Thu, August 28, 2008

Letter: Land Trust restoration event at Francis Beach, Saturday

Letter

By Jo Chamberlain on Thu, August 28, 2008

Jo Chamberlain

The Lizard Tail plant that I have been helping by clearing away invasive poison hemlock, wild radish and mustard from its root structure. The picture was taken at the last restoration day on July 26th. The flowers will have dried and the seeds matured during this past month. If the seeds are dry enough, they can be distributed to other locations on the property. Come next spring there will be little Lizard Tail plants for the birds, insects and us to enjoy.

The Coastside Land Trust is holding our monthly restoration event at our Francis Beach properties this coming Saturday, August 30th, 12:30 to 3pm. We’re making good progress re-establishing native vegetation on these beautiful bluff top properties. The invasive species are now dry and our dry-summer adapted native species are coming into their own with blooms, seed setting and dispersal.

Lizard Tail, Purple Aster, Bee Flower, Yellow Lupine and Coyote Bushes are all finishing blooming, setting seed or starting to bloom. Once their seeds mature and dry, these natives have various methods of seed dispersal. For example the Yellow Lupine has seed pods that when dry, pop open, and the seeds are literally thrown out into the air to fall to the ground away from the parent plant. Others like the Purple Aster rely on the wind and birds for seed disbursal. We will spend the day discussing these seed disbursal methods and others, identifying native and invasive plants, and removing invasive plants.

Please join us. Check in at the Francis State Beach kiosk at Kelly and the Pacific Ocean, proceed north on the maintenance road to the maintenance sheds. Our properties are on the east side of the maintenance road. Refreshments, good humor and appreciation are provided for all ages and abilities.

Jo Chamberlain