Corralitas Drive: Termites Dining On Dried Chicken Of The Woods

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 16, 2017.  Several enormous Chicken of the Woods mushrooms sprouted from a dead Eucalyptus stump on Corralitas Drive.  Several were turkey platter size.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 16, 2017.  When the fungus dries out, termites move in from the host tree.  The tendrils beneath the fungus are termite droppings.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 16, 2017.  They grow in the same host trees year after year, prior to the rainy season, usually in October and November..

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 16, 2017.  All of these mushrooms were growing from the same stump.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 16, 2017.  In the Red Car Property Neighborhood, Eucalyptus is most often their host plant.

Read more: MykoWeb
All our neighborhood fungus

Disclaimer: The Corralitas Red Car Property Blog prefers to quote reliable sources, such as CalFlora and California Poison Control on the issue of toxicity. MykoWeb is the resource everyone seems to refer to for mushrooms. The Los Angeles Mycological Society has a recommended reading list. 

If you are eating your way through the Red Car Property, we DO NOT recommend you eat any plant you find in the Red Car Property neighborhood without first doing your own research.

Red Car Property: Count The Rings

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 1, 2017.  It was a really big pine tree.

Lake View Ave: Dead Pine Tree Removed

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 15, 2017.  The huge pine tree in a Lake View Ave backyard never recovered after the June 19, 2016 Silver Lake Fire.  The Red Car Property line runs along the power lines.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, November 30, 2017.  Thursday, the sounds of chainsaws caught the attention of neighbors as the tree was finally being cut down.  Neighbors had complained to LAFD Brush Unit as well as CD13 since before the May 1 deadline for brush clearance as nothing on the Lake View Ave lot, including the castor bean forest, was cleared this year.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 1, 2017.  By Friday they were chopping up what was left of the huge pine tree.

Video: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 1, 2017.  A better sense of scale is gained with the number of huge trunk slices laid out on  the Red Car Property.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 17, 201.  In case there was any doubt the big pine tree was dead, here's another angle.  

Worth noting: the native Coast Live Oak and California Black Walnut Trees were recovering on the Red Car Property, downslope from the power lines.  In fact, many of the protected native trees were cut down by LAFD brush contractors and overcautious homeowners in the past year and a half.  However, even the the native trees cut all the way to a stump are, for the most part recovering.  Black Walnuts are currently dropping their leaves for winter.

Red Car Property: More Dead Eucalyptus Near Adelbert

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 15, 2017.  There aren't too many Eucalyptus left on the north end of the Red Car Property near Adelbert.  More keep dying.  This is a fire hazard.  Adelbert is a very narrow substandard Hillside street with only one access point for vehicles, hairpin turns and no place to turn cars around without using driveways.

We're not sorry to see Eucalyptus go, since they are non-native and do not hold hillsides together in the rain.  However, we mourn the loss of shade and radical change in the ecosystem on the north end of the Red Car Property.  It's a lot hotter and drier now.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 17, 2017.  Despite their death, the Eucs are a host for shelf fungi.  Here, seen with what appears to be a dried up Chicken of the Woods.  

Editor's note: This post was published December 18, 2017, and backdated to the the week the photos were shot since they show hazardous conditions on the Red Car Property, in the Very High Fire Severity Zone (VHFHSZ).  The first photo also may indicate evidence of erosion along the middle of the slope.

Red Car Canyon: Shredding Trees, Spreading Dust, But What About Insects & Pathogens?

Red Car Canyon: hope you closed your windows before you went to work today- they're heading toward Riverside Pl now pic.twitter.com/B7Hq5mjsKZ

— Corralitas (@RedCarProperty) September 14, 2017

Video: Red Car Property Neighbor, September 14, 2017.  While it's technically OK per LAFD to spread the tree shred/mulch around to help retain moisture on the slopes, it's not exactly the best thing for air quality during the chipping or shredding.  There's also the question of spreading pathogens of the dead trees.

After consulting a neighbor who is a landscape designer, and reading up on some of the local insects and pathogens, I can wholeheartedly say, if you have a sick, dead or dying tree, consult a certified arborist.  This issue is way beyond my skill set to simplify beyond the following advice.  There are too many ways to infest/infect other trees depending on the insect and or pathogen, and you may be able to save your trees.  Your mature trees are an investment in not only your home's resale value, but also the future of our neighborhood and local air quality.

