California Fan Palm Updates

UPDATE: Oasis of Mara Update by Desert Sun Sept 1, 2018

Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun

"Joshua Tree park superintendent David Smith talks about arson caused fire in March 2018 that burned plants and trees in the Oasis of Mara in Twentynine Palms."

Desert Sun: "After Joshua Tree arson, Joshua Tree National Park takes steps to heal the Oasis of Mara" 

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Like most all living things today, the Oasis of Mara in 29 Palms is fighting for it's life on Earth

"The Oasis of Mara was first settled by the Serrano and provided them with food, clothes, tools and housing. In one legend told about the oasis, the Serrano were instructed by a medicine man to plant a palm tree each time a boy was born. In the first year, they planted 29 palm trees at the oasis."

Hi-Desert Star: "Oasis of Mara fights for life"

Hi-Desert Star - June 2017

There is no argument that in this 2017 photo above, these lovely California Fan Palms are struggling to stay alive. The being narative being spun on this is that the desert oasis ecosystem here in 29 Palms is a casualty of the bigger ongoing megadrought which has been effecting all of California over the past five years. What I find odd however is that deserts by definition compared to other ecosystems are generally all about drought in the sense that deserts always experiencee less rainfall, general lack of humidy and lots of heat. So what is drought to most ecosystems is life to deserts. Despite the record rainfall from the last rainy season (winter of 2016/17), the drought pattern is far from over. Most environmental groups proclaimed all was still well in Nature to their followers by posting wildflower images taken on outdoor Springtime field trips on social networks in an attempt to smokescreen the real dire nature of our times. Fact, all is not well and the leadership in these organizations know that. Clearly so far this season, those promised normal rainfall patterns are once again a no show and the weather experts have explained that the negative high pressure pattern over the Pacific is still stationary and stronger than ever. But there is something even more worrying here than declining fan palm trees as you can see in this photo below.

Comelia Botha - April 2015 (AllTrails)

"The mesquite trees in the oasis area are also declining," says Neil Frakes - Vegetation Branch Chief - National Parks

This is definitely even more odd. The native desert Mesquite Trees are in decline at this same Oasis ? 😲 Mesquite, Acacia, Palo Verde and Ironwood are some of the toughest desert trees I know when it comes to survival in the harshest of desert climate conditions. They can take any amount of intense heat the summer sun can throw at them as long as they have available water supply. And normally they do as you can see in the illustration on the right hand side of the page here. Once mature, many mesquite trees have an extremely extensive long deep tap root system which grows down 150' to 200' where many water tables can be tapped into. This allows most mesquite no real need for any available surface water which is usually dependent on rainfall. As long as Mesquite is tapped into an underground aquifer, there should be no problem. But these mesquite in the photograph above are clearly struggling and they are having a tough time in a geologic scenario where for perhaps 1000s of years this desert artesian spring has existed. This oasis is located at the end of the Pinto Mountain fault. Many earthquake faults are natural conduits for moving water where it collects and is moved towards the surface. But this sudden lack of water in an artesian spring on a fault such as Mara Oasis is troubling. Clearly one could understand shallower rooted plants like the California Fan Palms and then Cottonwoods having a rough go of things if the surface water table dropped significantly, but dropping so far down that mesquite start to die off ??? Below is a map of the earthquake faults in and around Joshua Tree National Monument.

National Park Service

Take note of the pinpointed spot located at the entrance of Joshua Tree National Park where the Oasis of Mara is located at the end of the Pinto Mountain Faultline. Below is a definition of just what constitutes an actual artesian spring as opposed to other types of springs or seeps from the US Geological Survey site.

"A spring is the result of an aquifer being filled to the point that the water overflows onto the land surface. There are different kinds of springs and they may be classified according to the geologic formation from which they obtain their water, such as limestone springs or lava-rock springs; or according to the amount of water they discharge-large or small; or according to the temperature of the water-hot, warm, or cold; or by the forces causing the spring-gravity or artesian flow."  (Source: USGS)

Wow 😲😠

Photo credit: Steve Raines - Firefighters on scene during the Oasis of Mara fire. 

ATTENTION UPDATE (March 27, 2018)

 Looks like the Oasis of Mara is now totally gone thru an arson set fire last night (26th). One of the more annoying things is all photos of the Oasis are older photos when it was still vibrant and healthy, no reality of it's poor almost dead condition as of recently. Much the same with the decline of Torrey Pines in San Diego.

 ABC News: Fire at Joshua Tree damages California landmark

Daniel Mayer - July 2009 (Wikimedia Commons)

This photograph above was taken in 2009 and can be found on Wikimedia. What a contrast when we compare this 2009 photograph to the one at the beginning from the Hi-Desert Star's article from June 30, 2017. There was one comment at the bottom of the Hi-Desert Star article which however well meaning, would never be a viable solution to correcting anything at the Oasis.

"I've lived in 29 Palms since the early 1960s and this is by far the worst the Oasis has looked in that time period. Something needs to be done to save what's left. The mesquite needs to be cut way back for starters because it's stealing water from other plants that need it more, like the Palms and the lone Cottonwood. After all, these palms in the Oasis are our namesake."

