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“He may be just a tramp, a guy that likes to roam about this great country without any special aim, just to thank the Lord for these beautiful mountains.”
-B. Traven, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
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“. . .here, where there are still the silences and the loneliness of the earth before man, . . .”
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- Matías Reyes, Santa Barbara Mission (1887)
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Latest Dispatches
- The Exceptional Sundowner Winds of Santa Barbara
- Lobster Poachers?
- Dick Smith on Forest Access
- Old Mission Sycamore Whacked Again
- Bald Eagle, Manzana Creek, San Rafael Wilderness
- When Rains Fall, Will USFS Close Our Forest? The Coming El Niño
- Language of Forest Closure; Assault on an Ancient Right
- March of the Mustard; The Spread of Noxious Weeds
- Mark of Conquest II: Benchmark and Mortar
- Save Old Mission Sycamore … __ __ __ …
- Raking the Forest: Anderson, Trump, Kuyper
- Initials of J.D. Reyes (1907)
- Last California Grizzlies Seen In Santa Barbara National Forest? (1926)
- Eccentric Artifact, San Marcos Foothills Preserve
- Fog Drip Morels
Lunar Phase
Tag Archives: Los Padres National Forest
March of the Mustard; The Spread of Noxious Weeds
Mustard blooming trailside in Los Padres National Forest, growing where we’ve never seen it before. “Like other mustards, black mustard grows profusely and produces allelopathic chemicals that prevent germination of native plants. The spread of black mustard can increase the … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Firebreaks, Hiking, Invasive Plants, Los Padres National Forest, Mustard, National Forest, Nature, Noxious Weeds, Santa Barbara, Wilderness, wildflowers
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2 Comments
Raking the Forest: Anderson, Trump, Kuyper
Yellow lupine on Pine Mountain, Los Padres National Forest, Ventura County (May 2025) I came across the first quote below back in 2019 when reading M. Kat Anderson’s extraordinary book, Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of … Continue reading →
Initials of J.D. Reyes (1907)
J.D. Reyes served the length of his duty as a United States Forest Service ranger, from 1900 to 1931, in Santa Barbara National Forest, later renamed Los Padres several years after his retirement. When his family first settled in the … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Adventure, Anthropology, backcountry, Caves, Hiking, Hiking (2), History, J.D. Reyes, Los Padres National Forest, United States Forest Service, Wilderness
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5 Comments
Last California Grizzlies Seen In Santa Barbara National Forest? (1926)
“As a result of his 1903 visit to California, Roosevelt was to create the Santa Barbara National Forest out of the Pine Mountain and Zaca Lake Forest Reserves. This was the land that McKinley had set aside on March 2, … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Adventure, Backpacking, Grizzly, Grizzly Bears, Hiking, Los Padres National Forest, Natural History, Nature, Santa Barbara, Wilderness, Wildlife
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5 Comments
Fog Drip Morels
Sans soil. Every day, for weeks now, a marine layer swamps the coast so far this spring, cool and sometimes spritzing. I wake to the rhythmic tap of fog drip falling through the rain gutters. May 5 morels. Measurable precipitation … Continue reading →
Posted in Santa Barbara
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Tagged Camping, Fieldcraft, Foraging, Hiking, Los Padres National Forest, Mushrooms, Nature, Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez Mountains, Wild Foods, Wildlife
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