We've lost a lot of large trees in the neighborhood in the past few years.  Take care of your large and native trees.  Every tree counts.

Red Car Property Neighborhood: There's Nothing Scarier On The 4th Of July Than Hipsters With Fireworks*

*Post originally published July 2, 2014.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 4, 2013.  That giant airborne explosion is not a professional fireworks show, but illegal fireworks shot off by some idiot on the south (Silver Lake & Elysian Heights) side of the 5 Freeway, close to Corralitas Drive.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

It seems every year we see more people shooting off illegal fireworks in the hills.  You can hear the gunpowder raining down on your roof, patios & trees - as I witnessed on Corralitas a couple years ago.  That same year, another neighbor was dumbstruck when he saw drunken hipsters shooting off similar fireworks way up on top of Micheltorena.  

ALL FIREWORKS ARE ILLEGAL IN THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES, UNLESS THEY ARE IN A PROFESSIONAL FIREWORKS SHOW.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 27, 2014.  The dying Eucalyptus tree is still hanging above Red Car Canyon today.  (APN 5440-030-033)  

In fact, only 2 of the dozen or so dead and dying Eucalyptus we highlighted in May trees were significantly trimmed back.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 27, 2014.  The dead weeds are taller than the allowed 3" within 100' of homes. 

Links: LAFD Brush Clearance Unit
All our brush clearance posts

LAPD and LAFD are telling people, if you see someone shooting off fireworks, call 1-877-ASK-LAPD. If you see smoke, safely investigate.  If you see fire (not a BBQ) call 911.

Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract: Dead Trees, Brush Clearance

Photo: Corralitas Drive Neighbor, June 13, 2017.  Dry grass on the odd slope on Allesandro St at Rosebud Ave which is actually Sunflower Ave, but the maps are out of sync with the street signs.  (click on photos to enlarge.)

The odd slope is within the CalTrans easement, but like everything surrounding the 2 Freeway, no one takes responsibility for it. More than once in 27 years,  I've seen a CalTrans crew spray the weeds with poison.

Photo: Corralitas Drive Neighbor, June 13, 2017.  Enlarged from previous photo.  Dead Eucalyptus are in the Modjeska Street right-of-way, a paper street, on an  extremely steep slope in the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract.  Looks like the Modjeska slope is in need of brush clearance too.  The City will never build  40' wide Modjeska Street right-of-way, as it is steeper than a 30% grade.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 22, 2016.  A year ago, the dead non-native Eucalyptus in the Modjeska paper street, were clearly evident as viewed from Corralitas Drive.  Eucalyptus trees all over the area have been dying suddenly for the past 4 years.  The Modjeska trees have been dead for more than a year.

Every year on and around the 4th of July, some idiots invariably shoot fireworks off over the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract.

Red Car Property: Why We Bitch About Brush Clearance

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor June 6, 2017.  Aside from the potential risk of fire fueled by dry weeds and  unrestricted vehicle access to the Red Car Property, there are other risks both on the Red Car Property and adjacent lots.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

 1. Several adjacent Lake View Ave, Silver Ridge Ave and Corralitas Drive neighbors have failed to do their brush clearance.  There is a large Castor Bean forest growing on one Lake View Ave lot.  Castor Bean Plants are non-native, highly invasive.  All parts of the plant are extremely toxic and emit a toxic gas when burned (Ricin).  Castor Beans will take over entire hillsides, quickly crowding out any native species.  

The power lines in the middle of the slope run along the property line between the Red Car Property and adjacent Lake View and Silver Ridge lots.

2. At least one telephone pole (see arrow in photo above) appears bowed or bent.  With fires in 2014 and 2016, neighbors wonder if the pole has been weakened and needs replacing. 

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 16, 2016.  Several neighbors spent months after the 2016 fire getting the runaround from DWP and AT&T regarding the status of the pole.  Nothing ever seems to have been resolved.

3. There are several large dead and dying trees near the power lines including what's left of one pine tree leaning at a 45 degree angle (see first photo).  The trees appear to be on the adjacent Lake View lots.  In April, DWP contractors trimmed trees under and within 10' of the high voltage lines in the Red Car Canyon.  However, Eucalyptus can collapse months after the rainy season, usually in July and August.  At least one of the two big dead trees on the slope is Eucalyptus and perilously close to a telephone pole that has a transformer on top (see first photo). 

The first photo does show one positive thing.  The protected native Black Walnuts and Coast Live Oak, along with other large trees are recovering from the 2016 Silver Lake Fire.