(Hi-Desert Star's comment section) 

The Mesquite at the Oasis are not the bad guys here. But this is common with many people who by nature will demonize one favoured plant over another less loved plant. I clearly do understand the emotion behind the commenter's feelings about the idea of removing the mesquite to save the much beloved and rarer palm as compared to plants from the pea family, but the mesquite are generally more helpful than harmful. In previous posts I've provided this animated illustration above showing the incredible natural hydrological phenomena mesquite are known for. This natural phenomena is known as, Hydrailic Lift and Redistribution. The Mesquite tree is quite often an excellent important nurse tree for other desert plants like young Saguaros cacti. Likewise so are Palo Verde and other desert trees. They can tap into a permanent water source and lift that deep water to the surface re-hydrating their own lateral rootsystem, thereafter feeding it into the mycorrhizal fungal network grid which may be connected to other plants like the California Fan Palms and/or Fremont Cottonwoods. This phenomena is especially strongest at night. So cutting down the mesquite would offer no value, since the mesquite themselves are clearly struggling and in decline. This would not be so if the water table within the fault were at normal levels. It could be that a lack of rainfall and snow up in the San Bernardino Mountains to the west have not been capable of recharging the Pinto Mountain Fault aquifer because of the mega-drought. But I'm not sure. Or it may also be another natural anomaly which sometimes changes hydrological conduits caused by some major earthquakes which have been known to close off and completely shut down age old artesian Springs, forcing their waters to resurface elsewhere. This actually happened historically with the town of St David Arizona south of Benson where artesian springs and ponds began to appear where they never were previously. However in other townsite areas further south like Charleston and Fairbanks where springs and lush grazing lands once existed in the old west cattle ranching days, they actually began to dry up and disappear after an earthquake. Here is the link below to this event and it's a good read. Mind you, I'm not certain if that happened near 29 Palms, but it's one posibility given the historical seismic activity of Yucca Valley which is aligned with the infamous San Andreas fault.

Tombstone Times: "The Day the Earth Shook in 1887"

How an 1887 Earthquake change a high desert environment into a lush riparian paradise - St. David, Arizona

Other California Fan Palm Updates

“Pygmy Grove” - Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Well in other News, there appear to be a number of people with agendas insisting that the Washingtonia filifera is a non-native invasive brought here from Mexico and planted in numerous brand new locations throughout the Southwestern USA by Native Americans and therefore not Natural. This is a switch since numerous environmentalist groups have often considered the Native American as type of early primitive sub-human animal which was an integral part of North American ecosystems. But as I've stated before, the idea of an "Ecological Indian" is nothing more than a myth. They always were/are real human beings equal to all other cultures and races on Earth. The ONLY real difference between themselves and the white European settlers when they first came to North America was nothing more than differences in education and technology. I don't really wish to focus on this controversy which is mostly time wasting. But apparently there is another ideologue out there, James W. Cornett, an ecological consultant with the city of Palm Springs, who is convinced that the California Fan Palm is actually an invasive, brought here originally from Mexico by native indigenous peoples from the ancient past. While acknowledging they can be spread by animals like birds and coyotes, etc, he blames Native Americans (real people/humans) as the foremost cause for the Fan Palm's presence. Clearly many Natives Americans did farm, plants small gardens and field crops, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that they did spread the Fan Palms to new locations as they did with Elderberry and Prickly Pear Cactus. But we live in times of controversy in the botany world. There's a plethora of individuals out there right now attempting to rewrite classsification history of all manner of plants. Here is his story anyway:

Photo courtesy Elayne Sears

"Did Native Americans introduce Fan Palms to California?"

This is certainly not the first time he has promoted this same line of reasoning since he has done so as far back as back in 1991. Apparently, James W. Cornett  published this same Washingtonia filifera is invasive nonsense in the San Bernardino county Museum Association Quarterly Volume 38 Number 2, summer 1991. But there is another person out there who is dedicated to the saving of the Moapa Palms Oasis, Spencer Winton, who has written numerous articles about justification for the palms long ancient history. He's researched thoroughly and even interviewed the grand parents and great grand parents of many of the Native Americans to this area who have explained the palms were always a major part of life in this area. You can judge for yourself. Here Spencer provides a rebuttal to Cornett's 1991 invasive narative. 

http://www.xeri.com/MoapaPalms-GlobalWarmingRebuttal

http://www.xeri.com: "The Desert Fan Palm-- Evidence Supports Relict Status"

Another player in the proposed Fan Palm removal has not only been the Government, but also the Southern Nevada Water Authority who has stepped in pushing it's own water rights agenda by using the saving of a native fish, Moapa Dace, strategy for which the Palm Trees are said to be partially the blame for the fish's decline. Here are some pertinent quotes:

"Tensions are running high in the Warm Springs area 60 miles north of Las Vegas, where the Southern Nevada Water Authority bought up land to protect a rare fish but has endangered relations with the locals in the process. 

  Lately, it’s the sound of chain saws that has residents buzzing. Over the past year, workers have cut down some 900 wild palm trees on the fenced, 1,200-acre tract the authority bought in 2007 and now operates as the Warm Springs Natural Area." 

