Holly Sletteland
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Ushering in a New Year
by Holly Sletteland
It's a new year and a new beginning! Throughout the Sweet Springs Nature Preserve, signs of new life are stirring everywhere. The slender blades of wild hyacinth have pierced the soil in their journey skyward. The cotyledons of sky lupine have unfolded above a blanket of small, celadon green poppies. The tendrils of wild cucumber are starting to unfurl, searching for a branch to climb on.
 Cleared for Takeoff
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Not so long ago, it was mostly the tufts of veldt grass, mounds of burr clover, and the heart shaped leaves of common mallow that heralded the advent of the rainy season. They are still to be found, of course, but they are far less prevalent than before. And I am so indebted to the hundreds of volunteers that have toiled over the years to make that change happen – especially my husband, Doug Anderson, who does much of the work and I get all the credit.
We have truly had an outstanding year of accomplishments! Our previously planted areas to the west of the entrance and at the south east end of the pond are maturing nicely and there is plenty of natural recruitment of new seedlings as well. On the west side, we had a minor mishap when the arborists dropped some limbs on the giant coreopsis and a gopher managed to take out a very vigorous ceanothus, but otherwise all has fared pretty well. Everything is getting nicely trimmed by a small herd of deer and they are even nice enough to fertilize while they're at it. On the east side, the tent caterpillars had a field day with the bush lupine and pretty much did them in, and the persistent winds that swept in from the bay desiccated the dogwood, but everything else looks pretty happy and healthy. We also planted over 700 new plants this year, filling in some of the sparser areas to the west of the trail near the bridge, on the knoll in the center and adjacent to Broderson. We also cast more wildflower seed along the sidewalk. All in all, it should be a colorful, ebullient spring, providing the rains keep on coming.
Volunteers at Work
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Work in Progress
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I would like to offer a special thanks to those volunteers who have helped out month after month, year after year, including Barbara Akle, Jay Bonestell, Ron Epping, Laura Frank, Dave Keeling, Jeff Kreps, Margaret Lindt, Dick Parker, Alon Perlman, Marge Rowe, Bert and Elaine Townsend, Bonnie Thompson, Norma Wightman and Eric Weir. You have really done the heavy lifting and it shows.
We are delighted to have some new "regulars" join our ranks this year, including Devra Cooper, Ian Jackson, Vicki and George Marchenko, Natalie Schaefer, and Douglas Shinoda. And of course, we are grateful to all of those too numerous to mention who made time to pull weeds or plant natives even a few times – especially the groups who have joined us from the California Conservation Corps, Grizzly Academy, Kohls, Morro Bay High School, PG&E, SLO High School Honor Society and, most of all, Calpoly, whose clubs and fraternities have contributed hundreds of volunteer hours. Your collective efforts have made a monumental difference!
Shrubs of Tomorrow
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We'll be starting a new chapter this year and focusing the majority of our restoration efforts on the new eastern addition. We've already made enormous headway by removing the bulk of the large clumps of veldt grass in the first project area, but we have a ways to go. And of course, there's all those pesky new seedlings to deal with. With any luck, we may remove the lone eucalyptus in that area, if our permit application is approved.
Happy New Year!
Controversy
We're up against a well-organized disinformation campaign using such tried-and-true tactics as ignoring evidence presented (e.g. stating that monarchs will be irreparably harmed by the project, even though evidence indicates monarchs haven't overwintered at the original Sweet Springs preserve for 15 years and have never used the new addition), questioning motives (e.g. stating that Audubon is getting kickbacks from developer wanting views of the bay from his property), invoking authority and calculated omission (e.g. Dr. Matt Ritter disputes some claims of harm caused by eucalyptus, but refrains from mentioning that he supports the Audubon project), manufacturing "truth" (e.g. Audubon plans to clear cut all of the trees at Sweet Springs, even though the proposal only calls for the gradual removal of eucalyptus trees on the new addition) and much, much more. It's unfortunate, but in recent years there has been a surge in disinformation (What global warming?) It can be very effective. We've witnessed how "a lie told often enough becomes the accepted truth." But we can't let that happen this time. There is far too much at stake.
I really urge everyone who has played a role in helping to restore the preserve to health, to become a part of this current struggle. I prefer confronting veldt grass any day, but it is the megaflora towering overhead that is the far bigger challenge. We cannot fully restore the preserve and insure the survival of its full complement of species if we allow the eucalyptus to remain. We know that all too well from our work on the central preserve.
Towering canopies rob restored plants of sunlight essential for healthy growth and flowering.
Branches, leaves, bark, and pods rain down from above, smothering plants in leaf litter.
Expansive root networks exhaust soil nutrients and ground water, starving neighboring plants.
In short, eucalyptus readily outcompetes and overtakes native plant communities, yet they fail to provide an adequate substitute habitat for most native animals. Yes, Red-shouldered Hawks and Great Horned Owls – both magnificent birds that have a wide distribution across the country - are quite happy nesting and roosting in eucalyptus groves. But such is not the case for many of the animals that have a very limited range, such as the Morro shoulderband snail, Morro blue butterfly, Coast horned lizard, Silvery legless lizard, California Quail, Oak Titmouse, California Towhee, and dozens more. We have a moral obligation to protect these species as they can survive no place else.
I hope you will get involved in whatever way you feel comfortable, whether that be writing a letter to local officials, a letter to the editor, passing out flyers, staffing a booth at farmers market, or turning out for a public hearing. It is imperative we win this struggle if we truly want to fulfill the vision we have been working toward for so many years of fully restoring Sweet Springs to its full potential. It is a future which can become our legacy, but only if we push hard to bring it about. As one of my favorite authors, Alan Thein Durning, noted "There may not be any ways to save the world that are not, first and foremost, ways for people to save their own places."
"Vladimir Lenin quotes". ThinkExist.com. Quotation - Retrieved 2011-12-18
Alan Thein Durning, This Place on Earth: Home and the Practice of Permanence, (Seattle : Sasquatch Books, 1996) , 8.
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