"Earth's Internet" attempts to document, reference as much of the natural world networking abilities and strategies as possible. Such Scientific findings are at odds with industrial scientific approaches maintaining our planet. Be warned. If your learning approach it based on Memes with short clever quips, you may be disappointed here.
The photograph above was used by science writer, Chris Clark, of Yucca Valley/Joshua Tree high desert fame, who was providing a list of some wonderful Nature Preserves & Reserves to visit in and around San Diego County. It was written back in 2015 and I believe the photo by Scott Davenport was either 2013 or 2014. Wow what a contrast when you look at the other photograph below. Scott Davenport has also taken numerous photos of this same location since which reveal the now dead Torrey Pines. Other people have also, it's a most popular tourist spot. It should be noted that the above photo is usually the only photo which generally is used toadvertise and promote Torrey Pines. What you won't see is today's reality on the ground in a photograph, even from the Torrey Pines State Reserve. Of course it's understandable as to why. For example photographer Phillip Colla took this photos here below.
To be honest, from this angle things look totally dead, but I believe on the other side of the geological formation you can see from a different angle that there is still one live Torrey Pine. What struck me most by the three photographers I'm referencing here, but also all other photographers I've Googled on the net , none of them ever make mention of the dead trees or the changes that have taken place. Their conversation is always about the light, the clouds, the sunset or the sunrise, the geological patterns in the bluffs etc. But nobody says anything about the very trees for which this reserve is named after, Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve.
I must admit, I had special hopes from this photgrapher of Broken Hill, Bodhi Smith, who gave this area shot the title, "Broken Emotions." I thought finally someone who was moved not just by the magnificence of the geological patterns, but actually touched by the decline of the native Torrey Pines here at the Reserve and elsewhere which must surely have served for the inspiration behind this photograph's title. Unfortunately, this was not the case. He was entirely on a different track. Beautiful photo though. Take a look at a couple of quotes I extracted from his description:
"I have been trying to catch a special image of this spot for close to one year now, having shown up to this place numerous times only to go away empty handed. But alas, finally last evening I was able to capture something worthy of my own liking."
"I have just been patiently waiting for the right conditions (clouds, sunset, springtime)...so when I got to Broken Hill, I did not need to figure out where I was going to set up for my shot..."
Here's a special plea to all photographers out there who photo things in Nature. First of all, please date them, especially when taking pictures of the same location year after year. Second, while I understand stand the complexities of that photograph shot setup which requires a measure of concentration, patience and tunnel Vision, please consider a peripheral view of things. None of the photographers that I could find who had taken photos of this spot ever commented on the decline in vegetation, in this case Torrey Pines, which if were a rattlesnake, you would have been sent to the emergency room. Kidding of course, but you know what I mean. Your photos are important for ecological documentation reasons although you may be totally unaware of this. Interestingly however, even the Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve is not interested in today's scenic view. In fact they continue to use an older photograph of "Broken Hill" on the Home page. It's a public relations thing. Go Figure! 😎
Other Locations with Bad News -> North Loop - "The Guy Flemming Trail"
Photo courtesy of Ken Blackford. Copyright Ken Blackford. San Diego, Ca.
Who hasn't visited Torrey Pines State Natural Preserve and stepped off of the old narrow asphalt road where the sign says in bold letters, "North Loop," then right under that, "The Guy Fleming Trail." I've done this many times since the 1960s. This was one of the better and easiest trails to hike and actually get inside of the Torrey Pine forest. Most other trails are broken up with chaparral, but this is forest. Other areas of dense Torrey Pine forest you can only see from a viewpoint distance to protect them. It's also not especially steep or challenging and it takes you right next to the viewpoint of Torrey Pines State Beach overlook. Interestingly the woods at the end of the trail are like the stunted growth of common chaparral we call, "Elfin Forest," because they are windswept by the ocean breezes which have sculpted them this way. Often the signage will comment on the grotesque and/or picturesque shapes and explain the natural phenomena of the windy salty air that created these shapes. But something's changed here as well. As you continue to on ahead walking down a little further in the photo above, you can see in the distance that something has gone terribly wrong here too.
Courtesy of Jeremy Spath, of Spath Gardens, for landscape design and installation in Southern Ca.
Peter Jensen 2017
Almost three years after the green forest photos above were taken, the bark beetles have taken their toll here as well. In actual fact almost everything in the way of older Torrey Pines are dead. This photo at right is provided by the Torrey Pines Association which was founded in 1950 with Guy Fleming as it's first President. The article which accompanied this picture on the right explained why this trail has been closed for a year. Clearly things had to be upgraded from wooden post railings to steel and newer younger trees had to be planted to replace the dead ones. Apparently funds were made available by the Scripts Foundation to complete trail repairs and rehab some of the main attraction ecological features. It will be decades before people we begin to see a glimpse of the beauty that one existed there before. Below here is an except from the article with link by Peter Jensen.
"Poor High Point! A good number of trees have died here in recent years, victims of the drought, and the old railing made of peeler poles was usually in a state of falling-down disrepair. But this trail is finally on the “come back."
To be honest, when my wife and I visited back in 2014, we noticed not much of anything living was doing very well. Take this example photograph of how poorly even the normally tough and resilient chaparral was doing within the Torrey Pines Reserve boundaries. Not good. 😕
So is the obvious answer Global Warming ??? 😵🌄
The obvious popular answer of course is climate change and the last five years of drought. Add to that higher than normal temperatures and less rainfall and those are ideal conditions for pine bark beetles to do their dirty work. If conditions are normal as far as the soil's mositure content sense, then Torrey Pines should be able to manufacture enough sap or pitch to ooze into those bore holes drilled by a pine bark beetle who wants to lay eggs and hatch young. The sap or pitch would drown out any of the beetle larva. So in normal average rainfall years, San Diego and Del Mar average around 10 or 11 inches of annual rainfall, but of course for the past five years they have only received half that amount or less and have had to endure much higher than average Temperatures. So that sounds reasonable as to a cause, but something's just not jiving next door at the Torrey Pines Country Club and Golf Course.