"Before the Southern Nevada Water Authority took a lead role in protecting the endangered Moapa dace, the regional agency was widely considered one of the biggest threats to its survival.  

For decades, the authority has pushed a plan to tap billions of gallons of groundwater across rural Nevada. One of the links in that pipeline network is Coyote Springs Valley, just west of the palm-lined springs and streams at the upper end of the Moapa Valley.  

Authority officials became chief defenders of the finger-length fish under a 2006 federal agreement that also cleared them to pump water at Coyote Springs."

Southern Nevada Water Authority thins palms, upsets Warm Springs residents

By Henry Brean - Las Vegas Review Journal

So 900 Washingtonia filifera or California Fan Palms were cut down and the happy biologists can now snorkle to count how many Moapa Dace actually exist as seen in the photo above where palm stumps are the only visible remnants of the Fan Palm's former existence. It's the same old story, to obtain success with one's favoured agenda, justify it by claiming you just want to save something else. This happens all the time, especially regarding forestry and housing development arguments. Environmental groups do this all the time championing the life of something when something entirely different is on their mind. This doesn't mean that we shouldn't care about saving endangered organisms, we should. But you really have to put those who make claims to be outraged about an endangered creature into perspective when often times their goal is this just another "Sue and Settle" money making scheme to fill their coffers. 

Moapa Oasis & Natural Area, Nevada

Image - Stan Shebs - May 2006

Intro to The Basis for the Current Official Listing of Washingtonia filifera in Moapa Warm Springs Nevada as a 'Non-native' Species - and the evidence which contradicts it

Anyway all these updates make for some interesting reading about California Fan Palm beyond the brief landscaping descriptions referenced in a Sunset Western Garden book. It is interesting that the native Desert California Fan Palm is on the increase in desert areas of Coachella and Imperial Valley and not necessarily by people, but by means of critters. The Mexican Fan Palm on the other hand is out of control, spreading and invading riparian habitats on the western side of the Mountains near the Pacific coast. Here are some other posts I've written regarding California Fan Palms and finally the invasive Mexican Fan Palm.

Getting to the Root of why Natives rule & Exotics struggle or outright fail

California Fan Palm (Washingtonia filifera) growth explosion with Mycorrhizal Fungi

"Day of the Triffids" or "Monolith Monsters" ? (Mexican Fan Palm - Washingtonia robusta)

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The Fan Palm Oasis in Mum's Front Yard

Photo mine in 2015 (El Cajon, California)

Both Mexican & California Fan Palms, Screwbean Mesquite, Mexican Bird of Paradise Bush, Baja Fairyduster, Laurel Sumac, and Engelmann Oak.

Distant Volcano eruptions help Saguaro Nursery baby booms ?

The Ideal Baby Saguaro Cacti Tree Nursery

Image - Kathleen Ferris - City of Phoenix, Arizona

John & Heidi @ StatusGo

The prime nursery habitat for growth and development of a baby Saguaro is supposed to be under a Palo Verde or Mesquite tree. Although as you can see here in the photo at right, a small saguaro can be found nestled under a bursage nursery plant. This one here is supposed to be 25 years old, though it's certainly small for that age. There appears to be a number of ecological & climatic variables which can either help  or hinder in the development of a baby Saguaro. I miss the deserts southwest and yes, I still freak people out here in Scandinavia when I mention missing deserts. Their opinion of deserts is that nothing if anything good lives there, it's hot & hostile with a plethora of things which will stick you, stab you and bite you. Nurse Tree facilitation is an important ecological process whereby these woody plant protégé species (mentors like Palo Verde & Mesquite) enhance the growth and survival of their understory apprentice species. Without this relationship, the Saguaros would almost never exist on their own in many areas. But then this is true of most life on Earth which thrives by means of mutualism. And yet there appear to be acceptions to this rule as a new study references volcanes with extremely huge eruption events which can trigger a temporary global cooling trend coupled with heavier than normal rainfall years. More on that later. First let's understand how those baby Saguaros [which at germination look like helpless miniature succulents] make a go of it under harsh desert conditions. 

Image - Mine (June 2016)

Image - Mine (June 2016)

My wife and I visited the Tucson-Sonora Desert Museum this past June 2016. We were fortunate enough to see all of the Saguaros in most of Arizona actually in bloom. Not only still blooming, but also ripening fruits which were split open and being fed upon by Doves, Cactus Wrens, Sparrows, etc. Even Arizona Cardinals. Now after all that dining and given the usual rapid digestion birds have, it is clear they would be flying from shrub to shrub and desert tree to desert tree and as they do, they'd take a poop. That poop would contain all the Saguaro seeds which would hit the ground and later be triggered to germinate once the first monsoonal thunderstorms move in north from Mexico. 100s, maybe 1000s of seed germinate with only a handful of them being able to survive. Take note below of the many different bird species which love the Saguaro Cacti fruits. Also take note that many of them also love the Saguaro flowers as did many insects we saw at the Museum. Apparently it's not only the Mexican Fruit Bat that pollenize them. Another etched in stone paradigm regarding insistence of how some plants replicate and spread themselves bites the dust. The scientific consensus as approved by the prevailing Orthodoxy won't like this.

