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Stewardship Update

Written by Haley Sutton, Land Stewardship Associate and Kendra Smith, Education & Outreach Coordinator

California Conservation Corps

The California Conservation Corps (CCC) completed their first of two eight-day spikes to complete fuel reduction efforts in the Knobcone Point Area of Curry Canyon Ranch.

The 10-person crew assisted with brushing, removing dead trees, and constructing burn piles along trails and roads to support fuel breaks.

As the CCC crew worked on the Curry Canyon Ranch side of the area, Mount Diablo State Park staff and support crews were also thinning and building burn piles in preparation for prescribed burns later in the season.

Stewardship staff joined the crew for a few days during the spike and witnessed the collaboration and hard work required of this hands-on project.

The project site is reminiscent of a giant game of pickup sticks made up of knobcone pine trees before the crew gets to work in the area.

After some time, the site is transformed and burn piles constructed in a Lincoln log manner are left in the crew’s wake as they move along to the next section.

Planting More Natives

We continued planting across our various properties with our California Department of Fish and Wildlife grant funds.

Marsh Creek 7 was the focus of our planting efforts in January, and we look forward to bringing students out in the next few months to continue building habitat out there.

Kestrel and bluebird nest boxes have also been installed on the property to encourage birds to inhabit the area.

Kestrel Box Project

Winter time is the best time of year to refresh our American kestrel nestboxes, to get them ready for the coming nesting season.

We have been busy preparing our boxes at Smith Canyon, Wright Canyon, and Curry Canyon, cleaning out detritus from last year and adding new bedding, as well as wildlife cameras to help us further understand the behavior of the wildlife around the mountain.

We were happy to see a new box being utilized by a kestrel for pelleting and preening in the off season; hopefully it becomes home to multiple young this spring.

We will continue to be busy prepping boxes at our other sites in the next month, boosting the chance of helping these little falcons to thrive.

Discover Diablo

Dr. Mary Bowerman’s 118th Birthday Hike, January 25th.

Participants enjoyed this easy stroll above the tule fog on the Mary Bowerman Trail loop at Mount Diablo’s summit in celebration of what would have been her 118th birthday.

Surprisingly, several species were blooming, including narrowleaf goldenbush and bluewitch nightshade. It is always a joyful outing honoring one of Save Mount Diablo’s co-founders.

Landscape and Wildlife Photography at Pinnacles National Park, January 31st.

This month, Save Mount Diablo led our second photography hike at Pinnacles National Park with Scott Hein and Sean Burke.

We had a full house of participants and together we had a beautiful wildflower-rich hike into the High Peaks area, where we were greeted with numerous condor fly-bys and stooping peregrine and prairie falcons.

The lovely spring-like weather was well enjoyed by all as were the inspiring birds and the fantastic company.

State of the Mountain

On January 29, Save Mount Diablo hosted its annual State of the Mountain Address.

We had a packed house with many important and long-time supporters who showed up to hear all about our organization’s accomplishments in 2025.

Executive Director Ted Clement spoke eloquently on the numerous successes across all departments of the organization, including hosting our first annual Diablo Range Convening, planting over 4,880 native trees and plants, and protecting Ginochio Schwendel Ranch and the Nunn Paulsen inholding.

These accomplishments and more are celebrated in our thank you video, available to view on our YouTube channel.

The night concluded with the announcement of this year’s Mountain Star Award recipient. This year’s recipient was none other than Jim Felton, long-time Board President of Save Mount Diablo.

Jim is planning to step down as Board President after six years of dedicated service and will continue to be an avid Save Mount Diablo supporter.