VEGETATION AND FLORA of the LANDELS-HILL BIG CREEK RESERVE Monterey County, California by Charisse Bickford and Paul Rich Second Edition Edited by Publication No. 15 University of California, Santa Cruz Martha Brown Environmental Field Program 1984 VEGETATION AND FLORA of the LANDELS-HILL BIG CREEK RESERVE Monterey County, California ii VEGETATION AND FLORA of the LANDELS-HILL BIG CREEK RESERVE Monterey County, California Second Edition by Charisse Bickford and Paul Rich Edited by Martha Brown Publication No. 15 Environmental Field Program University of California, Santa Cruz 1984 Copyright 1984 by the Environmental Field Program, University of California, Santa Cruz iv Enter through the steep, rocky wall the narrow canyon mouth, open to the sea. Wilderness dwells yet within, hidden delights: delicate wildflower, misted fern, and ancient tree; In rocks molded into mountain then swallowed again to mud and sand a tale is told Life and form of the land, true teacher, wisdom so old. Paul Rich vi SUMMARY Eleven plant communities are described for the Landels—Hill Big Creek Reserve. Highly varied habitat availability of the coastal Santa Lucia Mountains results in a correspondingly complex patterning of the vegetation. The most mesic conditions are present on the canyon bottoms, where redwood, riparian species, and mixed hardwood trees predominate. On the more mesic slopes (especially north—facing slopes), a mixed hardwood forest predominates, with redwoods present in the moister areas. The tops of the ridges facing the ocean support open live oak woodlands and grass- lands. On the dry, exposed slopes——from the coastal bluffs along the ocean to an altitude of about 900 meters – (3,000 ft) – is a “soft chap- arral” community, dominated by California sagebrush (Artemisia califor- nica). In the higher elevations of the reserve, the dry, exposed slopes are dominated by chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum) in a “hard chaparral” community. On some slightly moister slopes grows a shrub community domi- nated by California lilac (Ceanothus thrysiflorus) and other species of shrub stature. On the South Highlands, ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and Hoover’s manzanita (Arctostaphylos hooveri) are the dominant species of the woodland community. On the steep, north—facing slopes of Devil’s Canyon in the upper elevations of the reserve, Santa Lucia fir (Abies bracteata) occurs at its lower elevation distributional limit. Isolated stands of Coulter pine (Pinus coulteri) occur on the ridgetops in the up- per elevations of the reserve. The flora of the reserve, as presently known, includes 342 vascular plant species and at least 21 moss and liverwort species. Many endemic species of the Santa Lucia Mountains, including the Santa Lucia fir (Abies bracteata) are present in the reserve. Three disjunct species – ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), sugar pine (P. lambertiana), and spot- ted coral—root (Corallorhiza maculata)——are also found in the reserve. Numerous plants reach the limits of their distributions near the reserve in the Big Sur region; these include the coast redwood (Sequoia semper- virens) and California peony (Paeonia californica). Seven plant species with limited distributions grow on the reserve: Santa Lucia fir (Abies bracteata), Monterey pine (Pinus radiata), branching beach—aster (Core- throgyne leucophylla), Hoover’s manzanita (Arctostaphylos hooveri), Lewis’s or bill clarkia (Clarkia lewisii), Santa Lucia gooseberry (Ribes sericeum), and one—sided monkey flower (Mimulus subsecundus). Introduced species make up approximately one—sixth of the reserve’s flora. vii viii Contents SUMMARY . vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . x LIST OF TABLES . x PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION . xi PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION . xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . xv 1. INTRODUCTION . 1 Topography . 3 Geology . 5 Vegetation and Flora . 5 Vertebrates . 7 Land Use and Ownership . 8 Climate . 11 2. VEGETATION AND FLORA . 15 Introduction . 17 Reserve Vegetation . 17 Previous Botanical Collection and Study . 18 Plant Communities. 21 Environmental Influences on Community Structure. 21 Previous Research . 22 Community Classification . 24 Natural and Human Disturbances of the Vegetation . 45 Introduction . 45 Fire . 46 Grazing . 47 Logging . 48 Discussion of the Flora . 49 Floristic Summary . 49 Endemism . 51 Disjunct Species . 53 Distributional Limits . 55 Introduced Plants . 57 Rare Plants . 59 Plants of the Reserve . 60 Bryophytes . 60 Vascular Plants . 61 ix APPENDIX: Plants of the Gamboa Point Properties Which May Occur in the Reserve . 115 LITERATURE CITED . 119 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Index Map ............................................................ 