Morgan Fire in Mt. Diablo State Park, +1 Month

Went to check out the burn area on Mt. Diablo this morning, and was surprised to find things sprouting back already. I guess we had some rain in September, but that was 0.66" after many, many months of nothing. The burn area within the park looks contained between Summit Rd, Curry Canyon Rd, and Prospector's Gap Rd., with only minimal burn around the summit I was mostly wandering around the Summit Trail and Prospector's Gap, but there was some serious burnination along Summit Rd, if you want to investigate and can't/won't hike very far. Early sprouters included oaks, poison oak, yerba santa, and annual grasses.

I found at least one mammal bone, but otherwise no mammal remains, which contrasted from the burn area I visited in Montaña de Oro in the spring, which had all these little piles of bones. I suspect there were plenty of mammals in the area, so why no remains? Or why were they at Montaña de Oro?

Interestingly, there were almost no Western Fence Lizards. I saw one, outside the burn, whereas usually I'd expect to see them everywhere.

Here are some more landscape pics:

Posted on October 21, 2013 05:18 AM by kueda