The Sandhills Extension of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park

this video overviews the Santa Cruz Sills and furthermore addresses some of the rare plants and animals that live here and the importance of recreating responsibly in this delicate ecosystem stay tuned hey everybody it's Dylan mcmanis with California state parks talking to you from an area of Henry Cal Redwood State Park known as the new acquisition now this landscape is part of what's without a doubt the most jeopardized ecosystems of the park arguably the entire Biore region the Santa Cruz Sand Hills now this does not mean that we shouldn't hike bike and recreate in this ecosystem but it does mean that we need to do those things mindfully conscientiously and in the right place because there are a handful of exceptionally rare and unique characteristics of the sandels and it's up to each and every one of us to find the balance between record ation and conservation after all this is the mission statement of California state parks So today we're going to go for a walk in the new acquisition and we are going to try and observe some of these characteristics chat a little bit about their disposition possibly their ecological roles and furthermore the rationale behind responsible recreation in the Santa Cruz Sand Hills let's get started it's likely one of the first things you notice about this ecosystem is all of the sand it looks like a moonscape or something the fascinating thing about this sand is that everyone look who it is this is Emily techler she's the parks geology Superstar Emily we were just noticing all of this lovely sand can you talk to us a little bit about it absolutely so to know the story of this sand we have to go back 10 million years way back then this Sandstone was at the bottom of a shallow ocean sea level eventually dropped bringing the Sandstone above water the Sandstone underwent erosion creating the wonderful sand we see here over a long time the San Andreas Vault had many earthquakes that changed the landscape so that this former ocean was brought up to Mountain height this sand can't be found anywhere else that's a part of what makes the Santa Cruz Sand Hill so unique that totally rocks Emily thanks so much for sharing you're welcome I'm sure I'll see you again this is incredible I'm hearing a blue gray Gat catcher it's a very small bird species that I have never seen in this park and it's somewhere very close I'm going to see if I can get a better view for you folks um but the the records the documentations of blue gray knat catchers uh in this area of the county are far and few between so it's incredible that there are blue gray knat catchers here in the Sand Hills okay take a look six years working here and I have never seen a Blu gry KN catcher before absolutely amazing although I don't know too much about Blu grain KN catchers what I can tell you is that they're associated with chapparel habitats and pine species so I guess you know I'm not too surprised that I'm finding them here in the Sand Hills of all places in the park that is so cool and absolutely teaches us that hey there's a lot of unique and cool stuff in the Santa Cruz Sand Hills oh my gosh ooh ooh okay here is an extremely bizarre plant species that occurs in the Santa Cruz Sand Hills this is a ground cone it's named after its superficial appearance to different cone types let me see if there's a cone nearby oh yeah okay here's a cone from a ponderosa pine you can kind of see the visual similarities and hey look at that there's actually a third one right back there ground cones grow at the base of Manzanita shrubs so it makes good sense that they occur here in the sandels because that's also where three different species of manzanas occur ground cones actually depend on mansanas because they steal their sugar the drama that's right this is a parasitic plant meaning it does not photosynthesize but rather steals food from other plants what an absolutely unique lifestyle now this is one of the few areas in the park where ground cones are documented and look at that they're growing immediately adjacent to the trail what a fantastic reminder that not only are Sand Hills plants unique and rare but it's also important for us to watch our step and make sure that we are recreating responsibly check this out there's an orange hummingbird right here the hummingbirds in our Park can generally be classified into two distinct groups the orange birds there are two species these are the migratory hummingbirds and the pink birds this is only a single species these birds are residents they remain here in the park year round let's see if we can get a closer look at this hummingbird the orange birds arrive at a time that coincides with blooming Huckleberry Manzanita and monkey flower so they're pollinators of these plant species the plants support the birds and the birds support the plants but alas the two species of orange hummingbirds have declining populations because they depend on large undeveloped areas with minimal disturbance and in this day and age those spaces are getting smaller and smaller and that's a concern my friends because hummingbirds are a keystone species meaning that they are a big reason that the ecosystem as a whole remains healthy and functional we can compare hummingbirds and their role as keystone species to the final block we pull during a game of Jenga right before the collapse of the entire Tower if this analogy makes zero sense to you and you've never played the game Jenga please do so ASAP I promise you will not regret it it is a ton of fun we ought to on a positive note however because the two species of orange hummingbirds are still very much alive they're here in the park and they will continue to flourish so long is we offer a bit of stewardship that means leaving areas undisturbed in other words stick to designated Trails my friends let's keep going and see what else we can find uh a yeah here is a plant that at first glance seems to be plentiful and not in