My personal ongoing fascination with anything Sycamore

Restoration Puzzle ?

Not!

There are so many logical common sense reasons for replication of Nature in the practical applications department of Human needs. Unfortunately, in our present 'critical times hard to deal with'  world, if something doesn't make some Corporation a $ or put some Politician into positions of power, no amount of responsible Earth Stewardship is going to get done. Sadly, even things like Rich Folks Legacy building like Philanthropy and/or other personal Foundations named after themselves, often come with a price. Often they don't address what's really needed in terms of environmental improvement  The good news is, the average person doesn't have to wait or depend on any of these legal entities to change things for the better, you can do so yourself. Even if it's little by little. If your numbers are large enough, you just might accomplish far more than any of those insisting they be put in charge of such responsibilities. Evidence for ideas from Nature are all around us, but often times ignored. For example, I'm sure people with busy commuting lives rushing along Highway Route 52 from Santee to San Diego have missed this remarkable Sycamore tree seen in the photo below. Actually there are several, but I took this opportunity to stop and photo this one while on my trip over there this past Spring. It's not a very tall tree, but nevertheless survives in a hot dry location where you wouldn't expect it to be. In reality, if you are perceptive enough, you will notice this tree is in a dry Chaparral Plant Community location which are throughout Southern California and not in the usual water rich bottom land locations where you expect to find them.

Photo Mine 2013

This is along side the west bound lanes of Route 52 almost to the Junction of Interstate 15. The Miramar Naval Air Military Reservation fence is to the right and you can see the evidence still visible of the 2003 Cedar Fire. If you remember, everything in that fire's pathway was completely destroyed. So at the very least, the growth here is 10 years old. There are a number of educational things here of personal note here which can be observed, though no doubt never thought of before by most passers by. First, this tree is not in a riparian habitat and there are no Road Department Irrigation infrastructure here. I know because I looked. So what's keeping this otherwise water loving tree alive ? Look at the plants in the fore ground. Chaparral - Lemonade Berry and Laurel Sumac. Both are deep rooted into moister subsoil layers and through the process of Hydraulic Lift & Redistribution have created a natural hydrating system which supports other plants which would otherwise fail.

Photo Mine 2013

Now with the above example in mind, take a look at this next photo. This is my mum's backyard after I've started some tree trimming activity and general cleanup the second week there in April 2013. Notice the spreading green plant under the Canary Island Pines and Tecate Cypress ? This is Catalina Island Currant or Evergreen Currant (Ribes viburnifolium). Without the cover of the trees above, this plant would fry. Yet in the shade, it does great AND it is never watered. It's actually originally a single plant, but it's spread out around the ground under the shade canopy. But notice over on the right hand side of this photo another plant. Actually it was a surprise to me as I never expected to find a young California Sycamore seedling. But low and behold, there it was. I know the six mature Sycamores to the right of this photo which are out of the picture were already producing heavy seed balls, but I never gave it a thought that any seedlings would ever germinate in her yard.

Here is a close up shot of that small Sycamore from the above photo. While I thought the whole thing was kool, I also knew I couldn't keep the plant where it was and I didn't want anymore California Sycamore in that yard. But I knew my sister in Lakeside had a large piece of land off of Moreno on San Vicente Road. In fact, her property line runs right at the old creek bottom which was dammed upstream almost a century ago. San Vicente Reservoir. So I took a five gallon orange Home Depot plastic pail and hauled it over from El Cajon to her property while she was evidently at the Colorado River. Interestingly many Sycamores have volunteered on my mum's property since this time.

Photo Mine 2013

This particular Friday I chose to plant it I also went up to visit my brother's place in Ranchita. That exact day the high temperature was 99 degrees Fahrenheit (37.2 Celsius). Days later it reached 104 F. I know, you're not supposed to transplant during outrageous unfavourable conditions. You'll fail. Yes in the past I did regularly, but that was when I did things conventionally. You know, Science-Based & Peer Reviewed habitat restoration techniques approved by various government agencies under the guiding hand of the USDA ?

