The La Honda Voice

Pescadero Elementary Students visit San Gregorio Watershed

Students from Ms. Schoelen’s 5^th grade class at Pescadero Elementary took a field trip to the San Gregorio Watershed recently to study stream and lagoon environments.  They visited two sites, and had the opportunity to perform water quality tests at two very different locations.

The first site was on La Honda Creek at Playbowl. This is a densely wooded area with meandering creek and good spawning gravels and water quality. Stream flow was low prior to winter rains, making it a good time for students to safely measure air and water temperature, turbidity, conductivity (salinity), and pH.

The fifth graders were provided data sheets on which to record observations as well as results of their testing. Observations include weather conditions, flow rate in the creek, woody debris, habitat conditions such as boulders, gravels and fish barriers. No fish were observed, but students were able to see both artificial and natural structures in the stream channel. Natural structures don’t normally create a barrier to fish passage, but artificial ones can.

Stream monitors from the San Gregorio Environmental Resource Center (SGERC) guided students through the instruction and use of basic sampling equipment. Turbidity, or the cloudiness of the water, can be observed by looking at a Secchi disk in the bottom of a long tube of water. Meters and probes were used to measure temperature and conductivity. pH was measured with a test kit that adds reagent to the water sample, and is then compared to a color wheel to determine pH level.

Before leaving Playbowl there was time for a quick game of tag in the woods.

A short bus trip to San Gregorio State Beach, and we were able to observe a completely different environment, but one that is crucial to fish survival – the lagoon. SGERC recently assisted in the installation of an interpretive panel at this location that describes proper lagoon function and the species that depend on it. This was a good place to begin this visit. In addition to discussing the importance of the sandbar and the complicated environment and interface of fresh to salt water, students were able to repeat their basic water quality sampling. Also at this site more sophisticated monitoring equipment was shown, and a quick demonstration of Dissolved Oxygen measurement, a critical parameter for fish survival.

After sampling and observations were completed, it was lunchtime!

SGERC would like to thank the teachers, parents, students, and principal of Pescadero Elementary for their efforts to make this field trip possible. We’d also like to thank Cuesta La Honda Guild and California State Parks for permission to visit these sites, and also George Cattermole and CWC for transportation funding. This program was sponsored by SGERC as part of their education programs and continuing efforts to monitor and improve conditions in the San Gregorio Watershed.

 

Cleanup thanks!!!

Thanks to everyone who participated in Coastal Cleanup Day, either at the beach or in their neighborhood. More than 30 volunteers helped at San Gregorio State Beach and picked up 153 gallons of trash and 66 gallons of recyclables! There were also efforts at nearby beaches including Pomponio and Tunitas Creek. Judging from all the smiling faces, everyone really enjoys this effort, which yields immediate results. You not only see the amount of trash you have collected, you see the difference in the area you have left behind.

There are cleanup efforts throughout the year, so you don't have to wait until September to help out. There are monthly cleanups at Tunitas Creek, occasional cleanup days in Cuesta La Honda, and our Adopt-A-Highway program that picks up trash along Hwy. 84. Contact us for more info at [email protected], or go to our website sgerc.org.

Join us Sept. 16th for Coastal Cleanup Day, and see the new Interpretative Panel at San Gregorio State Beach

San Gregorio Environmental Resource Center (SGERC) invites you to join us at San Gregorio State Beach on Coastal Cleanup Day, September 16th from 9:00 - 12:00.  This is an annual event sponsored by the California Coastal Commission.

Also visit the beautiful new interpretative panel installed at the beach near the picnic area. This panel describes how artificial breaching of the lagoon affects wildlife, and introduces you to a number of the fish and birds that live in this important habitat. We’ll be on hand to provide information about the lagoon and sandbar, and how to help keep this environment healthy.

SGERC sponsored this interpretative panel, installed with the help of our local office of California State Parks. If you are interested in helping offset the cost of this panel, or any of our programs, you can make a tax-deductible contribution by visiting our website: www.sgerc.org (Tax ID # 94-3083465), or donate at this event. Our activities include a monthly stream monitoring program at several locations in the watershed (now in its 17^th year), a watershed education program with local schools that is just beginning, Adopt-a-Highway litter removal on Hwy. 84, and pampas/jubata grass removal throughout La Honda and San Gregorio.

