News from the Bernard Field Station Manager
Stephen Dreher
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4/9/08 - Trespassers
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We’ve had another trespassing situation involving fishing at the lake. On Wednesday afternoon around 4 pm two individuals were observed out on a boat in the lake fishing. I immediately called Campus Safety, and we were able to confront the individuals as they came ashore, with multiple bass in tow.
The two were males, 30-35 years old, one with a mohawk type haircut of perhaps Mexican descent, the other Causcasian (see photos above). CPD was called, but they were tied up on a call about an armed person and would not make it in a timely fashion. They reported to Campus Safety Officer Teuber that they lived in Rancho Cucamonga and Alta Loma. They were escorted out, and they left by cutting under the fence in the neck into the Pomona City Reservoir property.
All users need to be VIGILANT at all times. Please inform your students to be keep a watch out as well. Please note that NO FISHING is allowed up here by anybody, anytime without my express permission. If such occurs, I will notify the users list in advance as to the date.
If it appears unauthorized persons are here at BFS, especially hanging out in the lake, in the boats, or just up to activities not generally part of BFS, please do the following:
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Call the BFS manager at 625 8701
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If the manager does not answer, call Campus Safety at 607 2000 IMMEDIATELY. Describe the activity and persons, make sure they know the location of the individuals and, if possible, arrange a spot to meet with the arriving officer.
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In general, don't confront the individuals yourself (of course, if they are little kids or something you don't feel threatened by, you can use your judgement). In fact, it's better to avoid letting them know you have spied them so they remain and can be caught.
3/4/08 - Wildflower profusion at the BFS
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With the excellent rains this year and the low weed cover from the drought last year, we seem to have a bumper crop of wildflowers in areas that are usually more spotty. The entire north half of the eastern field is just loaded with the yellow flowers of Fiddlenecks (Amsinckia intermedia). It’s really a thick carpet and in full swing. Worth seeing either from Mills or from inside the station. I don’t think Intro Bio classes will have a problem with the pollination labs this year.
Also lots and lots of Phacelia distans getting ready to bloom. Of course, I expect to also see areas of mustard and later the dreaded invasive thistles to take over some of these same areas. It should be a fantastic year, unfortunately, for the late season thistles.
I have not seen blooms of the scarlet red Delphinium cardinale for several years. Kindly be on the lookout for these and let me know if you see them. This plant flowers in May or even June and sends up a flowering stalk about 4 feet or higher. I have seen them just to the south of the east-west road between where the pavement ends and the first road down to the lake area. Also, I have been told they also appear in the middle of the area owned by KGI. If those show up, I would like to transplant them as a safety precaution.
Lastly, our fern species — the Goldenback Fern, (Pentagramma triangularis). This is the single species of fern we have up here to the best of my knowledge. I ran into it like 5 years ago trudging through an area in the central western part of the BFS, could be on KGI land or just north of it. Anyway, I have never found it again, nor do I recall the exact place I saw it. Would love to find it and mark it with GPS coordinates. If you run across it, please let me know. It grows out of the base of larger rocks or rock piles.
