I have been exercising my public prescriptive rights of access to conduct regular weekly photosurveys of the Shea Parkside property since October 2002 in order to document ponding and wetland vegetation that was somehow missed by the Parkside EIR. I share my findings on a regular basis with Coastal Commission staff and Ron Metzler of Shea Homes.
When you digitally merge all of the vegetation maps on this page, it appears that large portions of this property may be unbuildable due to the presence of wetland vegetation. It doesn't take a rocket scientist (or a biologist) to know that something is going on here when you have so many different wetland species present on this property:
The image at the top of this page summarizes my findings -- every
significant wetland plant species that can be found down inside
the Wintersburg Channel can also be found on the adjacent Shea Parkside
property.
Hmmm... if you can classify the channel as a wetland based on
vegetation
alone, then it seems pretty easy to classify Parkside as a wetland too!
Before we go into the details about the plants I've seen, a little
education is needed on
how wetlands are determined and vegetation is classified.
Wetland vegetation species are classified into a spectrum of
categories
that indicate the probability of the species being found in wetlands,
ranging
from seldom (FACU) to almost always (OBL). These categories are
as follows:
| Code |
Wetland Type |
Comment |
|---|---|---|
| OBL |
Obligate Wetland |
Occurs almost always (estimated
probability 99%) under natural conditions in wetlands. |
| FACW |
Facultative Wetland |
Usually occurs in wetlands
(estimated probability 67%-99%), but occasionally found in
non-wetlands. |
| FAC |
Facultative |
Equally likely to occur in wetlands
or non-wetlands (estimated probability 34%-66%). |
| FACU |
Facultative Upland |
Usually occurs in non-wetlands
(estimated
probability 67%-99%), but occasionally found on wetlands (estimated
probability
1%-33%). |
| UPL |
Obligate Upland |
Occurs in wetlands in another
region,
but occurs almost always (estimated probability 99%) under natural
conditions
in non-wetlands in the regions specified. If a species does not occur
in
wetlands in any region, it is not on the National List. |
Click on each entry in the following table to jump to the
appropriate species section on this web page.
| OBL (in wetlands >= 99%) |
FACW+ (in wetlands 83-99%) |
FACW (in wetlands 67-99%) |
|---|---|---|
| Broadleaf
Cattail Curlytop Knotweed Curved sicklegrass Pickleweed Salt Sandspurry Seaside Heliotrope Water Speedwell |
Alkali
Seaheath Annual Rabbitsfoot Grass Brass Buttons Toad Rush |
Hyssop
Loosestrife Poison Hemlock Saltgrass Slim Aster Spreading Alkaliweed Tall Flatsedge Verrucose Seapurslane |
| FACW- (in wetlands 67-82%) |
FAC (in wetlands 34-66%) |
|
| Annual Bluegrass Curly Dock |
Alkali Mallow American Black Nightshade Australian Saltbush Bermudagrass Birdfoot Deervetch Bristly Oxtongue Canadian Horseweed Fivehorn Smotherweed Horehound Italian Ryegrass Lambsquarters Little Hogweed Mojave Seablite Nuttall's Povertyweed Prickly Lettuce Scarlet Pimpernel Southern Tarplant Tree Tobacco Yellow Sweet Clover |
New for the epic 2004-2005 rainfall season.
Note that each leaf has a distinctinve inkspot-like blotch in the
center.
Stem detail.
Salt sandspurry is found in simply huge numbers on both the city and
county parcels. The big, big story is that very large numbers of
salt sandspurry were hidden within the unirrigated winter oats planted
on the city parcel. Several treks through the middle of the
waist-high oats turned up salt
sandspurry at nearly every place where enough sunlight could still
reach
the ground.
I did not start tromping through the oats until mid-February 2003
when the northern half of
the
oats was plowed under without being harvested. Once that
happened,
the southern oats became fair game for my explorations. My
limited
treks through the oats imply fairly even distribution of salt
sandspurry all
the way from the northernmost salt sandspurry line on the map down to
the city/county
border. But my map only reflects my limited treks, not the
presumed
distribution. I did not make any treks through the northern oats
prior
to them being plowed under, so therefore that part of the map is blank.
Based
on the heavy southern distributions, I would expected to have found
them
in the north had I looked there.
Another important observation is that salt sandspurry can be found
in
large quantities down inside the Wintersburg Channel along the
northern bank, with some even growing below
the high tide line. If a wetland plant species is happy growing
down
inside the Wintersburg Channel (an obvious wetland), and that same
species
is also happy growing on the adjacent Parkside property, then it seems
likely
that Parkside is also a wetland.