4 Reserve Place Names and Features ......................following page 10 Vegetation Map ....................................... following page 24 LIST OF TABLES Table 2-1: Taxonomic Position of the Vascular Plants in the Reserve .. 49 Table 2-2: Ten Largest Families of Vascular Plants in the Reserve .... 50 Table 2—3: Seven Largest Genera of Vascular Plants in the Reserve .... 50 Table 2-4: Santa Lucia Mountains and southern Diablo Range Endemics Found in the Reserve ....................................... 52 Table 2—5: Plant Species of the Reserve that Reach Their Northern or Coastal Northern Distributional Limits in Monterey County .................................................... 55 Table 2—6: Plant Species of the Reserve that Reach Their Southern or Coastal Southern Distributional Limits in or near Monterey County............................................ 56 Table 2—7: Introduced Plants of the Reserve .......................... 57 x Preface to the First Edition This is the first volume in a series of publications about the Lan- dels— Hill Big Creek Reserve——the University of California Natural Land and Water Reserve System’s new teaching and research reserve on the Big Sur Coast. It’s an unusual volume and an unusual series because the re- search was carried out by undergraduate students who designed and coordi- nated their own field projects. Seven honor students from the University of California, Santa Cruz joined forces under the sponsorship of Profes- sor Kenneth S. Norris to survey the natural and cultural resources of the reserve. Their research met a specific need for information. Areas around Big Creek had been studied previously——and these studies formed the foun- dation of the students’ work——but the Big Creek property itself had been visited by only a handful of scientists. The history of the reserve land remained locked in the minds of local residents. Comprehensive informa- tion about the reserve’s significant features was needed by reserve man- agers. The students responded vigorously to the research opportunity. One student began field work in the spring of 1978; others began early that summer, camping on the reserve for extensive periods. They explored ex- haustively the reserve’s winding canyons and precipitous hillsides, brav- ing poison oak—filled thickets to find the answers to their questions. It’s this batch of research that forms the core of this series; but more work has been carried out since then, and more is continuing at this time. xi The vegetation and flora section includes the findings of two stu- dents who conducted separate but cooperative studies. Paul Rich studied the plant communities during the summer of 1978, using on—site observa- tions and aerial photographs to delimit the vegetation units. Charisse Bick.ford identified both the vascular and non—vascular plants, working through the summer of 1978, and then carrying on through the spring and summer of 1979. Their final products——senior theses for both——constitute this volume. This publication will be followed closely by a series of volumes on the geology, vertebrate animals, and history of the reserve. The intro- duction, included here, serves the whole series. Dan Warrick November 1979 xii Preface to the Second Edition Five years have passed since the first edition of Vegetation and Flora of the Landels—Hill Big Creek Reserve became the Environmental Field Program’s (EFP’s) third publication. In those five years, EFP— sponsored students from UC Santa Cruz have covered a lot of ground: they’ve hiked the ranges of Alaska, braved Sierra Nevada snowstorms, and baked under the Baja California sun in order to study animals in the wild; they’ve conducted hundreds of interviews and read stacks of govern- ment documents to learn about the impacts of government policy on people and the environment; and they’ve spent countless hours writing up their findings. Their efforts have added twenty—one more titles to the EFP’s publication list, and an immeasurable amount to our knowledge of animal behavior, natural areas, and environmental issues. In doing so, the stu- dents have confirmed one of the EFP’s basic tenets——that, given the chance, undergraduate students can produce professional, valuable work. Over the past five years, the Landels—Hill Big Creek Reserve (part of the University of California’s Natural Reserve System**), located on the Big Sur coast, has continued to draw the EFP’s student—researchers. Thanks to their work, we now have an oral history of the region, a lyri- cal trail guide to the reserve, and surveys of the reserve’s terrestrial vertebrates, seabirds and shorebirds, intertidal plants and animals, and geology. Some of these reports are available as EFP publications; others are scheduled for production. The first edition of the Vegetation and Flora of the Landels—Hill Big Creek Reserve is now out of print; this second