Week 8—Spring has Sprung

This week I’ve gotten to see many changes with the park’s flora and fauna, and would like to recap and compare them to the beginning of my project. First of all, many of the plants including complete trees have finished germinating, while the whole ecosystem’s plants have began to flower. The blue oaks in the park, once just limbs in late February have now basically grown their full canopy. Willow species, both arroyo and red have fully finished germinating from their white and yellow buds. Northern California Black Walnut as well. Meanwhile, redbuds, which develop leaves during the spring months and didn’t have any plant matter on their stems, now have some of the brightest purple flowers visible throughout the park. Sticky monkey flower, the same native plant that my Environmental Club has used in its garden, has now been seen blooming at various places throughout the park.

Part of spring is the wildlife that comes along with it. Yesterday, as I was wrapping up my work at the park, a bobcat looked at me, with a baby bobcat in her mouth. Bobcats are typically not dangerous, but can be dangerous when they are carrying their young. I slowly backed away and told my advisor who was excited about the news. Similarly, I saw an opossum mom, dad, and little baby child. I’ve seen numerous birds fly towards and around their nests.

While spring usually means the park’s native plant restoration projects are in bloom, that also means the invasive grasses that line the hillsides of the park are typically at their tallest. The grasses found on our hills are actually relatives of oak, rye, and barley—intended to be used by cattle in the Spanish colonial ranching days. Now, these high grasses pose a fire hazard, and the park has a fun ecological solution: goats! Each spring, goats line the hillside and make sure to consume the grass down to a reasonable level so that there is no wildfire risk in the park, which could threaten the ecosystem and its human neighbors. However, this solution does have one drawback. The goats feces contain the same grass seeds, so each year, the grasses grow back continually. The goats do not provide a permanent solution, but nonetheless they help mitigate the risk of fire and are important to the safety of the ecosystem.

This week, I got to see species that are relatives of the maple family. I saw a box elder, and a maple tree my advisor planted herself. She told me there aren’t that many maples around the park because they need water, but for the sake of ecological diversity, she planted this maple close to the creek, so its roots get plenty of water.

Here’s part of a box elder I saw on the trail this week.