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Fossil Redwood Stump, Florissant Colorado
A 34 million-year-old fossil redwood stump at Florissant Fossil Bed National Monument in Colorado. In Colorado for a spell I found myself finding my way through forested lands I had never seen to see...
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The Case For Renaming Los Padres National Forest
“I love the feeling when it falls apart.” –Red Hot Chili Peppers, Desecration Smile “By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by the act of June 4, 1897, 30 Stat. 1, 11, 36 (U.S.C.,...
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The Great Valley Oak Death Rattle, Fish Creek Camp
‘Tis yet another devastating blow. Like the death of the live oak of Mono Narrows Camp. The immolation by wildfire of the disjunct relictual stand of Ponderosa pine along Dry Lakes Ridge. And so too...
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Mammoth Rubbing Rocks
Edge of the continent, Sonoma County “Groovy, man. How much do you want for this special battery-powered back-scratcher in the showcase, man.” “Cost you one dollar and ninety-five cents.” “A necessary...
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Restoration Travesty, San Marcos Foothills Preserve
The filthy-toed plebe at the gate. He’s the latest superhero with powers so profoundHe can leap a dotted line in just a single bound I know you must have seen him in the books and magazinesHe’s the...
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The Potsherd Ponder
“People like to pick them up and take them home. Some are small as buttons, some a quarter of a broken bowl with insides painted in spirals and interlocked teeth. I’ve seen places lousy with potsherds...
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The Plunder and Peddle
“Pocketing potsherds is erasure. It is the worst of colonization, the taking of the land. If you believe the stealing has ended, it has not.” –Craig Childs Why Potsherds Matter On this, the last day...
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Grinding Stone Revealed
This is how it happens. I wrote of how things turn up in the forest like a stray coin on a city street. (Potsherd Ponder) And this is how it happens. A casual discovery. We make our rounds checking...
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Hiking Is Not A Crime
Santa Barbara Women’s March Expands Beyond Abortion Hundreds join 7th annual rally marking what would have been 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade ruling, but speakers emphasize issues are ‘bigger than...
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Bald Eagle, Gaviota Coast
https://videos.files.wordpress.com/tebTHaNy/img_2066-5.mp4 The swell measured 26.9 feet at 17 seconds on January 5, the largest in the 18 year history of Harvest Buoy. “The swell on Jan. 5 and 6,...
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Hiking is Not A Crime, Let Forest Be Thy Medicine
Ranger: Howdy, sir. Sorry, the forest is closed.Hiker: Why?Ranger: Well, there’s been some slides and wash outs and rockfalls and trees fallen over and we heard tell of a big rut. Hiker: Oh. So you...
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Hiking Is Not A Crime; Bull Moose and Titmouse
The bull moose and the titmouse. “As a result of his 1903 visit to California, Roosevelt was to create the Santa Barbara National Forest out of the Pine Mountain and Zaca Lake Forest Reserves. This...
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County Dumps Debris In Sensitive Habitat Off-Limits To Recreational...
An angelshark swimming up Goleta Beach Slough, a State Marine Conservation Area. David Bacon pinned a righteous note to the bulletin board over at Noozhawk decrying the dumping of tons of sediment...
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Hiking Is Not A Crime; Hiker’s PreCheck Forest Entry Pass
Why is the Forest Service treating us like this? The Transportation Safety Administration treats people differently when conducting security screenings. Thousands of lives are on the line. Not just on...
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Hiking Is Not A Crime; Done Dirty By Diktat
“What does accessibility mean? Is there any spot on earth that men have not proved accessible by the simplest means—feet and legs and heart? … A venturesome minority will always be eager to set off on...
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Claw Marks In the Tiny Tank
I went for a walk to a tiny tank high on the mountain. The rain had fallen for days, for hours non-stop, in amounts not common around this neck of the woods. Records were set. And so we have to get...
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Wild Iris Bloom, Santa Ynez Mountains
The wild iris are abloom now in the Santa Ynez Mountains. This particular flush shown may be the best bloom in many years, coming after the Thomas Fire of 2017 cleared the way, and a month after the...
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Hiking Is Not A Crime, With Log Hauling Permit
The optics present a terrible spectacle to the raucous crowd observing the clumsy show from the stands overlooking the public square. Like rubbernecking a pileup on the freeway. Some government dude...
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Hiking Is Not A Crime, With Log Hauling Permit
[EDIT 2/21/2023: Well, I made a huge mistake here, my apologies. I had some things wrong in this post. I don’t take that lightly. In point of fact, the Chumash Wilderness is not included in the forest...
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Firefighters Save the Old Oak, San Marcos Preserve
“It had stood there for hundreds of years, and he thought it would always stand there. Its roots clutched the hill like a fist with fingers sunk into the soil, and he thought that if a giant were to...
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