Field trip with Denis Kearns.

TRIP CANCELLED DUE TO RAIN: See note below.
Saturday, April 9, 9:00 a.m. to about 4:00 p.m.
Participation is limited to 25.
Advance registration required at synature@west.net or 693-5683.
Members free/non-members $20.

Note as of 8 April 2016: We are very sorry to have to cancel the Santa Ynez Valley Natural History Society field trip scheduled for this coming Saturday, April 9, to Carrizo Plain. Unfortunately, this storm may drop enough rain on the area to make the roads impassably muddy. Denis Kearns, our trip leader, had planned to take us to areas of higher elevation, where the roads are vulnerable to the least amount of rain. We are not able to schedule an alternate date this year, unfortunately. Conditions permitting, we plan to schedule a wildflower trip to the same area in 2017, and hope many of you will join us then.

Pre-cancellation Trip Description:
There have been a few changes to our plans for the epic wildflower adventure in SB and SLO Counties on April 9, 2016. Firstly and unfortunately, Sally Isaacson had to withdraw as leader of this trip due to an unforeseen schedule change. We’ve been fortunate to recruit Bureau of Land Management botanist Denis Kearns to lead the trip for us.

Denis is still scouting out the best flowers for our exact itinerary, but the trip will now be focused on the Carrizo Plain area.

New Meeting Time and Place: For those from Santa Barbara and the SY Valley, we will now meet at 7:30 a.m. at Mattei’s Tavern in Los Olivos. From there, some may wish to carpool. We will depart Mattei’s at 7:45 a.m. sharp, and drive north on Hwy 101 to Santa Maria, where we take exit 175 onto Hwy 166 East, heading through the Cuyama Valley. Continue on Hwy 166 east about 67 miles to Soda Lake Road, where we turn left into the Carrizo Plain National Monument. Proceed a short distance (a mile or two?) to the entrance kiosk where we will meet up with trip leader Denis Kearns at 9:30 a.m.

If you are coming from points north of SY Valley (or simply prefer to meet at Carrizo), please let us know that you are able to meet us at the Carrizo Plain National Monument southern entrance kiosk at 9:30 a.m. Email synature@west.net or call 805 693-5683.

The field trip will end somewhere in Carrizo Plain about 4:00 p.m. and people can then choose their own route home. One possibility is to continue north to Hwy 58, then west to 101. This route would allow a visit to Shell Creek.

Soda Lake Road and the other roads in Carrizo Plain are unimproved dirt; please drive appropriate vehicles. SUVs or pickup trucks are preferable to sedans; 4WD is not required but nice of course. Please be sure to start with a full tank of gas; the nearest stations on our route are in New Cuyama.

Bring lunch, lots of water, good sun protection, dress in layers for possible swings in temperature, and wear sturdy hiking shoes. We may cross slippery or rocky areas, so please bring hiking poles if you normally use them. Our hikes probably will not be long, but the terrain may be uneven. There are some facilities in the Monument, but they are widely spaced.

Denis Kearns is the field office Botanist for the Bakersfield BLM Field Office; managing public lands from the crest of the Sierra Nevada to the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, Kern, Tulare, Kings, Fresno, and Madera Counties, including the Carrizo Plain National Monument. His work includes botanical surveys, vegetation mapping, rare plant monitoring, restoration of degraded habitat (including seed collection), control of invasive plants, and writing environmental documents, among other duties. Denis has a bachelor degree in Botany from UCSB, a master’s from HSU on the reproductive biology in the Saxifragaceae, and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin on systematics in the Cucurbitaceae, the Cucumber Family.

Photos:

Carrizo Plain in spring by John Evarts

Shell Creek by Sally Isaacson