Okay, here is what I did and didn't do. In the old days I'd use some type of Vitamin B-1 transplant shock magical elixir sold at most local Landscape and home garden centers. My favourite which said it had rooting hormones and vitamin B-1 which roots supposedly loved was called - Super Thrive  Actually it truly does work in some applications IF you follow instructions of just a couple drops to a gallon. But like most folks, the flawed thinking of "If a little works, more must be better". No it doesn't, not that it necessarily hurts anything, it's just that the plant does simply nothing as far as growth. In fact sometimes I'd notice the plant would stay stuck in neutral and go nowhere until the next growing season. My favourite choice now is MycoApply from Mycorrhizal Applications Inc. You may remember I wrote about this earlier with my Mum's volunteer Pecan Tree which was going nowhere until I inoculated it with Ecto-Mycorrhizal spores. I've never had a failure and I no longer have spent money on commercial chemical transplant Shock prevention liquids. One of the other things I did after planting and inoculation was to place the Home Deport five gallon pail over the plant after I left the well water run in the planting basin for a good thirty minutes, to create a humid atmosphere and prevent direct sunlight which I thought would most certainly desiccate the leaves and rapidly kill the tree.

Photo Mine 2013

Okay, so planting was on Friday in that intense heat and when I came back through Lakeside on my way back home, I stopped by on Tuesday to check on the health of the plant. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised to find only two top leases burned or dried out. The leaves under those were still healthy and green and the hard stem was in great shape. I knew that the plant would revive in no time at all. After all, it's a riparian plant and with enough water, anything is possible.

Photo Mine 2013

This shot was taken a week after the above photo and clearly the little tree is in full recovery mode with the tiny new bud growth and leaf production. At this point deep watering is still once a week which replicates a heavy rainfall pattern cycle for Riparian establishment. This technique actually works well with most other differing ecosystem plant groups in the wild as well.

Photo Mine 2013

This shot above here was taken the day before I left on June 3rd. The two top leaves are almost completely shed now and though the other older leaves were also set back a bit, but look at that brand new healthy and rich green bud growth. So apparently all was well after all. I couldn't have hoped for more, but now I was leaving and a key was to keep deep watering this tree at least once a week for the first year or two and then tapering off allowing the tree to grow up and mature on it's own. In fact, this technique for me anyway was the inspiration from my experiences which Bajada or Alluvial Fan observations during those late 1970s to middle 1980s heavy rainfall flooding event years which proved how floodplains establish large tracts of riparian forests in cycles which later remain on later dry floodplains.

Photo Mine 2013

So now, here is the abbove photo of the same little tree which volunteered over at my Mum's place, transplanted on an extreme heat wave 104 F weekend, which goes against all known conventional Landscaping rules and it's more than flourishing. Again, I never even seriously expected this much success. The seedling had to be removed anyway and there was nothing to lose in trying to transplant. It really made my day when my sister posted this picture three weeks after I left. One of my other biggest fears were all the gophers on this river bottom soil. This soil is so soft and delicate and deep. It's a very soft fine sandy-loam. Water would percolate in that planting hole all day long if you allowed it to. It's just that porous. Sparklets Water Company is just the next property over across her street. They've been pumping water from this area for decades now, so there is definitely a wealth of water under here. Knowing that bit of info helps. That tree like many of the native large Cottonwoods on here property and others along that Creek, will no doubt reach the water table and then as far as height, the sky is the limit as to what this tree is capable of.

Pinterest Image

Musings from the Roost

Sycamores are amazing wildlife trees, especially for nesting. Take these hummingbird nests made of Sycamore leaf fuzz. Not only do they build nests within small twigs, but they commonly build on top of the seed balls. Tall majestic old growth sycamores are great for soaring birds like Eagles and Hawks which prefer to be well above everything else. Restoration projects of riparian woodlands should take adding Sycamores into restoration instead of always narrowly focussing on Cottonwood and willows. I have also previously written about the downstream issues of the San Diego River and the chocking Tamarisks which are clogging it and strangling the native vegetation. They are also a very real fire hazard as I have seen fires race through many thick and dense Tamarisk Bosques. Fortunately for Lakeside and Santee beyond, that 2003 Cedar Fire front had not reached the El Monte Valley floor along the San Diego River bottom where large dense stands of mature Tamarisk Bosque are just on the east side of Wildcat Canyon Road. Once in that dry river bottom among those nonnative invasives, it would have been like a Fire Freeway all the way towards Santee. The Hwy 67 would have been no real barrier as the fire would have blown under it. At that point even southern end of Eucalyptus Hills would have been in danger. And I'm still amazed they halted it from that area. River bottom clean up and eradication would be the toughest job, but the replanting of Native Riparian Woodlands would be the easy part and the quick returns or rewards wouldn't have to be necessarily decades away as I've shown at this post of my mother's yard transformation in 7+ years -

Wildlife Habitat transformation in my Mum's front and backyards 

Lessons Learned from the Bajadas (Alluvial Fans)  

Restoring Southern California Riparian Ecosystems

Best wishes on Your restoration projects!