Image - yourgolftravel.som
Photo by Jacob Sandoval
One of the puzzling anomalies regarding the death of torrey Pine trees are the loss of trees at the world class Torrey Pines Golf Course. Now as understandable as it is to see Torrey Pine trees dying at the State Reserve which is the neighbour to the north because of drought, it's tough to phathom what's really going on next door at the golf course. Even "IF" there is climate change, drought, less than average rainfall, none of those things should matter at the golf course which is loaded with massive amounts of water availability. After all, Golf Courses use more water than anywhere else, especially in the drier climates of the southwest or you don't get green grass. Plus there are the other factors of normally hotter months like May & June being cloud covered here with what they term "May Gray" or "June Gloom." Temps at their hottest here are generally in the 70s Fahrenheit or 20s Celsius. And yet take a close look at this photo of a dead tree in the middle of green wet grass taken by Jacob Sandoval. I'm always telling people who want to plant natives which prefer things a little on the dry side, don't plant next to or in lawns because this is comparable to things like a lakes or bogs when it comes to constant available water. Watch this video below.
This video below was done by San Diego resident, Dale Williams, who argues that aluminum, in combination with acid fog, weakens Torrey Pine trees and was the primary cause of their die-off in 2014-16. Frankly, I'm not altogether sure, but here is Dale William research take on the subject.
This photo above the video are the bark beetle pheromone traps used to attract and capture these little pests that are killing the trees. The link below the photo is from News 8 (CBS) in San Diego which aired back in January 2016. The second video is from ABC 10 News just a couple of months later. Take note however that in both videos, we're not talking drier areas like Torrey Pines State Reserve, but rather trees inside green lawns in both the gold course and city of Del Mar. The news reporters said that the traps should help save the trees until winter rains come, but that's nonsense since these trees have incredible access to water already, plus Torreys have always been subject in Nature to drier habitat locations. Former Nature Film producer, Jim Karnik (no deceased as of earlt last year 2017), also provided a good video on this very subject. It's a pity that many environmental groups paid little attention to Jim's passing away. In fact this video below which appears to be his last, only received 55 views EVER. I guess non-profits are more interested in donations and membership drives.
For a very long time now I have wondered if maybe the underground microbiology could itself be in decline in many areas as well. Most humans only have in their minds things that we can see. The underground microbiome is completely out of sight and therefore out of mind. Think of the forest as a sort of an amusement park like Disneyland. The tourists only see the beaty colour and glitter of the theme part, but they never see the behind the scenes sophistication of the machinery, computer systems, staff, security, etc, etc, etc that make it all work and function smoothly. Many nature lovers assume that nothing could possibly harm that tough microbiological community. That's why when I've suggested people inoculate plants at time of planting, even in the wild, the typical sarcastic response I have gotten has been, "You don't need to inoculate because fungal spores are just everywhere out there in the air." Not a very scientific take, but more of a blind faith affirmation. Human beings have so radically changed nature's surroundings, that past normal behaviours of the natural world are not responding and functioning as they once did. Yes, mycorrhizal fungal spores are no doubt well populated within many healthy wild soils like the large population of fungal spores taken from a soil sample in the photo above-right by Soil Scientist & Mycorrhizal Fungi Specialist, Dr Wendy Taheri.
But she also sampled industrially maintained agricultural soil from somewhere in the Midwest in which a big commercial farmer had followed the recommended agricultural practices as recommended by biotechs and agro-chemical corporations. The difference is stunning and not what you think when you look at both sample photos side by side. The picture here with less spores has far less than you think. Those really tiny white looking spores are not mycorrhizal fungal spores at all, but rather soil Nematode pest eggs which attack plant roots. So it's still puzzle as to the gold course and Del Mar city properties which are well water. But they are also industrially maintained through science-based synthetic chemical regimens. This is what I question and focus on. After all this blog is about underground soil networks mainly dealing with mycorrhizal fungi networks and plant root system infrastructure. Hence, "Earth's Internet." Not to mention the other fascinating phenomena associated with both. This is why I wrote back on July 2014 about not finding specific truffles of Pisolithus tinctorius mycorrhizae in my favourite collecting locations in the San Jacinto Mountains anymore. (See Here)
Photo is mine from
My photo 2016
(Pinus sabiniana) in Ranchita
Prior to the missing mushrooms or puffballs, the Coulter and Jeffrey Pines just above Anza Valley within the Table Mountain area had been in major decline. Trees everywhere were dying, but I had first noticed that the puffballs or truffles were now missing when previously there were always 100s of them after a summer monsoon Thundersstorm or even in their Springtime crop appearance. Everything to do with mycorrhizal fungi shut down and then next the trees went. Oddly enough I found other valuable collecting locations in the forests and chaparral biomes south of the gold mining town of Julian in San Diego county. The picture above is the truffles I found south of Julian. In the year 2014, I remote planted a Foothill or Digger Pine (Pinus sabiniana) on some of his wild acreage far away from any irrigation sources in Ranchita, California in eastern San Diego county above Borrego Springs. I planted this foot tall one gallon container tree you see here in the photo in between the native chaparral (next to a scrub Oak). My brother watered them that first summer (we planted in summer with temps at 104 F) clear thru to winter, he didn't need to water thereafter. The tree as you can see here is now about three to four foot tall as of 2016. He recently told me it's much bigger now. My point here is that the microbiome is important and it may be in decline like everything else we see. I've successfully remote planted Torrey Pines in a low elevation mountain range around El Cajon, Santee and Lakeside. Most locals know it as Rattlesnake Mountain. Here is a link to my successful experience in this hotter than coastal conditions with Torrey Pines which proved far healthier than those along the coast and in drought conditions. But even these important components may be in decline at Torrey Pines State Reserve and explain far more than just hotter temps and lack of rainfall. These trees have been here for 1000s of years and I've certainly not seen the serious problems there in my lifetime like we have now.
