Conservation November, 2011

Nov 19, 2011 by cnps2011

CNPS is supporting Morro Bay Audubon Society’s plans to remove as many eucalyptus tree as possible over an extended period of time that are not contributing toward either bird or butterfly habitat in Los Osos’s Sweet Springs Nature Preserve. These trees are affecting the biological integrity of the native marshland habitat, including a restoration site for one of the rarest plants in North America, the marsh sandwort. Unfortunately some local residents are opposing any tree removal on the basis of some aesthetic arguments that in the past have prevented us from removing eucalyptus in extremely rare Morro manzanita habitat of Montana de Oro State Park. Audubon is hardly likely to destroy bird habitat… duh!.

Is “global warming denial” getting you annoyed? Would you like to partake in a long term experiment to verify climate change? At the state-wide meeting in San Diego last September, we were told of some vegetation monitoring programs to search for gradual shifts of plant species phenology, such as the times of first bud, first bloom, leaf out etc. We are looking for people who regularly pass a point where they can monitor species in the wild. There is more to this that I can disclose here, but contact me if you think this could be interesting. I expect that the program will have to run for many years before trends arise from the scatter of data, but we should start somewhere.

David Chipping