Last Saturday, February 10th we had a perfect day for a field trip on BLM lands, west of Redding near Igo. Cool dry weather, friendly people, and no rain.
This field trip, which BLM ecologist Brooke Thomson led, had 22 people on it, so about the maximum you can have that allows people to hear what the leader is explaining. Brooke went over the various fire treatment plans they will be using, reducing the shrubs and dead wood on the ground, while leaving the large logs to provide habitat for small animals and to return nutrients to the soil. After this, BLM hopes to be able to do small broadcast burns on occasion to mimic the natural fires that would come through chaparral every 20 to 100 years. Brooke was patient with all the questions she received about BLM work in this area.
We walked to an overlook of a 300-foot deep steep canyon Clear Creek has dug for over thousands of years. At the overlook, Yo Sadohara spotted a silverback fern in between the rocks. It is a very uncommon plant in this area and seems to do best near rock outcroppings. On the way back David Ledger led part of the group back and identified various plants on the way with help from CNPS Rare Plant specialist Don Burk.
We had requests for SEA bumper stickers, so we will bring a few on the Trail 58 field trip on February 24th if you’re interested in getting one.