Sierra Club Article about Torrey Pines: "Iconic, and Almost Extinct" - Well, Maybe Not!

One of the first Victims in any war is the Truth. The same could be said for sensationalist Headlines in Journals used for the purpose of increased Ratings & Donation Revenues - Thanks Sierra Club

"One has to wonder what effect the onslaught of visitors to the state preserve [Torrey Pines] has, as well: it is one of, or perhaps the most popular nature preserve in San Diego County, and one can’t help but think that it is being loved to death."

Alexander Kuhn - San Diego Photographer

Image mine from 2011

Yes sir, in this world's enlightened age of scientific progress and innovation with regard to Internet, we now have numerous Social Media venues. People posting selfies & photographs of beautiful wild areas, it's location, etc, has caused an increase in human traffic & activities much to the harm of Nature. I myself in excitement wrote about the Torrey Pine experiment I had on Rattlesnake Mountain in searching for the best shrubs to use within the Coastal Sage scrub habitat to use as a nurse plant for Torrey Pines. Best shrubs hands down were Laurel Sumac and Lemonadeberry. From a small beginning of planting foot tall seedlings in 1980 all the way to 2013 taking my last photographs of them within the new Sky Ranch Housing Development, they were 30+ foot tall success stories with trees hold needles on branch whorls at least four years old. So they were well hydrated and healthy. Little did I know that writing about the experience and publishing it would doom them just 6 months later. I had no clue until 2014 in my following year's visit. It would seem the Sky Ranch residents whose home backyards butted up against the dry wash had taken offense to the Torrey Pines presence and believe it or not they claimed they had the blessing of the resident Ecologist, Markus Spiegelberg, who is in charge of the Rattlesnake Mountain Project oversight for the Center for Lands Management.

Lists from Sky Ranch HOA

Little bit of an update on the reason for the strange thinking on the part of the Sky Ranch residents who said Torrey Pines cause fire. I accidentally got hold of a Sky Ranch HOA Approved Landscape list for all Sky Ranch residents and all pines are absolutely forbidden. Along with many other native plants. Why ??? Because all are considered a wildfire hazard. However non-native invasive plants are approved with most all water guzzling Palms and other tropical plants being on the approved list. Oddly enough the native Coyote Brush was on the approved list. 😲 Go figure. 😏

Image at left is from 2014 of what was left of all the Torrey Pines. Well, I'll blame myself for the Torrey Pines demise on Rattlesnake Mountain. I did write the article and posted the images online. I really had hopes that others might benefit from my experiences and what I discovered with the practice of biomimicry which is nothing more than replicating nature and rejecting poor conventional scientific understanding. The Rattlesnake Mountain experience helped me later on when recreating the same successes up in Anza, California, with regards to establishing native Coulter & Jeffrey Pines in previously treeless high desert habitat accupied only by chaparral. In those cases the supreme nurse plants were Redshank & Chamise, both related shrubs of the Adenostoma species. Incredibly there are researchers out there who have had similar experiences, but the Public continues to be in ignorance about most of these newer findings. The excuses given by the Sky Ranch residents when I was photographing what happened were that Torrey Pines were a fire hazard and a viable threat to Sky Ranch Development. On close inspection they claimed to have observed that the trees were now producing cones and that would spread more trees. They claimed that the Ecologist who has the oversight of the Center For Natural Lands Management told them that they Torrey Pines were not native to this area and should be removed. Sky Ranch HOA said they are fire hazards and need to be eradicated. I was then threatened with unlawful trespass violation and jail if I refused to leave immediately. So I left. Now let's fast forward to the present what some Credentialed Folks are doing to save the so-called rare and endangered almost extinct Torrey Pines.