Red Car Property: Dry Brush

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, May 5, 2017.  The good news is some of the big trees are recovering after the 2016 fire.  Bad news: dry brush is more dense than a year ago.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, May 12, 2017.  Some upslope neighbors did their brush clearance by May 1.  Understandably, it appears at least one went overboard clearing well past the property line.  (The power lines, halfway up the hill, are at the property line to the Red Car Property.)  Many of the protected native Black Walnuts and Coast Live Oaks are recovering from last year's fire, including trees LAFD's contractors cut down (that were not dead) 6 months after the fire. 

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, May 12, 2017.  A relatively small tree that did not recover from the fire and CalTrans' subsequent butchery, is still partially blocking Corralitas Walk, a public sidewalk between Corralitas Drive and Allesandro Way and Lake View Ave.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, May 5, 2017.  The dead tree still had its crown a week earlier.  Ironically, May 8, three days after this photo was taken, CalTrans sent me email confirmation that the fence had been fixed here on a complaint I'd made November 3, 2016, regarding fence damage between Rosebud/Corralitas and Allesandro Way/Lake View Ave.  I guess if they can't see it from their trucks, the problem doesn't exist.

Red Car Property: Not A Park, It Would Still Look Like One Without The Construction Fence

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, April 30, 2017.  North of the construction fence on the Red Car Property, some, not all, of the protected native Black Walnut Trees have recovered from the last five years of exceptional drought.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Let's hope all those trees are storing lots of water.  Due to the loss of more than a dozen huge Eucalyptus trees on the property near Adelbert, and developers clear cutting the adjacent recovering native woodland for a 14-home development on Riverside Drive, the north end of the trail has been through radical change of the urban forest.  It's hotter, sunnier and drier than just a few years ago.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 19, 2009.  The Big Parade walked through the same section of the property in JULY.  Almost all the trees on both sides of the trail (for the length of the hikers' line in this shot) were California Black Walnuts.  Now the walnuts are fighting back with other native and non-native trees.   

Red Car Property: FIESTA!

Photo: Jay Lieske, March 19, 2017.  Native Blue Fiesta Flowers (Pholistoma auritum) reclaimed the slope at the Adelbert cut-through on the Red Car Property.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Lieske, a longtime Red Car Property neighbor, reports the Blue Fiesta Flowers are thriving in the slope between the Adelbert cut-through to Fletcher.  Lieske said, "The Fiesta Flowers are even climbing up the chain-link fence around the construction."

Photo: Diane Edwardson, March 13, 2009.  In 2009, we first discovered and documented a few Blue Fiesta Flowers near the Adelbert cut-through to the Red Car Property.

2016 was a lean year for the ever festive Fiesta Flowers due to the extraordinary drought combined with the removal of more than dozen large Eucalyptus that died suddenly over the course of 2 years. This alone changed the ecosystem dramatically due to the loss of shade as well as water and carbon storage capacity of the huge trees.  The north end of the Red Car Property which had always been cooler and more damp, suddenly became an inhospitable place, hotter and drier than the previous 26 years I'd walked the property.

Further destroying habitat, in August2016, an entire forest of trees  (including scores of protected native Black Walnuts that had begun to grow back after the 2014 illegal tree removal) was clear cut for the development of the Riverside Drive lots north of Gilroy, further changing the climate and ecosystem in the neighborhood.  

Let's hope the remaining protected native trees on this section of the Red Car Property recover from the past 6 years of extreme drought and stupidity development, encouraging the entire native plant community and the diversity of wildlife it supports to return to the north end of the property.

Click here for all our Blue Fiesta Flower photos and related posts.

Red Car Canyon: Lots Of Noise, Multiple Generators, Lots Of Vehicles Around Dead Trees

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, November 18, 2016.  Neighbors are still wondering is this is a part of the sewer replacement project going on in the area.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, November 18, 2016.  Multiple generators, large trucks and a backhoe are all parked right up against dead and dying trees in Red Car Canyon between Corralitas, Lake View Ave and Riverside Place.  We sent these photos Friday to CD13 and LAFD Brush Unit. 

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, November 18, 2016.  Neighbors on top of Corralitas Drive complained their windows were vibrating while the "Hammerhead" was in use.  It was parked on Riverside Place.  One neighbor even recorded the sound because it was so loud.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, November 18, 2016.  It looks like the front of the hose is a high pressure nozzle rather than dig by hand or backhoe to lay pipe.  