Wild Torrey Pines on Rattlesnake Mountain in between the cities of El Cajon and Santee
You should know that now the Torrey Pines on Rattlesnake Mountain no longer exist. They were all between 25' to 30' high. Biggest ones were actually starting to produce cones, but the Sky Ranch Housing Development residents took offense the the presence of the Torrey Pines and chain sawed every one of them down. When I came back for a visit I found them all missing. The neighbours all saw me and came out yelling what I was doing back there. I told them I was photographing Coast Cholla colonies and the Torrey Pines but they were gone. I was informed that the Torrey Pines were a fire hazzard and actually caused fire (which was an ignorant thing to say and poor excuse for killing them). Then I was told that the police were being called because I was trespassing on Rattlesnake Mountain Conservation Area preserve. So I left and never came back. I got in contact with the Center for Natural Lands Management and the Naturalist in charge of the area's oversight and he feigned ignorance about the trees ever being there. This was an untruth because when Sky Ranch Construction began, a survey of all plants and animals was done well ahead of time and conservation sensitive area tape was all around this huge area. So I figured the chainsaw activity had his organization's blessing. Doesn't matter, they weren't native, wasn't my land and it's not worth the hatred I incurred by the residents. The destruction took place in 2013.
This photo is mine from 2018, Table Mountain 4,500' elevation east of Anza CA
Some important info you should know about these Torrey Pines and my experience with planting them as small seedlings back in 2005. Climate is much more radically different than along the Del Mar coast where the seed originated. The early and middle 1980s were rough years freezing termperature-wise. Back then every years for about five years we experience a northeastern high winds which brought frigid arctic air down from Canada. The Coachella Valley lost numerous grapefruit citrus orchards. These Torrey Pines at six foot tall experienced temperatures down to 6- below 0 Fahrenheit which is 21- Celsius. We experienced terrible Santa Ana high winds with gusts 60 to 70 miles per hour and through it all these trees survived. Only real damage was from the tips of all needles back one half an inch the needles turned brown. However, also during those years in summers, the trees all grew over three to four foot in height. When I experimented with outplanting seed in wild areas of the property, they germinated and emerged pushing up through the snow in March which is early for most native Pinyon, Coulter & Jeffrey pines trees up there, but apparently no visible signs of damage. It was an amazing experience and there is still so much more to know about these amazing trees. You should know that other Anza area residents have also grown huge Torreys, but down in the valley at 4,000' elevation.
This Torrey Pine Tree was planted in 1980 on Rattlesnake Mountain in El Cajon California and this photo I took in 2011 on a visit home from Sweden where I presently live. This particular tree was 30' tall.
The last thing I expected was to come home and start off on a negative note. Since I haven't had time to post much of anything lately and when I did, it was generally on a subject matter dealing with a negative topic, this trip was going to be different and informative about things I've discovered, appreciated and accomplished over the last few decades. I wanted to deal with forensic clues in the form of vegetation anomalies I have accidentally stumble across over the past few decades which defied explanation, which gave clues of a different climate and ecosystem past in Southern California. Well, no such luck. Things have taken a turn for the worse on Rattlesnake Mountain. I suppose my spirits are down a bit as well, but nothing surprises me anymore in this modern day system. The trees I have for so long cherished and spoken about are now gone. I had always considered that some event like wildfire consume them or housing development would bulldoze them, but never in my wildest imagination did I expect this deliberate chain saw massacre which was done for stupid ignorant reasons. When I told friends who had known of the trees I planted over three decades ago, they were sad for me and wanted to console, but the reality wasn't so much sadness as it was disappointment of the average person's stupidity and ignorance. Mostly my reasons for lack of sadness are that I don't regret the experiences I gained and learned in the way of practical application by replicating nature (Biomimicry or Biomimetics) and gaining a much deeper understanding of the value of our native Chaparral as host or nurse plants. Take some interesting statisitcs about Laurel Sumac as having good nurse plant potential.
Some interesting facts about Laurel Sumac and it's ability as an ideal nurse plant which utilizes Hydraulic Lift & Redistribution of sub-soil water which facilitated this Torrey Pine to thrive
Photo taken by friend in 2011
There's a remarkable story behind this Torrey Pine and another Torrey Pine tree's success up on Rattlesnake Mountain in El Cajon. Follow the link below at the bottomm of this post as to how this was possible through trial and error over many years looking for the right nurse shrubs.
I went up there yesterday to photograph the Torrey Pines and the trees were totally gone. While I was looking around the site where the large Laurel Sumac which provided the means of serving as an excellent Mother Tree still stood, several irritated home owners came out and yelled at me for trespassing on conservation area land and demanded to know what I was photographing. I kept calm and explained I was taking pictures of Coastal Cholla Cactus(Coastal Cholla never was originally native to this location when I was a kid and I established a one acre patch which has since spread on it's own) in bloom and those of Prickly Pear Cactus, plus I was looking for Cactus Wren nests which I noticed the year I left for Sweden in 2006. Actually, all I saw were the old abandoned nests of the pre-housing development construction before I left in 2006. Nothing new of note anywhere. I'm assuming the Wren's were frightened off by the closeness of the development. But documenting the tree slaughter with photographs was mostly what I was seeking after because I could see from the paved road that both Torrey Pines were gone. I asked one of the disturbed neighbours about what had happened to the pine trees and the ignorant unscientific explanation given made it all I could do to hold back keeping my mouth shut and emotions in check. One of the men said to me,
"Those trees are a huge fire hazard, they were producing cones and once those seeds escape, they will spread everywhere and will cause fire and create a bigger fire hazard endangering these houses."
