August 6, 2006

The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park

Margaret's Bridge Nisene Marks SP, California

Santa Cruz State Parks cover a wide variety of terrains, from natural bridges on the beaches and marine sanctuaries, to the redwoods and coastal mountain ranges. And its not just natural beauty that brings people out, but the historical aspects as well. You'll find water wheels and lime kilns and old light railroad tracks that are now well-loved mountain biking trails.

The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park is one such park. Located in Aptos, it's one of the best places in Santa Cruz to go mountain biking in a park, but there are also hiker-only trails, which is good because we found that a lot of the bikers were totally out of control on the fire roads and such. One of our friends even flew off a bridge and broke his back about ten years ago (he's fine now, but I've never seen him on a bike).

Shane In Clover Nisene Marks SP, California

We originally went out to try out some new lenses we acquired for our upcoming honeymoon to Africa, but it was also nice to just hang out in the forest.

Aptos Creek and its tributaries is one of the dwindling watersheds that empty into the Pacific but are still viable for native fishes like the steelhead, (aka rainbow trout). Recent habitat studies of the Aptos Creek Watershed have shown that lower water levels, debris in the creek and high levels of sediment all impede the fish from living, migrating and making baby fishes.

Shane Fords Aptos Creek Nisene Marks SP, California

Rainbow trout aren't the only native fishes, either. Coho salmon levels have been declining in general, but because Nisene Marks is a state park, much of the watershed is protected land and in good condition. Twenty years ago, the salmon was seen in Aptos Creek but they haven't been seen much since. However, researchers believe this has more to do with the ocean water quality and lack of a local spawning population, and perhaps a few bad years of weather, as opposed to the quality of the watershed itself.

Coastal Redwoods Nisene Marks SP, California

The range of coastal redwoods is generally limited to the fog belt, which is up to about 13 miles inland from the ocean. The fog is thickest in summer, rolling in in late afternoon and sometimes not burning off til noon the following day. During the winter, the heavy rains make up for the dry summer weather.

Mill Pond Trail Nisene Marks SP, California

The Mill Pond Trail is a nice short amble up among redwood groves, across Aptos Creek . You pass the old Loma Prieta Mill Site, just shy of the epicenter of the 1989 earthquake. You turn and cross over a bridge, beneath which you'll find a sort of secret shrine. Just beyond, you can see where the Porter House was built, and walk a nice bike-free trail back down to Margaret's Bridge and back to the picnic areas and parking.

Aptos Creek Along Mill Pond Trail Nisene Marks SP, California

Banana slugs are seen in abundance, as are the mosquitos. In summer, the roads and trails can get very dusty, but in the winter, and down by the creek, you can still enjoy some greenery despite the otherwise browning grasses famous of summer of California.

Here's a great map of the Nisene Marks, since the state park website doesn't seem to have one. Also, check out some of Erik Goetze's Quicktime VR Virtual Viewpoints of the park.

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February 23, 2006

Año Nuevo: A Wildlife Preserve

Less than 60 miles from the seven million people living in the Bay area (and 26.66 miles from my house according to MapQuest) lay a relatively untouched nature preserve on a rocky point overlooking the Pacific Ocean. When Spanish explorers first sailed by in 1603, they named the area Punta de Año Nuevo (New Year's Point).

More than four hundred years later, the point looks much as it did. It has, however, changed hands several times over the course of history.

At the time the Spanish sailed by, the Ohlone Indians lived on the sand dunes. Even today you can see middens, which are mounds of shells, animal bones, and other refuse that indicates the site of a human settlement. They are also believed to contain the remains of the Indians themselves. Later the area became pastureland and finally a private ranch and dairy farm.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse Pacific Coast, California

Several ships wrecked on the foggy coast north of Santa Cruz, causing the feds to install a lighthouse at Pigeon Point, and a light tower to be built on the rocks at Año Nuevo Point. Over the years, the sand dunes have blown back into the ocean, disconnecting the light tower from the mainland and forming and island. Less than a hundred years ago, you could walk out to the point at low tide, but now the island is completely disconnected. However in 1948, the house and light tower on the point was replaced by an automatic buoy. Nowadays maritime traffic can avoid the point and shallows using GPS navigation, but even today foolish sailing vessels occasionally venture into the shallows and flounder.