On February 7, 2004, salt sandspurry started sprouting in all of the
"hotspot" locations seen during the 2002-2003 season.
A monarch butterfly feeding on the county heliotrope.
Growing underneath the Graham Street bridge.
New for 2004-2005, this species can be found scattered about in the
southwestern portion of the agricultural zone.
Context shot with ruler for scale.
Bloom detail shot.
Brass buttons is found in simply huge numbers on both the city and
county
parcels. The big, big story is that very large numbers of brass
buttons
were hidden within the unirrigated winter oats planted on the city
parcel.
Several treks through the middle of the waist-high oats turned up
brass
buttons at nearly every place where enough sunlight could still reach
the
ground.
I did not start tromping through the oats until mid-February 2003
when the northern half of
the
oats was plowed under without being harvested. Once that
happened,
the southern oats became fair game for my explorations. My
limited
treks through the oats imply fairly even distribution of brass buttons
all
the way from the northernmost brass buttons line on the map down to the
city/county
border. But my map only reflects my limited treks, not the
presumed
distribution. I did not make any treks through the northern oats
prior
to them being plowed under, so therefore that part of the map is blank.
Based
on the heavy southern distributions, I would expected to have found
them
in the north had I looked there.
Anoither important observation is that brass buttons can be found in
large quantities down inside
the Wintersburg Channel along the northern bank. You can find
many
thousands of brass buttons a couple of miles upstream from here between
Edwards
Street and Goldenwest Street. If a wetland plant species is happy
growing down inside the Wintersburg Channel
(an obvious wetland), and that same species is also happy growing on
the
adjacent Parkside property, then it seems likely that Parkside is also
a
wetland.
The "M" on this map indicates the presence of the motherlode; see
below.
On February 14, 2004, brass buttons started sprouting in the
vicinity of the "mother lode" on the city parcel.
Individual plants can grow to be about a foot wide and have
distinctive yellow flowers about 1cm in diameter.
Brass buttons hiding deep within the city parcel oats in this view
looking northward from the Wintersburg Channel levee. Each marker
stick indicated by a purple arrow denotes one or more brass buttons.
I only brought 10 marker sticks with me, and all 10 are visible
here. My photo archives
contain many additional pictures showing brass buttons distributions on
the
city parcel.
Brass buttons are also quite common in the county parcel as
indicated
by the marker sticks. The plants started sprouting both here and
on
the city parcel after the first storms of the rainy season.
Brass buttons can be found throughout the upper county parcel and
on
the portion of the lower county parcel identified as a potential
Coastal
Commission wetland.
Brass buttons can be found year-round on the city parcel where the
irrigation
pipes are leaking. I swear I did not intentially frame this
photograph
to say it, but "Notice of Ending (Coastal Development) Permit" is
definitely what I hope to achieve.
;-)
The motherlode on the city parcel. This area is approximately
10 feet long and 4 feet wide. It is indicated on the above map by
the letter "M".
The oats reveal their secret -- brass buttons hiding in the sunnier
locations.
Detailed closeup of a blooming brass buttons. Check out the
geometric
patterns in the flower when viewing the full-res version of this
photograph.
Whole plant shot.
Detail shot.
Hyssop loosestrife (who names these things anyway?) is found
exclusively in ponding zones. This species is also present in
ponding zones in the State Lands Commission property to the southwest.
Juvenile form growing in a ponding zone.
Mature form.
Bloom detail.
Spreading alkaliweed is primarily found on the city parcel adjacent
to
the northern levee of the Wintersburg Channel. But note that you
can
also find the same species along the northern bank inside the
channel. If a wetland plant species is happy growing down inside
the Wintersburg Channel
(an obvious wetland), and that same species is also happy growing on
the
adjacent Parkside property, then it seems likely that Parkside is also
a
wetland.
If you look really closely on this map, you will find an "A" on the
northeast
corner of the intersection of Hillgate & Glenstone. Yes,
spreading
alkaliweed is growing in somebody's lawn there.
Individual plants are fairly small, but they can aggregate into
large clumps.
Small white flowers bloom in the late spring.
Spreading alkaliweed dominating in this southwestern view of the
city
parcel adjacent to the northern levee of the Wintersburg Channel.
Tall flatsedge can be found in widespread locations on the city
parcel, as well as down inside the Wintersburg Channel (where it is
found with 1 or 2 other species of sedges).