Seriously ??? Torrey Pines cause fires ? I thought people caused fires around here ? In the whole history of fire on this mountain every single one was always human caused. No brushfire in my almost 60 years of lifetime were ever started by natural causes. None of what he said was true and a fire starting as a result of more trees would never have happened anyway. I was told I was a trespasser, threatened with police being called and fined $1,000 if I didn't leave their precious conservation area. These trees were nowhere near any of the houses as this photo below of the other smaller tree poking out from the Laurel Sumac clearly shows.
photo: Mine
This Torrey Pine in the photo at right here was the smaller of the two trees. It was a bit stunted, contorted, twisted and was developing a beautiful picturesque form. It was once of the survivors of a wildfire that swept the area earlier. One single lower branch to the south of the tree survived and grew upwards into a crooked twisted tree. Ironically, the accusation of the non-native status of the trees was ridiculous, because if you do an inventory of the plants they have utilized on the terribly scarred disturbed hillsides they created during construction, you have non-native yuccas, Iris, Mediterranean Rock Rose which is from Spain and elsewhere in the Mediterranean. There are other non-native plants, but perhaps I'll document that at a later date. There is also this constant water drenching from an elaborate irrigation plumbing infrastructure everywhere on these hillsides all around this development, something which is abnormal for native coastal sage scrub, but necessary to keep the non-natives alive. I'm actually shocked more strategy planning and attention wasn't provided by the so-called Conservation people from Escondido who are in charge of the oversight of this official conservation area. Just the irrigation pipe and other fixtures alone must have cost a fortune. The other negative is that this destruction of native coast sage scrubb ans replanting coupled with early years of heavy irrigation have mostly benefitted and spread all the non-native noxious weeds I mentioned earlier and more. I'll walk up and do list of many of the non-natives for a later post.
photo: Mine
This is the exact spot of the 30' tall Torrey Pine which was butchered by Sky Ranch residents who themselves trespassed on to this Conservation area land and took it upon themselves to enforce the modern day unscientific thinking that So-Cal native plants are evil mega-fire causing living organisms that need eradication in order to save human life. So what more is there to say. I kept my cool and didn't get into any confrontations even though that seemed to be the intent of those few I was speaking with. I'll post below a couple of pertinent photos of the damage done by those residents from the surrounding neighbourhood who not only trespassed onto the Rattlesnake Mountain Habitat Conservation Area themselves, but also took chain saws and destroyed a rare wild growing tree native to San Diego county.
These signs exist everywhere around Rattlesnake Mountain now. Of course I don't own the land and they can do with it what they wish, but it's amazes me how this land for numerous decades prior was always spat upon & figuratively urinated on by humans without fear of prosecution before anyone decided it had some sort of ecological worth aside from the economic value to a handful of business benefactors. I actually contacted that telephone number on the No Trespassing sign and asked the biologist,
"If the penalty for trespassing on Rattlesnake Mountain Habitat Conservation Area is $1000, could you tell me what the penalty for trespassing and taking a chain saw and removing valuable rare protected wild San Diego County tree species is ?"
The headquarters from where this Rattlesnake Mountain conservation area is given oversight is north from here in the city of Escondido. The biologist I spoke with on the telephone was nice enough and seemed to have already known about the removal. He said he was previously tipped off prior to the chain saw massacre and had visited the site himself. I never actually got a straight answer as to why these trees were destroyed, but it appears that there were several complaints to his office after I wrote my first article on the successful planting of trees by utilizing the Laurel Sumac as a nurse plant. Laurel Sumac is really the only shrub up there that stays richly evergreen all year long, aside from one single small colony of Lemonade Berry which has also been severely cut back for housing. Those Lemonade Berry are so ancient that they look almost look small oak trees and I thought so when I was a kid back in the very early 1960s. They are located just uphill here from this cactus where the Torrey Pines also were.
Photo - Mine (2013)
I will post a link here below of an album I created of several photos, not just of the dismembered trees, but also the growing Coastal Cholla and Prickly Pear Cactus colonies which are just starting to bloom now. The cactus colony is beautiful. One photos of the ground where Cholla Cactus joints have fallen off and rolled away from the parent plant explain just how the plants are able to spread so easily. I am also fascinated by what appears to be some sort of allelopathic chemical properties of these cacti plants in that none of the invasive weeds seem to grow anywhere around them. Well who knows, maybe it's just good luck. The biologist knew of the Cholla Colony and told me that Coastal Cactus Wrens were his favourite study. The Wrens never were there prior to my planting of both Cholla and Prickly Pear throughout the 1970s. The cactus Coast Cholla joints were rescued from yet another housing project from the 1970s near Santee Lakes across the valley to the west of Rattlesnake Mountain.
photo: Mine
Believe it or not, I am not totally bummed out here. I always knew this scenario would play out in one way or another. That same day I also that had a bit of a surprise to view a location where I previously worked as head landscapers for a property management company on Bradley Avenue which is south of this location, where I converted a non-native weed infested hill [almost exclusively Cheat Grass] in El Cajon which has a portion of it forested with Coastal Live Oak, Tecate Cypress, Toyon (California Holly), Lemonade Berry and Aleppo Pine on a south slope exposure. My goal was another experiment to see whether or not non-native weed (Runderals) infested locations long written off by the Native Plant peoples for saving, if such locations could be converted back and restored. I heavily inoculated all the plants with various forms of Mycorrhizae and beneficial bacteria. The first two years the plants were babied with water and mulch and then left to their own with no water other than the below average historical rainfall that has plagued So-cal for the past couple of decades. Most of the trees are between 15' to 20' in height now. Large height and wide spread growth on the chaparral species of Toyon and Lemonade berry planted. Mostly the main purpose was to try and experiment by replication of exactly how things perform in nature and IF they can be utilized in an urban landscape setting and/or any habitat restoration project. I'm thrilled and happy to say that they can succeed if left to their own devices, even when climate is considered less than ideal.
This photo was taken with a friend in 2011 of the Saguaro which I planted back in 1980 when friends from Tucson brought over a foot tall Saguaro from a Nursery there. It came complete with State of Arizona permission certificate as well. The original size of the Saguaro grew quickly to over six feet tall until some idiots with a shotgun or rifle blew it to Kingdom Come for target practice. A six foot tall saguaro blown all the way to ground level and they must have just done it before I came because fresh cactus pulp was spread everywhere around. All my life from the 1960s onward such lousy bad luck things like this have always continually happened for decades on that mountain. One day a couple of years after they destroyed the Saguaro, I went back up there in the early 1990s and saw that the wound had calloused over stump to the ground, but there also were two small buds or pups that popped up on either side of the rugged bark from which two competing Saguaros appeared. Finally as of 2011, this is what it looks like. The Biologist I spoke with knew of it's presence, but firgured it was a barrel cactus someone planted above at Sky Ranch and it rolled down the mountain. This biologist was a puzzle as I spoke to him twice and the 2nd time he claimed he's never seen the Torrey Pines, but did see the Cactus when surveying and cataloging the plants up there. That's strange since he previous said he knew of their presence. Also odd that if he stood by the Saguaro, he surely would have seen 20 foot to 30 foot high lush full Torrey Pines. Unbelievable the world we live in and wondering who can you trust. ðŸ˜
Update April 2023Amazing Saguaro Recovery 😮
After Covid lockdowns and ability to travel again, my wife and I flew from Sweden to San Diego for an El Cajon visit with family. I was curious as to what has change since our last visit in 2018. Here are photos of the lowly Saguaro which is now a towering giant of sorts.