Great White Shark

And it's a very bad spot to wreck a ship. The area from Ano Nuevo north to Point Reyes and then out to the Farallon Islands 27 miles offshore forms a region called the Red Triangle. Every year, countless marine mammal species come here to breed and have their young. This activity attracts lots of great white sharks and more attacks occur in this region than anywhere else in the world. The title Red Triangle is a rather gruesome one, likely originating from the blood slicks that often make the ocean run red after a shark attack. And right smack in the middle of this triangle is...? You guessed it! Año Nuevo Point.

Nature Trail Año Nuevo State Reserve

Elephant seals, a favorite snack of the great white shark, first appeared at Año Nuevo Island in the 1950's. The first pup was born on the island in 1961, and then in 1975 on the mainland sand dunes.

In 1971, the state bought the ranch. These days the old ranch house, dairy and other historic buildings at Año Nuevo have been restored. The largest barn has become a Visitor Center with a museum showcasing the wildlife, geology, botany, and natural history of the point.

Northern Elephant Seal Rookery Año Nuevo State Reserve

Today Año Nuevo State Reserve is a relatively untouched corner of California, protected by the state. It is home to many marine creatures and plants, not to mention the hundreds of species of raptors, shorebirds, and other mainland critters. But what really draws the visitors is the fact that Año Nuevo is now the largest mainland breeding colony in the world for the northern elephant seals.

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Check out our Año Nuevo Elephant Seal podcast - a video that features this location!

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Año Nuevo State Reserve: The Flora

Morning Fog Año Nuevo State Reserve

Heavy winter rainfall combined with frequent fog creates an interesting botanical ecosystem of scrubs and low-lying twisted trees. This same fog creeps into the valleys, supporting the coastal redwoods.

Much of the Pacific coastline is windy, foggy, and salty. This makes it difficult for many plants to grow. The trees are often twisted and stunted, when they grow at all. Most of what grows is low-lying scrubby bushes, many of which have very small leaves. Conifers with their drought-tolerant needle-leaves tend to do better than most plants. This biome, or natural environment, is called Chaparral. The California chaparral and woodlands terrestrial ecoregion extends from central California to Baja.

Native Willow Año Nuevo State Reserve

Willow bark has been used as a medicine for centuries - even has far back as 400 BC. More recently, the Ohlone Indians chewed the bark of the native willow for its fever and pain relieving properties. The Ohlone Indian civilization was disrupted by the arrival of the Spanish missionaries, and later American pioneers. The last fluent speaker of an Ohlone language died in 1939.

Año Nuevo Grassland After Controlled Burn Año Nuevo State Reserve

Año Nuevo has used fire as a tool to manage and protect certain habitats that are changing over time due to various factors. There is a large grass field in the reserve, and although many people believe that open areas are the product of human intervention, grassland is considered the eighth rarest ecosystem in the United States.

Much of the coastal prairie of Santa Cruz County has become scrubland over time. However, this grassland is actually often a native ecosystem, which is the habitat of creatures like San Francisco garter snake ( Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia). This endangered snake is only found on the San Francisco peninsula in about 20 spots, including the Año Nuevo State Reserve. When the sole grassland habitat of the reserve became overrun with shrubbery, then snake conservationalists came out, caught all the snakes from the field, did a controlled burn, and then re-released the snakes (hopefully to the same spots they got them from).

Non-Native Ice Plant Pacific Coast, California

Coast ice plant (Carpobrotus chiloensis) was once though to be native to California. We now believe that ice plant was introduced from Australia in the late 1890's to stabilize the dunes. However, researchers have found that dunes with non-natives do not support as many plants and animal species as those which are populated by native plants. This makes sense if you think about it: flora and fauna of an ecosystem are closely bound together in terms of dependence. Native animals generally eat native plants - and native plants depend on native animals often for nutrients and for pollination, seed spreading, etc.

