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Lichen on pallid manzanita
There are two places in the world to which this manzanita, Arctostaphylos pallida, is native. One is a small part of the Oakland hills in and near the Huckleberry Regional Botanic Preserve. The other is where Matthew and I hiked yesterday, on Sobrante Ridge.
I haven’t been there in so long.
The species’ habitat is mostly protected from development, though some of the Oakland Hills stand is on private land, and a few got cut down to the ground by utility right-of-way brush clearers in 1992. (I found the amputated limbs lying by the roadside a day later. I don’t think anyone ever paid for that particular crime.) But a couple good fires with bad recovery conditions following, or a five degree increase in average temperature combined with more summer precipitation (a strong possibility on the coast) and these plants could be in serious trouble.
Those are possibilities, though. We sat beneath the current reality yesterday:
Seeing new growth and a new potential generation on an endangered species: a good feeling.
Posted by: Chris Clarke
Note: A database glitch in 2008 ate a bunch of archived comments. Don't be offended if yours isn't here, or confused if the conversation seems disjointed. Thanks!
life! we thrive.
By: By nezua on 2008 04 22
Cool! I went hiking in Huckleberry on Saturday with some out-of-town friends and showed them A. pallida. The Huckleberry Preserve population appears to me to be suffering not from fire, but lack of same - the huckleberry successional community in the absence of fire is strangling the pallid manzanita, and the remaining specimens mostly look none too good, although if you peer back into the stand you can see a few healthy plants.
This has been my favorite short East Bay hike for many years.
By: By Fred Levitan on 2008 04 23
Categories:
Hiking
The Neighborhood
Wildlife