Photo - Mine (April 2023)
I put my hand up high for scale. This Saguaro is now 8.5 foot tall. So it was maybe only 3.5 or 4 foot tall in the 2011 photograph which means in 13 years it put on another 4.5 feet in height. Now what's amazing about that is that for 5+ years there was a severe drought which effected California from top to bottom. Extreme drought with very little rainfall.
Photo - Mine (April 2023)
This photo I took to show the base and the rugged oak-like bark near ground level. Very tough and healthy Cactus. I was amazed looking all around it that there was no herbivore damage like Rabbits, Rats, bird peck holes or even insect activity. Very clean and smooth green flesh under all those spines. In the past I did see Yellow Jackets and other wasps within the rib folds.
Photo - Mine (April 2023)
Photo - Mine (April 2023)
Anyway while wonderful news, I'm also aware that anything can happen that will destroy the Saguaro again. There is always the ever present danger of brush fire which Saguaros have no ammunity to recover from. Friends have told mme on both instances, "You must be so sad now", but the fact is, while I was and am still disappointed, I value more the experience which lead me to better conservation practices regarding habitat restoration in remote plantings and practical application within the Urban Landscaping industry for which I was always able to successfully install any plant community theme.
Photo 2011 - Rattlesnake Mountain - El Cajon California
Photo by James Gallagher, Sea and Sage Audubon
Well, the above photo is a close up of the San Diego Coastal Cholla colony on Rattlesnake Mountain. This particular spot was where I first saw the San Diego Coastal Cactus Wren nest in the middle of all that tangle of Cholla arms with spines. For those who think of Cactus Wrens living only in the deserts, think again. Here is an example on the right of a San Diego Cactus Wren which lives in coastal sage scrub habitat where colonies of Coast Cholla still exist. In the same photo above and to the below right out of the picture is a colony of Desert Agave I brought up from Ocotillo outside of Anza Borrego State Park back in 1981. When I left for Sweden in the Spring of 2016, that was the only time I saw the main older Agave with 50+ spread pups all around it's base finally send up a giant flower stalk. It was wonderfully beautiful. This Coast Cholla colony has also spread further from the main body and it too was loaded with flower blooms everywhere for the first time since I first planted thise cacti joints in the ground. It's actually odd that this area wasn't more protected back in 2005 since in the original housing development land preparation phase when they did an inventory of plants prior to any bulldozing, this entire area was roped off with conservation tape and posted as protected area. One would have thought that more care would have allowed protection of the Torrey Pines which are also native to San Diego County.
Photo - Mine (2013)
These Cholla joints are everywhere within and outside the two main colonies. Not difficult to understand how they can easily spread within coastal sage scrub habitats. Below I also added a Prickly Pear Cactus pad here and there planted in the soil. Previously they were not here either. The prickly Pear varieties I chose were the mature native plants father below near the artesian spring where they are next to the Native American Metate grinding holes in the flat granite bedrock. I believe the natives carried and planted Prickly Pear beaver tail pads near all their camp settlements where ever they moved because it was a major part of their diet. Same can be said of Mexican Elderberry for the same reasons.
Photo - Mine (2011)
In the photo above take note in the foreground of some of that invasive African Bunch Grass which are commonly planted along freeway cutouts and shoulders to supposedly prevent erosion and hold the banks together. They are the ones with the fuzzy seed stalk heads. Many other non-natives such as Yellow Star Thistle & Black Mustard have made their way up here as a result of the Sky Ranch Housing Development construction which stripped the landscape and allow encroachment.
Photo - Mine (2013)
This is at the top of the hill where the last remnants of the Lemonade Berry Colony still thrive, but they are only a whisper of their former glory. In the 1960s & 70s there were larger trees behind this scene where houses now are. The trunks of these looked´so very ancient and the bark was identical to that of any Coastal Live Oak. When I was a kid I thought these were oak trees, until one Spring where I saw those sticky flat red berries and I knew it wasn't Oak. As far as I know, these are the eastern most extent of Lemonade Berry in San Diego County (not sure really) because they dislike frost and will easily get frostbite leaf burn. This location never did freeze even when we had frosts below in the valleys. I do not even recall seeing any over in Lakeside which is on the other side of this hill. I do know that the people behind the creation of the San Diego River Walk Project are planting them along the river near Santee Drive-in Theater. Still, I cannot believe they took a chain saw to these special tree-like shrubs.
California State Route Hwy 74 running through Garner Valley in the San Jacinto Mountains of Southern California. Hwy 74 is to the left of the photo and heading west towards Lake Hemet, Idyllwild and beyond. Numerous Jeffrey Pine Reforestation tree planting projects have taken place on the south side of this Highway which would be on the left-hand side of this picture. In an effort to achieve plantation success, Authorities in charge have often mistakenly eradicated most all Chaparral (with the exception of a few large Scrub Oak specimens) believing the pseudo-science view that Chaparral (which includes Big Sagebrush) is an invasive predator and competitor of forest movement, development, growth and maintenance for survival. However, modern day research and understanding of Artemisia tridentata (& other Chaparral), proves that these species of plants actually assist and promote young forest growth and development. Yet, despite all the good encouraging research papers currently available, which shed light on the truth of Chaparral benefits, old die hard ideological and economic agendas of business/political entities still pervades.