Mesquite Dunes: Practical Solution to Tamarisk Removal & Replacement

Common Windbreak structure along Southern Pacific Railway Right-of-Way corridors through the Coachella Valley from Cabazon to Indio California. It should be noted that this exact windbreak in Coachella Valley requires massive amounts of irrigation water which is provided for by the Palm Springs Desert Water Agency. Seriously, go down to this windbreak and observe all the two to three inch water pipes spewing out huge volumes of fresh water which could be used elsewhere. Not many local people even know this is going on down there. The Tamarisk that the Southern Pacific Railroad planted between Indio and Whitewater on the Sunset Route as a sand & windbreak (back in 1958) is Tamarix aphylla. Tamarix aphylla can also be seen planted around many of the older homesteads. One of the more invasive Tamarisks is Tamarix chinensis which is a water sucking tree with smaller size compared to the other. It's a common or familiar site for many. They easily cross breed so it's difficult to tell them apart.

Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum  - (see footnote)

One of the areas of badly needed practical application for me would be to replace all  introduced Tamarisk Windbreaks with components right there within the southwest where a keen eye could have more easily utilizing local resources. Once in the Coachella Valley there were prime examples of great Mesquite Dunes. One of the last being in the mouth of the La Quinta Cove to the back door of Simon Motors Car Dealership. On last look through Google Earth, everything has vanished under the heavy foot of development. No doubt many have forgotten and most younger generations have no clue to what such marvelous natural structures these really were. One has to ask, why didn't those early pioneers sit back, observe, use their brain and think about replicating such perfectly ecologically suited natural structures and incorporating these into their Agricultural blueprint ? We could have avoided the present ecological disaster we have now as this irresponsible introduction of Tamarisk has resulted. Below is an excellent News Vidoe documenting the wastefulness of water in maintaining these Non-Native Windbreaks along Coahchella Valley Freeway and Railroad corridors.

KESQ News Channel - Palm Springs: Thirsty trees suck desert dry

Sweden ??

First of all, I really don't wish to demonize Tamarisk. The trees just do what they do. In the right circumstance they are beautiful. Even for desert lovers from the Southwestern USA who are fond of their own beloved Mesquite tree should realize that even their beloved Mesquite tree is a invasive weed in countless other locations around our globe. The Tamarisk have an important function & role from where they come. But of course there are checks and balances in those regions from which they originate that keeps them in check. I even recently photographed some local Tamarisk varieties folks here in Gothenburg Sweden love to plant in their gardens or landscapes. YES - SWEDEN! The flowers are beautiful and honey bees are a commom visitor. 

This is the common flower structure for which many people 
 will no doubt be familiar with. 

There was an interesting article last year in Discovery News magazine of October 2011 with the title, "Biblical Tree For Climate Salvation". It made reference to a scriptural text about Abraham who planted a Tamarisk in Beersheba. The Hebrew word for Tamarisk is 'eshel'. 

 Genesis 21:33 (NW) - "After that he planted a tamarisk tree at Be′er-she′ba and called there upon the name of Jehovah the indefinitely lasting God."

Of course Bible critics have disputed whether it was truly a Tamarisk Tree that Abraham had actually planted. There is no end to the amount of critics anywhere on any topic that rubs most people the wrong way. But in this case they were wrong. Yet here is a quote from Yosef Weitz Forestry Officer of the Jewish Nation Fund often referred to as "Father of the Trees" who spoke about Abraham's choice of tree planting for that region called Beersheba. This is from Reader's Digest 1954. His photo is over here on the right.

“The first tree Abraham put in the soil of Beersheba was a tamarisk. Following his lead, four years ago we put out two million in the same area. Abraham was right. The tamarisk is one of the few trees we have found that thrives in the south where yearly rainfall is less than six inches.”

