Exploring Nature in the San Francisco Bay Area
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With Rain Comes Life, and Death

In California, the arrival of rain each winter is like spring in other places–dormant plants come back to life, parched hills turn green, trees leaf out. Throw in a three-year drought, and it seems like a wet winter should have us all dancing in the streets.

Maybe so, but not all new growth is a good thing. Rain brings worry for researchers studying the spread of sudden oak death (SOD), which has already killed several million California oaks and tanoaks and infested many more. That’s because the pathogen that causes SOD, Phytophthora ramorum, thrives in moist, mild climates. As Bay Nature reported in 2006, Phytophthora spores spread from tree to tree primarily through wind-driven rain moving throughout the forest canopy. The number of trees newly infected varies widely from year to year; in dry years very few oaks are infected, but in wet years a large number can acquire SOD. Called “wave years,” an El Niño year is a wave year of potential high intensity that, the California Oak Mortality Task Force fears, can result in epidemic spread of P. ramorum.

Related to the Irish potato blight, P. ramorum can also infect over 100 plant species. California bay laurels are the most common host of the pathogen that spread the spores to other plants but do not die themselves. Tanoaks both spread the disease and also die from it, while true oaks cannot spread SOD but can be killed by it.

But there is now a way to prevent sudden oak death–a preventative treatment that can thwart the disease if applied before a tree is infected. According to Katie Palmieri, of the California Oak Mortality Task Force, public outreach is vital. “It’s a preventative treatment, so we need get the word out in a timely way,” she says. “It’s no good if a tree is already infected.” There are currently two ways to apply the treatment–a targeted injection or a spray. The injection means less chemical runoff but more effort, since holes must be drilled into the tree to inject the material. The spray is easier to apply, but it cannot be administered in rain or wind and requires a greater amount of chemicals. Free training sessions (the next on December 9) are being offered at UC Berkeley on how to select trees for treatment and how to properly apply it.

Even if you don’t have land with oaks that need protection, you can help stem the spread of SOD. Soil, water, and organic materials can contain and pass on the SOD pathogen–in an infested area, especially during the rainy season, you should assume all these materials are infectious. This is true even if no dead trees are evident: The most obvious symptom of SOD, the sudden browning of the entire tree canopy, is usually one of the last symptoms to occur in an infected tree. Green and apparently healthy trees may be infected without any obvious symptoms. You can help stop the spread of sudden oak death by using simple measures like removing dirt from hiking boots, tires, and pets’ paws after hiking in an infected area and taking care not to move firewood, leaves, and water from one area into another.

To find out about upcoming workshops and learn how to identify SOD symptoms on California plant species, and to find a wealth of information on the pathogen, go to suddenoakdeath.org.

Saving Sonoma Mountain

At 2,463 feet, Sonoma Mountain is not even close to our region’s tallest peak. But its broad slopes hold a remarkable diversity of iconic Bay Area landscapes, from redwood groves to oak woodlands to ranchlands and vineyards. And at the summit, the views sweep from ocean to valley.

Public access to those views keeps getting better and better. Last month, local nonprofit LandPaths and other parties resolved an eight year-old legal stalemate over a trail right-of-way on the McCrea property, located on the southeast side of the mountain. The settlement allows for limited building on about 11 acres on the lower elevations of the ranch, while the middle expanse of 200 acres will remain under a conservation easement that prohibits any development. The ridgetop’s 22 acres will be conveyed to the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, which plans to construct a multi-use trail connecting to the Bay Area Ridge Trail and ultimately to Jack London State Park. The District’s Assistant General Manager, Maria Cipriani, says the district has a “strong desire” to see the trail open to the public “as soon as possible,” possibly within the next year or so.

But that’s not all that’s happening on the mountain. In the spring the district hopes to initiate construction on 4.25 miles of trail on the North Slope. The new trail would be added to the Bay Area Ridge Trail, connecting Jack London State Park with several other protected properties. District officials are also working on matching grants with the Sonoma County Regional Parks Department to link the Sonoma State University campus to Crane Creek Regional Park, located on the lower slopes of the western side of Sonoma Mountain. “Ultimately we hope to link Crane Creek Regional Park over the North Slope to Jack London and beyond,” says Cipriani. But the plans are not immune to the state budget crisis. A grant of $575,000 from the California Coastal Conservancy is on hold because of a bond freeze, although the district is proceeding with the North Slope Trail for now.

Big news came last year, in December 2008, when the Sonoma Land Trust, in partnership with the open space district, was able to secure Sonoma Mountain Ranch, a 283-acre property that includes the summit of the mountain. The purchase created 5,500 contiguous acres of publicly protected land on Sonoma Mountain. Luckily, partial funding of $1.5 million from the California Coastal Conservancy was received before the bond freeze.

