Santa Cruz Forests Update

Are those moths? What are they doing to my oaks? Why are they out in the daytime? If you live in the Santa Cruz area (or much of the Bay Area) and have coast live oak or other oak species on your property, you have probably been wondering these exact questions. Bird? Plane? No-- California oak moth.

I'm excited to announce we have a great webinar planned in June covering coast redwood ecology and stewardship both pre- and postfire! Join me and two of my amazing UCANR colleagues Kristen Shive and Cleo Wlfle Hazard. Sign up free at https://surveys.ucanr.edu/survey.

Whether you've been hiking or driving through the CZU Fire burn footprint in the Santa Cruz Mountains, you might have noticed that the understory of the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests look quite different from how they did before the fire.

Conditions in the Santa Cruz Mountains have been ripe for pile burning recently. You may have noticed slight hints of smoke in the air as regional forest managers work quickly to burn woody material that has been carefully piled in fuel and forest health projects.