Image - Margarethe Brummermann (June 2014)

http://arizonabeetlesbugsbirdsandmore.blogspot.se

The obvious result would be years later a few of the Saguaros seedlings would be successful enough to make it on their own, eventually to outlive the mother tree Blue Palo Verde which may only live 50 or 60 years. Easy for a 150+ year old Saguaro to outlast.

Image - Saguaro National Park

Image - James Brooks

Of course the obvious conclusion here is that not long after all manner of desert birds dine on the juicy ripe and luscious Saguaro fruits, they need to go poop later. They generally do so within a tree or shrub's canopy. As is evident from the Palo Verde Nurse tree example above, a couple decades back some bird or birds used this tree as a roost and did their business. The immediate result was these little tiny ice plant looking things popped up by the 100s all over the place and then it was a simple numbers game for survival after that. Incredibly, it takes only a couple of days for germination to occur. I have also found this to be the same thing with regards other desert trees of the pea family like Palo Verde, Mesquite, Ironwood etc which often germinate during the wet monsoon season and develop rapidly thereafter. This is important that their genetic programming has such instructions for rapid development because in their preferred harsh environment there is only a small window of time before conditions change to one in which they could otherwise become toast. Below is a link to Southwest Cactus LLC live feed of a Cactus shade house nursery where various cacti seed are germinated.

https://www.facebook.com/HomeOfTheDreamDesertscapeDesign/videos/247746623154354/

Animation by KanyonKris

Facilitation or Competition - Which ?

Image - Gila Bend Shell Station

I've used this same animated illustration above many time before to illustrates the play of Hydraulic Lift & Redistribution. So it's logical that given desert trees like Mesquite, Paloverde & Ironwood perform the task of hydraulic life and redistribution of deep underground water to shallower rooted shrubs and perennial plants, it would be easy to assert the same benefit would apply to these young newly emerged Saguaro seedlings. This same pattern would also clearly help many to establish themselves over a period of years. Like one of my latest posts on Biomimicry on replication of companion planting found in nature, these trees are programmed to mutually cooperate for each other's success. Ignorance of this behavior or phenomena has done major harm in land management over the past 100+ years. The package at right I picked up at a Gila Bend Shell Truck Stop to plant back home here in Sweden. I'll keep things up to date on that. I've used this same long time Souvenir gift pack brand before and their seeds  germinate extremely well in the vermiculite mix provided. But on the fact about shaded light, when I first planted some of these back in the late 1980s, they looked identical to the seedling emergence you see a couple photo up on the right. After a month I thought that  perhaps desert plants instead of being in the shade and protection of my livingroom, just might enjoy life on the porch railing for about an hour in sunshine. It was morning and not at all hot. After an hour I brought them back inside and the next day I saw they had all been fried. Lost every single one of them. So I understood the Nurse plant protection thingy concept, but not out in far western Arizona where I saw Saguaros along Interstate 8 growing straight up out of bare desert varnish rock and lava fields. No mother trees or nurse plants, just barren high intense heat environment. So how does that work ? Take a look at the gallery landscape below of what I'm talking about.

Image - World Heritage Commitee - NordEnergiThe 37th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee made the decision to make the El Pinacate and Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve in Mexico the latest site to achieve World Heritage Status.

Image - Feargus Cooney

See, I can understand and relate to Nurse Plants or Mother Trees. Aside from the obvious shade factor provided for such a tender delicate Nursery for baby Saguaros from intense Summer heat, there is also the mechanisms of  "Hydraulic Lift and Redistribution" which provides valuable moisture brought up from subterranean sources, redistributes it through lateral roots further connected to an elaborate mycorrhial grid network no doubt plugged into the lateral root systems of young Saguaros. But in clearly moonscaped surface environments like the Pinacate Volcanic Lava fields which mostly lack pronounced Nurse Trees/Shrubs, how does establishment take place here ? I get the fact that seed germination happens anywhere  under good monsoonal rainfall events, germination is a matter of two days. But it's that critical three years of good luck and beyond that is the puzzle. This far western Arizona landscape is not the vibrant green living desert of of Tucson which is also strategically located right smack in the middle of the Monsoonal moisture superhighway. Look below at a few other examples of large Saguaro Cacti in areas far removed from the ideal Tucson Mesquite and Palo Verde forests and see that they actually thrive there. 

Photo by Leonora Torres

Saguaros in Lava fields of the Gila-Pinacate Biosphere Reserve

Image - Taly Drezner

Kofa National Wildlife Refuge - Yuma county, Arizona

Saguaro cacti are the tallest things standing at Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, near Yuma, Arizona. The cultural icon is a keystone species of the Sonoran Desert, serving as perch, nesting site, shelter, thermal refuge, and food for the birds and other animals in the desert ecosystem. So how do they establish themselves beyond the germination period ?

Image by Geologist Dan Lynch

Tecolote Volcano - Pinacate Volcanic Field

How Saguaro seed germination and establishment take place in areas where very little Nurse Trees & Shrubs are found and in a landscape that is basically volcanic fields with Desert Varnish. Remember, they start out life as an Iceplant mimic!