Clover Fields Pacific Coast, California

The California coastline is still quite desolate, and is made up mostly of farmland. You'll often see cattle grazing and crops like brussel sprouts and artichokes growing along the coastline. You'll also pass smaller, organic berry farms and in spring, many fields are covered with yellow clover. Clover has long been used in an agricultural practice called soiling, where farmers grow nutrient-rich clover to fertilize the field, but also they will feed the greenery to livestock in the barn. This allows ranchers to use less pastureland with their cattle, because they can graze in the barn.

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November 8, 2005

Butterfly Kisses

I frequently hang out on the NaturePhotographers.Net forum, especially in the image critique area. It's a friendly place to view and post nature photography and get some great constructive feedback. Occassionally, you might even learn something, like I did today!

A fellow photographer had posted a macro shot of an American Lady butterfly and it reminded me of some photos I had taken earlier in the year at Death Valley, which had had a fabulous wildflower season. The butterflies were everywhere and I swear, there were like 200 stuck to our jeep's front grill by the time we came home, which was a shame. At one point, we had stopped the car and as I got out of the car, I noticed a broken butterfly on the road. It was still alive, but clearly not fairing well. I let it crawl onto my finger and as it didn't seem very distressed, I thought I'd put some extension tubes on my 20D and try to take a couple of pictures.

I've never had the opportunity to look so closely at a butterfly. When I looked at the pictures later, I realized how fuzzy these creatures are, and that my butterfly seemed to keep sticking its tongue out at me. When I saw on the forum that someone else had taken a shot of this behavior I asked about it! According to the butterfly photographer, it's called a proboscis, and it acts rather like a drinking straw. The butterfly uses it to reach into flowers for nectar, rolling it up when they're not eating. According to wikipedia, a proboscis (from Greek pro "before" and baskein "to feed") is an long appendage from the head of an animal. The most common usage is to refer to the tubular feeding and sucking organ of insects, worms and mollusks, but an elephant's trunk is also called a proboscis. The term is occassionally used for primate organs as well - the Proboscis Monkey is named for its enormous nose.

The proboscis of a butterfly is very versatile, allowing it to extract sweet nectar from any type of flower, regardless of its shape. During its larval stage as a caterpillar, it can munch away, but when it becomes a butterfly, it loses the ability to chew and must drink its meals instead. It is believed that the Sphinx moth have the longest of the insect proboscises, with lengths up to 14 inches! They are even sometimes mistaken for hummingbirds!

Here are some more close-ups, where you can see the proboscis, partially curled up. You can click on individual shots to see a larger version.

 

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October 17, 2005

Autumn In The High Sierra

Living in Santa Cruz, Shane and I are always lamenting the lack of seasonal change on the California Coast. In order to get our autumn color fix in, we spent the weekend in the High Sierra, around Mono Lake and Yosemite. Boy, were we in for a treat!

Although the weather was cool (it snowed on us a couple of times), the weather was mostly very clear and sunny. Photography was a bit of a challenge due to the very heavy winds which rattled not just the brightly colored leaves, but also made even the largest of trees sway.

We drove up through Yosemite, over Tioga Pass and down into Lee Vining Canyon, where we camped along the aspen-lined creek with Mono Lake just 5 minutes away. We also took a day trip down to the June Lake loop, which follows a nice canyon filled with aspen groves and a couple of meandering creeks.

Here are some of the photos I took over the weekend. Click on any picture to see a larger version. Hope you enjoy!

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Check out our Autumn In The High Sierra podcast - a video program that highlights this stunning scenery

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June 6, 2005

Redwoods Of The Santa Cruz Mountains

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October 31, 2004

Autumn In Eugene, Oregon

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Check out our Autumn In The High Sierra podcast - a video program that highlights this stunning scenery

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May 5, 1999

Backpacking In Lyell Canyon, Yosemite

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