded for in the first place. Anza's description was almost dead on accurate for the region I'll be relating to between Western Arizona all the way to Riverside California. Keep close watch.

Side note on Alluvial Basin Water Storage: Arizona Geology Blog

Aquifer depletion, Arizona alluvial and Black Mesa basins

Climate Change, Warming, Shifting ????

While on my trip to the USA for the last two months, there were some oddities I did take note of which I stumbled upon quite by accident. I say accident because I was not purposefully looking for them. While since I was a kid growing up in the 1960s, there were always one of two examples of volunteered southwestern native Palo Verde Trees along some roadsides and fence lines here and there, but not overly extreme or invasive to speak about. My trip here this time I took note of hundreds of them popping up everywhere through the areas of San Diego and Riverside Counties I traveled through. Mind you, I have no problem with them, if somethings got to provide an invasive increase into areas not formerly occupied, why not a local Southwestern Native. What became the final nail in the coffin so to speak was when I passed by an area north of Escondido along the Interstate 15 Freeway on the south bound side just before the Center City Parkway exit. Take a look below. These trees were not just along the roadside which BTW is a most common sight everywhere, but these groups of trees were actually making inroads of progress far up the slope and deep into the local chaparral plant community.

Credit: Mine

Credit: Mine

Credit: Mine


I had no time to hiking up into the slope to view further, but I suppose a clearer full view picture from the Highway Median or opposite north bound lanes would have given a better overall perspective. Still if something has to invade, why not the beautiful Native of the S.D. County deserts ? And yet that is what got me thinking about another evidence of a climate shift which may be helping this along. There is another examples below.

The next plant subject is the California Sycamore back up in Anza California at my old property. I always had issues with late freezes and severe die back as a result. Cal Sycamores are very frost sensitive if already in full leaf foliage. Recovery is very lame for the rest of that particular year. There are of course exceptions of those higher elevation Sycamore trees which have resent their bud break thermostat for a later bloom period. For example there is a California Sycamore tree  which is located in the creek bed next to the Butterfield Stage Stop at the Hwy Jct of 79 & San Felipe Road (S-2). The genetics here would have been a better choice than the coastal breed I brought up from down below near San Juan Capistrano, California. The south face of Cahuilla Mountain there is a small Arroyo with some very large Sycamore specimens just outside of the Lake Riverside Estates' northern fence boundary. Those may be good seed sources. Another area of potential seed source would be the Sycamore Groves back over in Terwilliger at Tule Creek. Although Anza does have several micro-climate anomalies, with Terwilliger being a sort of Banana Belt. Idyllwild also has such an area and folks there know it as Double View. Still whether or not a tree grown from seed from these other regions like Terwilliger to Table Mountain could only be proven by testing the theory out. Still, it would be fun.

Credit: Mine

I've referenced this picture before for a number
 of different reasons, but the last time I did,
 I pointed out the terrible looking shape that
 the California Sycamore Tree on the left hand
 side of the photo was in. This tree was purchased
 in 1986 as a one gallon seedling from
Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano,
 California. Of course the seed source was
from local San Juan Creek where it's particular
 genetic engineering would have adapted it
to climate conditions nearer to the coast. The
problem for me with this tree was the constant
battle with late freezes in late May and sometimes
 early June. When that happens (and it can
occur anywhere in So-Cal), the leaves almost all
 fry. Recovery of any leaves is minuscule at best
 and certainly there is no real new branch or twig
growth. Hence, almost every year the height of
 the tree stays neutral with never any true
progress for decades. This photo above was
taken in July of 2011 and you can see that year's
damage and lack of any real recovery.

Credit: Mine



This is now two years later and taken in early May of 2013
This is the same tree of July 2011 referenced above and
next to my Son's old Club House his Uncle Bob built for
him in the 1990s. The present owner of the property said
 that they also have had the same late freeze problems, but
that the past two years have been exceptionally warmer
winters with very little snow and zero late frosts. Well
that certainly explained the well vegetative state of this,
 same tree. Still it triggered thoughts and ideas of possible influence of climate shifting taking place. Mind you, I
wouldn't mind California Sycamores spreading their
wings and making inroads where they weren't before.