If you are interested in participating in any of these projects, or would like to propose further projects which enhance the health of the local watershed. Please send an email with your contact detail to: [email protected]

On Coastal Cleanup Day, tons of trash and recyclables are removed from beaches, streams, parks, schools, and other areas across California with the help of community volunteers. Last year in San Mateo County, 4,145 volunteers picked up more than 22,000 pounds of trash and nearly 4,000 pounds of recyclables. The most common items are cigarette butts and tobacco products, food wrappers, paper and plastic bags, glass and plastic bottles, beverage cans, and construction materials. SGERC will have all the necessary supplies including reusable gloves and buckets. If you like, bring your own sturdy gloves and bucket to help reduce waste from the event. Wear sturdy shoes and dress in layers since the weather can be unpredictable. We will have refreshments for volunteers.

Children welcome! We look forward to seeing you at the beach!

More info at:

www.sgerc.org

https://www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/ccd/cleanup/ - /map

What DON’T You See?

It’s hard to see what’s not there!  As you drive along our coast, it’s easy to see Jubata/Pampas grass taking over hillsides and ranges. What’s harder to see is when it’s NOT there. Look along La Honda Rd. between the coast and La Honda.  Also look along Stage Rd. between the General Store and Highway 1.  You will not see Jubata/Pampas grass growing along the roadway (except for a few unsafe to reach). 

That’s due to the efforts of the “Kick Pampass” team, a dedicated bunch of volunteers in the community interested in keeping invasive grasses from taking over San Gregorio Valley. The spread had become all too evident, particularly along Stage Rd., where over 430 plants were recently removed. On Hwy. 84 between La Honda and San Gregorio nearly 100 plants have been removed.  On private property in Cuesta, La Honda and San Gregorio more than 100 plants have been removed. This was done entirely using manual methods, no herbicides.

Flowering plants (photo N.P.)

Most would agree these are beautiful ornamental grasses. Pampasgrass from South America was sold in nurseries for decades. Without nearby male plants, female pampas can be kept under control.  Jubata grass, on the other hand, spreads like crazy on it’s own.  This is the grass that predominantly populates the coast from San Diego northward.  It’s an invasive opportunist, crowds out native plants, and affects the ecology and wildlife that depend on native species.

There are alternatives! Check out ornamental grasses at Yerba Buena Nursery or California Invasive Plant Council web sites, or search for non-invasive ornamental grass:

http://www.yerbabuenanursery.com/search.php?bot=&com=grass&exp=0&wat=0&typ=0&search=Search

http://www.cal-ipc.org/landscaping/dpp/plantpage.php?region=bayarea&type=Ornamental%20grasses

What can you do?  The next phase for our Kick Pampass team will be to help landowners interested in removing plants from their property.  If you have plants you‘d like removed, or have interested neighbors, feel free to contact us.  In addition, this is the time of year that tall seed heads develop.  If you see plants we've missed, please let us know. You may want to join us!  You can reach Neil at: (650) 726-2499 or [email protected]

Many thanks to our hard-working Pampass team: Liz, Gary, Ellen, Denis, Jane, Ellen, Hilary, Sasha, George and Neil – plus the many landowners who have allowed access to their properties or taken steps to eliminate the plants themselves! We also thank Cuesta La Honda, Caltrans, State Parks and the County of San Mateo for permission to remove plants on their property or right-of-ways.

Stage Rd. removal (photo N.P.)

Let’s Kick Pampas!!

Volunteers wanted to remove Pampas & Jubata Grass from our San Gregorio Valley.

Plant removed near Lower Reservoir in Cuesta La Honda

Let’s control these grasses so they won’t spread as they have in Pescadero, Half Moon Bay, and along the coast. SGERC has received permission from Caltrans to control and remove invasive Pampas and Jubata grass along Hwy. 84 between Hwy. 1 and La Honda. If you’re interested in helping with this project, please contact Neil Panton, (650) 854-8038 or [email protected].

We use manual methods, no chemicals. We plan to clear the Hwy. 84 corridor, but since a number of plants exist on private property as well, we’d like to help interested landowners remove these invasive plants from their property. For those who’d like to keep ornamental grasses on their property, there are several non-invasive alternatives, like these suggested by the Native Plants Society and Yerba Buena Nursery:

http://calscape.cnps.org/loc-California/cat-Grasses/ord-popular?srchcr=sc56a0f45be321b

http://www.yerbabuenanursery.com/Avail.php

Anyone 16 years or older can participate. We’ll schedule several morning work days over the coming year beginning in April. All safety and other training will be provided. Removal of seed heads is the first step in preventing further spread.  Next we cut back vegetation to control plant growth, and finally remove the plant. Smaller plants come out in a few minutes.  Larger, established plants take more effort, but can be removed with pick axe and shovel. The root balls are amazingly small and shallow considering the size of these plants.