Iconic Torrey Pines are almost Extinct ??? Genetic rescue is necessary ??? Must be used to save the Torrey Pine ??? Really ??? Seriously ??? 😮 

Photo - Jill Hamilton

Young (non-hybrid) seedlings on Santa Rosa Island

https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/iconic-and-almost-extinct

The above link to the Sierra Club article is simpified and easier to understand than the actual science papers which are as usual loaded with a lot of Intellect-Speak, but I'll also post the actual link to the science paper further on down below in a refereces section. The mature Torrey Pine tree in the photo above is on one of the Channel Islands off Santa Barbara, known as Santa Rosa Island. Under it's canopy you can see where it's cones have opened above and released hundreds of Torrey Pine seeds which have successfully germinated. The majority of these seedlings will not make it and that's how it should be. Pathogens, herbivores, etc will do their job and keep the balance preventing overcrowded tree establishment within the Santa Rosa Island ecosystem. On an interesting note, when Torrey Pines were first discovered on Santa Rosa Island in 1888, there were estimated to be only 100 trees, but now there are 3,000+ trees and most of those are very young trees. So they seem fine. The Santa Rosa Island Torrey Pines & Del Mar Torrey Pines are genetically identical with only epigenetic differences from each other in that certain genes are either switched 'on' or 'off' in response to different environmental cues which allows each to adapt to surviving in different location circumstances. However, the Del Mar Torrey Pines at the State Reserve are definitely in trouble. From a population of 9,000 trees at the Reserve back in the 1970s they are now anywhere from 3,500 to 4,500 depending on who you read. That's scary. Of course drought followed by pine beetle attacks are considered the #1 blame, but there are clearly other factors involved which most researchers have refused to touch on. One thing the researchers have totally ignored and neglect to mention is that just south of the State Reserve at the Lodge at Torrey Pine Golf Club, they have also lost 100s of Torrey Pines, but these trees are not in the same drought scenario as they have incredible water availability through the Golf Course's labdscape irrigation. The researchers never mention this. They also never mention that many 1000s of Torrey Pines east of this location and especially east of Interstate 5 and all the way into the inland backcountry region landscapes are completely uneffected by drought and beetle attacks. In an effort to bolster the genetic robustness of both groups, the purpose of the researcher's Genetic Rescue Project was to confront and reverse the horrible rapid decline of "Rare" Torrey Pines is by crossbreeding both the Del Mar & Santa Rosa Island trees and come up with a hybrid which would be outplanted at a common garden in the Monticello area behind Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens. If you've followed my posts then you are fully aware of the issue of massive decline and dieoff at the Torrey Pines State Reserve back in 2017. See the link below 😟

Major decline in Torrey Pines & SoCal Forests in general

Image - Tom Ledig

If you look at the health and vigor of what I believe is of a Mainland/Santa Rosa Island hybrid in the photo to the right being displayed by fellow team researcher Tom Ledig standing next to the hybrid it looks very impressive. Tom Ledig's tree certainly looks healthy and robust, but I've had Torrey Pines (seed sourced from Del Mar) that I have planted well inland from the coast that have been just as tough and fast growing as if they were on some kind of super Miracle-Gro. So have may other people been planting Torrey Pine Trees for over 100 years from seed or trees acquired from the Reserve or other Coastal sources and most of these trees at several inland cities and towns like El Cajon, La Mesa, Lakeside, Escondido, etc are straight tall giants compared to the native wild coastal Torrey Pines. Not really a change in genetics, but rather epigenetic responses to differences in the inland environmental cues and the eipgentic adaptation strategies which are already encoded within the Torrey Pine's DNA genetic programming. The tools for genetic change and adaptation have already been present for 1000s of years and the right genes just needed to be switched on and activated. It should again be noted that none of the inland Torrey Pines have been affected in any way by the unhealthy conditions with which the coastal trees are experiencing. Especially is this true of Torrey Pines east of Interstate 5 in San Diego County.

While I Admire the Project researcher's to fight against the decline, I have Major Reservations about the Methods they are using and there are numerous factors they are leaving completely out in the Study.