However, this is just speculation since we've not been able to confirm anything associated with this project.

Red Car Property: Killing Native Habitat

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 6, 2002.  The former most beautiful California Black Walnut Tree on the Red Car Property, that we've followed for 16 years, is first big tree behind the encroached chain link fence, on the left side of the photo.  (Click on photos to enlarge.) 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 9, 2012. This shot is wider and shot from further away.  The same tree is behind the fence on the left.  In 2012, the leaves of the protected native Black Walnuts were just starting to turn yellow before dropping their leaves for winter.  Yet the big healthy beautiful tree we've followed for so long, was still a deep dark green.  It was always one of the to last drop its leaves.  

The photo above shows an environment with lots of Black Walnut Trees of varying ages from saplings to mature trees.  The closest Black Walnut on the left (the young tree in the foreground) was already over 6 feet tall.  There were also Coast Live Oaks of varying ages, Coffeeberries,  Blue Elderberries as well as non native species.  It was a rich and varied ecosystem. 

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, November 6, 2016.  The now dead looking tree on the left is the former most beautiful Black Walnut on the Red Car Property.  The developer of the Riverside Drive 14-lot development below the Red Car Property butchered all the fresh growth on the tree in September. He also claimed to be watering the trees.  (However the water lines appear to be for dust control.)  

The same developer erected the fence across the Red Car Property that's become a magnet for graffiti vandals.  Thanks for making our neighborhood a better place to live.

Related: Why Trees Matter

Red Car Property: Day Of The Dead Trees

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 9, 2016.  The large Eucalyptus on the Red Car Property adjacent to the 2 Freeway, initially showed signs of fresh growth, but it was already in a death spiral before the Silver Lake Fire.  Neighbors are wondering why LAFD hasn't cited the Red Car Property owner and had it removed as a fire hazard.

Red Car Property: Undead, Undead, Undead, Undead

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016.  Happy Halloween.  The Former most beautiful California Black Walnut Tree on the Red Car Property at the Adelbert cut-thru is not dead yet.

Red Car Property: Developer Blocked Walkable Portion Of Trail, But Did Brush Clearance (After Some Arm Twisting)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016.  From a distance, it appears the construction fence for the 14 unit development on Riverside Drive is blocking the Red Car Property, north of India Street.  However, they left us passage on the upslope side of the fence, hidden behind a silver Mercedes.  (The Mercedes finally left last night, after being parked there more than a month.)  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016.  The pile of drywall dumped last January is on the downslope side of the trail, along with a reduced pile of salvage and trash on the 20 - 30' of downslope that is Red Car Property.  No word if people are still living in the sheds further downslope.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016.  Neighbors still aren't buying the line from the Riverside Drive developer, that he doesn't have a deal to develop this part of the Red Car Property.  They only cleared the brush from the path here once I bitched at him that it was not a functional path he claimed to have given us.  It was full of trampled down brush and castor beans.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016.  The heritage Coast Live Oak is still standing.  The developer blocked the highly used portion of the trail, and left us the narrow portion between the slope and the dust screened, chain link fence. 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016.  There are a few leaves left on what was the most beautiful California Black Walnut Tree on the Red Car Property.  Last month, the developer's brush clearance crew cut all the new growth from the tree for no good reason.  The tree is definitely on the Red Car Property.

This site is not the site of the proposed zone change to allow 49 units.  However, you better believe if they get the zone change and subdivision for condos on the south end of the property the remaining lots will be subject to a development application.  

Red Car Property: Dead Eucalyptus & Dry Brush On Lot C, Adjacent Streets

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016. We documented the quick demise of the huge Eucalyptus on the  upper part of the slope in 2015.  It's in an Adelbert backyard, adjacent to the Red Car Property.  The lower dead Eucalyptus died a few months later.  It's on the Red Car Property.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016.  A third and even larger Eucalyptus died this year within the Silver Lake Court, a public right-of-way.   High voltage lines appear to pass through the Eucalyptus adjacent to the dead tree.  A City crew cleared brush from the paper street months ago, but left the tree.

Silver Lake Court is a City "paper street," west of and adjacent to the Red Car Property.  Worth noting, in the 2003, failed 75 home development application for the Red Car Property, this was identified as the "open space lot."  The open space lot included the slope contained by a giant retaining wall.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 16, 2016.  The stand of dead trees is on the Red Car Property's Lot C, at India Street.  They are directly below power lines.  The trees died in 2013.  We don't know why this is acceptable to LAFD Brush Unit or LADWP.  We submit photos of them every year to the Brush Unit.  