US Fish & Wildlife Serivce - Kofa National Wildlife Refuge

Here is a paragraph from the research done by Taly Drezner about the perfect location for the study of Saguaro seed germination and establishment within the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. It was the perfect place to study Saguaro survival under extreme conditions.

"To investigate her hunch, Drezner went to Kofa National Wildlife Refuge near Yuma, Arizona, where limited water pushes the physiological limits of the saguaro, to sample the age structure of the local cacti. Rainfall at Kofa is a third of other locations in the Sonoran. Cacti do not have rings, like trees, that make age simple to gauge. Drezner estimated the ages of 250 cacti based on meticulous calculations of local growth rates using a model she pioneered. She added data from 30 locations in the Northern Sonoran Desert and compared the generational cohorts of the cacti to climate datasets for the region and the annual Weighted Historical Dust Veil Index, an indicator of volcanism."

So the idea here is that volcanic events, like the eruption of the Mexican volcano, El Chichón in 1982, have a major impact on global climate cooling. Hences delicate Saguaro seedling survival in hotter areas without nurse plants or trees like western Arizona's Kofa Wildlife Refuge require something uniquely different as far as climatic circumstances. 

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Now think in terms of  large  historical Volcanic eruption events ? 

Photo by 

So these volcanic eruption events tie in to Saguaro establishment successes ? Remember the 1982 eruption of El Chichón, the largest volcanic disaster in modern Mexican history. ? That powerful 1982 explosive eruption of high-sulfur and other particulates high into the upper atmosphere effected the global climate. The total volume of material from the El Chichón eruption was much smaller than the other infamous eruption of Pinatubo of the Philippines in 1991. That powerful eruption pumped enormous volumes of ash injecting significant quantities of aerosols and dust into the stratosphere. Sulfur dioxide oxidized in the atmosphere to produce a haze of sulfuric acid droplets, which gradually spread throughout the stratosphere over the year following the eruption. I remember how you could see these high atmospheric ring anomalies around both the sun and moon for two or three years. The effect was a cooling trend, hence references today by global leaders on geo-engineering projects to replicate what these volcanoes did to climate past, instead of actually stopping what cause the climate change. The Mexican Volcanic eruption coincided with an El Nino weather pattern we had in the early 1980s in the southwest which gave massive amounts of rainfall and flooding. I also remember the monsoonal thunderstorm events where stronger and more completely widespread as opposed to the usual isolated incidents common with Southwestern monsoons in Summer. So it's not under the realm of possibility that Saguaro establishment success was positive during a two or three year window period. Too bad this info was not available back then to research those years in the Kofa Mountain area. Here is what Taly Drezner further says on the subject:

"In the year after Krakatoa, summer temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere fell 1.2⁰C below average. The eruption violently disgorged tons of ash and sulfur dioxide gas into the stratosphere. Dust particles and sulfuric acid droplets rode winds through the upper atmosphere, conspiring in a haze that reflected sunshine and lowered global temperatures. Though not as disruptive as the “year without a summer” that followed the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815, Krakatoa’s influence was seen and felt around the globe in vivid sunsets and stormy weather.  Southern California experienced a “water year” of record rainfall. Sulfate aerosols in particular can hang out in the atmosphere for years, and Krakatoa released an unusual abundance of sulfur. Typical temperature and weather patterns did not recover for years. For the saguaro, the perturbations appear to have amounted to a collection of “just right” conditions for new growth."   

"I started noticing that these saguaro age cohorts followed notable volcanic eruptions,” said Drezner. “I knew that volcanoes drive milder summers and winters, and typically more rainfall for an extended period—two to three years after the event, which is a perfect window of time for the saguaro to get established and have a chance to survive."  

(Source)

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 My own personal concluding comments

Image - Mine (2011)

Image - Mine (2012)

I enjoyed the article on possible potential for notable large volcanic events spewing tonnes of ash, aerosols, etc into the upper Stratosphere and effecting global climate by means of a cooling trend over a period of three years. It certainly seems logical. My own experience with a 12" tall Saguaro brought to me by friends in Tucson from a Nursery (complete with offical Arizona State legal paperwork of ownership) I planted on Rattlesnake Mountain in El Cajon would seem to confirm the idea that Saguaro baby booms come with more favourable weather. The weather in El Cajon just a little ways east from San Diego & the Pacific Ocean definitely is a radical change from Arizona. I planted the little Saguaro on a south facing slope which was remote and where no one ever ventured. I never once watered it. Planting a Saguaro and watering can lead to root rot. Just place it in the soil and leave it alone. There is enough energy & water within the cacti to trigger root growth into the soil without the need for any extra outside water. Once the root system infrastructure is established, they will quickly suck up any water and refill the plant's lost storage capacity. From my own observation every year for seven years after planting, the plant grew a little over a six more inches that first year after rains came and over a foot a year thereafter. At it largest height, the Saguaro was almost seven foot tall. Then some idiots with guns decided to target practice. The cactus died back to the ground and formed a large healed scab even with the soil. Much to my surprise the cacti resprouted with two new competing central leaders the following year and the above picture my friend took of me standing next to it in 2011. I haven't been back there since, so I am not even sure it is still there given the fact that below that point the Sky Ranch Housing development people used chainsaws and destroyed some 30' tall Torrey Pines which were planted at the same time as the Saguaro. Still, the change in climate proved beneficial to Saguaro growth and it's later development. Aisde from more target practice, it's real danger now is fire. I mean it is located in coastal sage-scrub. But Saguaros are not the only mystery of Cacti establishment in full blown baking desert Sun without Nurse plants. This Anza Borrego Desert barrel cactus in the photo at right  is yet another example of success under extreme southern exposure conditions down in the Anza Borrego Desert where Summertime Temps are often 110+ Fahrenheit (40+ celsius).