4/16/06 - Goat update
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A recent photo shows the regrowth or Artemisia and other shrubs in an area cleared by the goats. Two earlier photos help illustrate the progression. |
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10/14/05 - Goats clear brush at the BFS
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This past August the Fire Department and Department of Agriculture inspectors demanded that we clear vegetation along our border with residences up on Abilene Way (northern boundary on the neck). Rather than wholesale clearing, I obtained agreement to clear buckwheat and sagebrush (which is most of the dried vegetation anyway) and to selectively leave evergreen shrubs, trees, cacti, etc. Basically, just to "space" it up. To that end, goats are being used to accomplish this. The people doing it have been very successful in using the goats to remove invasive species further north and doing selective clearance in wildland/urban interfaces. As an added benefit, the goats LOVE poison oak, so we will thin out, but NOT eliminate it from that area (if you know it, it's the poison oak forest up there). BFS is facing new scrutiny by fire officials after the 2004 events. The initial demands were severe, and I was especially fearful they would next demand 50 to 100-foot clearance all along the eastern neck with those houses (which are actually closer to BFS than the Abilene Way structures). To resist their orders would entail possible legal and liability issues, especially if a fire were to occur after we failed to comply. So, using the goats gives us an opportunity to experiment a bit as well. Can this tool be used to not only reduce the wildfire threat, but simulate fire, providing new open niches for recruitment of juvenile shrubs and wildflowers? Or will it permit invasion of exotics? Obviously, some excellent possibilities for student projects. The reality is that at some point BFS will burn. Crossed fingers every summer will not prevent it from occurring. After receiving a tour three years ago, the Fire Department informed me that they would not enter BFS during a fire, even to protect our structures. They will not drive the fire roads nor even the paved entrance road. It will be solely a perimeter fight. In the condition BFS is in now, such a fire would be intense and total, given the density of cover with senescent sage scrub. Half of the field station is protected from development for 50 years and we should be planning for the long term. A large-scale intense fire, rather than helping this habitat, could convert BFS into a mustard, thistle and exotic grassland. If such a fire resulted in loss of residences and/or lives, public and political pressure would mount to keep the field station from returning to a wild state even if the habitat could recover. Should the goats turn out to be an effective tool, we can deal with the residential boundaries in a healthy way. Since the goats will also devour mustards and thistles when the plants are young (and they can be directed to eat only that), we may be able to reduce the dried and kindling-like biomass those plants leave yearly. The amount of mustard during this past rain year was tremendous. Thanks to Cathy McFadden and Nina Karnovsky for their help and advice on woodrats and birds in the treatment area. Nina pointed out that our kangaroo rats like open space between the shrubs, so there could even be more activity with those creatures post-clearing. If you'd like to check it out personally, just head up to the upper neck! We will be documenting the effects of clearing by goats on the BFS web pages, so check back for progress reports. Some preliminary photos are at right — click on a photo for a larger image. The October 9th issue of the Claremont Courier had an article on the brush-clearing goats, including their work at the BFS. |
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2/27/05 - Rain, wildflowers, and weed control
Thanks to webmaster Nancy Hamlett, the BFS website continues to grow and improve. Please check out the new lichens page as well as new photos up on the plant pages. She's now set me up with a page to keep everyone informed of on-going activities and changes up at BFS. We the Manager's page will work out better and reach more folks than the ad-hoc emails do. Now to the news...
Obviously, this is one incredible rain year, not just for the amount of rain, but that the season started early (October) and the rains have been evenly and regularly spaced. The upside is that our native annual plant species are responding wonderfully. The downside is that so are the human-introduced exotic weeds. Everything is gearing up for the big bloom in March and April. So... I am in need of VOLUNTEERS for a mustard and thistle hunt!
Faculty — perhaps you could provide extra credit for students who spend an afternoon up here working on habitat. If extra credit isn't appropriate, maybe you could just mention it to your students who are working or have worked at BFS and enjoyed it. I'd like to schedule an afternoon or two and would be happy to provide some pizza and drinks.
If you doubt the efficacy of these efforts, I can point you to three small plots I have diligently sprayed and pulled mustards for 3 years. At this point, the mustards have been controlled by 50-90% and the recovery of annual natives is simply unbelievable. One plot was almost all mustard and horehound (Marrubium vulgare). This year it is 80% native phacelia! The problem is that the mustards and invasive thistles produce huge numbers of seeds. That, along with the existing seed bank, means that weed control remains a steady imperative or the areas will backslide into weedy monocultures.
Any interested parties should contact me directly. More updates on the manager's page will be coming on a regular basis.
© 2001-2009 Bernard Field Station Faculty Advisory Committee
Page last updated 9 March 2009 by Nancy Hamlett.