LandPaths has been working with both California Conservation Corps crews and volunteers on a portion of Ridge Trail on top of Sonoma Mountain to make the peak accessible. “Connectivity on the mountain–both for passive public use and long-term habitat corridors–is of vital interest to LandPaths,” says Executive Director Craig Anderson. “As the general contractor on the portion of new Bay Area Ridge Trail on top of Sonoma Mountain, LandPaths is invested in this project and believes that it will very soon provide some of the most breathtaking vistas in the entire Bay Area.”

In the end, as Cipriani explains, the plans for the mountain depend on the shared ambitions of the people involved. “What really makes all this exciting stuff possible is the partnerships the organizations of Sonoma Mountain have maintained.” Organizations like the California Coastal Conservancy, the Bay Area Ridge Trail, LandPaths, state and regional parks, the Sonoma Land Trust, and land owners themselves are making it possible for the public to enjoy this beautiful mountain.

Looks like 2,463 feet can go a long way.

Beavers and More in Martinez

In summer 2008, Bay Nature reported on a family of beavers that had taken up residence in downtown Martinez. At the time, a City Council vote threatened them with removal from Alhambra Creek, where there was some concern that the beavers could cause flooding problems.

Beaver advocates prevailed, and the beaver family is doing well thanks to a successful campaign waged by the organization Worth a Dam. After all the attention, the City Council declined to vote on the removal of the beavers. “No one wanted to be the person to vote against them,” Worth a Dam founder Heidi Perryman says. The beaver family is now busy raising three yearlings; two yearlings from last year have left the pond to strike out on their own. The family has drawn human visitors from as far away as Orange County and has also starred in a number of school and summer camp field trips.

Now the beavers are showing their remarkable abilities to create habitat for other species as well. Beaver watchers have spotted mink, otter, steelhead trout, and a variety of bird species near the intersection of Castro and Escobar Streets. To help the beavers along, Worth a Dam planted arroyo willow and cottonwood trees both this year and last year. When beavers chew down these trees, they grow back bushier, which attracts more migratory birds to the sheltered, dense growth.

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A mink family has moved in near the beaver pond in Martinez. Photo by Cheryl Reynolds, courtesy Worth a Dam.

Not only do the beavers attract other species, but they also help create the conditions of a healthy watershed. Perryman would like more people to consider beavers in the context of the Bay Area’s troubled salmon populations, which get so much attention. Beavers and their ponds are seen as a nuisance by many people, and one might think that their dams would be a problem for salmon. But it’s not so simple. “Salmon need deep cool water that pools provide, and beavers create those,”  explains Chris Pincetich, a watershed biologist for SPAWN, which restores habitat for coho salmon in Marin County. “The important point is that before rampant disturbance of the watershed, these species evolved together. Beavers are part of a healthy watershed.” Currently, in Lagunitas Creek, SPAWN and others are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to install wood debris structures, which help the salmon by creating those cool pools. Beavers would do that for free.

What Martinez residents are discovering is that beavers do not exist in isolation. The general habitat creation by beavers reestablishes conditions in which animals in this area have evolved to thrive. “There are so many conditions we don’t even know about,” says Pincetich. “When it comes down to it, taking out one aspect of this complicated web of life can cause other areas to collapse.” And bringing one back may allow others to flourish once again.

New Sonoma Purchase Anchors Future Park

Just north of Santa Rosa, land that has seen three generations of the McCullough family is on its way to becoming the newest of Sonoma County’s regional parks. The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors recently purchased 461 acres for nearly $8.5 million from John and Martha McCullough, who began acquiring land in the area over 40 years ago. The county hopes to link this parcel with two other pieces of land to make a park that will eventually total more than 1,000 acres.

The property represents one of three parcels that would comprise the future park. The 340-acre Cresta property, purchased in 2007, is contiguous with McCullough Ranch. The district also holds a right-of-first-refusal offer on an additional 275 acres that will require partner funding to purchase.

The McCullough property is unique in that it already has very well established and maintained trail systems — more than 22 miles over which the McCullough family rode their horses. The area is also distinguished by its diverse habitats, including grasslands, chaparral, oak woodlands, Douglas fir and redwood forests, almost two miles of Mark West Creek, and ridges with spectacular views. The land supports lots of wildlife, says John McCullough: “All the usual suspects, from cougars to possums.” The 1.7 miles of creek contain both Coho salmon and steelhead trout. Birds found on the property include blue herons, golden eagles, peregrine falcons, five or six kinds of woodpeckers, and marsh, Cooper’s, and red-tailed hawks.