The flatsedge locations on the above map were unirrigated areas at
the time the flatsedge plants were observed. It should be noted
that in September 2003 large quantities of flatsedge (not shown on map)
can be found intermixed with the irrigated bean crop in the northern
portion of the city parcel.
Flatsedge was first noted in April 2003 growing in large quantities
in a fallow area of the city parcel.
The entire city parcel lay fallow in April 2004, and positively huge
quantities of flatsedge were noted. With the exception of two
lone oat stragglers, all of the green you see in the above image is
flatsedge. Click on the image to view the full-res version to
better appreciate the flatsedge density at this location.
The farmers are VERY aggressive about disking/weeding/herbiciding
flatsedge. I had been trying to find a blooming flatsedge since
April 2003, and I did not succeed until late August 2003 when I found
this specimen the farmers had missed by the Kenilworth back wall.
If you look closely at the left background in this shot, you can see
some American black nightshade, another wetland
indicator species.
Scale shot of the Kenilworth flatsedge specimen.
Detail shot of the blooming Kenilworth flatsedge specimen.
This species was first observed by me in February 2005.
Alkali mallow is found primarily adjacent to the northern levee of
the
Wintersburg Channel but can also colonize deep into the city parcel
during fallow periods.
But it can also be found in large quantities on fallow portions of
the city parcel. The area shown above had only been fallow for 2
or 3 weeks.
American black nightshade can be found in large quantities wherever
the farmers allow it to persist.
The largest quantity of nightshade in 2003 was found in a large,
unirrigated
fallow
area on the city parcel in mid-April. The fallow area
appears
in the above photograph as a large rectangle of somewhat patchy
vegetation
in between cabbage to the north and oats to the south.
Another good quantity of nightshade could be found in the patchy
cabbage near Graham Street during May 2003.
Nightshade was extremely common on the fallow city parcel in April
2004. Click the above image to view the full-res version to see
the many nightshade plants present at this location.
An individual nightshade plant.
Flower detail shot.
Australian saltbush is found primarily in the county parcel. A
small secondary population can be found within the city parcel to the
north of the abandoned bunker.
This species has distinctive red berries in the late summer and
early fall.
The berries are quite small as you can see from this scale shot.
This species can cover large areas of the ground. Note the red
ruler for scale.
Numerous patches of bermudagrass can be found along the periphery of
the
farming area as well as in a few locations in the county parcel.
Detail shot.
The biggest expanse of bermudagrass on the property. The city parcel saltgrass is in the far background of this picture.
Quite a bit of bermudagrass can be found along the Kenilworth back
wall.
This species is very similar to the common non-wetland garden weed
sow thistle (Sonchus oleraceus) but differs in the following
areas:
Flower detail. Note the black structures in the middle of the
flower. Sow thistle lacks these black things.
Leaves and stems detail. Note the bristles in the full-res
picture.
Width scale.
Height scale.
So far just one location up against the Kenilworth back wall.
This particular plant was 3 or 4 feet tall.
This species tends to favor shady areas under eucalyptus trees, but
if you look carefully you can find a few plants out in the open.
It can also be found growing between PCH and Inner Bolsa Bay.
The red ruler indicates some horehound growing in the northwestern
corner of the lower city parcel.
A few plants were still blooming in December 2003.
Detail shot of spent blooms.
This species was noted primarily in the county parcel but also in a
few locations in the city parcel in April 2003. Detailed mapping
has commenced as of March 2004..
Stalk detail.
This species was observed sprouting in the fallow city parcel during
December 2003. It is also quite common in the lower county parcel
(will be mapped during 2004).
The larger plant is lambsquarters. The smaller plant is dwarf
nettle (Urtica urens).
Mojave seablite is found exclusively on the county parcel.
There is some confusion over the wetland indicator status of this
plant, so I will use the average of FAC.
An exceptionally large individual.
Detail shot.
Fruits will turn red under saline conditions.
This species was mentioned in the EIR but was not identified by me
until 2005. Mapping is still in progress.
Leaf detail. The white/yellow flowers in the background are a
different species -- dog mayweed (Anthemis cotula).
This species is new for 2005; mapping is still in progress.
Unfortunately this species was not identified until after the main
agricultural field had been disked, so the resulting map will not
capture the full range that existed prior to disking.
Full plant shot.
Leaf detail shot showing the spines on the underside of each leaf.
A few individuals widely scattered throughout the eucalyptus areas of the property. More numerous on the adjacent Goodell mesa.
As the "tree" part of the name implies, this is a fairly large
plant, topping out between 6 and 10 feet tall.
Bloom detail.
Male Allen's hummingbird for scale.