Photo - Jill Hamilton

The common garden site inland from Santa Barbara

The Torrey Pine Project's purpose is being called genetic rescue and you read this over and over in their papers. Now take a long hard look at the experimental plot above here in the above photograph provided in the article which was used in the growing experiment at the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden's back acreage in Monticello. Both sets of Del Mar trees and Santa Rosa trees are grown from seed somewhere near Placerville, brought back down to be hardened off at the Botanical garden and finally outplanted into thecommon garden acreage at Monticello next to Santa Barbara. Also planted were the F-1 Torrey Pine Hybrid trees crossbred from both Del Mar & Island population trees. The idea was to see how all three would fare at this inland location which could be considered a neutral location. The tree featured further up by Tom Ledig looks very tall and healthy, but the Del Mar & Santa Rosa purebred trees don't look so good. Wonder why ??? If you have followed my past methods and explanations of how to use biomimicry in establishing forest trees within any wildscape, what do you see wrong with this environmental setting in the photo above ??? First off they have clearly followed very old outdated inferior US Forest Service conventional guidelines when it comes to site preparation. The land was cleared of all competing shrubs and other trees, no doubt lightly tilled which as you know completely obliterates and destroys the Mycorrhizal Fungal grid or underground fungal network which in Nature must be present in the soil for trees and shrubs to survive. This landscape here in the above photo has the trees plugged into a landscape setting of pure invasive non-native annuals in what appears to be dried out cheatgrass and if you watch this video of Jill Hamilton's presentation on this video posted on Vimeo, you will notice the same plot in it's winter/spring greenery setting, but it is dominated by invasive Black Mustard. Torrey Pines are an Ecto-Mycorrhizal host plants, but if you have followed my posts you know that Mustard is a major soil biofumigant which has been used commercially in orchards and vineyards as a biofumigation practice for the suppression of various soil-borne pests and diseases through naturally occurring compounds released into the soil by the Mustard plants for the past 100 years by farmers of commercial vineyards and orchards. All brassicas plants such as cabbage, kale, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, broccoli, mustard, radishes and turnips naturally produce glucosinolates, which are the compounds that make certain brassicas “hot”. The Mustard releases these compounds via their root exudates. Unfortunately Black Mustard has escape into the wild and has descimated many coastal sage scrub habitats throughout California. So because of this, what do you see here regarding the tree's growth on the common garden acreage ??? Notice how thinly vegetated the young Torrey Pines are and not many whorls between branches still hold onto the needles from previous years back. Without mycorrhizal colonization these trees are just like trees in gardens soils, but minus the life-support pampering your average gardener would provide as far as water availability. Now take this photo below of a similar scenario of a Cal-Trans Landscape Project involving Torrey Pines in San Diego County along I-15 in the Miramar area.

Image provided by Google Earth

I-15 Freeway, Miramar in San Diego, California

So here we have the same issue regarding site preparation where native brush has been completely eradicated by the Cal-Trans landscaping crew prior to planting of those Torrey Pines. The myth out there is that such chaparral or coastal sage scrub are fierce competitors for nutrients and water and that is absolutely false. It's a long time ignorant belief that persists and has persisted for decades. I mean look at these Torrey Pines above. What a waste and the fact that the Research Project followed the same exact conventional guidelines in site prep that has always been recommended to customers of bare root trees they use to sell through LA Moran Nursery at Davis California and the rejection of biomimicry actually provided an unfair outcome for the trees in this experiment. It really coloured the research in favour of the F-1 Hybrid which do not appear to be located in the same plot. Now in their research paper I also did not read anything that suggested they inoculated each tree with an Ectomycorrhizal fungi which would actually exist in a normal natural wild setting. If they are like most eco-groups and conventional thinking biologists, their assumption is that mycorrhizal fungi is just present everywhere out there floating in the air and somehow it will eventually journey to the tree's rootsystem. Take a close look at the Michigan State University graphic up above left which illustrates how normal pine trees shed their older needles. Shedding older needles is normal, but I always like to use this graphic as a gauge to measure any pine trees health. In almost all cases the location has never mattered. In my personal experience, when I chose the correct nurse shrubs and inoculated the tree seedling with the correct ecto-mycorrhizal fungi, my experience has been trees generally hold their needles from at least 3 or 4 years back and in some cases 5 and 6 years back if the season was wetter than usual. At the Santa Barbara or Monticello common garden location if you click on the image and magnify it you'll see at best these trees contain only two years needles, the present year and previous year's needles. In many of the trees in that photo the previous year's needles are already turning yellow. This indicates drought stress and the tree using an extreme strategy of shedding all but present season's needles to survive until the next rainy season. And once again it's no just me saying this for the purpose of criticizing them. But why was this the result ??? Take a look at a quote I've taken right directly from out of their own research paper:

