ote, gray fox, kit fox, and mountain lion are all on the list. The team also keeps track of opossum, raccoon, striped skunk, spotted skunk, mule deer, wood rat, badger, bighorn sheep, black bear (rare in San Diego), black-tailed jackrabbit, burrowing owl, long-tailed weasel, ringtail, roadrunner, and kangaroo rat. Nests, bur- rows, scat, nibbled veg- etation, dig marks, dust baths, fur and feathers, and caches of prey are all signs that animals have visited a spot. “The rigor of our
training program is one of the reasons our data is so sound, which in turn is largely responsible for our good reputation in the local conservation com- munity,” Harter said. With the exception of a paid part-time administrative assistant and a data-entry person, members of the
tracking team donate their time. Tracking-team vol-
unteers meet for citizen science training at Los Peñasquitos Adobe Ranch House, built by Capt. George Alonzo Johnson in 1861. The house was an expansion of earlier ado- bes built on the property by Capt. Francisco María Ruiz, who also con- structed the first house in Old Town. In 1823, Ruiz received 4000 acres at Los Peñasquitos: the first land grant in San Diego under the Mexican gov- ernment. It’s ironic that the place where develop- ment of the area began is now a place where people meet to learn how to help monitor human encroach- ment on animal habitat. Eleven people showed
up for the free class, including two children. When we introduced our- selves, one of the kids said
he was there with his mom to do something besides play video games. He lost interest shortly after we got down in the mud and stood on the sidelines sul- lenly until his mom took
and tall guy who rode in on a motorcycle started out with enthusiasm, but it looked like the heat got to him. Sweating pro- fusely, he headed out early. Photographs on the
A coyote mauled one of the cameras, and a bobcat marked (that’s right — urinated on) another. In tracking, those are good signs.
him home. There was a ranger from Black Moun- tain Open Space Park, and a graduate student who studied waterfowl at UC Davis. Right up her alley: we found egret tracks among the many others under the bridge. A big
walls of the cozy ranch house conference room, where we gathered before heading out to the field, showed ladies of the fam- ily in long gingham and damask dresses, squint- ing into the sun. Over 100 years ago they lived on the
R E S E A R C H S T U D I E S
ranch with horses, goats, cows, and chickens — probably worrying about losing livestock to the very predators the track- ing team hopes to find in its surveys. Kept by volunteers for
nostalgia’s sake, domestic goats and chickens still call the preserve home. But now cows do. In 1989 cowboys staged a final cat- tle roundup: the legacy of roaming herds left from when George Sawday and Oliver Sexon, two of San Diego’s best-known cattle- men, bought the ranch in 1921. While we were in class a docent walked by dressed in heavy turn- of-the-century costume, despite the baking tem- peratures, on her way to give a tour of the adobe. Also on the grounds is the stone Springhouse, built over an artesian spring. Spanish missionaries watered their vineyards
from the well, and later the road to Yuma ran through Los Peñasquitos, providing a watering stop for horses and horseless carriages alike. The same groundwater made this land a significant resource for the Kumeyaay for at least 12,000 years prior. Los Peñasquitos Can-
yon Preserve links Car- mel Mountain, Del Mar Mesa, and Black Moun- tain open-space preserves. Adjacent lands are owned by the California Depart- ment of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Harter pointed out that from where we stood, near Black Mountain Road, open space runs contigu- ous to the coast ten miles west. It’s rare to find such corridors of undeveloped land — thus, Peñasquitos preserve sees many types of wildlife cross en route to eastern mountains or
If you or a loved one suffers from schizophrenia and abuses alcohol, the Breakaway Study may be able to help. Compensation for time and travel may be available for qualified participants.
Visit
BreakawayStudy.com and call the participating site in your area to learn more.
Joshua Barder 7850 Vista Hill Avenue San Diego, CA 92123 Phone: 858-836-8350
20 San Diego Reader February 25, 2016
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