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Stewardship Update

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

Fall Festivities in Stewardship

Our watering crew continued to meet up at Irish Canyon and Marsh Creek 7 to water young trees and plants as well as mulch the pollinator garden.

Meanwhile, stewardship staff completed a variety of tasks at Curry Canyon Ranch that included checking on the spring and pipes that feed the house pond and ranch house and putting up informational signage at the gates of the public trails.

The wildlife cameras installed at water troughs across properties have been capturing a diversity of visitors such as bobcats, coyotes, deer, and an array of birds, especially acorn woodpeckers, scrub and Steller’s jays, and wild turkeys.

Exciting observations (aside from the golden eagles that stopped by in August) include a great blue heron, a great horned owl, a prairie falcon, and a red-tailed hawk!

Staff also completed monitoring for residual dry matter at all of our properties where we are practicing conservation grazing: Mangini Ranch Educational Preserve, Curry Canyon Ranch, Marsh Creek 7, and Thomas Home Ranch.

This is an annual monitoring visit we complete at the end of the dry season that involves hiking around the property to a set of established points to measure the amount of dry matter (or dry plant material) on the ground that remains rooted in the soil.

We share the data with our grazing partners to inform grazing strategies.

Thank You, Moonlight Volunteers!

We kicked off September with our annual Moonlight on the Mountain fundraising gala held at China Wall in Mount Diablo State Park.

The event was made possible thanks to a hardworking crew of volunteers who supported all aspects of the preparation process.

Everyone who joined us for the evening witnessed a dramatic full moon rise during the festivities. We are so grateful to all the volunteers who helped make the event a success!

The World’s First Trashure Hunt

Coastal Cleanup Day is California’s largest annual volunteer event, with cleanups located along shorelines of all sorts to help clean and restore our environment.

This year’s event, presented by the California Coastal Commission, had a twist where volunteers could earn prizes by finding hidden items amidst the trash.

Save Mount Diablo partnered with East Bay Regional Park District to lead their Big Break Regional Shoreline cleanup along the Marsh Creek Regional Trail.

Around 50 volunteers ventured along a mile of the Marsh Creek Regional Trail in Oakley and picked up enough trash to fill up two 30-cubic- yard dumpsters.

And some lucky picker-uppers found the Golden Grabber (a trash pick-up tool) and the Trashure Chest along the way.

Preliminary results for all cleanups around the state say that more than 20,000 volunteers picked up over 178,000 pounds of trash and recyclables, which is roughly the weight of an adult North Pacific right whale! Way to go, everyone!

Discover Diablo

Tarantula Trek for Families, September 5th.

Families were full of excitement in anticipation of this hike, our most popular Discover Diablo outing of the year.

Parents and children got to go on an easy evening trek in Mitchell Canyon in search of tarantulas and were lucky enough to spot three wild tarantulas as well as 17 scorpions under black light!

Tarantula Trek for Adults, September 19th.

For this hike, adults got to have the trail to themselves as they went out in search of tarantulas. The trails in Mitchell Canyon did not disappoint: wild tarantulas and scorpions were spotted along the way.

Hike leader Ken Lavin also brought his pet tarantula to help participants get an up-close interaction with a tarantula, hopefully dispelling any malicious rumors about this misunderstood arachnid.

Supernova! Stargazing with the Mount Diablo Astronomical Society, September 27th.

For the first time, Save Mount Diablo and the Mount Diablo Astronomical Society partnered on a stargazing Discover Diablo outing.

Participants attended the public presentation about supernovas and got to look through the society’s telescopes to view the moon, Saturn, and other celestial phenomena.

They got to go on a mini night hike along the Mary Bowerman Trail where they learned how to utilize their senses in the dark and heard an indigenous story of how the night sky came to be.

Young Diablo Explorers Program with Highland Elementary

On Thursday, September 18th, 56 third grade students from Highlands Elementary attended a Young Diablo Explorers field trip to Mangini Ranch Educational Preserve.

Students engaged in a nature interpretive hike and the Interconnected Web Story curriculum to learn about the flora, fauna, and natural history of the preserve, sharing enthusiastic observations and ideas and thoughtful questions throughout the field trip.

Thank you to all the students, teachers, and parent chaperones for their positive energy!