Animated Illustration - Rockland Saguaros

The illustration above is a good guesstimate of probably how the average Saguaro grows under normal growing conditions in the Sonoran Desert. But there are clearly variables which break that rule. Some smaller Saguaros in the Kofa Wildlife Refuge in far western Arizona under less favourable growing conditions may well be as old as some towering 45' giants around Tucson. Still, as the National Park Service photo below reveals, there are clearly strategies for successes where no Nurse Tree is available.

Image - Saguaro National Monument

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Interesting Reading References:

ESA.com: Distant volcanic eruptions foster saguaro cacti baby booms

James Brooks: Arizona Saguaro Cactus - Sustainable, Seed-Grown Plants 

 AZGeology: Pinacate in stereo by Dan Lynch

Perhaps something else could have factored in the changes in the Southwest - maybe local Volcanism around the year 1000 C.E. - give or take a few hundred years or so either way ??? Okay, that's another post.

Time out for some Saguaro Cactus Humor!

Photo - Saguaro National Monument

Prickly Pear Cactus emerges from the top of a Saguaro Cactus

Anyone remember the comedy Sci-Fi film, "Men in Black" ? There was a scene in the Cafe where an alien contact was killed by this enemy Cockroach Alien and his body mistakenly went to the City Morgue before the MIB guys could clean up the incident. Field agent 'J' (Will Smith) and Forensics Lab Laurel (Linda Fiorentino) watch as the dead corpse's head opens to reveals a tiny alien creature with a dire warning, and 'K' (Tommy Lee Jones) has to erase Laurel's memory. Remeber "Orion's Belt" ??? This is the first thing I thought of when I saw this over at the Saguaro National Monument pages. Clearly this is another bird pooping incident out there in the wild somewhere, only this time Prickly Pear tunas.

Scissors Crossing & San Felipe Creek Revisited (2014)

Photo Image by Richard Halsey, Chaparral Institute

Last year I accompanied Chaparral Biologist Richard Halsey and his assistant Dylan Tweed to inspect the damage done by an un-necessary and costly Cal-Fire control burn which actually got out of control and extended the burn into an already burn recovery area of the 2002 Pines Fire which was started by government helicopter looking for drugs and accidentally hit a power pole. This fire as you may recalled burned all the way from Banner Canyon to the higher elevation community of Ranchita California and northward into the mountains beyond. At one point many thought it would burn all the way to Anza California. In the above picture, Richard has pointed out a location of the eastern most low elevation Engelmann Oak grew, but now are mostly skeleton snags. No doubt if lucky, they will sprout back from the trunk and possibly branches. We reached the point of a hill, but I couldn't go on any longer. The knee I had an operation on was hurting again [exacerbated by bushwhacking just a month earlier up near Idyllwild], so I stayed behind, viewed the entire valley to the south & east and reminisced about what this place use to look like decades before. At time of traveling this valley from the 1960s, 70s & 80s, I never thought to photograph what I always assumed would always be there. The view last year were of mountains on the east side of this San Felipe Valley which were bare and brown. In the old days they were bright rich green, even & especially during the Summertime. The plant community did have large chaparral plant species like Sugarbush and Hollyleaf Cherry, but was mostly dominated by the rich greenness common to Mesquite and Cat's Claw Acacia, with the later being the most dominant by at least 75% of the plant cover. Ocotillos were also on these eastern slopes of the valley. The valley was always a beautiful green until a fire in the late 1980s changed a portion of this. The Rancho Valle de San Felipe at that time was still a working Cattle ranch. San Felipe Road has several Hwy cattle guards which still exist today, but back there there were no fences as cattle were allowed to roam freely. There were attempts back in the late 1980s by the private ranch owner to eliminate all the Mesquite Bosques on not only the valley floor, but also the lower gradual slopes or steppes of those Vallecito Mountains which border on the east of San Felipe Rd. Some clearing was done by fire, and one of these burned on the  east side of San Felipe Rd over the those mountains and on down into Sentenac Canyon where a split in the Vallecito Mountains allows San Felipe Creek to flow towards the Salton Sea. They later took bull dozers and scraped piles of dead Mesquite in separate mounds and burned them that way. What I do remember about that first fore was the large black scar in the middle of a sea of bright green. The erroneous idea was that such vegetation removal would allow grasses to grow in place of the Mesquite and Cat's Claw Acacia. Big mistake since cattle love mesquite pods which produce every years and are very high in nutritious proteins. Nevertheless, eventually the entire valley and surrounding mountains have since then been burned off to the point where the rich greenness of the border hillsides have never completely recovered ever again. Eventually the valley floor itself has died back to the point of where only a handful of riparian habitat pockets remain. The former  9,972-acre (40.36 km2) San Felipe Ranch is no longer private ownership, but rather purchased by the government some time back.

