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Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, April 28, 2017. After more than 24 inches of rain this rain year, it would be easy to blame the rain for this skinny but apparently healthy pine tree in Red Car Canyon, near the public access easement trail down to Riverside Place. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
In fact, I thought this tree would have died last summer or been removed when the LAFD contractor did brush clearance in December.
However, while combing my files for similar photos, the tree has been in this position for a number of years. More interesting, is the ever changing landscape around the tree. Very few native trees are growing in the canyon area. However if you look up on the slopes, beneath the larger trees, you'll see smaller protected native California Black Walnuts and Coast Live Oaks as well as recently proposed for protection, native Blue Elderberry and Toyon.
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 12, 2016. LAFD Contractor did brush clearance and took down a large number of dead and dying trees in the canyon, but left the leaning pine tree. Its crown was still green, despite its awkward position.
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, December 11, 2016. Lots of trees were taken down or trimmed back.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 9, 2016. In 26 years, I had never seen more dead and dying trees in the canyon. Trees that did not burn in last year's fire, in just a few months, had succumbed to a variety of problems amplified by the fire and 5 years of unprecedented drought.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 19, 2016. After five years of unprecedented drought, and one month before the fire, Red Car Canyon was still green. It's hard to comprehend that even though the fire was stopped 100' away, it toasted all many of these trees. Even days before the fire, the canyon was green.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 12, 2015. In 4 years of unprecedented drought, Red Car Canyon remained green.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 10, 2015. That pile of brush was dumped almost a year earlier.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 23, 2014. A year earlier, the bamboo and other dry brush were freshly dumped.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 21, 2013. Red Car Property neighbors and friends celebrated Make Music LA Day at the Charles Lacey Memorial. The leaning tree is not the first one, but it's in the background (arrow pointing to it.) Sadly, the tree at the Lacy Memorial was cut down in December 2016 by the LAFD contractors. It was one of many that was already suffering from 5 years of extreme drought prior to the June 19, 2016 fire.
Diane Edwardson, June 15, 2012. Green trees, dumping and the leaning tree, so what else is new?
January 15, 2010. Until 2016, the only way you could tell the difference in photos between January and June, was the color of the grass.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 10, 2009. The leaning tree had a markedly different angle in 2009.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, August 6, 2008. The trees were so dense and green, you could barely make out the leaning tree. Clearly this has always been a favorite dumping spot since it was hidden from the neighboring upslope homes by the dense tree canopy.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 21, 2016. Earlier this year, the protected native Black Walnut across from the Adelbert cut-through was putting out lots of new growth close to the trunk and large branches. We've used this one tree to illustrate the effects of the prolonged drought on even trees that evolved with our drought/deluge hillside ecosystem. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, October 2, 2016. Unfortunately, when the Riverside Drive developers' tree butchers trimmed trees on the Red Car Property, they cut all the new growth from the Black Walnut Tree. Let's hope they practiced safe horticulture, cleaning the equipment between trees, or they've just spread whatever insect, disease and mold that is killing multiple species of trees on the north end of the property for the past few years.
Compare the photos:
November 2000 - July 2015
July 2015
September - November 2015
November - December 2015
February 26, 2016
May - September 2016
Photo: Corralitas Drive Neighbor, March 29, 2016. For the last couple days, the weather has been all over the map. Tuesday, the weather went from windy, sunny and fluffy clouds to sudden cold snap, thunder, lightening and a smattering of rain.
We're tracking rainfall totals in the Corralitas rain gauge...
March 29-30, 2016: 0.02"
Rain year to date: 8.6"
Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, March 28, 2016. Yesterday's wacky weather brought a brief, but "real rain" to Corralitas Drive. Unfortunately as Corralitas Neighbor said in a text, "It's windy and rained just enough to glue all the leaves and dirt to everything."
We're still tracking meager rainfall totals in the Corralitas Drive rain gauge:
March 28, 2016: 0.04"
*Rain year to date: 8.58"
*Normally, the "rain year" would have ended June 30. However, this rain year, California joined the rest of the country, reporting rainfall totals between October 1 to September 30. Who expected to have significant rain between July 1 and October 1? There will always be an asterisk next to the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 rain years on Corralitas Drive. The 2014-2015 rain year ended with 15.17." We got an unprecedented 4" between July 1 and September 30, 2015.
Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, March 14, 2016. Drought stricken yuccas, rotted from the base of the trunks, got top heavy once the rains hit, and inevitably toppled over. If you drag it over to the side of the trail where the ground is less compacted (from vehicles driving through the park like setting) so the new growth can take root in the leaf litter. We should see a few more grow out of this old yucca.
Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, December 10, 2015. For 15 years, we've documented this one California Black Walnut Tree on the Red Car Property. (Despite the encroaching fence, it is on the Red Car Property and not on an adjacent Riverside Drive lot.)
Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 18, 2015. At a time when it would have been dropping its leaves for winter, the Black Walnut near the Adelbert cut-through was pumping out new growth like crazy in November. It had dropped its leaves early due to drought.
This formally beautiful tree was hit hard by the past 4 years of unprecedented drought. For years it weathered our typical multi-year drought or deluge weather cycles. Read more and compare the photos:
2000 - 2015
July 2015
November 2015
*Stuff you missed this year...
Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 7, 2015. Coast Live Oak Trees were the first of three native tree species we documented blooming way out of season. Normally they bloom February through April. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
With four years of extreme drought, I guess the native trees took that 3" of rain as springtime, just in case it didn't rain again. The bloom was nowhere near as full as the spring bloom. Coast Live Oaks on the Red Car Property have not produced acorns in the couple of years, despite lots of pollinators.
It seems as if they don't bother reproducing in times of drought since the mature trees are conserving every drop of water. It makes sense as a survival strategy, as mature trees would be more likely than saplings to survive a prolonged drought. Two other native trees began blooming shortly after the oak trees, California Black Walnuts and Toyon.
Click here for all our Oak Tree related posts.
*Stuff You Missed This Year is our annual wrap up of interesting photos and things we just didn't have a chance to run, because everything seems to always happen at the same time.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 12, 2015. This fall has given us no shortage of dramatic sunrises. Worth noting, both trees are protected native trees in the City of Los Angeles: on the left, Western Sycamore; right, California Black Walnut. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
Four years of drought has been tough on even the native trees. Before you cut down or remove protected native trees, even if you think they are they are dead, be aware you need a permit from the City of Los Angeles Board of Public Works. Native tree roots are extremely deep. They help hold hillsides together in the rain, even if the tree has been cut down. So leave the roots in the ground. They often regenerate new growth from the trunk the following spring.
Learn more: City of LA Department of Urban Forestry
We're celebrating Halloween all week long in our own Red Car Neighborhood way.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, August 22, 2015. Drought has the California Black Walnuts dropping their leaves early this year. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 20, 2015. More than most natives on the Red Car Property, Blue Elderberries are suffering from the prolonged drought. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 20, 2015. Even in dry years, some Blue Elderberries will produce a good size clump of
berries. This is the most sparse crop I've seen in 25 years of walking
the Red Car Property neighborhood. Native Blue Elderberries are an important food source for wildlife. You will often see birds and squirrels foraging among the Elderberry branches.
Elderberry branches are thin and dry out quickly. However, in just a week after the inch of rain from Tropical Storm Dolores, Elderberries were pumping out fresh leaves all over the neighborhood.
CalFlora classifies them as a shrub. Like other California natives, they are drought tolerant and evolved with our all-or-nothing rainy seasons. Don't eat the berries - leave them for the wildlife.
CalFlora and California Poison Control list Blue Elderberry plants as majorly toxic, except for ripe fruit.
Disclaimer: The Corralitas Red Car Property Blog prefers to quote reliable sources, such as CalFlora and California Poison Control
on the issue of toxicity. We often get email suggesting some plants
are edible. 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.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 27, 2015. The inch of rain from Tropical Storm Dolores, accelerated the new growth sprouting from the trunk and thicker branches of the same California Black Walnut Tree we highlighted in yesterday's depressing post about the effects of the drought on even the hardiest of trees. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 27, 2015. Considering branches began falling off this tree in July, it is a ray of hope. California Black Walnut Trees evolved to fit our all-or-noting rain cycles in the state. They have very deep root systems to store water for the drought years. But even the largest trees are beginning to suffer. This tree is not dead.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, July10, 2015. Before brush clearance contractors whacked away at all the new growth at the base of all the trees on the Red Car Property, you could even see this particular growth pattern on Native Black Walnuts that appeared to have died, (like the trees below Lake View where the fire occurred last October*).
Black Walnuts' and other native trees' root systems are so deep, they help hold hillsides together, which is critical for the way it rains in Los Angeles.
California Black Walnuts are protected native trees and you need a permit from the City to cut them down, even if they are dead.
Links: Protected Native Tree Ordinance
LA City Dept of Urban Forestry
*As with all things Red Car Property, the Black Walnut story became complex. We'll follow up on the trees below Lake View next week.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 19, 2000. We're going to look at one California Black Walnut Tree over a 15 year span. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
The north end of the Red Car Property's California Black Walnut Trees were super lush. Take note of the large tree on the right. The chain link fence is directly across from the Adelbert cut-through. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
Fall of 2000 was the fire season prior to the City enacting strict brush clearance regulations for our hillsides. Trees and slopes were never cleared to the standards now required by LAFD. California Black Walnuts were not yet protected native trees.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 4, 2010. Ten years later and now the City protected California Black Walnut Trees flourished on the north end of the property. The tall trees and steep slopes kept the north end of the property cooler and more moist, months longer than the rest of the Red Car Property.
