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Heritage Tree Nomination Tree Species: Torrey Pine (Pinus Torreyana) Some History

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Heritage Tree Nomination Tree Species: Torrey Pine (Pinus Torreyana) Some History Heritage Tree Nomination Tree Species: Torrey Pine (Pinus torreyana) Some History This historical information on the Torrey Pine is from the California Native Plant Society (Calscape.org): The Torrey pine, Pinus torreyana, is the rarest pine species in the United States, an endangered species growing along the coast of San Diego County and on two of the Channel Islands. It is a broad, open-crowned pine tree growing to 8 - 17 meters (26 - 56 ft) tall in the wild, with 25 - 30 centimeters (9.8 - 11.8 in) long gray-green needles groups of five. The cones are stout and heavy, typically 8 - 15 cm (3.1 - 5.9 in) long and broad, and contain large, hard-shelled, but edible, pine nuts. The species name torreyana is named for John Torrey, an American botanist, after whom the coniferous genus Torreya is also named. The "wild" native population of Pinus torreyana is restricted to about 3000 trees growing in a narrow strip along the Southern California coast in San Diego, and on Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands. The presence of Torrey pines along the semi-arid coast of San Diego and Santa Rosa Island (rainfall less than 15 inches per year) is probably a relic population of a much more extensive Ice Age distribution. Coastal fog during spring and summer along the San Diego and Santa Rosa Island coast provides just enough moisture to supplement the fairly low winter rainfall, allowing for survival of the species in the wild habitat zone. In its native habitat, Pinus torreyana is found in the Coastal sage scrub plant community, growing slowly in dry sandy soil. The root system is extensive. A tiny seedling may quickly send a taproot down 60 centimeters (24 in) seeking moisture and nutrients. A mature tree may have roots extending 75 meters (246 ft). Exposed trees battered by coastal winds are often twisted into beautiful sculptural shapes resembling large bonsai, and rarely exceed 12 m (39 ft) tall. Pinus torreyana was one of the rarest pine species in the world in the early 20th century, with only around 100 trees surviving. However, with conservation the wild population has grown to about 3,000 trees in present times. 1 Current Torrey Pine Assessment/Conservation Information From Three Organizations conifers.org The Torrey Pine has conservation status “Vulnerable” according to the website https://www.conifers.org/pi/Pinus_torreyana.phpjuu Distribution and Ecology USA: California: occurs naturally only in a relict stand near the coast at Del Mar in San Diego County (elevation 0-125 m). Habitat dry fogbelt zone on eroding, mostly dry slopes. Species is rare and so, of conservation concern (Kral 1993). The total population was 3,401 mature trees in 1973, with a total of about 7,000 inclusive of seedlings and saplings (Ledig and Conkle 1983). Although P. torreyana is now a local endemic, "its distribution in Oligocene and Miocene (or at least that of its near ancestor) extended north to Oregon. Its harsh natural habitat elicits an unusually contorted and often sparse form, quite unlike the cleaner and taller form the species takes in cultivation. "In terms of numbers of individuals in the wild, as well as the small area occupied by natural populations, Pinus torreyana is without a doubt the rarest North American pine. As such it is under protection. (Note: Below are definitions of some of the above terms on the conifers.org site.) Local endemic: unique to a defined geographic location. Oligocene: a geologic epoch that extends from about 33.9 to 23 million years before the present Miocene: a geologic epoch that extends from about 23.03 to 5.3 million years before the present) 2 iucnredlist.org IUCN STATUS: Critically Endangered The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources on its 2013 Red List of Threatened Species lists the Torrey Pine as “Critically Endangered.” There are only two levels worse than “Critically Endangered.” They are “Extinct in the Wild” and finally “Extinct.” In 1998 the Torrey Pine was listed as “Endangered,” so in the intervening15 years, its situation has grown more dire. The next update to the Red List is scheduled for Summer, 2020. Following is more information on the Torrey Pine from the IUCN website www.iucnredlist.org Urbanization is encroaching on the mainland population (ssp. torreyana) with the effect that trees outside the Torrey Pines State Park are still disappearing. There is also an acute risk of a major fire wiping out a large part of the population, a risk that is known to increase for various reasons where housing developments are near the population in a potentially fire-prone area. The present decline is probably slow, but ongoing. The extent of occurrence and area of occupancy are both very small (20 km2 and 4 km2 respectively) and the whole area can be treated as a single location. The mainland subspecies is therefore listed as Critically Endangered. 