any Harm's Way however this plant is currently listed on California native plant society's rare and endangered list this is a species of Manzanita known as Silver Leaf or Bonnie Dune Manzanita Silverleaf Manzanita is stat listed due to its endemism or the fact that it occurs nowhere else in the entire world just here in the Santa Cruz stils and because of its important role in supporting many different pollinator species such as hummingbirds California bumblebees and a few other bee species in addition to a handful of moth and Butterfly species here's a clip of a California bumblebee on a shames plant and although this is not Silverleaf Manzanita California Bumblebees are indeed important pollinators of the Silverleaf Manzanita surely we all know the value of supporting pollinators and how much we as humans depend on them that means supporting pollinators is critical for our own health in addition to supporting their food sources like the Silver Leaf Manzanita that's really neat let's push [Music] on it is absolutely gorgeous today oh w well well well look who it is again howdy what are you up to I'm just checking out the erosion on this Trail here oh interesting can you talk to us a little bit more about erosion absolutely erosion is something that happens when a rock like this Sandstone gets worn down naturally and is moved by something like wind or water erosion usually happens so slowly that we can't watch it come about but here we can see the impact that erosion has had on the trail very clearly wind and water are not the only drivers of erosion here hikers and bikers have made an impact as well we cannot reverse erosion but we can work together to slow it down Trail Crews construct things like narrow drainages and stair Lake structures across the trail to keep goalies like this from deepening the best way to combat Trail erosion is to recreate responsibly and stay on designated trails that are being actively stewarded by Trail Crews that is very good to know thank you Emily you're welcome all right see you I'm just yeah um bye all right bye perhaps you've heard of the sticky monkey flower an iconic Wildflower species of the Sand Hills did you know that the Santa Cruz Sand Hills ecosystem is home to not one but two different types of monkey flowers the second species is known as the Santa Cruz monkey flower it is much much more rare it is visually distinctive very different than the sticky monkey flower and it is right over here oky do here it is growing only a few feet off Trail and teaching us the importance of sticking to designated trails and it's also just the cutest thing no bigger than my pinky this plant is endemic which means that the only place in the entire world where it occurs is here in the Santa Cruz santel ecosystem furthermore it's listed on California native plant society's watch list which means hey let's keep an eye on this plant because it's so rare and its population and habitat are declining all that jargon aside this is just a beautiful plant the combination of Pinks and yellows is absolutely Exquisite and what a great reminder this monkey flower is that rare and sensitive plants are growing immed mediately adjacent to trails in this landscape let's keep going that's a snake oh cranky oh my gosh I knew it was possible but I had zero expectation of actually crossing paths with one friends this is a rubber boa in my humble opinion this is the most unique Snake species that we have here in the park okay so this is the only boa species that can be found in central California and mature snakes can reach lengths of about 3T the life expectancy of these boas is somewhere between 40 and 50 years so just about as old as a middle-aged human it's incredible you might be noticing the similarities between the head and the tail and this is a means of defense against potential Predators I haven't actually seen this but evidently when these snakes are threatened they'll hide their heads in their coils raise their tails and trick the Predator into attacking their tail this is why very often you'll find bows with a lot of scarring I'll be honest I don't know why I ran towards this thing it's not like it's not like it moves fast or anything like that even though rubber boas are somewhat of habitat generalists meaning that they occur in different ecosystem types they do seem to have a higher density here in the Santa Cruz San Hills and furthermore the females only reproduce like every 3 to 4 years so respecting these snakes and their habitat is very important to maintain what is already a very cumbersome slow and delicate reproductive cycle okay so I am going to carefully move this rubber boa to the other side of the trail to make sure it doesn't become a snake pancake roadkill which unfortunately we see from time to time so this bow is really teaching us to be observant and careful when we hike and bike and walk our dogs and we are going to wish this fella a good day thanks so much for teaching us oh my gosh I love you I love you buddy okay bye that's a wrap my friends after a short walk we were able to find and observe a handful of rare unique and interesting things in the Sand Hills the park is really depending on all of us working together to keep this ecosystem happy and healthy which in turn will allow us to continue enjoying it finding the balance between human Recreation and conservation is very important so please help out by staying on designated Trails staying out of closed areas and therefore reducing the amount of impact like erosion that we cause to this landscape and furthermore sharing this information within our communities and getting everyone on board on behalf of the entire park and everything that lives here in the Sand Hills like this gorgeous ponderosa pine thank you in advance for stewarding this ecosystem we'll see you out on the trails

Channel: CA State Parks of Santa Cruz

Views: 2,685

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Id: zpvfDhwMNEw

Length: 15min 17sec (917 seconds)

Published: Wed May 29 2024