Photo by Michael L Charters
Though commonly thought of as a dominant species of the Nevada Great Basin and other interior mountain states, Artemisia Tridentata is closer to home than most Southern Californian's think. Often past by on a road trip and never given a second look for no other reason than it's viewed as mundane and boring to the uninformed car passenger, this plant among other important Chaparral Plant Community species, is so foundational to it's native habitat, that it's absence can lead to other critical environmental problems because unseen to many, it actually performs an amazing service to everything else around it. This service of course is known as Hydraulic Lift & Redistribution. This is where a particular plant has the ability with it's deeper root system to actually pump water up from within deeper moisture rich soil layers and bring them vertically to the surface and then redistribute this water through it's horizontal lateral roots to other plants by means of an interconnecting mycorrhizal fungal grid network between differing plant species. The knowledge of this Chaparral species ability facilitate water transport from deeper subsoil layers to surface topsoil and sharing it with others in the plant community has been known since the 1980s. (See footnote references)
For the moment, let me review a few points from a USDA report written about some of the misinformation on Big Sagebrush and it's management or mismanagement. The paper is authored by Bruce L Welch and Craig Criddle who authored the book, "Countering Misinformation Concerning Big Sagebrush" (July 2003) - Rocky Mountain Research Station (Fort Collins, Colorado). It deals with 8 commonly believed Axioms, which for those unfamiliar with the term, an Axiom could simply be described as a self-evident truth that requires no proof. Frankly there are many such Axioms in other areas of science, but let's focus on this one regarding Artemisia tridentata. I loved this read. It illustrates how bad science can be at times when biased and/or prejudiced by economic, political, religious or other ideological or philosophical motivations. They clearly expose the traditional long held pseudo-scientific flaws in the view of Artemisia tridentata and it's imagined damage to Livestock performance success. Keep in mind as you read the link to the study how this flawed thinking is also what drives the demonization of other plant species around the globe.
"This paper examines the scientific merits of eight axioms of range or vegetative management pertaining to big sagebrush. These axioms are: (1) Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis) does not naturally exceed 10 percent canopy cover and mountain big sagebrush (A. t. ssp. vaseyana) does not naturally exceed 20 percent canopy cover; (2) As big sagebrush canopy cover increases over 12 to15 percent, bare ground increases and perennial grass cover decreases; (3) Removing, controlling, or killing big sagebrush will results in a two or three or more fold increase in perennial grass production; (4) Nothing eats it; (5) Biodiversity increases with removing, controlling, thinning, or killing of big sagebrush; (6) Mountain big sagebrush evolved in an environment with a mean fire interval of 20 to 30 years; (7) Big sagebrush is an agent of allelopathy; and (8) Big sagebrush is a highly competitive, dominating, suppressive plant species."
I going to touch on just a few of the Axioms which are pertinent to my own experience, but they are all clearly outstanding in their assessment by the authors. I also love the sarcastic sense of humor by the Authors in questioning some of the long held stupid ideological scientific beliefs motivated by money making ventures conducted on public and private land holdings. You may even see some similarities to the much demonized Mesquite in the southwest which has spread as a result of lousy land management and overgrazing.
Axiom Number 1
"Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp wyomingensis) does not naturally exceed 10 percent cover and mountain big sagebrush (A. t. ssp. vaseyana) does not naturally exceed 20 percent cover."
"This axiom is best verbalized by Miller and others (1994, p. 115): “In the early to mid 1800s, much of the sagebrush steppe was probably composed of open stands of shrubs with a strong component of longlived perennial grasses and forbs in the understory … Shrub canopy cover probably ranged between 5-10% in the drier Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis) communities ..., to 10-20% on the more mesic sites, occupied by mountain big sagebrush.” Speaking of the present, they noted (p. 119): “Wyoming big sagebrush cover has increased from less than 10% to 20%, and mountain big sagebrush cover from less than 20% to 30% and 40%.” All due to overgrazing."
The authors then go on to ask a series of logical question that should have been asked in the original studies and observations. The then proceed to ask three very important questions.
"First, what do the wild animals which are adapted to this type of Big Sage Brush habitat suggest to us concerning this canopy cover ?"
This first question is important in that how does the rest of natural world like animals, interact with such Big Sagebrush habitat which has been around for thousands of years and worked perfectly well ?
Second, what are the Big Sage Brush canopy cover values found in undisturbed relics and kiputkas (undisturbed wildlife habitat islands left untouched by urban growth) and what do we observe from these semi-pristine islands ?
This is another very important question, as even southern California in Chaparral country still has some wildlife islands, but they are dwindling fast. Still they provide a far better observational venue than modern day disturbed sites which have been thrashed and forced to heal over and over countless times in just the last 150 years of human intervention and disruption of natural processes. It is almost impossible to study how things actually work in a pristine environment anymore. Mission Valley in San Diego has north and south facing examples which may yet reveal important clues about old growth coastal chaparral plant communities, even Cowles Mountain among others.
Third, what is the quality of the science used to support this flawed Axiom ?
No kidding. No further input by me is necessary here! But the authors then proceed to offer numerous studies which indicate that large numbers of wildlife actually prefer old growth Big Sagebrush habitats. Again, no kidding. This is almost identical to Chaparral Plant Communities.
Axiom Number 3
"Removing, controlling, or killing big sagebrush will result in a two, three or more fold increase in perennial grass production.
Miller (1957, p. 18) states the axiom in these words: “Spraying sagebrush on a Washington range results in a three-fold increase of grass forage.” On the surface this sounds great if you are interested in livestock grazing, but there are some problems with the science."
Wow, where have we heard this it becomes necessary to destroy before it can get better dogma before ? The authors point out the flaws of both studies of chemical spraying and the comparisons of treated and untreated big sagebrush plots which were on overgrazed land where a comparison of overgrazed big sagebrush plots to treated plots with treated plots showing a substantial gain in perennial grass production. The authors then cite their own personal observations of several pristine isolated pristine areas which were protected from fire because they were fortunate enough to be surrounded geographically by ancient lava flows which prevented much historical burn activity. What they found was an abundance of biodiversity and as the author noted,
"there seem to be the usual complement of birds, small mammals (including foxes, rabbits, and coyotes), reptiles, insects, spiders, lichens, shrubs, grasses, forbs, and biological crusts. On one kipuka I observed deer tracks."