"Trees were planted on a 12 × 12 ft grid, with the same border row previously described surrounding the experiment and with competing brush removed prior to planting. Drip irrigation lines were run to each planting spot and watered prior to planting."

(research paper)

Illustrations That Teach - How Nature Works and How Experiments Should Replicate or use Biomimicry

Let's refresh our memory with an excellent illustration. The two photos above are actually the same identical photo placed side by side, but the one on the left has been digitally altered to remove the mycorrhizal fungi from the Pine seedlings roots to illustrate the disadvantage. The pine seedling photo on the right is the ectomycorrhizal one. The beneficial symbiotic fungi provides the pine trees with an increase in water and nutrient absorption of anywhere from 200% to 800% depending on the environmental circumstances and the specific species of ectomycorrhizal fungi colonizing the tree's root system. Some are better than others. My preferred ectomycorrhizal fungi for both Oak and Pine trees is Pisolithus tinctorius. These Torrey Pines should have been inoculated at the time of outplanting. The other problem is drip irrigation when improperly done can make trees dependent on a life-support system. The trees rootsystem has no incentive to explore outward or deep down looking for moisture. When taken OFF their life-support they struggle because the rootsystem has not been encouraged early on to seek out water on it's own. Other research papers have found that roots can sense out which direction moisture is located and will grow their roots towards that source. The term used for plant's ability to perform this task is called having a Hydropatterning Blueprint. Eventually plants on such a life-support system weaken and die. Doesn't matter if they are tree or shrub. They cannot fend for themselves. But again back to Tom Ledig standing next to the super healthy supposedly hybrid Torrey Pine. Without actually being there first hand and observing for myself, I cannot say for sure what the real difference is in location and care there was between their prized F-1 Hyrids and the Iland & mainland trees. The photo of Tom Ledig standing next to his prized hybrid appears different in a much different garden scenarion than the Island and Mainland trees in the dead dry location setting. And as I have stated, I've always had Torrey Pines grown strictly from seed sourced out of the Del Mar & La Jolla locations where trees were as healthy and robust as the F-1 Hybrid Tom Ledig is standing next to. Also I notice this one single Torrey is twice the size of other F-1 Hybrids behind him. Anyone else catch that ???

The Real Problem is Secular Dogma & Scientific Orthodoxy within the Calfornia Native Plant Society in not allowing vital Facts to See the Light of day. For example, other populations of wild Torrey Pines exist in California, but they are never spoken about. Why ??? Because they're invaders. 😒

