Visitors 82
Modified 6-May-26
Created 4-May-26
24 photos
Just inside Mapache Gate, a pair of does retreat into the thicket. The path up-slope to the burn pile site is flanked by Blue Oak forest on one side, the Jasper Ridge fence on the other. The fence has been stylishly decorated by fallen Lace Lichen, reminiscent of Christo’s creations. Springtime flowers guide the way: young Sticky Monkeyflower, Coyote-mint, and Golden Yarrow.
The ground levels off where the burn piles were set two years ago. Chaparral has reclaimed the site. In rough circles around many of the burn-pile sites, Western Bewildering Bushmallow stands tall, over our heads, tight-clinging blossoms in profusion along the upper part of each spike, above soft hairy leaves. The center of the piles was too hot, killing all life in the soil – occasional thistles managed to colonize the ground here. Far from the piles, it was not hot enough to awaken the Bushmallow seeds: other chaparral plants thrive. At the magic distance from many – not all yet – burn piles, an exuberance of sturdy bushmallows!
Moving through the plateau of the bushmallows, another rise takes us to the top of the ridge. A lone Pacific Madrone marks the ridgetop, between Chamise chaparral on this side and chaparral dominated by Yerba Santa and Coyote Brush on the other. The view over the chaparral stretches almost up to Goya and Escobar Gates and down along Corte Madera Creek: neighboring houses, chaparral, oak woodland, and grassland.
Happy docents pose beside healthy Bushmallow, brandishing trash bags filled with dangerous thistle buds and seeds, leaving behind an ecosystem closer to that nurtured by the First People.
The ground levels off where the burn piles were set two years ago. Chaparral has reclaimed the site. In rough circles around many of the burn-pile sites, Western Bewildering Bushmallow stands tall, over our heads, tight-clinging blossoms in profusion along the upper part of each spike, above soft hairy leaves. The center of the piles was too hot, killing all life in the soil – occasional thistles managed to colonize the ground here. Far from the piles, it was not hot enough to awaken the Bushmallow seeds: other chaparral plants thrive. At the magic distance from many – not all yet – burn piles, an exuberance of sturdy bushmallows!
Moving through the plateau of the bushmallows, another rise takes us to the top of the ridge. A lone Pacific Madrone marks the ridgetop, between Chamise chaparral on this side and chaparral dominated by Yerba Santa and Coyote Brush on the other. The view over the chaparral stretches almost up to Goya and Escobar Gates and down along Corte Madera Creek: neighboring houses, chaparral, oak woodland, and grassland.
Happy docents pose beside healthy Bushmallow, brandishing trash bags filled with dangerous thistle buds and seeds, leaving behind an ecosystem closer to that nurtured by the First People.
Dan Quinn