Stewardship Update
Written by Haley Sutton, Land Stewardship Associate and Kendra Smith, Education & Outreach Coordinator
Summertime Stewardship
Our stewardship team stayed busy this month with a variety of field projects.
Staff completed our conservation easement monitoring visits for the four properties we monitor each year.
We also collected samples for the annual Sudden Oak Death (SOD) blitz organized by the UC Berkeley Forest Pathology and Mycology Lab. SOD is a disease that kills oak trees and spreads mostly through infected bay laurel leaves.
This project involves collecting leaf samples from symptomatic bay laurel trees for lab testing.
California milkweed at Curry Canyon Ranch. Photo by Haley Sutton
Staff also cleared dry grasses to improve access for visitors at several places including the Coralwood Trail at Mangini Ranch Educational Preserve, and around the bench and kiosk at Curry Canyon Ranch along Knobcone Point Road.
They completed fire abatement touchups on a few properties.
In preparation for future Diablo Restoration Team workdays, the team also collected multiple loads of mulch for our Marsh Creek 1 and 7 pollinator garden and Mangini Ranch picnic area.
Additionally, the kestrel boxes located at sites around the mountain are being monitored. Two of the five boxes checked so far have been successful, with at least two eyas (kestrel chicks that haven’t learned to fly yet) in each.
Lastly, the California milkweed flowers at Curry Canyon Ranch have been pollinated and the plants are growing seedpods. There’s so much to see and do!
Watering Crew
We held our first watering crew meetup of the season at Irish Canyon, where staff and volunteers watered all the valley (Quercus lobata) and blue (Quercus douglasii) oak tree sites established the previous two winters.
This January, volunteers established 55 blue oak tree sites in addition to the 21 valley oak tree sites planted the year prior.
Our mighty crew watered all 76 tree sites, and we were excited to see that over a third of them already have young seedlings growing within the tubes.
Join our summer watering crew!
We convene at each site every three weeks on Wednesday mornings during the dry season to water all our native plantings. Big thanks to all our watering crew volunteers!
Discover Diablo
Discover Diablo: Reptile Ramble. Photo by Emily Sherwood
Reptile Ramble, June 1st.
Participants joined East Bay Regional Park District Naturalist Kevin Dixon for a ramble out at Save Mount Diablo’s Curry Canyon Ranch in search of reptiles.
The weather was pleasant and ideal for spotting a gopher snake, a garter snake, and several western fence lizards.
Everyone also enjoyed the beautiful array of wildflowers still in bloom along the trail.
Discover Diablo: Reptile Ramble. Photo by Emily Sherwood
Discover Diablo: Exploratory Hike – Del Puerto Canyon. Photo by Sean Burke
Exploratory Hike – Del Puerto Canyon, June 6th.
Participants were invited to explore the heart of the Diablo Range at Del Puerto Canyon.
Led by Sean Burke, Save Mount Diablo’s Land Programs Director, participants crossed the creek and climbed to the top of the ridgeline for a stunning vista of the canyon and surrounding area.
Numerous fire-following species were seen as the area continues to recover from the SCU Lightning Complex wildfires.
Save Mount Diablo CARES
CARES students look for wildlife at Curry Canyon Ranch. Photo by Kendra Smith
This summer, Save Mount Diablo had the privilege of hosting four field trip days at Curry Canyon Ranch with students from Mount Diablo Unified School District through the Bay Area Community Resources CARES program.
Students from El Dorado Middle School, Ygnacio Valley High School, Garden Academy, and Holbrook Language Academy participated in our 10,000 Trees and Plants initiative.
They protected blue oak seedlings on the slopes above the Curry Canyon Ranch field station by using special blue grow tubes designed to create a beneficial microclimate.
Through the efforts of 36 students and seven adults, 358 seedlings were protected!
CARES students at our Curry Canyon Ranch restoration site. Photo by Kendra Smith
In the afternoons, Save Mount Diablo staff guided students through various nature exploration activities, such as
- hiking to the house pond to observe red-legged frogs,
- plein air painting,
- meditating on the peacefulness of nature during solo activities, or
- using foldscopes for a field microbiology lesson.
We hope each student felt a little more comfortable in nature and had a fun, memorable experience. Thank you to all the CARES students and staff for their stewardship help and fun energy!
Tabling Events
Volunteer tabling at the Walnut Creek library. Photo by Kendra Smith
The end of June was the conclusion of tabling season for Save Mount Diablo staff and volunteers.
Since April, Save Mount Diablo has tabled at 12 events across Contra Costa County to promote our conservation mission and invite the community to get involved.
In June, we attended the Contra Costa Library Exploration Station events at Walnut Creek and Brentwood libraries, engaging kids and families with games about the native and invasive species found in the Mount Diablo area.
And we attended the 16th annual Martinez Beaver Fest at Susana Park, where Save Mount Diablo’s band, Blue-Eyed Grass, performed.
We are grateful to every community member who came to one of these events and visited our table!