The biggest concentration of plants is around the 2.0 and 3.0 mile markers on La Honda Rd. With team effort, we should be able to remove the remaining plants along the highway in short order.  After that, we just monitor for new growth.

Feel free to pass this information along to anyone you think may be interested.  We can use help on work crews, communicating with neighbors, and identifying remaining plants in the watershed. With your help, we should be able to remove Pampas and Jubata grass from San Gregorio and La Honda completely in a year or two. As one of our community leaders says “It Takes a Village”!  We look forward to hearing from you!

Spider Webby part 2

Last month I suggested readers be on the lookout for that spider webby stuff. Did you see any?

Unfortunately, during the month of September I didn't see any at all. But there's still time in October, before the rains come. Usually I look for a warmish night with a wind from the northeast. The next morning is when I would expect to see a few (or many) short (or long) strands of webby stuff lodged in the dry grass or on a good year, festooning trees and fences.

The photo accompanying this article is not the webby stuff! What you see is a long staple of sheep's wool and in the background you see thistledown stuck to tarweed plants. The green plant with the purple flower is the thistle plant itself.

On the Internet you can find many images and accounts of this mysterious fluff. Just do a search on floating spider webby stuff or angel hair. As I pointed out last month some of the images do not look at all like our local webby stuff. And some of the accounts are...interesting.

UFO proponents claim that this material is of alien origin--perhaps a byproduct of spacecraft propulsion--and that it disappears completely if you try to gather it to study it. A few years ago I mustered up the courage to collect some in a plastic cup. You can roll it into a ball and it does compact, but it does not disappear. My sample gathered dust until I threw it out.

The scientific explanation that this fiber is produced by spiders using the wispy threads of spun silk as transportation seems most plausible. But I wonder what kind of giant spider makes those yards long webs made of many fibers that can be seen every so often? (Scary thought!) Why have I never seen any trace of spider or other creature in any of these webs? Did they spin them, float off and then abandon them without a trace?

I suppose we can look back at the thistle plant in the picture and think about this. Who would expect the downy fluff to be the mode of seed dispersal for the thistle plant if you didn't know where it came from? The thistledown gives enough lift to the seed to get it up and away from the plant before the seed drops to the ground and the thistledown floats off on its merry way!

If for some reason you don't see any of the spider webby stuff this year there's always plenty of thistledown!

Spider webby stuff...?

 

 

Although this photo was not taken locally this is what the local webby stuff looks like.

It's September! Although we might be enjoying our warmest summer days, fall is in the air. But there's more than fall in the air. At this time of year when the wind and weather are right you might notice strands of what I call "spider webby stuff" clinging to fences and tree branches or floating freely in the air. This webby white stuff is more than a single spider web—it's like a fuzzy group of fibers (see photo). The strands can be long or short and most often they appear thick and thin or puffy.

I first saw these webs as a youngster with my grandfather at San Gregorio. Overnight, strands of material floated in, the long waving streamers lodged on the barbed wire fence. My grandfather grew up in the mountains of Monterey County and he recalled the sight of these spider webby streamers in the fall of the year when he was a boy. He was impressed by their size and number that year. I have been watching for them ever since, seeing some almost every year.

My dad was fascinated by UFOs and he shared a book with me that claimed the webby material was of alien origin and that it often disappears without a trace when gathered for study.

The webs have been seen in various parts of the world. They have been linked to chemtrails and supernatural events. A more down-to-earth explanation is that spiders spin the threads and float away on them as a method of dispersal.

My present location, in a basin below a ridgeline, is the ideal place for wind currents to deposit floating items—you would be amazed at the number of deflated party balloons that have found their way onto our rural land, lodging in tree branches or finally resting right out in the grassy field. So during the webby season I know just where the currents are apt to deposit the webby stuff and when the time is right I may spot some on my morning walk.

Take time to look around this month and see if you can spot some of the webby stuff. Then stay tuned for part two of this article...

Photo from museumvictoria.com.

SGERC Seeking Executive Director

The San Gregorio Environmental Resource Center (SGERC) is seeking an Executive Director to manage a community-based non-profit organization. SGERC volunteers monitor the San Gregorio watershed’s physical characteristics to assure its ability to support steelhead and, potentially, salmon. The data collected over the past 25 years have been used in studies by Stillwater Sciences to develop a Watershed Management Plan (WMP), which is posted on our web site (http://www.sgerc.org). Completed in 2010, the WMP contains scientifically supported recommendations for a variety of potential steelhead and Coho habitat enhancement projects.  A dedicated group of volunteers continues to collect water quality data at five locations within the watershed.

