Fire Returns to My Backyard · Episode 2 of 10 · 21 min
What Grew Here
Before fire suppression, the Santa Lucia Mountains were a mosaic rather than a wall of timber: redwoods in fog canyons, a relict conifer island around Cone Peak, oak woodland, and native chaparral. The episode sets an honest baseline, including the rare Santa Lucia fir found nowhere else, and admits how thin the early record is.
Who's who
- Thomas CoulterBotanist who collected the Santa Lucia fir and big-coned pine in 1831-1832
- David DouglasRival botanist who also collected the fir; priority is disputed
- Karl Theodor HartwegCollector who returned for seed and specimens in the 1840s
Where it happens
- Cone Peak, California+3 more episodes5,155 feet, three miles from the Pacific; heart of the conifer island
- Junipero Serra Peak, CaliforniaRange's highest summit at 5,857 feet
- Chews Ridge, California+1 more episodeInterior ridge with open ponderosa pine forest
- Southern Redwood Botanical Area, California17-acre reserve holding the southernmost natural redwoods
- Mission San Antonio de Padua, California+1 more episodeFounded 1771; sugar pine reportedly cut heavily nearby
Timeline
- 1769The Portola expedition finds the Santa Lucias so rugged it must turn inland.
- 1771Mission San Antonio de Padua is founded on the range's eastern flank.
- 1831-1832Coulter and Douglas separately reach the Santa Lucias and collect the endemic fir.
- 1880s-1900sLime kilns, barrel making, and tanbark stripping cut into accessible forest.
- 1906-1908The Monterey National Forest is established over the range.
Still debated
Who first collected the Santa Lucia fir, Coulter or Douglas, remains unresolved. How much conifer forest the range held before Mission-era cutting is also poorly documented.