Challenges to Managing Land
(C) Richard Murohy
Every piece of land has a story to tell about the natural world and the impacts of humans on the landscape.
When the Conservancy purchases or takes management responsibility for a piece of conservation land, first it tries to understand its story. Because the Escondido Creek watershed is part of southern California, the larger story of southern California, and the impacts humans have had on it, plays a key part in understanding each site.
During the process of buying a property, the Conservancy team begins to uncover the story of the site. What plants and animals live there? Is the site healthy or will it need restoration due to human impacts? Are there historical and cultural aspects that must be understood and protected? How can endangered, threatened and sensitive species be enhanced on the site such that they can thrive? As we learn more about a property, the Conservancy develops a strategy to protect it. Our professional land managers, in association with trained volunteer land stewards and other volunteers, implement the strategy in monthly and weekly visits.
​Land restoration is a long game.
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That much is an unfortunate and unavoidable fact. The good news is, after the Conservancy has acquired a property, it is no longer threatened by development. This gives us the time to secure the funds needed, through grants and donations, to restore human-caused damage.
For example, the Conservancy’s now-Sardina Preserve was once home to Mr. Paintball, a business whereby groups and individuals would run through different “villages” and obstacles while shooting plastic airsoft pellets and paintballs. Before the Conservancy took ownership of the property in 2018, containers of Paintball-related debris were removed from the site but trash removal has been ongoing as new debris is still being found. Sadly, hundreds of thousands of small plastic airsoft bullets still litter the site. To support the playing fields, the operator graded flat pads that, at the time of the Conservancy’s purchase, were denuded of vegetation. Some were coated in paint, and some had topsoil removed such that, years later, nothing is growing. Additionally, a forest of non-native eucalyptus trees infiltrated a small creek on the site, reducing the area that otherwise would support plants and animals native to North County.
There is good news, however. Through hard work, hundreds of volunteers, support from the State of California Department of Natural Resources, and wonderful conservation partners including CalFire, Lumbercycle and the Nature Collective, the Sardina Preserve is being reborn. Non-native plants and trees, which are often more fire-resistant than non-natives, are being removed and native trees and bushes planted, to transform the former airsoft villages into oak groves.
Hundreds of thousands of small plastic pellets still litter the Sardina Preserve. There is no easy or inexpensive way to remove them, as to lift them also means lifting the soil which could cause more damage.
Do you have an idea of how they could be inexpensively and sensitively removed? Please contact us!
information@escondidocreek.org
Want to help us restore these wonderful places? Please consider becoming a Land Steward or attending a volunteer event. Our volunteer events are all posted on Eventbrite, sign up here (link) and you'll be notified of every opportunity.
FIRE PREVENTION
(C) Richard Murohy
...Through Restoration!​
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As the climate warms, there is an ongoing dialog about fire: how to prevent it and control it. While the discussion continues, the Conservancy’s approach to wildland management will always consider the best science and apply ecological principles that do the least amount of damage to native habitat, while also considering impacts to human health and safety. The Conservancy partners with fire agencies on projects to reduce non-native invasive weeds as non-native plants and trees are often more flammable than native plants and trees.
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You can help protect your home from fire and help enhance local biodiversity by learning about which plants are more fire resistant, adding them to your landscape, and removing non-native fire-prone plants.
USGS Restoration ecologist Jon E. Keely has written extensively about chaparral and fire. Keely says, ”Chaparral shrublands have had a long evolutionary history in association with fire (Jon E. Keeley 2007)."
There has been a lot written about the role of non-native invasive plants and their impact on fire in southern California.
INVASIVE NON-NATIVE PLANTS
You can help by removing non-native invasive plants in your home garden and planting native plants!
Want to go native in your yard at home and help enhance biodiversity? These two websites are a great place to start. Calscape.org is full of tips about native plants that will do well in your yard. calflora.org is an incredible database of native California. Enjoy!
What is stealing our native habitats?​​​
If you want to help local wildlife thrive, you must make their home (their habitat) healthy. While it starts with the soil, practically speaking it's about the plants. An easy way to think about it: non-native invasive plants have “invaded” our landscapes such that the space that would otherwise provide homes to native plants and animals is no longer available. Simply put, non-native species (weeds) steal land and water from native species.
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There are many reasons for this. The most fundamental is that humans have introduced, either on purpose or by accident, plants and animals from other areas into our native landscapes. Because native species evolved together in a balanced fashion, non-native species can sometimes out-compete native habitat areas as there are not sufficient natural predators to keep things in balance. For example, eucalyptus trees are native to Australia and brought to America either to serve as railroad ties or wind breaks. They spread vociferously into waterways all throughout southern California, replacing oaks and other native species and making our landscapes more flammable with their high oil content.
How that translates on the ground for the Conservancy is a lot of time spent by our preserve managers and volunteers removing and treating land to control invasive species. The Conservancy does both passive restoration to remove non-native invasive weeds from an otherwise intact healthy habitat and active restoration where new native plants are planted after weed control is complete.
We have monthly volunteer projects on our preserves to restore the land and help reduce the threat of fire by removing flammable non-native plants, allowing more fire resistant native plants to take their place. Follow us on Eventbrite to be informed of events whereby you can come and help heal the land.
INVASIVE INSECTS
Learn more about this destructive species through these studies done at UC Riverside, Center for Invasive Species Research
What is killing our native trees?
You may have read there are beetles that are decimating our native oaks and other native trees and making our landscapes more at risk of fire. Like the discussion of non-native invasive plants, insects can be extremely damaging when there are no predators to keep them in check. The Goldspotted Oak Borer (GSOB) is an invasive beetle that is killing thousands of trees in southern California, including trees on Conservancy preserves.
Conservancy land managers are actively addressing the infestation, using best available science, treating damaged trees are funding allows. At times, you may see no entry signs on the Keithley Preserve in Elfin Forest, when treatments are underway. Please respect the signs, for your safety and the safety of our team members doing the treatments.
GSOB was believed to have come to southern California from its native range in Arizona, carried here in firewood by someone unknowingly. You can help protect our native landscapes from being further decimated by never moving firewood.
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Sadly, GSOB is not our only current insect foe. Non-native invasive shot hole borers are at work throughout San Diego County and southern California, decimating native habitats. The Conservancy has been participating in research through UC Riverside to help scientists gain a better understanding of shot hole borer behavior, in hopes that a predator can be found to keep it in check.