“I think we had a perfect amount of rain for the days when it occurred,” Arroyo Hondo Preserve manager John Warner tells me as we survey hillsides that had been completely denuded last fall during the Alisal Fire.
“Those were good soakers with long enough periods of wet weather that everything grew really well,” he adds.
Warner is particularly impressed by the number of seedlings from species such as the big pod ceanothus that have become established on the hillsides.
“Even though we haven’t had rain for quite a while it hasn’t seemed to stress them,” he says, “and it looks like we have like a 75% cover when you look at it even the steepest, most exposed slopes.”
Supporting Native Plant Recovery
The biggest concern for the preserve vegetation is the recovery of the native plant species given how much of them were lost during the fire, which ignited Oct. 11 and burned 16,970 acres before being corraled more than a month later. Of particular concern is whether non-native species such as the black mustard will out compete the natives.
As we drive up the canyon in the preserve’s new UTV, Warner points out several locations where transects are being set up to study how newly planted natives will perform as compared to some of the non-native fire followers or mustard do.
This is part of a three-year research project being conducted by the preserve in collaboration with UC Santa Barbara ecologist Kelsey Dowdy as a part of its post-fire recovery program.
Dowdy’s research is focused on ecosystem ecology and climate change, specifically how carbon cycling and microbial communities in soils and waterways respond to environmental change such as wildfire.
Not too long after the Alisal Fire had been declared contained, Warner and Sally Isaacson, The Land Trust for Santa Barbara County’s educational coordinator, began putting together a team of volunteers to assist in the research project at the 782-acre preserve on the Gaviota coast west of Refugio State Beach.
Five sets of one-meter square plots were established in burn areas along the creek, with each set located in a different soil type.
“In each of the sets we are weeding out the non-natives in one and not in the other,” Warner says. The goal is to compare how the natives do with and without non-native competitors.
“We’ve done two rounds of counting,” he tells me. “That’s a little bit too soon to tell what results we’ll get but weeding out the non-natives has been productive.”
Defending Against the Mustard
What is interesting, Warner explains, is how he is seeing a number of the natives being able to defend themselves against the mustard.
“Rhizominous plants such as hummingbird sage, goldenrod, mugwort and blackberry are examples of rhizomes that will outcompete the mustard,” he says. “Mustard has no chance against any of these.”
Rhizomes are plant types that are often called creeping rootstocks because they grow horizontally underground from node to node and are capable of producing new root systems and above ground shoots. Perhaps the most well-known of the rhizomes is poison oak.
The reason plants like these do so well is that as a fire moves though the hillsides and burns most everything down to mineral soil, the underground root network of the rhizomes remain intact and are capable of re-sprouting much quicker than the mustard.
Managing the Vegetation
While the good news from the early research shows that replanting with plants such as those mentioned above can be successful, much of that success is still limited predominantly in the riparian areas where there is both shade and access to moisture.
Warner points to a number of areas where natives have been planted a decade or more ago that are now dominated by them, but dealing with the mustard on the coastal hillsides above the riparian areas is a more difficult proposition, especially in the Rincon shale soil type.
That’s where use of grazing animals such as sheep, goats and even cattle can play a role. Thanks to a grant from the Coastal Conservancy prior to the Alisal Fire, the preserve was able to hire Cuyama Lamb to to gaze the hillsides.
“That work made a huge difference when the fire came through, you know, it made a really big difference on our western slopes,” Warner said.
Currently, Warner is focusing on seeing if the preserve can get a grant to fence along the eastern edge of the property to allow for grazing on that side as well. The goal is to provide a self-contained system where it is easy to graze where it’s not possible to get the natives to grow.
Time-Lapse Studies
To assist with an understanding of how hillsides like those at Arroyo Hondo recover after a fire, videographer Ethan Turpin, founder of the Burn Cycle Project, has installed a series of time-lapse cameras on the upper east side of the burn area near the Outlaw Trail.
The cameras are set to take images every 15 minutes from just before dawn to a bit after dark. The cameras have been operating since last fall.
“Mostly I’m approaching the project from a visual point of view, trying to compose the shots in a way that provides a look at vegetative recovery from the first moments it begins,” Turpin tells me as he sets up a new camera focused on capturing wildlife.
(Bright Eye Cinema video)
What his cameras have provided is a glimpse into how the Arroyo Hondo hillsides are responding to the fire with the growth of the weedy species, the non-native grasses and fire followers coming up quickly and then followed by the slower growth of the species that sprout from crown roots, such as the ceanothus, the chamise, manzanita and yucca.
“It has also been interesting to see the return of the lager animals well,” Turpin says, noting that the bobcat, foxes and other small species that he has been able to capture as they wander by his game cameras.
Fire Ecology Education
Along with assisting Warner with his native plantings, Isaacson has been busy building an educational program that is focused on fire ecology and an understanding of its role in the ecosystem.
“The big change I’ve seen at Arroyo Hondo has been on the stream that runs through the canyon,” she says. “The creek bed has been flattened out and the pools where the fish used to hang out, are gone.
“The fish were there after the fire,” Isaacson adds, “but not after the rains, so we need to remember that this wasn’t just a fire event but a flood event as well.”
The changes may have an even broader effect.
“I’m really interested in what the change along the creek and its riparian edges will mean for Arroyo Hondo,” Isaacson says, “because so much of our education programs with the schools are focused on stream ecology.”
Part of the educational program will be explaining how the riparian corridor has been impacted and what the preserve is doing to mitigate that.
Isaacson notes that with the pools gone the water is much warmer, and along with that new types of organisms may begin to appear.
“With the shade gone that means more light so there’s more algae,” Isaacson adds, “so you can bet there will be different different kinds of herbivorous invertebrates in there now than otherwise might be found.”
One of the first efforts toward providing schoolchildren with a better understanding of stream ecology has been the installation of a new sign board titled “Life in the Stream” that provides an understanding of what a healthy watershed can look like.
The good news is that Isaacson is seeing turtles and newts along the creek and there have been reports of egg masses from the endangered red-legged frog populations as well.
Along with programs like those for schools and other educational groups, she has developed a detailed set of lessons relating to Arroyo Hondo’s natural history and fire ecology for those who wish to explore on their own.
There are 20 stops along the canyon with numbered posts that provide what Isaacson calls opportunities to “walk, look, listen and question.”
Now Open to the Public
If you would like to visit Arroyo Hondo either for one of its docent-led hikes or to explore on your own, the preserve is open to the public every first and third weekend of the month.
Reservations are required and are limited to 60 on each Saturday or Sunday. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with access into the ranch from 10 to 11 a.m. only.
» Online reservation sign-up calendar
» Download self-guided trail lessons
— Noozhawk outdoor writer Ray Ford can be reached at rford@noozhawk.com. Click here for his website, SBoutdoors.com. Follow him on Twitter: @riveray. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook. The opinions expressed are his own.