More than 37" of rain officially fell in Los Angeles in the rain year 2004-2005. The ensuing below-average years (including a record low of 3.21" in 2006-2007) did not adversely affect the native trees which have very deep root systems as they evolved with our drought to El Nino conditions. 2009-2010 Rainfall was just above average in the City.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 18, 2011. Rain year 2010-2011 the official rainfall was over 20" for the City. We usually get about a third more than the official rainfall total due to the topographical features and weather patterns creating orographic lift on the way toward the San Gabriel and Verdugo Mountains. (Official rainfall for Los Angeles is measured at USC - south of downtown.)
Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 4, 2014. By October, the Black Walnuts were already dropping their leaves for fall (as opposed to the very first photo where they were still green in November). Take note of the dates here because the next shot is scary.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 27, 2015. The California Black Walnut tree on the right has fewer leaves now than it did in October 2014 (the previous photo). It's not only dropping leaves, but branches too. In April and May of this year it was healthy looking and green. We've also had record heat this year and 4 years of megadrought.
While digging through my archives, I discovered I had taken this tree for granted for so long, because it had been so healthy. I have winter and spring shots from different angles, but few matching summer shots in the last 3 years. Yet, it wasn't until May of this year that this tree started showing ill effects of the drought.
Don't rush out and cut down your native trees yet! It's not dead. And we will take a closer look tomorrow.
City of Los Angeles: Protected Native Tree Ordinance
City of Los Angeles: Dept of Urban Forestry
California Drought Monitor Map
Photo: Diane Edwardson, July25, 2015. If you've got a garden, chances are, you had buckets out to catch last weekends' torrential rain. Now you have mosquito larvae swimming around. If you haven't already, use it to water your plants today, before the the next generation of mosquitoes takes flight.
Be sure to check your yard for standing water and don't let it go to waste! Plan ahead for next winter's rains by looking at the drainage from your roof (and your air conditioner's condensate drain for that matter) and consider installing rain barrels and/or drainage swales. According to the MWD website, the DWP may still be offer rebates on rain barrels, but good luck with that.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, April 25, 2015.
The spritzing of rain we got early this morning won't be ending the megadrought. We're tracking rainfall totals in the Corralitas rain gauge...
May 8, 2015: 0.1"
Season to Date: 10.4"
Photo: Gary Vlahakis, December 17, 2014. Sunrise over Lot C: muddy, yet walkable. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
We're tracking rainfall totals in the Corralitas Drive rain gauge...
December 15-17 (10AM): 1.0"
Season to date: 5.79"
Photo: Gary Vlahakis, December 17, 2014. Adelbert cut-thru: muddy, yet walkable (north end of the property). The soil has not yet reached saturation after 3 years of drought. Hopefully, all this rain will revitalize the trees in the neighborhood.
Photo: Gary Vlahakis, December 17, 2014. Lake Corralitas: smaller than last week, after more than a half inch last night, seemingly in one downpour. One neighbor, who was trapped in her car by the wind & rain just as she parked, described it "as if someone turned on a firehose."
Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, January 26, 2014. We saw no rain at all in January 2014, leaving the Red Car Property drier than most of us had ever seen. We had a total of 7.55" on the Corralitas rain gauge for the 2013-2014 rainy season ending June 30.
Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, December 12, 2014. The same view last Friday was decidedly more green after 2" of rain in just a few hours brought the vernal pools back to the Corralitas flood plain.
Check back later for updated rainfall totals
Stuff You Missed This Year
is our annual wrap up of interesting photos and things we just didn't
have a chance to run, because everything seems to always happen at the
same time.
Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 11, 2014. Seemingly overnight, the large patch of Mission Cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica) at the entrance to the Red Car Property at India St, looks like it was deflated. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
Three years of record drought is taking its toll the landscape of Los Angeles. When it's so bad, well established cactus runs through all of its stored moisture, you know the drought is serious. The large pads of this cactus will get thinner in dry months, but I've never seen them this bad in the 24 years I've walked the Red Car Property. Severe drought leaves this cactus more susceptible to insects, fungus & disease. (The patches of white on the cactus pads are cochineal insects.)
Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 11, 2014. Luckily, cactus usually rebounds with rain, if fungus hasn't taken hold. However, those dead trees are not going to return. They've been dead for a couple of years now (documented on the blog: alive in July 2012).
