Many thanks to the California Natural Resources Agency team for its publication of the 30×30 Annual Progress Report. Great quote by Juan Altamirano of The Trust for Public Land who links climate, conservation, and Proposition 4: View the KQED article.
Since 1782, the bald eagle has represented a symbol of pride, strength, and freedom. It also represents a healthy ecosystem. Bald eagles are found throughout Southern California including in the San Bernardino National Forest, on Catalina Island, and in Orange County. These birds don’t develop their famous white head feathers until they reach sexual maturity around age five. Until then, the feathers are brown and the birds can be mistaken for other large raptors. For this Biodiversity Week Celebration, let’s … Read More
Celebrate the diversity of species found in the Puente-Chino Hills Wildlife Corridor with another unique species: Coast Horned Lizard. This reptile enjoys friable sandy soils in Coastal Sage Scrub and Chaparral habitats. The horns and spikes on the lizard’s exterior help deter predators from eating it. Speaking of eating, the lizard feasts on beetles, bees, termites, ants, and grasshoppers. The Wildlife Corridor has Coast Horned Lizards throughout the hills as well, but it is considered a candidate species for protection … Read More
California Gnatcatchers are small songbirds whose range extends from Baja Mexico to Ventura County. These birds only use specific habitats, like Coastal Sage Scrub, which is often prime land for development. Because of this loss of habitat and the potential to lose the species, the federal government added this bird to the federal endangered species list. This listing offers it added protections when developments do occur. The Puente-Chino Hills Wildlife Corridor includes hillsides with scrub habitat and this little bird.
This Biodiversity Week we celebrate the web of life, which is made up of all the living and non-living things in an ecosystem. The web of life shows how interconnected nature is. For example, worms may help decompose organic matter in the soil. The worm helps the soil, but also feeds the birds. The birds spread plant seeds, which grow grasses for other animals to eat. If the grasses die, the animals dependent on the grasses die too. When one … Read More