Below here is the actual article for which Discovery News Magazine got it's info and read up on the amazing  possibilities of Tamarisk being used in it's native ranges like Asia, Middle East & North Africa to possibly soak up carbon and releasing oxygen. They could be grown on land once considered barren and useless and eventually used as a source of bio-fuels themselves. The research is headed by Professor Aram Eshel, for which I find his name fascinating as the Hebrew word for Tamarisk is indeed 'eshel'

Okay, now that we know that the Tamarisk isn't all that bad or evil if located and utilized properly, let's discuss possible Mesquite Dune windbreak engineering possibilities. Such a windbreak couldn't just be haphazardly put together and left to it's own devices so to speak. A windbreak in either an agricultural, railroad, or highway right-of-way setting needs a certain amount of uniformity and organization. Take a look at this earthen berm created for a railroad right-of-way in China. It's perfect and allows for an incredible foundation for establishing nitrogen fixing desert plants like Mesquite, Palo Verde, Acacia, Ironwood etc. At the same time using Bio-Crustal mixes if available from companies like Terra Derm Foundation

The newly built windbreak wall extends a total length of 8,230 meters.  A forty-meter section was built with state-of-the-art technology that had never been used for the Trains running between Zhenzhuquan and Hongshanqu  in China before. This section of the windbreak wall is expected to provide safety shelter for both the railway and the highway. Of course utilizing such a structure as a foundation for plant establishment would require the construction be done well away at a greater distance from the Railroad tracks.

Other areas around the globe like the Al Baydha Project in Saudi Arabia where money has been spent on major infrastructure of large Earthen Berms to protect agricultural fields not only from drying winds which suck the life out of crops through an accelerated evapotranspiration from that country's blazing sun in summers, but also prevent large animals from intruding and damaging crops. The structure and project comes via the Permaculture Research Institute based in Australia.

Permaculture Research Institute

Stringing Barbed Wire across the top of the berm to discourage animals such as Camels from entering fields.

Permaculture Research Institute

Cost-wise this will be about 60% less than a chain-link  fence, but there are other advantages as well. The berm   will not only keep out animals, but it will provide a good   foundation for putting up a wind-break of trees. Wind is the   second main cause of evaporation in our climate, and   evaporation is the main cause of water loss. We’ll plant the   outside of the berm with cacti and shorter, spikey desert   plants to keep animals from climbing, and we’ll plant the   inside with long-term nitrogen-fixing trees. Once those   plants are established, we’ll have a good windbreak   surrounding the entire agricultural area of the site, lowering   evaporation and increasing water retention."

Another important point before I move on. I've previously written about Terracing along with Berms and windbreaks as a page refernce on the right hand side of the blog. (see footnote) There is a point of note here on desert terracing to impede and slow water down from it's usual torrential coursing. I saw this done on the Island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands of Spain. They have a critical situation for water there and slowing it down to percolate into the volcanic soils is a must. Preventing as much rainfall water as possible from entering dry washes and flowing back into the sea, or at least slowing it way down and allowing more soaking into the Earth. Same situation at the Al Baydha Project. Take a look and learn.

Permaculture Research Institute

This terracing is implemented to slow down water and silt and allow it to soak into the earth.

Image - Geologist Wayne Ranney

Sand Dune stabilization utilizing Prosopis &
Acacia Trees in the Rajastani Desert in India

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand and figure out what has successfully happened in the above sand dune stabilization photograph taken by geologist Wayne Ranney of Northern Arizona. Incredibly it could be argued that such an undertaking would cost to much money to remove Tamarisk Wind/Sand Break barriers because the task would be too costly. Most people still don't even realize the vast amounts of water necessary to keep those windscreens thick dense. Yes they thrive in harsh deserts, but they use far more water than southwestern natives which can be deeper rooted if properly encouraged and trained to do so. Mesquite dune establishment would be far less than costly and would be able to maintain themselves without much care beyond occasional trimming. The other plus would be the benefits to native wildlife. Actual materials for building the dune or berm foundations could come from an easy local source. In and around Imperial, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, not to mention almost the entire state of Arizona, there are numerous giant industrial mining operations which have completely obliterated the landscape. Not only with their giant open strip mine pits and mountain leveling, but also the massive stretches of rock and sand tailings which have plenty of material for building a vast collection of barriers for agricultural area enhancement. These companies after extracting countless billion$$$ from their cheap government leased or gifted claims often times simply leaving the land in worse condition than they found it. Why not obligate or at least encourage them to take a small percentage of that profit and give back to the planet ?

