The majority of chaparral in the Santa Lucias can be divided into two types: chamise chaparral and mixed chaparral. Chamise can grow in pure stands, while other plants grow in association with chamise to form mixed chaparral, where species such as ceanothus and manzanita dominate. The community includes manzanita species (Arctostaphylos spp.), buck brush (Ceanothus cuneatus), wartleaf (Ceanothus papillosus), California coffeeberry (Rhamnus californica), monkeyflower (Mimulus bifidus), California yerba santa (Eriodictyon californicum), poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum), and Our Lord’s candle (Yucca whipplei).
Chaparral carpets the hottest, driest slopes, where summer temperatures can soar above 100°F. When lightning strikes, fire spreads quickly through mature chaparral stands. The volatile oils in some chaparral shrubs make this one of the most fire-adapted plant communities in the world. Historically, in the Santa Lucia Range, fire ravages chaparral slopes once every 10 to 40 years. The community provides critical stabilizing cover on steep, rocky slopes. When fire rips through, the slopes are left barren and unstable, resulting in massive floods and landslides when heavy winter storms strike.
Resident animal species include:
MAMMALS Mountain lion, coyote, gray fox, bobcat, mule deer, spotted skunk, ringtail, brush rabbit, California ground squirrel, Santa Cruz kangaroo rat, desert woodrat, California mice, deer mice, brush mice, Merriam’s chipmunk, pallid bat, and Brazilian free-tailed bat.
BIRDS Turkey vulture, golden eagle, red-tailed hawk, Cooper’s hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, California quail, mountain quail, Anna’s hummingbird, wrentit, California thrasher, rufous-sided and California towhee, blue-gray gnatcatcher, Bewick’s wren, bushtit, black swifts, white-throated swifts, and barn, violet-green, and cliff swallows.
REPTILES Western fence lizard, sagebrush lizard, western whiptail, coast horned lizard, garter snake, gopher snake, striped racer, western rattlesnake, and common kingsnake.
Coast redwoods show signs of vigorous regrowth after the 1999 Kirk Complex Fires in the narrow ravines of Hare Creek Canyon.
Redwood Forests
California is blessed with Earth’s largest, oldest, and tallest living organisms. The largest tree in volume, the giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), lords over the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. The world’s oldest tree, the bristlecone pine (Pinus aristata), perches along the flanks of the White Mountains. The tallest living organism, the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), grows along the California coast, making its southern home in the Santa Lucia Range.
Redwood forests form a narrow belt along the coast from central California to southern Oregon. They are prized for their longevity (1000 years or more) and height (stretching some 250 to 300 feet above the forest floor). The tallest trees and healthiest groves rise farther north at Redwood National Park. Big Sur represents the redwood’s southern stronghold, which peters out near Salmon Creek in southern Big Sur, close to the coastal California fog belt. As redwoods approach their southern limit, the trees are noticeably diminished in size.
In its warmer, drier southern range, this moisture-loving species is restricted to cool, damp valleys, canyons, ravines, and gullies. The fossil record proves that 50 million years ago redwoods were widespread throughout the Northern Hemisphere, including Greenland, Asia, and Europe. As the climate changed, so did the species’ range.
Although redwoods can live for thousands of years, the desire for lumber makes the fast-growing, massive trees commercially valuable. At the turn of the century, the Big Sur region sustained massive logging operations that cleared much of the ancient stands. Remaining old-growth redwood forests are confined to a few coastal drainages, including the Little Sur, Big Sur, Partington, McWay, Big Creek, and Palo Colorado Canyons.
A number of other moisture-loving trees, shrubs, and herbs grow in association with redwoods. Common neighboring trees include tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus), California bay (Umbellularia californica), western sycamore (Platanus racemosa), white alder (Alnus rhombifolia), and bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum). Although redwood canopies all but blot out the sun, a surprisingly dense understory of ferns, herbs, and shrubs obtain enough sunlight to carpet stream corridors and steep slopes along the forest floor. Understory plants include western sword fern (Polystichum munitum), bracken fern (Pteridium aqulinum), giant chain fern (Woodwardia fimbriata), American maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum), California maidenhair fern (Adiantum jordani), coastal wood fern (Dryopteris arguta), fairy lantern (Calochortus alkus), western hound’s-tongue (Cynoglossum grande), fairy bells (Disporum hookeri), western starflower (Trientalis latifolia), poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum), evergreen huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum), and redwood sorrel (Oxalis oregana).
The lush forest seems surprisingly void of wildlife. The understory supports few seed-bearing plants to attract herbivores and their predators. One of the most common plants, redwood sorrel, is even toxic to herbivores. Regardless, a few animals do thrive here. One notable and highly visible resident is the banana slug, a bright yellow gastropod that grazes on understory plants and fungi. Its bright coloration is a defense mechanism, signaling predators that the slug is extremely distasteful. Other common species include:
MAMMALS Trowbridge shrew and broad-handed mole.
BIRDS Steller’s jay, winter wren, brown creeper, Pacific slope flycatcher, dark-eyed junco, hermit thrush, varied thrush, American robins, chestnut-backed chickadee, common flickers, great horned owl, northern pygmy owl, and golden-crowned kinglet.
REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS Coast Range newt, red salamander, slender salamander, alligator lizard, western fence lizard, and sharp-tailed snake.
The ubiquitous banana slug
Riparian Woodland
By definition, riparian (riverside) woodlands follow clear water in Big Sur country. Characterized by moisture-loving trees, this community nestles alongside creeks, streams, and rivers in the heart of the wilderness. The most common trees are the deciduous western sycamore (Platanus racemosa), bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum), red alder (Alnus rubra), white alder (Alnus rhombifolia), and several species of willow (Salix spp.). In fall the major drainages of the Santa Lucia Range, notably the Carmel and Big Sur Rivers and Arroyo Seco, boast vibrant hues as autumn leaves catch the slightest canyon breezes. In spring the forest flaunts such delicate moisture-loving flowers as leopard lily (Lilium pardalinum), giant stream orchid (Epipactus gigantean), scarlet monkeyflower (Mimulus cardinalis), red columbine (Aquilegia formosa), and thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus).
During spring tiger lilies adorn the banks of riparian corridors.
This is one of the best areas to view wildlife. Butterflies, dragonflies, amphibians, reptiles, fish, birds, and mammals all gather here to drink, hunt, forage, and mate. Resident species include:
MAMMALS Mule deer, mountain lion, bobcat, coyote, raccoon, gray fox, striped skunk, opossum, Pacific shrew, ornate shrew, western harvest mouse, deer mouse, dusky-footed woodrat, big brown bat, silver-haired bat, red bat, and hoary bat.
BIRDS American dipper, belted kingfisher, red-shouldered hawk, Cooper’s hawk, western screech owl, long-eared owl, downy woodpecker, white-headed woodpecker, black phoebe, willow flycatcher, violet-green swallow, tree swallow, plain titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch, Bewick’s wren, Swainson’s thrush, warbling vireo, yellow warbler, Wilson’s warbler, American goldfinch, lesser goldfinch, and song sparrow.
REPTILES Western pond turtle, western terrestrial garter snake, sharp-tailed snake, ringneck snake,