Image - AwayGoWe - La Purisima Mission - Lompoc CA

One large population does exist behind La Purisima Mission at the State Historic Park. I actually found out about this from the Torrey Pines State Reserve resident naturalist, Hank Nichols, who had friends inform him of the Mission's landscape planted Torreys produced cones with pine nuts which were being hoarded by the resident ScrubJays and appearing far away from the Mission within the chaparral plant community surrounding the Mission. There is one thing I will make allowance for and that is the fact that most of this Research Team comes out of the University of North Dakota. So perhaps they are out of their element here in dry western ecosystems and regions they don't fully understand or comprehend some very pertinant details that should be factored in. Clearly no one informed them about other existing wild populations. One troubling thing with those who are credentialed residents within California and shackled to Nativism Dogma and Invasion Biology is that there are only TWO officially recognized natural areas where Torrey Pines are genuinely native and wild that they will even discuss. Believe it or not other populations are considered aggressive invaders. The research team mentions Mainland Torrey Pines which refers to population at La Jolla-Del Mar and the Santa Rosa Island population. Now remember, when discovered in 1888 on Santa Rosa, there were only about 100 Torrey Pine trees counted. There is some speculation as to their presence on the island may have been trade between various indigenous Native American Tribes perhaps trading pine nuts. It is indeed incredible that if these trees had existed for 1000s of years on Santa Rosa, there were only 100 trees at time of modern discovery, yet we are to believe that on their own since 1888 they are now over 3,500+ trees ??? BTW, the record Torrey Pine planted in 1888 in Santa Barbara comes from seed sourced off Santa Rosa Island. Hardly lame genetics we've been force fed about the island trees if you've ever viewed this giant tree. The Wardholme Torrey Pine in the city of Santa Barbara now stands at 126 feet tall, with a 130 feet branch spread and a more than 20-foot circumference, making it the largest known example Torrey Pine of its kind.

Image - Wikipedia

Wardholme Torrey Pine, Santa Barbara

So why the difference ??? It's called Phenotypic Plasticity where a differing environment cues exist on Santa Rosa Island and at the City of Santa Barbara. If you've ever watched a weather forecast from this area, you'lll notice Santa Barbara often has a heavier rainfall than other areas further down the coast and different from all the Channel Islands. To me, available water is the main difference here. Santa Rosa Island can be 10-12" per year and often a period of drought years is common. Most likely more common with climate change the last couple decades. Santa Barbara however is closer to 20" of rainfall per year. What was rather annoying through out their research paper is this constant reference to evolutionary biology and geetic rescue. Neither was involved here. What they did was rather eprimental biology involving the epigenetic mechanisms for change. Dumb luck and blind forces had nothing to do with it. It had to do with epigenetic change and the molecular mechanisms which actually create change with a purpose. Watch the video below.

From a paragraph from the Sierra Club article below: 

"Local adaptation is another variable. The hybrids might grow faster than the island pines on the test site because they are more genetically robust"

Absolutely untrue. Remember the record breaking Wardholme Torrey Pine in the City of Santa Barbara ??? It clearly has the same genome as the Island Torrey Pines, but also planted on the mainland like those prized F-1 Hybrids which were to my knowledge were never planted and tested on the Santa Rosa Island location. Once again the behemoth Wardholme Torrey Pine tree was not more genetically robust than it's island parents, because both were identical to each other. Remember the video above where two identical human clones have the same identical genome, yet they look different. What was different was the environmental conditions both guys grew up in and though having identical DNA, they have radically different epi-genomes. Go back and watch the video again and imagine he is talking about identical Torrey Pine clones and not humans. None of this had anything to do with evolution. Nobody here is saying there was no change, but what that change wasn't was evolution where the term 'micro' will often be slipped in front of the word evolution. This also has zero to do with genetic rescue. The trees genetically speaking are fine, but the environment is degrading.

" . . or the island pines might just grow slow and low because there are evolutionary advantages to doing so on a windswept island. Santa Rosa Island is a place where, Hamilton notes, “the wind blows at about 40 kilometers per hour all the time.”

Source: Sierra Club

Once again, this nothing to do with evolution. The problem in scientific research business is if you want to be funded, certain dogma needs to be referenced to appease the prevailing Scientific Orthodoxy. Fail to do so and funding dries up. What they conducted here was a research on the genetic mechanisms for change through experimental biology which has zero to do with actually observing anything about evolution in action. Read below the link to an article by an American Scientist named Philip Skell from the journal, "The Scientist" (I've copied it into a post because they now have it behind a Paywall) Please read it as it is an excellent read. Trust me, it'll surprise you.

