Pop-up Field trip with Margie Popper and John Evarts
Join us for a moderately strenuous 4-mile hike to appreciate wildflowers and plant recovery in the 2024 Lake Fire burn zone along the trails at Midland School. Many annuals and some perennials in the burn zone have responded with vigorous regrowth and Midland offers some excellent displays of spring wildflowers. The late start to the 2024-25 rain year also created a more compressed blooming season. We should be able to observe some early bloomers such as California golden violet as well as later-flowering species, such as gum plant. We’ll see many plants that thrive after fire, such as blue dips, ariposa lily, and South Coast Range morning glory. The trail also has several species of lupine, including the only recorded occurrence of broadleaf lupine in the Santa Ynez Valley region.
Few comparably sized areas of Santa Barbara County offer more vegetation types and varied microhabitats than the public-access areas of Midland School. Much of our route will traverse the Little Pine fault zone – a place where geology and plant life are closely intertwined. Some of the themes we’ll touch on include wildfire response in plants, serpentine endemics and tolerators, and the moisture-dependent suite of plants in the riparian zone along Alamo Pintado Creek.
Come prepared with ample water (at least one liter), sturdy hiking shoes, and some snacks. You may want to bring a camera for taking wildflower photos. Trekking poles are strongly advised. Those who carry binoculars may see lazuli buntings and rufous-crowned sparrows, which do well in recent burns and have been relatively common in the Lake Fire burn zone of late.
Margie Popper and John Evarts are trip leaders with the Santa Ynez Valley Natural History Society, which they helped found in 2000. They are also docents at UC Sedgwick Reserve and NatureTrack. Now retired, they published and edited Oaks of California, Conifers of California, and California Native Plants for the Garden for their imprint, Cachuma Press.
How to Register
Event date: Sunday, May 4, 2025 / 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Participation is limited to 16.
Registration opens April 28 at noon at syvnhs@syvnature.org or 805/693-5683.
Members $10 / Nonmembers $25 / Children $5 ~ After registering, please make payment here.
Field trip meet-up information and required waivers will be sent to registrants.