Photo: Mine


This particular tree is a remarkable survivor to me. It is location along what I believe is called San Ysidro Creek which is located between the Jct of Hwy 79 & San Diego County Road S-2 and the historical Butterfield Stage Station which has recently been restored and open for tourism. This creek drainage makes it's way to Lake Henshaw and further west becomes the San Luis Rey River which makes it's way to the Pacific Ocean. This location is remarkable in that this Sycamore has survived here to grow so large and yet in 2011 when my wife and I visited and stayed at my brother's place in Ranchita just up the road, this tree was in as bad a shape as a result of a cold snap from frost as the Sycamore from my old property up in Anza. It's leaves also had been burned by late frost. Recovery never really happens that year, always the following year. 

Credit: Wiki


Of course I had always toyed with the idea that
Arizona Sycamore might be a better choice
as it can in some of it's Sky Island habitats endure
 much more cold in it's interior North American
range. But I never had enough personal hands
 on experience with them to make any real
determination on that. Still would be an exciting
 challenge though.

Whatever the explanations for some of these observations for some of these noticeable changes or developments in plant movements and survival in formerly colder circumstance, there is no doubt that subtle changes are a preview of things to come.  I'll have several more posts on California Sycamores later, so stay tuned!

1982 Mountain Center Fire & the Forest's Regeneration

When I moved to Idyllwild in 1981, a year later there was a horrific fire which took place down near the Hwy 243 & 74 Junction. Many in the town of Idyllwild went up to the Refuse Dump and watched the fire making it's progress on both sides of Hwy 74 and moving eastwards through the "Living Free Animal Sanctuary" and beyond into the grassy meadow Valley to the east along Keen Camp Road where it was put out at the end of this valley. The interesting thing for me was that most of this area burned was private land on either side of the Highway and no tree planting reforestation program was ever attempted, I know because I asked. What happened next was that the landscape was simply left to it's own restoration component mechanisms and unlike a disastrous Control Burn up Hwy 74 at Keen Summit where the California Division of Forestry allowed to  get out of control, they actually did attempt a tree replant for what they had destroyed. Interestingly, the Mountain Center Fire did regenerate much better through the chaparral growth that had taken over. The other funny or should I say odd thing about that Cal-Fire Burn at Keen Summit is that they were attempting to burn off chaparral in order to save the forest, but instead actually destroyed numerous Coulter Pine and Black Oak trees that were in actuality encroaching into the predominantly Chamise and Redshank plant community which themselves were actually yielding to this tree encroachment. But this is something you never hear about. Residents and even the U.S. Forest Service were extremely irritated at Cal-Fire's blunder. But just take a look at the area in Mountain Center itself which was never touched by human hands in any reforestation effort. I recently visited this site a couple weeks back and photographed what is clearly seen as the surviving parent trees and their offspring.

Photo Mine


Just past the Y-Junction of Hwys 243 & 74 there was a road maintenance of Hwy 74 repavement project I had to stop at and wait for the Pilot Truck to escort us past the road work ahead. However, in this view here, these tall trees were never touched. The fire I believe started just behind the Post Office if I remember correctly. But the fire did cross this road and burn underneath many of these trees. While the trees here didn't die, they did loose lower branches to intense heat and smoke.

Photo Mine


It was crazy trying to take these shots as the little 1969 VW Bug I was driving was the only way I could take the photos. I was not allowed to stop like I wanted to for specific close ups. But both sides here were clearly burned off and in the background you can see both Jeffrey/Coulter Pines and Interior Live/Black Oaks did make a beautiful come back through the vigorous regrowth of the Chaparral Plant Community. 

Photo Mine


This is actually a very beautiful shot illustrating the parent trees that survived and the regeneration of trees which are actually triple what they were before. As you can see here, these taller trees lost their lower branches. The following week after this fire, I drove down there from Idyllwild on my way to the Desert and stopped to survey everything. The burnt lower branches at that time still hung onto the trees, but over time they have fallen off through the natural forces of self-pruning. It should also be revealed that not all tall trees made it completely. Many died and provided some important wildlife snags. I only wished I had taken photos back then, but never considered I'd be discussing these things at some future point of time.