USGS Historical Topographic Map

Image University of Arizona (2004)

On an older Topo Map above are some symbols denoting marshlands otherwise known as Sentenac Cienega which was a rich surface spring region which began at the top of Sentenac Canyon where San Felipe Creek flows east down into the Borrego Desert on it's way to Ocotillo Wells and the Salton Sea. The University of Arizona photo to the right was taken in 2004, but even this picture does not tell the story of how rich green this spring fed wetland actually was. Never were there any brown straw in among pale green. It historically was always deep rich green with no variation in it's greenness. You should also be aware that even the green here above is no longer in existence, but rather brown and dry, with scrubby ragged Tamarisk moving in. This area is just east of Scissors Crossing. You should also take note that most all the large old growth Cottonwoods in Sentenac Canyon are gone as are the spectacular waterfalls which were numerous and ran all year long year after year. Okay, back to last years trip and the changes here since then.

Desert Viewpoint south of Julian on Hwy 79

So while playing around with some of the Google Earth features after I came back to Sweden last Spring 2013, I stumbled upon the ability to look back at the same picture historically over a period of years. Hence I looked at the same location at Scissors Crossing and the dramatic degradation of the riparian habitat loss along San Felipe Creek which had traditional always had been a permanent wealth of water flowing all along it's surface. From the Sheriff sub-station at the upper end of S-2 or San Felipe Road, all the way to Scissors Crossing, there was always a large permanent green ribbon of life. Since the early 1990s this area has gone rapidly down hill ecologically speaking. The photo to the right is looking down and east on the San Felipe Valley floor at Scissors Crossing. In the foreground are the skeleton remains of mostly Engelmann & Scrub Oak, Cuyamaca Cypress and Coulter pine which were made such by the 2003 Cedar Fire. I'll provide more on this Inspiration Desert Viewpoint much later in a separate post where I found a treasure trove of PT Mycorrhizae truffles. Below is a 2006 photo of the Scissors Crossing bridge and although there are some green vegetation of Cottonwoods present, the former old growth riparian forests which once flourished are gone as is the surface water stream. Presently today there is nothing but a dry sandy wash which is now converting into a true dry dusty desert floodplain.

image: San Diego Birding Pages (2006)

The photograph here taken in 2006 by the San Diego Birding Society is nothing compared to the majesty that was once this old growth forest where permanent crystal clear surface stream water could always be seen rushing under this bridge on it's way east towards the Salton Sea. While the surface water here in this picture was close to the surface which allowed these trees to exist, there was no surface running water here any longer in the form of it's once historical streambed teaming with lots of aquatic life which now no longer exists.

Google Earth (2012)

This photograph taken by the Google Camera Van was taken in 2012. Those same trees from the 2006 photograph are now completely dead in this photograph. In the photos after 2012, even these dead wood skeletons are gone as well. This was the photograph I used last year to verify in my article last summer in 2013: Anyone Really into Using Google Earth ? I hadn't actually gone down to Scissors Crossing last year, but little did I know it was worse than the photo above.

Updated Photo from Google Earth (2013)

This is the updated version from last year which reveals the dead wood from the trees which was consumed in a fire since then. Definitely in poorer shape, but it gets worse.

San Felipe Creek bridge on Hwy 78 looking north (June 30, 2014)

This photograph was taken two weeks ago on June 30th. The Cottonwood trees still standing in the distance are actually only partially leafed out. They are beginning to struggle. As a youth in the early 1970s who started driving, we would stop at this exact spot and go down to the water's edge. You couldn't see much beyond the railing and massive Cottonwoods & Sycamores. Down by the water the first thing you'd see with the masses of tiny fish darting everywhere. Oddly enough these were not the common Mosquito fish (Gambusia), with that characteristic flat topped head and body. Off hand from memory, I would relate what I saw and caught to something similar to the Arroyo Chub (Gila orcuttii) which I have seen in the San Jacinto South Fork River canyon, but perhaps more likely it was something more similar to the down stream Desert Pupfish (Cyprinodon macularius) which is indeed native to the lower San Felipe Creek, Fish Creek and drainage ditches all around Imperial Valley. I use to fish down there in the 1970s canal fishing and some drainage ditches. Young Mexican kids were always catching them back then and using them for bait for catch fish under road culverts. In any event, what were present didn't seem to be mosquitos fish. 

Desert pupfish photo © John Rinne

Back in the middle 1960s, my friends and I who were on a Boy Scout camping trip at Ocotillo Wells further to the east from Scissors Crossing. But the Scout Master stopped all the vehicles at Scissors Crossing for us to walk around and explore. We indeed did see what were clearly larger fish which would dart here and there sending those smaller fish scurrying for cover, but we could never get a handle on exactly what they were. We had no idea whether someone had let go some bluegill or bass, but they seemed too slender for those fish and the habitat seemed two warm for trout of any type. Pondering back now, I'd love to believe they were historical holdovers from when Lake Cahuilla was at it's shoreline peak near Ocotillo Wells and San Felipe Creek flowed more perennially down to the lake's shore where perhaps some Humpback Suckers and Bonytail Chubs may have made their way upstream. Both of these were present in the Cahuilla Fish traps and hearths around Coachella Valley, but again who really knows for sure. 