Axiom Number 4
Nothing eats it, or as expressed by Tueller (1985, p. 29): “It is ironic that the dominant plant and highest producer on this area of 30,000 square miles is essentially unpalatable.” This subject reminds us of an old bumper sticker that reads: “Eat lamb! A million coyotes can’t be wrong!” Paraphrasing, we could say “Eat big sagebrush! 52 species of aphids can’t be wrong!”
Wikipedia
Pronghorn Antelope
This is absolutely funny. The Mesquite get the same exact ignorant vilification because it is believe nothing eats Mesquite. The funny thing though is that countless animals, including domestic Cattle eat Mesquite bean pods as they are very tasty and nutritious. Incredibly none of the people saying these things are embarrassed as a result of saying such stupid unscientific things. For the Artemisia tridentata, Pronghorn Antelope are a prime grazer of Big Sagebrush. Even Bison, while no preferring the Big Sagebrush do seek it out for their rich understory treasure trove of many herbaceous plants and grasses which flourish under their canopies. Despite the lies being told that this plant toxic to others. The one thing that just keeps nagging me is, what would the health of these various vegetative plant communities still be like if many of the larger wildlife numbers still existed today ? We will never know or possibly understand this as we may never again see such numbers under the present System the entire world finds itself in.
Axiom Number 5
Biodiversity increases with the removal, controlling, thinning, or killing of big sagebrush. Olson and others (1994) reported that in their big sagebrush control plots, the number of plant species increased by three to four species over untreated big sagebrush plots, but they failed to name what species of plants and where they came from. Did the new unknown plant species seeds just float in, on the wind, like musk thistle (Carduus nutans), could or develop from long-lived dormant seeds formed from plants that have been grazed out before treatment? Are their comparisons between overgrazed big sagebrush sites versus treated sites proper, or should the comparisons be between undisturbed or never grazed by livestock big sagebrush sites versus treated sites? Should the measurement of biodiversity be determined only on number of plant species present or on total number of species of all life forms? What did the rebuttal of the last axiom number 4 tell us? That a large number of species consumes big sagebrush directly and indirectly. Is this not an expression of biodiversity?
This is another hilarious report which isn't even close to being founded in reality. Compare this to the southern California Chaparral Plant Community. This idiocy of spraying to kill Big Sagebrush would be to the present stripping the land by means of fires, bulldozing, brush grinders, crushers, chains and any irresponsible chemical treatments and then justifying it by saying plant biodiversity increased, but then not listing the plants that replaced and colonized former Chaparral Habitat, because the bogus embarrassment of a list would in reality be Mediterranean Wild Mustard, Wild Radish, Star Thistle, various species of non-native Foxtails and European Wild Oats etc etc etc would be absurd and asinine. And yet that has been the reality of So-Cal Fire mismanagement in the rural areas.
Axiom Number 6
"Mountain big sagebrush evolved in an environment with a mean fire interval of 20 to 30 years (Winward 1984), or as expressed by Winward (1991, p.4):“These ecosystems, which have developed with an historical 10-40 year fire interval, were dependent on this periodic removal or thinning of sagebrush crowns to maintain their balanced understories.”
Once again, like the Chaparral Plant community, there is a deliberate attempt as misinformation on fire ecology and the myth and fables of prescribed or controlled burn necessity. Read the entire comments from the above link by the authors. It's unbelievable. The managers insisting on burns stated that the Big Sagebrush recovers rapidly after fire and the authors questioned: "How rapid is rapid?" This is because the Artemisia does NOT recover from it's base from fire as other chaparral plants do. It has to have seed wind blown in from outside locations. One study of an area showed that after one burned area was observed, Big Sagebrush still hadn't returned even after 11 years.
Axiom Number 7
"Big sagebrush is an agent of allelopathy"
Allelopathy is where a plant utilizes chemical strategies to further it's selfish gene survival as an area's dominant species and in this case it's a flat out false statement. This is so easy to understand by doing your own personal field observation on your next hike into these areas and again you should read what they author's site as examples of erroneous testing and other flawed experiments. The understory of the old growth Artemisia tridentata has some of the richest plant diversity in it's habitat. In actual fact the rich diversity is better there than out in the open. One important point I referenced at the outset of this post is the ability of Hydraulic lift and redistribution of deep underground subsoil moisture and giving it to other shallow rooted plants. One plant, Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea) is commonly seen flowering among Artemisia Sagebrush species. Why ? It is considered a partial root parasitic plant that must colonize the Artemisia in order to thrive. Many home gardeners have a tough time growing these plants on their own. Take a look at the advertisement below.
Image by Game Warden Bill Bish
What they are not telling you here is that the Indian Paintbrush actually needs the Artemisia sagebrush as a host, aside from the fact that it makes a great companion for stunning beauty. This next and final Axiom hits real close to home.
Axiom Number 8
Big sagebrush is a highly competitive, dominating, suppressive plant species. Winward (1991, p. 5) states: “Mountain and basin big sagebrush sites in best condition have cover values between 15-20 percent. Those numerous sites that support cover values in the 30 to 40 percent category have a much restricted herbaceous production and are essentially closed to recruitment of new herbaceous seedlings. Some type of shrub removal process will be needed before understory forbs and grasses can regain their natural prominence in these communities.”
"We have found in the field the seedlings of bigtooth maple-Acer grandidentatum, box elder-Acer negundo, singleleaf pinyon pine-Pinus monophylla, and Utah juniper-Juniperus osteosperma growing under the canopy of mature big sagebrush plants. Diettert (1938, p. 5) observed: “Not only is it of direct value as a forage crop but in many places it provides shelter for tender and perhaps more useful plants.” Drivas and Everett (1987, 1988) and Callaway and others (1996) describe the use of big sagebrush as nurse plants for singleaf pinyon (Pinus monophylla) seedlings, Patten (1969) for lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), and Schultz and others (1996) for curlleaf mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius)."