3 CURRENT POPULATION TREND Decreasing NUMBER OF MATURE INDIVIDUALS 3,000-3,500 CONTINUING DECLINE OF MATURE INDIVIDUALS Yes Threats Housing and urban areas Fire and fire suppression Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases Conservation Action Needs Site/area protection Site/area management Ex-situ conservation Compliance and enforcement 4 The trees seem like an avatar of resilience in an austere environment, but Torrey pines (Pinus torreyana) are some of the most rare and critically endangered pines in the world. A century ago, the pines went through a near-extinction-level population crash when the trees, never common, were largely cleared for pastureland development. The survivors were mostly in isolated areas— like Santa Rosa Island—that had only been settled by a few trees to begin with. The number of trees has increased since then, and their blown-up bonsai appearance has made Torrey pines popular ornamental trees. But the population bottleneck caused by the near-extinction meant the obliteration of nearly all of the species’ genetic diversity Today, the 2,000 trees on Santa Rosa are so inbred that they can’t be genetically distinguished from one another. The only other enclave of wild Torrey pines on Earth—3,400 trees in Torrey Pines State Reserve near San Diego—is in a similar situation, while also struggling with an invasion of the five-spined engraver beetle, which has reached epidemic proportions. September 28, 1917 5 Nomination The Torrey Pine that is the subject of this nomination grows behind the home at 1127 Sea Village Drive in the neighborhood of Cardiff-by-the-Sea. It stands just at the edge of high ground before the land slopes downhill and ends at canyon land recently acquired by the Nature Collective (formerly known as San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy). This adjoining conservancy land is described in an article from the San Diego Union-Tribune, Sept. 27, 2019, as “a really rare habitat type called southern coast bluff scrub.” The Torrey Pine at 1127 Sea Village Drive is a valuable resident of the neighborhood and a perfect neighbor for the Nature Collective, supporting the ecological system of animals and plants that live in the canyon. Its seeds are available for food and for new trees, and owls and other birds of prey hunt from its limbs. Its limbs not only provide roosts for birds of the canyon and neighborhood, but they also protect the understory plants that grow beneath it. On foggy days, its long needles condense fog into droplets that fall to the ground, providing moisture during the dry summer months. It stands out as a landmark (approximately forty feet tall, twenty-five feet across the canopy) to hikers in the canyon looking up to the neighborhood above. It rises above the house so is a landmark to those passing by on the street in front of the house and also a landmark to the houses to the north and northeast as they look down toward the south and southwest. To those familiar with the neighborhood and who know where to look, the tree can even be spotted from the freeway and the beach. It pinpoints the location of Sea Village Drive. The home at 1127 Sea Village Drive and some around it were built by Piedmont Construction Company, a partnership of the Jaffee Family. In the fall of 1975, the builder planted some Torrey Pine seedlings toward the back of some of the lots. It was a gesture of optimism and good will toward the new neighborhood. Many of those seedlings did not receive enough moisture to make it through the first years. Some were cut down, and others were blown down by strong winds. The little seedling at 1127 found a good location with thoughtful caretakers. It is alive and beautiful these 45 years later. We don’t know the complete history of the Torrey at 1127. Where did the tree grow that produced the cone that held the seed that contained this tree inside it? What kind of conditions did the cone experience during the years (probably at least two or three) that it took for the seed to be “ready?” Quoting Hope Jahren, a geobiologist and the author of the very interesting book, Lab Girl, “A seed knows how to wait. Most seeds wait for at least a year before starting to grow; a cherry seed can wait for a hundred years with no problem. What exactly each seed is waiting for is known only to that seed. Some unique trigger- combination of temperature-moisture-light and many other things is required to 6 convince a seed to jump off the deep end and take its chance—take its one and only chance to grow.” The website naturecollective.org has a theory about how the seed might have been planted: “The scattered trees growing in the San Elijo Lagoon Reserve have probably been planted by scrub jays, hiding pine nuts for a future meal.” Then after the seed was somehow planted, how long before the first tiny root emerged and attempted to suck up enough water to send up a tiny green shoot? Again, quoting Hope Jahren, “No risk is more terrifying than that taken by the first root.
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