As an ideal candidate, you would have substantial knowledge in watershed and fish ecology, and demonstrate a passion for leading the strategic planning, development and execution of watershed projects. You would be adept at writing grant proposals in order to support the ongoing stream monitoring program and fund your Executive Director salary.

The role of the Executive Director of SGERC:

• Oversee the volunteer stream monitoring group and maintenance of the monitoring equipment.
• Represent SGERC in the local environmental organization community and at annual public education events.
• Collaborate with SGERC’s technical advisory committee.
• Maintain cooperative relationships between SGERC and the federal, state and local agencies that hold an interest in the management of the San Gregorio watershed.
• Raise money from grants, foundations, or private funders to allow SGERC to develop and move forward with projects based on the WMP. 
• Ensure that annual permits needed for monitoring site access are secured, and complete any required reporting to permitting agencies.
• Ensure that the organization’s website and its data are kept up-to-date. 
• The new Director would improve data management by implementing an on-line system with forms that allow the monitors to enter data directly, and users to query the data using defined parameters to get numerical and graphic output.

There is an active core group of dedicated volunteers available to help with many of these tasks. 

Background:

The San Gregorio watershed on the San Mateo County coast is the southernmost California watershed where Coho salmon were historically found to spawn.  With approximately 45 miles of blue line streams, the watershed still attracts steelhead trout and tide water gobies and empties into a lagoon which is their year round habitat and portal to the sea.  Agriculture, housing, and Hwy 84, all introduce challenges to maintaining a clean watershed which is inviting to steelhead, and which allows adult populations to find the depth and oxygenation of water adequate for their spawning needs. San Gregorio is one of nine priority creeks selected by CDFG for Coho salmon reintroduction.

For more information, please visit our website:  http://www.sgerc.org

Send a resume and letter of interest to:

SGERC

PO Box 49

San Gregorio CA,  94074

Email: Neil Panton – [email protected]  or Michael Braude - [email protected]

 

Accidents, and Accidents Waiting to Happen

We’ve heard personal stories recently from La Honda’s amazing fire brigade and other first responders about the heavy toll traffic accidents extract from everyone involved. We’ve heard about many close calls and examples of unsafe driving. It's hard when we hear these things have happened.

But what about accidents waiting to happen? Is there anything that could lessen their numbers? A recent Hwy 84 cleanup provided some thought provoking material. One thinks about the number of people that contributed to this collection, and that most were likely in an automobile. This section of road is cleaned fairly regularly, though this was the first cleanup in several months due to winter weather.

Among the usual collection of soda cans, food containers, and a frightening number of cigarette butts, were the following adult beverage containers:

28 - Beer cans
18 - Beer bottles
7 - Vodka bottles (4 were single serving size)
6 - Wine bottles
1 - Club cocktail

In addition, this event along a 4-mile stretch of Hwy 84 included debris cleanup at three accident sites.

Oh, and a bicycle inner tube.

Be safe.

Stream Monitoring in La Honda

Do you like playing in the creek?  Enjoy spending time in beautiful places?  Do you like science and making a difference in the community?  You might want to join our stream monitoring team!

SGERC’s volunteers spend a few hours each month performing simple water quality tests in La Honda, Alpine and San Gregorio creeks. They record the results and make observations that create a record of stream conditions at various locations in the San Gregorio watershed.  You could be monitoring the beautiful Heritage Grove site on Alpine Creek, or El Corte de Madera Creek feeding into San Gregorio Creek.  You might prefer to join a team at a site nearest to you.

This is a great activity for all, young and old, for parents wishing to involve their family in environmental awareness and community service.  Most of us love the excuse to get into the creek once in a while and enjoy the solitude and beauty of this area. Why not do something to benefit the environment and the community at the same time?

Training is provided by our organization and basic water quality tests are easy to learn. You’ll be working right away with our dedicated volunteers, many of whom have monitored with us for ten years or more!

For those who would rather stay indoors, you could help with tasks that keep the organization running smoothly, like equipment maintenance, data management, publicity, education, or fundraising. Maybe you’d prefer to participate in cleanup events like Coastal Cleanup Day at San Gregorio State Beach or Adopt-A-Highway on Hwy 84.

In any case, join the fun.  Call or email for more information about SGERC’s programs, or visit our booth at the La Honda Fair, June 16^th and 17^th.

San Gregorio Environmental Resource Center

Neil Panton – Director

www.sgerc.org

(650) 726-2499