During the June 19, 2016 Silver Lake Fire, neighbors on Roselin, and Riverside Dr, upslope from this location, witnessed 6 - 8" burning embers flying by their houses.

As of today, neighbors report no brush clearance has occurred on the Red Car Property, other than the previously mentioned clearance around the construction fence.  One neighbor reported seeing a LAFD Fire Marshall drive in and out of the property north of India Street yesterday.

Red Car Property North: Dead Trees, Dry Brush

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016.  Despite dire warnings of the very high fire danger of 5 years of exceptional drought, a fire on the south end of the property and annual notices from LAFD, the north end of the Red Car Property still has not been cleared of dry brush and dead and dying Eucalyptus between Fletcher and the construction fence.  (Click on photos to enlarge.) 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016.  The California Black Walnuts are beginning to drop their leaves for fall.  You can still see lots of sapling Black Walnuts sprouting on the slope among the dry weeds that were never cleared.  The green construction fence in the background, was put up across the Red Car Property by the developer of the Riverside Drive lots being developed with 14 units below the Red Car Property.  The Riverside Drive developer did the brush clearance on the adjacent portion of the Red Car Property.

The construction fence is NOT the site of the proposed zone change on another part of the Red Car Property. The current Red Car Property owner has held the property since 2001.  The owner has a history of neglecting to clear brush by May 1.  Neighbors confirm brush has still not been cleared as of today.

Click here for all our brush clearance related posts.

Red Car Canyon: Owner Files For Zone Change, Yet Still Has Not Done Brush Clearance

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 9, 2016.  The Red Car Property owner's son filed for a zone change to allow for 49 units on the south end of the Red Car Property, yet he's done none of the routine brush clearance nor clean up of the dry trees after the June 19, 2016, Silver Lake Fire.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

LAFD's coordinated the multi agency response including air,  ground and Hot Shot fire crews  and stopped the fire as it reached the edge of the slope on the Lake View side of the Red Car Property, damaging neighbors' fences and landscaping.  Many trees that did not burn in the fire, suffered severe heat damage. 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 9, 2016.  Most of the native trees will return to the slopes.  If you look closely on the slope, beyond the pile of dead palm fronds, you can see bright green leafy plants sprouting.  In the above photo, those are all California Black Walnuts returning to the slope where they were growing before the fire.  

In recent years, Southern California has suffered so many large scale and much hotter fires than the small Silver Lake Fire, there is no shortage of studies of fire recovery of native oak and walnut woodland.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 9, 2016.  Compare this photo with the before and after fire photos.  Many of these trees are still alive, but should be trimmed back to reduce the risk of fire.  

During the Silver Lake Fire, many neighbors reported seeing 6 - 8" burning embers flying past their hillside homes on Roselin, India, Lake View and Corralitas.  So it is not asking too much to clean up the fire hazard.  

Most hillside homeowners get their brush clearance done every year by May 1, rather than have to deal with the hassles and fines from the LAFD Brush Unit.  The current Red Car Property owner has never cleared brush by May 1.  It usually gets Red Tagged by the LAFD Brush Unit and cleared sometime in the fall, after months of complaints by neighbors.

Considering the brush clearance had not been done anywhere on the Red Car Property before May 1, neighbors have the right to expect brush clearance now that Santa Ana Wind Season is upon us.  Brush clearance is a year round responsibility.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 9, 2016.  This stand of bamboo and dry yuccas is just north of the burn area, right up against a fence and telephone pole on the Lake View side of in Red Car Canyon.  We've been reporting it for years to CD13 and LAFD Brush Unit.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 9, 2016.  In 26 years of living in the neighborhood, I have never seen Red Car Canyon so dry.  I've never seen so much daylight in the wooded canyon.  The number of dead and dying trees in this part of the property is at an all time high.  There are power lines directly above and parallel with the wooden fence in the background (Lake View side).  The tree in the foreground, died prior to the fire (which was stopped about 75' south of this shot).

This is just a portion of the problem in the canyon area.  The only parts of the Red Car Property that have been cleared of brush are where neighbors have cleared it back from their fences and adjacent to the 14 home development on Riverside Drive.

Click here for all our brush clearance posts.