What more can be said on this false assertion, that Sagebrush or Chaparral hinder the growth of more desirable plants and trees ? Presently the Chaparral Institute is engaged in a legal battle over the flaws in the reforestation projects which have actually destroyed Rancho Cuyamaca State Park by their mismanagement of the natural vegetation there called Ceanothus. This is another attempt to demonize a chaparral plant said to hinder growth of Pine, Oak, Fir, Incense Cedar and other more desirable eye appealing species. You may read about it here below.
Image - Chaparral Institute
Large stands of Ceanothus cut down as well as dead tress which provide valuable habitat. The area is being prepared for a prescribed burn. See fire line to the left.
In the top photos of Garner Valley, it was common back in the 1980s and maybe early 1990s to promote forest growth by the old Penny Pines plantation projects. Several planting projects were mostly done on the south side of the Palms to Pines Scenic Highway 74. In fact for all those almost 24 years of my living there, I never saw a planting project on the north side. Mostly it was meadow and grasslands. I did however see one land preparation method of old small scale Farm Caterpillars being used to pull giant chains to cut off Chaparral at it's collar and burn the residue in piles. The ground was stripped bare as it was always assumed that seedling success would only be achieved by eliminating competing Chaparral species which would crowd them out. This has been proven over the past few decades to be false and continued bad land management practices with research papers justifying these flawed antiquated outdated techniques have further proved to be an ongoing lie in favour of promoting other economic agendas. One possible reasons for the methods in this area particularly may be the maintenance agenda for promoting business along the "Palms to Pines Scenic Highway". Take note below of the map and program's link which goes into depth of their Corridor Management Planning which wants the route to continually have public eye appeal. Pines, Oaks, Cedars, etc fit that agenda, chaparral doesn't.
When I went to school, such land clearing techniques were what i was taught as a means of the reforestation programs I personally participated in. We were always taught that if success was to be achieved in reforestation, then ALL competing Chaparral species had to be eradicated. And that's what we did. Previously I have written of my own personal experiences as a youth in experimenting on my own in establishing a Torrey Pines (Pinus torreyana) wooded area up on Rattlesnake Mountain in El Cajon California. This started in the 1970s and I cleared land to the dirt by eradicating all California Sagebrush and California Buckwheat. I grew almost 20 seedlings and nurtured and watered them for a couple of years. They did okay, but did better when I applied a heavy layer of pine mulch which shaded the ground and helped retain water which had to be painstakingly hauled straight up a mountainside by hand. To make an already told before story shorter, I later inoculated the trees with ecto-mycorrhizal inoculum and also learned at that time that in nature Nurse trees are of benefit. At first I thought this was merely a shade issue which helped establishment, but it wasn't until almost over a decade later i found out about phenomena called Hydraulic Lift and Redistribution and/or Hydraulic Descent. But luckily for what ever reason, I planted two Torrey Pines in the shelter of an old growth Laurel Sumac (Malosma_laurina). Once again out of all that time and effort, only the two Torrey Pines have succeeded where the other babied trees died. BTW, I only watered the two Laurel Sumac planted pines the first year. after the failure of the other pines (some over 6 foot tall) that same hot summer, I said forget it and later moved to Idyllwild CA in 1981. It wasn't until a little over a decade later while visiting El Cajon in early 1990s and going for a hike up there with my son that I found both trees as tall as me and without any care. The foliage was bright and healthy. Before moving over here to Sweden, I had gone to Rattlesnake mountain again in 2004 and they were between 15 and 20 foot in height. I went back for a visit last year for a summer visit in 2011 and photographed them for the first time and below is the result.
image: Mine
Torrey Pine Tree on Rattlesnake Mountain in El Cajon California. Last year I actually saw the early formation of it's first pine cones. It's truly incredible how these trees which by the Scientific Native Habitat rule have no earthly reason for succeeding here are indeed doing so well. Update (Sept 2013): The picture of the Torrey Pine above has been cut down with a chain saw. The residents of the new housing development Sky Ranch of Santee California were offended by it and one other tree's presence and justified cutting it down because they were said to be known to caused fire hazards, which is an idiotic uneducated comment to make. Nevertheless, the trees are now gone. But the lessons learned will last forever. Laurel Sumac makes an excellent Mother Tree or Nurse plant for the establishment of not only Torrey Pines, but also any other tree normally associated with the Coastal Sage Scrub plant community. Trees like various Oak species.
image: Mine
This second tree is lower than the upper one and nearer to the wash below the Laurel Sumac. The foliage of the Sumac was more vigorous down there and it shaped and contorted the tree into more picturesque shape and form. Since then I have learned that Laurel Sumac exhibits some of those Hydraulic Lift & Redistributing abilities. No Kidding! So here is a challenge to everyone reading this post. Where ever you are on planet Earth, test out some of the amazing findings of how nature works with regards nurse trees and their incredibly sophisticated underground networks for nurturing seedlings towards mature tree establishment. Find a suitable tree known in it's native habitat in your area for qualities of exhibiting Hydraulic Lift and Redistribution and plant a tree seedling and leave it alone after inoculating with mycorrhizae. Water the first year on and off and leave well enough alone after that. For folks in Southern California's Chaparral Plant Community, prove Chaparral's worth as an important piece of the ecological puzzle.
Good Luck and success with your own Guerrilla Habitat restoration project!
Who hasn't visited Torrey Pines State Natural Preserve and stepped off of the old narrow asphalt road where the sign says in bold letters, "North Loop," then right under that, "The Guy Fleming Trail." I've done this many times since the 1960s. This was one of the better and easiest trails to hike and actually get inside of the Torrey Pine forest. Most other trails are broken up with chaparral, but this is forest. Other areas of dense Torrey Pine forest you can only see from a viewpoint distance to protect them. It's also not especially steep or challenging and it takes you right next to the viewpoint of Torrey Pines State Beach overlook. Interestingly the woods at the end of the trail are like the stunted growth of common chaparral we call, "Elfin Forest," because they are windswept by the ocean breezes which have sculpted them this way. Often the signage will comment on the grotesque and/or picturesque shapes and explain the natural phenomena of the windy salty air that created these shapes. But something's changed here as well. As you continue to on ahead walking down a little further in the photo above, you can see in the distance that something has gone terribly wrong here too. 
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