Sheltered Lands

  California’s most common landscape is chaparral – akin to what’s found in the Mediterranean where winters are mild and summers are dry.       Scrubby and thorny, chaparral carries the scent of sage. It shelters mountain lions and wrentits — the little brown songbirds whose calls bounce like ping-pong balls across the hillsides.  It’s well adapted to fire.  And found at all elevations throughout the state.   At a high elevation sits the Santa Rosa Plateau which lies at the southern end of the Santa Ana Mountains, about halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego.  It’s a rare flat expanse above the crowded valleys below and is chock-full of uninterrupted chaparral.   Occasionally, ferocious winds roar across the plateau and the Santa Ana mountains.  These devil winds – the Santa Anas – sometimes fan wildfires, as happened recently in Palisades, Altadena, and Malibu.    Steely Dan once wrote lyrics about those de...

  Los Angeles.   Everyone knows it.   A world-famous city of glitz, sunshine, and fame.     What better place to try out an innovative conservation endeavor.   If successful, that endeavor garners extra attention when tied to such a world-famous city.      And so, I’d like to introduce you to The Nature Conservancy’s Bowtie Wetland Demonstration Project .   Imagine the movie Grease - the scene where cars race down a concrete channel speeding along the angled banks in a neck-and-neck battle.   That channel is the LA River which today runs from the Simi Hills through the heart of the city and spills into the Pacific at Long Beach.   To call it an urban river is an understatement.     Runoff from that concrete jungle spills regularly into the LA River.   But at one of the spillways, TNC’s project - expected to be completed in 2027 - will divert stormwater into a constructed wetland and filtrati...

  Twenty-five miles off the California coast, I disembark and wander into the wrong group. “The hikers are meeting under the eucalyptus trees,” someone tells me. Only later do I realize that group is major donors here for a private tour of the island. I was already in awe of Santa Cruz’s beauty as we approached the dock—but learning that it draws conservation leaders and benefactors only deepens my sense that this is one of the most enchanting places I’ve ever visited.   Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the Channel Islands, lies off Ventura in California’s southwest corner. For me, it marks the third of four “corner-of-the-country” Nature Conservancy sites I’ve visited—after Great Wass in Maine (2018) and Blowing Rocks in Florida (2022). Half of Santa Cruz belongs to Channel Islands National Park, the other half to TNC—a partnership that protects high peaks, deep canyons, and miles of wild coastline.   It’s also a place of internationally renowned conservation succes...

  The airline app shows we’ll arrive 45 minutes early. On an east-to-west flight — already a 27-hour day — that’s nearly 28 hours. A nice perk for us mortals, and just enough cushion for my perhaps overly optimistic itinerary.   When I step out of my rental car at The Nature Conservancy (TNC)’s Santa Clara Preserve in Saticoy, California , a pungent urine smell fills the air.   Wasn’t expecting that.   I assume the worst: a mountain lion has marked its territory, so my guard immediately goes up as I enter the trail system.   My wife hates when I travel alone, and trudging into lion country is one of the reasons, I’m sure.   Back east, I rarely worry about wildlife encounters.   But out west, the threats are stout – and few are stouter than mountain lion.     Located just north of the congestion of Los Angeles, the Santa Clara River is one of the most threatened rivers in America – a trifecta of threats. The Santa Clara River is a v...

Santa Ysabel Open Space Preserve, Ramona, California R A M O N A,  C A Using sketchy internet from the crappy motel I stayed in last night in the Borrego Springs, I find that Granny’s Kitchen in Julian opens at 5:00 a.m.   I leave the California desert in the depths of darkness, after a minimal night’s sleep in a bed as old as I, and arrive at Granny’s just as a touch of morning glow begins brightening the sky.   I fuel up with a fresh pastry, a banana, and a fine cup of Joe then continue westward to the Santa Ysabel Open Space Preserve – a beautiful mountainside property which The Nature Conservancy (TNC) helped preserve.   When I arrive, I find a locked gate, which of course, I hop.   But the kiosk stops my progress.   Sternly displayed are warnings about mountain lions and rattlesnakes, both of which thrive in the environment I’m about to explore.   The cougar warnings are especially stern.   Don’t Hike Alone is recommendation number on...