"Why Do We Invoke Darwin?" - Philip Skell

=========================================

Other Location of Wild Occurring Torrey Pines

Santa Catalina Island

Torrey pines, for example, are nonnative plants, but we’re not trying to cut them down everywhere they exist. Why not? For one thing, these trees reproduce slowly and are relatively easy to eradicate from sensitive areas when they do stray into the wild lands. We’ll take a pine out of a wild area from time to time. But in Avalon and Two Harbors, or at the Island’s campgrounds, we’ll generally leave them be. Incidentally, the Torrey pine, known to science as Pinus torreyana, is the rarest pine in the United States, a federally endangered species native only to coastal California’s San Diego County, and Santa Rosa Island in the northern California Channel Islands.

Catalina Island Conservancy

Notice how the Catalina Island Conservancy mentioned Torrey Pines keep wandering out into the wild interior and they say they need to remove them periodicaly ??? That's because there is only one set of moral worldviews allowed here and that right belongs only to the California Native Plant Society and the California Invasive Plant Counsel. What the official keepers of knowledge on this subject do not want published is that there are in fact many other locations where they have escaped into the wild where Torrey Pines have created healthy viable sustainable wild populations. And all this in other parts of California. Take a look back up there of the La Purisima Mission up in Lompoc California. This is an official Historic State Park. I found out as far back in the late 1970s when having a conversation with Torrey Pines State Reserve Naturalist, Hank Nichol, that friends of his had informed him that the Torrey Pine trees planted at the La Purisima Mission in Lompoc as part of the Mission grounds landscaping were reseeding themselves by means of ScrubJays out into the wild Chaparral covered hills around the Mission and moving north. Sure enough, do a Google Earth tour or physically drive there and you will see them. Even residents in nearby neighbourhoods have planted Torrey Pines in their yards, most being young, healthy and tall.

Torrey Pines Population in Santa Lucia Range

Image - Steve Harper

This photograph above is by a Nature Wilderness guide in the Big Sur area named Steve Harper. How fortunate we are when nature enthusiasts photograph and document things never before officially reported on. Sometime these things are known, but suppressed because the ideologues who give their official stamp believe such freaks of nature are unnatural and should not be encouraged. Even going so far as to label and California native as an Invasive. These Torrey Pines in the above photo were planted on a seaside bluff along the Pacific side of Highway 1 in Big Sur where they have naturalized and are now slowly spreading their very small range in the central region of the Santa Lucia Mountains. These Torrey Pines are mixed with Monterey Pines and Monterey Cypress.

Image - Steve Harper

This Torrey Pine in the above photgraph by Steve is down hill on a very steep cliff below the bluff of the original Torrey Pine plantings. The seed probably could well have fallen and tumbled down the cliff and settled in the perfect niche to germinate and develop into anew healthy tree. But the ScrubJays are also at work. See below.

Image Steve Harper

Source: - https://www.stevenkharper.com/torreypine.html

This group of Torrey Pines have actually jumped Highway 1 to the inland side of the highway. Here they grow in coastal sage scrub mixed with Poison Oak and as you can see invasive pampas grass. But once again, this is another evidence of another wild population whether the California Native Plant Society and California Invasive Plant Counsel likes it or not.

Saved the best Wild Torrey Pine Population for Last!!! 😁

Image - Google Earth

The image above was taken from Google Earth's street view feature. This location is across the street of 8th Street from the student housing known as The Promontory. The photo at right is by Whitson Engineers of the student housing project which has numerous mature Torrey Pines incorprated within the landscape. But the trees have been raided for their seeds by wild ScrubJays and taken elsewhere across the roads from the Campus Housing into the chaparral. Many as you can see in the above photo from Google Earth are on bare open ground. Nobody talks about or discusses this interesting phenomena anywhere. Try googling with many different search and nothing comes up and I can safely tell you there are literally 100s of large tall mature landscape trees on campus and 1000s of trees miles north and east spreading into neighbourhoods and wild chaparral areas. It gets better.

Image - Google Earth Pro

The image above once again is Google Earth Pro and this is the left side of The Promontory student Housing on campus and they dense landscape of Torrey Pines which are spreading furiously. The image below shows Torreys moving deep within the chaparral which in many places is incredibly high, maybe 15 feet and the Torrey Pines are rapidly and easily pushing up through the tall shrubs and finally putting on their first branches.

