In many of our communications to More Mesa Preservation Coalition supporters, we have emphasized the importance of building a very large and powerful supporter base.  MMPC  stresses this point over and over, because, at this stage of our efforts to preserve More Mesa , it is crucial that all the people who care deeply about More Mesa be aware of everything that is happening in, around, and about this very special place. From the few community residents who chose to be supporters of MMPC in 2000, we have increased to more than 850 strong.  The graphic below shows the robust and steady growth we have witnessed in the intervening years.

However, it is now more important than ever to expand this supporter base to twice, or three times, its current number.  Should the status of any aspect of More Mesa change, at any time, we want all of the community to know about it … and know about it quickly.  We want to be agile and able to respond to any issue effectively and promptly. Toward this end, we hope to accelerate the growth of our supporter base in the coming months.  You can help by talking about More Mesa to your family, friends, neighbors and colleagues.  Urge them to be included on the MMPC list, by contacting us.  Almost all of our communication is done via e-mail, so we ask that supporters supply an e-mail address, and at least one other form of contact (mailing address and/or phone) so that we easily relocate supporters who change servers.  Please know that all contact information is held in the strictest of confidence and will not be supplied to any other person or organization … ever.

Thanks for all your help.

Since the Gap Fire has greatly heightened our awareness of fire, we are taking this opportunity to present a final update of plant recovery from the fire that broke out on More Mesa almost exactly a year ago.  That fire was described in our August 2007 News.

Also, we previously presented an interim update concerning recovery of the fire area in our February 2008 News.

To gather information on recovery, MMPC routinely monitored the five-acre burn area, from September of 2007 until June of this year. Specifically, we were interested to see how both native plants, as well as invasive plants, were recovering, or colonizing, after the fire.  To do this, we observed and annotated what was happening in specific areas of the burn, and photographed the changes in different trees, shrubs and ground cover.

The Bad News:  Predictably, all invasive species exhibited a robust recovery:

• Malva and radish occurred almost everywhere.
• Harding Grass was slow to come up in the fall, but winter rains produced spring grasses as high as six feet tall.
• Small eucalyptus recovered fully, with shoots quickly appearing at the base of burned trees.
• In spring, at least two species of Oxalis covered a large portion of the burn area with a thick coat of light green leaves, and then yellow flowers.  However, as the summer progressed, Harding Grass and Mustard obliterated the oxalis and created such an impenetrable wall that it became impossible to traverse from one north-south trail to another on the east side of More Mesa.

The Good News:  While many natives reappeared, the recovery was slower than that of the invasive species.  However, winter rains in late January benefited native plants in that:

• Coastal live oaks have healthy new shoots in the burned upper branches of young trees, as well as shoots from the bottom of main trunks.  And, a new tree appeared as well.
• Coyote bush made a robust comeback all over the burn area.
• Willows sported new leaves in the top burned branches as well as near trunks.

In addition, many native wildflowers such as lupine, poppy and owl’s clover were seen in, and near, the burn area.

Coyote Bush – 2007

Coyote Bush – 2008

Coyote Bush – 2008

Last month’s news described the steps involved in the Updated Biological Resources Study on More Mesa subsequent to the selection of a consulting organization to perform the work.  On March 24th, Santa Barbara County announced the selection of the group that will conduct the survey in the message below:

More Mesa Biological Resource Study – Status Update

The County of Santa Barbara has selected an independent contractor, Rincon Consultants, to prepare the biological resource study of More Mesa.  Rincon Consultants has offices in Ventura and San Luis Obispo and has done extensive work in the Santa Barbara area.  Preparation of the study, including intensive field survey work, will begin immediately in order to capture the late winter/early spring survey season.  Formal approval of the contract is expected to be granted by the Board of Supervisors on April 15th.  The study will be comprehensive, lasting approximately one year.  You may notice survey equipment and other materials out on the site in addition to researchers investigating the site throughout the year.  If you are out on More Mesa, please respect, and do not disturb any collection or study materials. If you have any questions or comments during the preparation of the study, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Alex Tuttle
Planner, Development Review
Planning & Development
(805) 884-6844
123 East Anapamu Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

MMPC continues to encourage all who are interested in being kept informed of County announcements about the Biological Resources Study to contact Alex Tuttle at  atuttle@co.santa-barbara.ca.us .  Ask to be put on the “Interested Parties” list.

Above average rainfall has produced a profusion of glorious native wildflowers on More Mesa.  Some of the dozen or more species found on More Mesa this year are pictured below.  Enjoy!

Baby Blue-eyes and Tidy-tips

Goldfields and Redmaid

California Poppy and Lupine