The image on the right is from Equinox Gold. One of the largest gold mines in the country is the Mesquite Mine which is located in Imperial County in the southeastern corner of the state of California. It's just northeast of sand dune playground of Glamis CA on Highway 78. They extracted 158,000 ounces of gold last year in 2011. Anyone know what price of gold was back then in 2011 ? Presently 24K gold is $1,772.01 USD. Last year it peaked at almost $1,900 an ounce, usually being in the high $1,800s. But if we averaged and gave a conservative $1,600 an ounce, the profit from 2011 would be $252.8 million USD. (* see footnote) The company is New Gold Inc and the Mesquite Gold Mine is just ONE of it's mines. Does anyone think they could part with a couple of millions to haul already free dirt to local sites ? 

The US Gypsum Mining site at Fish Creek in Imperial County has been around much much longer and could likewise be coaxed into providing what they would consider raw worthless leftover mine tailings materials for just such a project. The problem of course would be politics and rubbing the noses of to many important somebodies the wrong way. Yet at some point mankind is going to have to be forced to reckon with having to give back to Nature what it has taken. Generally that usually only happens in this world when things are to late. Places like Saudi Arabia have no choice but to establish responsible land management. Of course they do have the unlimited funds to accomplish this, good for them. They also know that their oil may one soon trickle out and preparation needs to happen now. 

Tree of Life – Bahrain | Photo by: Faisal Ansari

World Famous tourist attraction called Tree of Life in desert island nation of Bahrain near Saudi Arabia. Very Kool Link to an interactive Video panorama view of this famous "Tree of Life" Mesquite tree

The above tree is a well known tourist attraction and exists out in the middle of nowhere in the moonscape desert of Bahrain. The tree is a variety of Mesquite Prosopis cineraria which just happens to be the state tree of Rajasthan, India and the provincial tree of  the Sindh province of Pakistan. This tree in Bahrain is the largest and most known specimen of the native Asian Mesquite.  This particular tree is over 400 years old and the surrounding desert is devoid of water and rainfall for the most part. It is almost 32 feet or 10 meters in height. Like many Mesquite & African Acacia trees the potential for rooting depth can be anywhere from 160 to 200 feet deep. Such knowledge of survivability should be a key as to land vegetation establishment goals and the ability of such constructs as a Mesquite Dune Wind/Sand Barrier a plus for Agricultural area usage. 

There have been many programs to eradicate the Tamarisk from it's invasive range, but it's clear that unless you educate Farmers and the Public in general, there will be no change as to this tree being utilized as a wind barrier or garden shade mechanism. There will always be a seed source available. Any attempt at Riparian habitat site restoration would be a total waste of time and continual ongoing maintenance nightmare. At least a new design of windbreak would not only reduce seed sources, but also enhance natural native habitat for local wildlife. As time goes on, less and less people are interested in volunteering for such activities. Construction could certainly provide jobs and improvement to this part of the natural world. To bad such similar programs such as those 1930s depression era Conservation Corps and others couldn't be revived and folks on Government Entitlement Welfare Programs offered a chance at working not only for their pay, but also taught a vocational trade and receiving a feeling of self worth again. I guess that is to much to hope for. We just don't have a world like that yet where some Rights Group wouldn't step in and complain about how humiliating such a reform would be. Who knows, maybe the 3rd World countries will have to lead the way. Below is a gallery of mostly desert environments for which natural windbreaks constructed utilizing native flora could and should be used. The exception below is an experiment in Sudan which has had the reverse opposite as Tamarisks in Southwestern USA. Although I relate mostly to Desert environs, folks worldwide should know their native flora and clues found in Nature as to how and what to biomimic when it comes to practical application.

Image - Khalil Khani
Prosopis (Mesquite) used for Windbreak

imad from Journal of Forest Products & Industries

Benefits of Mesquite Trees (Prosopis juliflora & Chiliensis)
brought into Sudan drylands by Botanist E. Massey (1917)

image - Ramón Suárez Ojeda

Beach Dunes in Gran Canaria

Image, Michael Flaherty
Mesquite Dune down in Death Valley

Reference Footnotes:

http://permaculturenews.org/2011/05/09/al-baydha-project-saudi-arabia-fence-vs-earth-berm/

http://www.albaydha.org/index.html

http://www.desertmuseum.org/invaders/invaders_tamarisk.php

 Swales, Bioswales, Berms, Terracing, Windbreaks

 http://goldpricenetwork.com/gold-price-history/?country_id=246&mm=09&yy=2011