Kelpscape

Santa Cruz Buckwheat

The network of narrow ridges south of El Montanon Ridge on Santa Cruz Island, seemed like Mars, but with a lot of fog.  I'm not sure whether it was bad to have the fog, so that we couldn't see how steep and narrow the ridges are; or if a spectacular view would have made up for it.  This seems to be a good place for the native plants of Santa Cruz, including the Santa Cruz buckwheat here, with yellow flowers.

Liveforever

This seems to be Dudleya cymosa, with the common name of Liveforever. This place atop this ridge south of El Montanon Ridge on Santa Cruz seems to suit it well, although it's very inhospitable.  These plants add to the Mars-like feeling atop the ridge.

 

Oatgrass Meadow on Santa Cruz

It's hard to believe that the grass in this image is an invasive species, but I believe it's oatgrass, native to Europe.  It's interesting to think about what this scene looked like before oatgrass grew here.  The oatgrass made good pasture for generations of sheep: I think of the sheepherding operations here on Santa Cruz Island, which TC Boyle described convincingly in When the Killing's Done. I'm not sure what, if any, animals depend on it now. It's hard to answer the question: if we want to turn the clock back for the island ecosystem, when should we set it?  What species deserve to stay here, and which must die out?  It seems to me that the ones that exist only here, or are extremely rare, deserve to stay. Species that other species depend upon deserve special consideration. Species that are so common that they choke out others should be trimmed back. And from my perspective, survival of a species is more important than survival of an individual.