Photo Mine



This is a closer view of the parent trees with the younger far more numerous trees below them which regenerated without the usual Forest Service land clearance which supposes that Chaparral is the ever evil competition and will hinder young sapling growth. The truth of the matter is that the Chaparral is the deep rooted infrastructure by which these newer generation of trees succeed.

Photo Mine



Now moving up the Hwy 74 closer to the Jct of Keen Camp Road where you can get a clearer picture of just how many these younger trees are and how big they've grown. They are more than triple the size of the Tree Planting Project up the road further south which were planted on cleared and plowed land nearer the Hwy 74 Keen Summit closer to Baldy Mountain. It was sad really, because I don't want any project up there to fail, but why Government Scientists and Experts refuse to replicate Nature and continue to employ conventional farming method thinking is beyond me. It seems nothing has changed in years. But things are going to have to change as seed banks are destroyed and harder to come by.

Photo Mine



This group of trees is just beyond the Keen Camp Road Jct. Almost immediately after the fire that following Spring, 100s and 100s of these trees sprouted up everywhere and of course so did the chaparral. I remember seeing what appeared to be the Chaparral plants overwhelming the area back then, but then only a few years later seeing the conical shaped tips of all those pines pushing their way through the Chaparral canopy. Now the trees here are dominant and it is the Chaparral that is yielding. Again, this is something the experts who demonize these plants never reveal as a fact of these mountain ecosystems. The fact is many of them never actually spend many amounts of time in the field themselves to test out their biased hypothesis. The so-called Scientific Method has taken on new meaning. You simply read it all in a book about what others did or accomplished years ago and then you fake the rest as you go along.

Photo Mine



I'm showing this photo once again from the old Baldy Creek Hwy 74 construction diversion post I wrote a couple of weeks back for illustrative purposes. This is a prime example of what the Mountain Center trees regenerated through. The Chaparral is an important infrastructure which supports and props up the young pines by means of an extensive deep root infrastructure which hydrates the young trees and forcing their growth upwards towards the sky as opposed to open scenarios in which the trees put out more of a rounded branching structure.  

Also, by way of going back and reminding you of the underground rooting structure of Chaparral plants which is incredibly extensive, this was well illustrated in the photos I took of the unnatural stream channel cut through the hill forcing the stream to move westward instead of it's natural course due North towards Hwy 74. These 10 to 15 foot deep cuts are still sheer walls of exposed soil and fractured rock layers, but they also revealed how deeply penetrating and tough the chaparral plant community rooting infrastructure truly is. Take another repeat look at the potential for support of most future forested woodlands which many of the text books will not or refuse to cover. These simple fundamental basics should be taught at early levels such as Vocational Agriculture in High School, let alone College and other Universities, but they are not. The big important question now is - Why Not ?

Photos Mine


Again, look at the unnatural cut into the hillside in the top photo and the lack of any riparian woodland along these banks. If this were a true stream bed, these natural components would be present and long well established. But also notice the beautifully exposed very deep root systems of the surrounding Chaparral plants like Manzanita, Chamise and Redshanks. If there is anything good that can come out of this, then these revelations of root infrastructure are it. All of these structures (coupled with mycorrhizal interconnections) are prime mechanisms for hydraulic lift and redistribution of water during the drier summer months and no doubt perform the other fascinating phenomena of hydraulic descent, That is, the transporting winter rain surface water deep underground during winter months. When these major natural mechanisms are removed in conventional Forestry for bare root tree transplanting projects, you can understand why such projects down in Garner Valley often required regular summer watering with a Tractor pulling a Water Tank Wagon by the U.S. Forest Service. I know because I often saw them watering while commuting to work. Even then many of those trees still died. 

Here is an interesting link to a historical Fire map of the San Jacinto Mountains. Click on the link and magnify it. It will show the Mountain Center Fire boundary very clearly in the 1980s shaded  colour and also both the Baldy Mountain and Cahuilla Mountain fires which took place in the 1990s in it's own colour shade. 

San Jacinto Mountain CWPP - Fire History


For Further Reading of Forest Establishment by Natural Mechanisms in Replication of Nature, see the posted article a couple weeks back:

Establishing a Forested Ecosystem Where This World's Intellectuals Tell You it Can't Be Done