When the McCulloughs first bought the property, a fire had recently burned through the area. The family worked “a little bit at a time,” McCullough says, “to build back up the land.” They were helped by their children, who were familiar with the property, having used it to train horses. “They said, ‘This place was once really nice, I wonder if it could be again.'” The McCulloghs bought 100 pounds of wildflower seeds and had them dispersed from the air. They planted thousands of native trees, including long-needled pines, redwoods, and Douglas-firs, continuing tree planting off and on for years. McCullough says he also bought acreage “every time land around became available.” As he added land, he added trails.

“People would ask me ‘what do you raise?’,” he says, “and I would say we just have a park. I began to realize what an unusual piece of land we had, and I thought that it would be a shame to split it up,” says McCullough, who is chair of the trails committee of the Western States Trails Foundation. Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District became involved, and in 2002 a conservation easement was set up along the creek. The purchase agreement includes an $850,000 charitable donation by the McCulloughs to the Sonoma County Regional Parks Foundation for the planning, restoration, development, and maintenance of the property for use as a park.

While the property undergoes its transition, docent-led tours will continue on the land under terms of the existing conservation agreement, while more possibilities for public access are examined. With so much diversity in such a huge tract of land, there’s sure to be something for everyone. As for John McCullough’s favorite part of the land? “They’re all favorites. I spent part of my life on each part, building trails, so each one meant something…The creek areas are really nice, but when you get on the ridge on a nice day, that’s the best.”

The San Bruno Mountain Green Force

Is it possible to find a summer job that lets you be outside, learn new skills, get educated about the area’s environmental richness and gives you the occasional free sandwich? Some Bay Area teens did just that. This summer crews of local youth, ages 16 to 19, are working in parks all over the Bay Area, including Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park, and Point Reyes National Seashore, all thanks to federal stimulus money. The program is a collaboration of several nonprofits and government agencies, including the San Mateo County Parks Association, San Mateo County Parks Foundation, JobTrain, the California Coastal Conservancy, and the Student Conservation Association.

I recently visited one crew (dubbed “The Green Force”) working in San Bruno Mountain State and County Park. All the teens are local, from Daly City, Redwood City and East Palo Alto. This team of nine youth and two crew leaders has cleared five miles of trail on San Bruno Mountain in the last two weeks. Today they’ve moved on to eliminating “social trails,” created by bushwhacking hikers making their own shortcuts.

On the mountain I spoke with Marshawn Garner, a crew leader in training, on a clear day that let us see Mount Tamalpias, Mount Diablo and the buildings of both Oakland and San Francisco. He originally wanted to go into law enforcement but was convinced by a mentor to apply for a job with the Student Conservation Association last summer, after graduating from Woodside High School. He now plans to be a park ranger after he graduates from Alabama State. As for his current job, Marshawn loves it. “It’s great: I get to have fun, help the environment, work out, have a nice view, and get paid.” He interrupts himself to point out a hawk gliding below us. “I had never seen a view like this before I started working here. A lot of my friends didn’t know how many parks there were so close by, or even that they were allowed to come up here.”

Garner says about the hardest project he’s worked on this summer, a mile-long single track they transformed into a wider, all-purpose trail, which his crew had to clear of overgrown plants and then pave with rock. After the completion, hikers came by to compliment it and thank the teens for their work. “It was better on the knees afterwards,” he says.

By removing nonnative species that threaten native plants on which local butterflies depend, the crew is also helping three species of endangered butterflies that live on San Bruno Mountain: the Mission blue, the Callippe silverspot, and the San Bruno elfin. (See previous Bay Nature articles on San Bruno Mountain, the elfin butterfly, and the Callippe silverspot.)

Cecily Harris, of the San Mateo County Department of Parks, has a list of benefits of the program that is as long as Marsawn’s. “The park gets work done on the trails that wouldn’t happen otherwise with rangers stretched thin. Kids in the community are exposed to the parks. The public greatly appreciates the work. And there is a feeder program for future park employees.”

It’s not all work for the crew. After four days of work, every Friday they have a day of environmental education or enrichment. The previous Friday they went to the California Academy of Sciences, and earlier Fridays have included a camping and canoeing trip at China Camp state Park and a visit to Coyote Point Museum.

While the crew broke for lunch, Dr. Lynne Trulio, the chair of the environmental science department at San Jose State University, spoke to them about green jobs in the coming economy and how to train and educate themselves for these jobs. The neatly brushed trails above suggest they are well on their way.