FIELD TRIPS

Thursday March 30, 2006 half day field trips
All field trips will be from approximately 1-5 pm.

Saturday April 1, 2006, half to full day field trips

Field Trip Descriptions

Overview

On this field trip you will visit the beautiful Torrey Pines State Reserve (TPSR, http://www.torreypine.org/) just north of central San Diego, near the coastal communities of La Jolla and Del Mar. TPSR is a wilderness island in an urban sea. This fragile environment is the home of our nation's rarest pine tree - Pinus torreyana. The park preserves not only the trees, but also the last salt marshes and waterfowl refuges in Southern California. The reserve features high broken cliffs and deep ravines on headlands overlooking the ocean. Hikers can follow trails through stands of wind-sculpted pines. A picturesque, pueblo-style structure that served as a restaurant when it was built in 1923 houses the visitor center, featuring interpretive displays. California State Parks has a mandate to preserve certain natural features in the Reserve, among other management objectives. TPSR is part of a regional habitat conservation network. And yet, this small Reserve is surrounded by a major city and is ‘downstream’ of an urbanized watershed. The field trip will be lead by a California State Parks resource ecologist who will discuss resource management issues in a landscape context, including watershed dynamics, fire, invasive species, and conflicts between recreation and preservation. Moderately strenuous. Short hike on well developed trails. No picnicking allowed at the Reserve.

Mr. Darren S. Smith is a Resource Ecologist with California State Parks. He received his Bachelors from CSU Humboldt and his Masters from SDSU, both in Geography. He specializes in plant conservation, and management of invasive species.

Overview

Cabrillo National Monument (CNM) (http://www.nps.gov/cabr/), administered by the National Park Service, is a spectacular location of historical and natural significance. Its location in Point Loma offers superb views of San Diego’s harbor and skyline. On September 28, 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo landed at San Diego Bay. This event marked the first time that a European expedition had set foot on what later became the west coast of the United States. His accomplishments were memorialized on October 14, 1913 with the establishment of CNM. It supports rare species and natural communities and is completely surrounded by urban San Diego. It is part of the Point Loma Conservation Area, specifically designed by the five major land managers to protect the remaining habitat on the peninsula. Habitat fragmentation and isolation, and its affects on population, landscape and ecosystem processes such as fire and dispersal, is a major focus of management. These issues will be discussed on the field trip, and participants will also have an opportunity during the field trip to explore the area on their own. CNM has hiking trails that vary from short/easy to moderately strenuous through the native coastal sage scrub habitats of southern California. The Old Point Loma Lighthouse and the associated Assistant Lighthouse Keeper's Quarters contain displays on life in the late 1800s. In a former army building an exhibit tells the story of the coast artillery on Point Loma. Low tide will occur in the late afternoon so there may be opportunities to explore the rocky intertidal shores of the park. The Visitor’s has a bookstore, short films, and exhibits.

Andrea Compton has been the Chief of the Natural Resource Science Division at Cabrillo National Monument since summer 2003. In that position, she is tasked with managing the natural resources of the park with the National Park Service mission as a guide. That mission is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. This includes conducting and managing park-specific inventory and monitoring projects, coordinating research projects with outside principal investigators, assessing potential impacts to the natural resources at the park, and facilitating broader partnerships and cooperative efforts. Two examples of these partnerships are the Point Loma Ecological Conservation Area and the NPS Mediterranean Coast Network (Cabrillo NM plus Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and Channel Islands National Park).

Ms. Compton's knowledge of terrestrial ecology and wildlife biology has developed through a variety of past experiences with universities and colleges, regional research projects, and environmental consulting. Most recently, Andrea worked at San Diego State University with the Field Station Programs, and has taught general biology and related courses for several years at a local community college, Mesa College. Prior to her arrival in San Diego ten years ago, Andrea was a senior biologist for an environmental consulting firm in Portland, Oregon where she worked extensively with permitting and regulations with threatened and endangered species. Andrea attended graduate school at Colorado State University where she received her master of science in Wildlife Biology. Her research involved population estimators of mountain sheep. She received her undergraduate degree in Animal Ecology with an emphasis in populations from Iowa State University.

Overview

The theme of this field trip is “Living with nature and fire in our landscape.” Fire is a major landscape disturbance shaping southern California ecosystems--and yet, as recent fire storms in 2003 showed, the public and policy makers need a greater understanding of wildfire processes in order to make sound public policy decisions. We will visit San Diego City canyons and view the canyon-development interface, and vegetation reduction to implement city/county codes. We will also visit the San Diego Natural History Museum (http://www.sdnhm.org/) to view their award-winning exhibit, “Earth, Wild and Wildfire” (http://www.sdnhm.org/exhibits/fire/index.html). Participants will also have time to explore the other exhibits at the Museum including their permanent exhibits on the biogeography and natural history of the two Californias.

Mary Ann Hawke, Ph.D., is Director of the Plant Atlas Project at the San Diego Natural History Museum (http://www.sdnhm.org/plantatlas/index.html). Anne Fege, Ph.D., is co-curator of the Earth, Wind and Wildfire exhibit and has 30 years of experience in natural resource conservation and land management.

Overview

On this field trip you will visit several interesting sites in the foothills of western San Diego County demonstrating the chaparral’s unique beauty as well as its fascinating ability to recover after fire. Exact locations TBD. Wear comfortable shoes for some hiking, bring hat, sunscreen, camera, etc.

Richard W. Halsey established The California Chaparral Field Institute (http://www.californiachaparral.com) and published Fire, Chaparral and Survival in Southern California in 2005 (http://sunbeltbooks.com/store_article.cfm/articleid/14246). He earned undergraduate degrees from the University of California in Environmental Studies and Anthropology. During graduate work he received teaching credentials in life, physical and social science and a masters in education. He taught biology, physics and chemistry for twenty years, and developed a chaparral research program for his students to study nature firsthand in a nearby canyon. He was awarded district Teacher of Year in 1991 and a Christa McAuliffe Fellowship in 1993. He left traditional education to become a full time chaparral ecologist and to promote an appreciation for California's chaparral environment. Current research projects include post-burn plant population changes, effects of fuel age in brushland wildfire behavior, and the impact of chaparral type conversion to non-native, weedy grassland.

Overview

In this field trip we will examine the major terrestrial plant communities of San Diego County encountered along a gradient of several climate types ranging from coastal mesas eastward over inland mountains and downward into the western portion of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Plant community types encountered will be coastal sage scrub, chaparral, oak woodland-montane conifer forest transition (lunch stop), and desert succulent scrub. Brief discussions will be made about the major environmental factors controlling the distribution of these communities as well as associated land use and resource management issues. A modest amount of walking will take place along high quality trails that range from easy to moderately strenuous in difficulty. Sturdy shoes (light hiking boots or trail runners) are recommended as is a coat, long pants, hat, daypack, sunscreen, water bottle, binoculars, and camera.

Dr. John O’Leary is Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography at San Diego State University where he has taught since 1985. He received his Ph.D. in Geography from UCLA in 1984. He is an expert on the endangered and fragmented coastal sage scrub plant community in southern California. His research interests include biogeography and vegetation ecology (particularly of Mediterranean-type ecosystems) with special emphases upon spatial and temporal patterns of species diversity, community composition, post-disturbance resilience, and habitat preferences of species; methods of vegetation analysis (field sampling techniques, statistical analysis, remote sensing GIS, and mapping); and, conservation planning.