from the west...: wildflowers in the forbidden sandhills

there is a rare habitat in the santa cruz mountains called the sandhills. the sand in these areas originated in the sierra nevada during the last glacial minimum when the smashed up remains of granite boulders made their way from the sierra nevada all the way to the coast. this sand is special because it is sharp, which makes it really good for things like concrete. the sand on our beaches today is very smooth, worn by the weather and the waves and does not make good concrete. these terraces of sharp sand were uplifted over time and left high and dry as sea level dropped to present day levels. they are also a treasure trove of marine fossils…most notably shark teeth!

many of these sandhill areas in santa cruz county were mined and others turned into housing developments so very few swaths remain untouched. as people began to realize how rare and sensitive this habitat was, increasing protections were put into place. there is one active mining operation left in the county, which will be shut down at some threshold height above the aquifer. a few of the other remaining tracts of habitat have been acquired by the state or county and are now protected. quail hollow ranch county park is an unassuming and often overlooked gem a few miles from our house. pete is enamored with the park so we have been hiking there frequently the last few months. the network of trails takes you through a number of habitats in a relatively small amount of space. every april the sandhill habitat in quail hollow is opened to the public (well, 60 members of the public) for a guided tour. i took a tour four years ago and managed to get pete and i a spot on a tour this year.

the day was a bit drizzly, but that made for magnificent contrast of the wildflowers to the surrounding green foliage in the landscape. we had to navigate our way through the thickets of poison oak (i don’t react so i offered to help pete take off his shoes after our hike) before we got our reward of seeing the endemic ponderosa pines and various wildflowers of the sandhills. i feel really fortunate that the california department of fish and wildlife allows these forays once a year. we saw quite a few of the endemic species and many of them were in bloom. here are a few of the gems…