Humpback Chub (gila cypha)

Bonytail Chub (Gila elegans)

Photo by Diego Ortiz

Sonoran or Desert Mud Turtle

Another critter we use to see were turtles which would flop back into the water as we walked along San Felipe creek's banks. I have to assume that this could have been the Western Pond Turtle, but again way back in the 1970s. It could also have been the Desert or Sonoran Mud Turtle (Kinosternon sonoriense), since this region has more connection to deserts east, but again, who knows for sure. Not myself, nor friends ever gave it any thought way back when, other than we knew what we saw. The other creature which I don't remember seeing, but know of it's existence is the lowland leopard frog which is endangered and use to inhabit the upper San Felipe Creek all the way to San Sebastian Marsh near the present day Salton Sea. 

image: Calphotos

Lowland Leopard Frog

Whatever the truth about the exact species of critters we saw, they never the less existed and the reason was water, which also now appears to be extinct as well. Recently about 3 or 4 weeks ago, I met Curtis and Linda Croulet up in Anza California at there home in Terwilliger. Curtis actually verified many of the things I saw there as he has worked at conservation in this specific area or region of the San Felipe Valley. If the world doesn't get a handle on this climate issue, many more things are bound to disappear. 

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Hwy 78 bridge over San Felipe Creek looking south (June 30, 2014)

This view is looking towards the south side of San Felipe Creek bridge at Scissors Crossing. Straight ahead is community of Shelter Valley and the creek itself veers off to the left down Sentenac Canyon. Between here and the Canyon most of the majestic Cottonwoods are gone and even the Mesquite are struggling against the invasive Tamarisk which was never there previously in such massive population numbers. The lush reeds, rushes and sedges are all but gone now.

image: Charles Doersch (April 2012)

 These are some hikers camping under San Felipe Creek bridge in April 2012, something that never would have been before possible just a few decades ago where permanent surface water flowed under here at a good pace.

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Conclusions

There are multiple complex components all throughout this San Felipe Valley riparian ecosystem & beyond which are only the tip of a vast iceberg here. For that matter, take any ecosystem around the globe and view as a body with various  parts of necessary function: climate, geography, plants, animals, birds, reptiles, aquatic creatures, whatever – all of these components within their niche habitats can be subdivided into sub-ecosystems all within the entire system, and those can be further subdivided all the way down to microbiological level with it's underground organisms and right down to the very nutrient molecules they organize for life above, but all working together cooperating as a whole. Putting it all back together again requires recognizing the whole picture and not just some researcher working within their own specialty of personal training and practice. At every level, we see incredibly intricate tuning, synchronization, and functional complexity. Frankly for the sake of debate, it doesn't matter how it all came together as a finely tuned machine firing on all pistons with precision. It has always been that way from the beginning. True biomimicry in putting it all back together again is imperative, minus all the jealousies, envies, childish infighting among researchers, conjecture, assumptions and religious assertions. Find out how things really work and replicate.

In the old days when things weren't so globally effected, a civilization like those of Easter Island, Colorado Plateau or Empires of Central America or Europe could screw up locally or regionally and not effect an entire continent. Things are not that way now. Like global economies whose oil prices go through the roof every time some psychopath dictator hiccups, there are consequences now where all nations fail at taking care of business properly. If one Nation does something stupid ecologically, everyone else suffers. No amount of restoration techniques or politicking for stricter laws and regulations are going to succeed unless these weather mechanisms get back to proper function. I've seen to much disruption and outright wholesale failure out there on my last visit to California which has become increasingly worse since every other last visit. The biggest problem is never addressed and that is human behavior. How do you convince humans to do the right thing ? Persuasion seems to be a failure. Marshal Law ? Who wants  to live in a Sci-Fi world ? Some major event around the globe is about to explode onto the scene, but how many are willing & ready to pay attention and keep awake ? When it does happen, that will not be the time to pay attention. It will be too late.

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 UPDATE: March 19, 2022 Sadly many people are not taking this seriously. The Anza-Borrego Desert Wonders page on Facebook has several people laughing and criticing this video update.😥

Further Reading of Interest

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and the Anza-Borrego Foundation acquire Sentenac Cienega

This might be of interest to some reading here. The USGS has an Historical Topographic Map Explorer that allows you to view topographical maps at all scales that were ever produced by the agency, going back to the 1880s. You can  pull up an 1887 map of the Prescott area like the one in the screen shot below. The sliding bar at the bottom of the search box lets you see what scale maps were generated in what year. This is where I brought up the older 1984 shot of Sentenac Canyon with it's graphics symbols. Maps are available for the entire country or regions of North America. You seriously may want to consider bookmarking this link below for future reference.

 http://historicalmaps.arcgis.com/usgs/