For now I would encourage people who are interested and you have the time to please click on your google earth and do the street tours everywhere and see the 1000s of trees which are spreading and making the Torrey Pine defy those clickbait headlines of doom regarding this tree. You'll be amazed and impressed with their survival. You'll also note that the monterey Cypress and some Monterey Pine are doing likewise. Not everyone is happy however. Take a brief read of an article in the journal Bay Nature which featured a read about the Monterey Pines. Native Plant Ecologist and President of the Monterey Bay chapter of the California Native Plant Society wasn't exactly thrilled with the massive spread of Torrey Pines within and far away from the California State University of Monterey Bay. She had no problem with Monterey Pine and Cypress spreading, but in her worldview Torrey Pine is an invasive.

"On our way from one part of the Monterey’s pine forest to another, Nicole Nedeff and I drove through the Cal State Monterey Bay campus, where she taught until retiring last year. Past the north edge of campus is open chaparral. There, poking from the brush, we saw pines. Instead of the Monterey pine’s dark-green bristle brush needles, they had long gray-green needles in tufts like feather dusters. They were Torrey pines, Pinus torreyana. The species is even rarer and more isolated in the wild than Monterey pine. It grows wild only on Santa Rosa Island, west of Ventura, and on one small patch of the coast, north of San Diego, where it faces threats from development, disease, and fire. Like Monterey pine, though, it is planted widely—including there on campus. Now the offspring of the planted Torrey pines were spreading north through the brush." 

"Earlier, to the southeast, we’d passed a similar scene, where Monterey pine saplings sprouted from chaparral just beyond the northern edge of the pine forest. While Nedeff viewed the spreading Monterey pine forest as a neutral or even positive development, she deemed the Torrey pines north of campus “invasive.” But I was less sure what to make of them. They were of unknown genetics, unlikely to fulfill the ex situideal. Should we view them as unwanted and possibly damaging invaders or welcome them as neo-natives? I couldn’t decide. The trees didn’t seem clearly good or bad, but rather like just a few more results in a very old experiment: Here was a place with suitable conditions for the trees, where finally they had arrived."

Article & Quotation Source:

The Tree That’s Rare, Endangered and Common

In Conclusion

 Actually I'm not at all disturbed by the presence of all the other unofficial Torrey Pine colonies. I say bring it on. The research group were fond of using a word/term in their research paper called, 'fecundity' - which is defined as the ability to produce an abundance of offspring or new growth; fertility. So I get the interest in developing a hybrid Torrey Pine which may be very efficient in the reproduction department. However after seeing the development of Torrey Pine movement miles into a wild chaparral ecosystem up around the California State University Monterey Bay location, how superior in the genetics department are the those Torrey Pine trees compared to the two samples they had ??? In my opinion based on observation they appear to be extremely robust. Did the research team from North Dakota even know about the other populations ??? I doubt it. I've googled and googled the subject and not one of the ideologues in any Eco-Group wants to discuss it. If you try and google online there is almost no information about those Torrey Pines other than their negative mention in the Bay Nature article by a prominant CNPS member. There are literally 100s and 100s, maybe 1000s and no one says anything anywhere ??? 😮  The small seedlings or saplings alone must number in the 1000s. Would it add to or take away from the goal they were looking for in their project ??? I'm not trying to be critical here for the sake of being critical. I want their project of saving the Del Mar Torrey Pines to win, not lose. Same thing with many of the criticisms I've had in the past with the San Diego Zoo and several of their projects of habitat restoration which often stick with old school techniques. For example in the germination of Tecate Cypress seed in the past where old school technics yirlded low germination percentages. I've always got 100% no problem, but you have to employ biomimicry. Tecate Cypress is another one of those interesting Trees who the credentialed experts only allow for 3 or 4 official locations, but in actuality San Diego County there are numerous small woodlands groups everywhere. Oh well, bottomline, Torrey Pines are in no real danger of going extinct any time soon. But don't tell the credentialed  😄