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| Cupressus sargentii |
| Zaca Peak, Santa Barbara County, California, USA |
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The Zaca Peak Fire. This fire started last July 4th by people playing with fireworks right here on Zaca Peak, and burned for about 2 months. There were two stands of Cupressus sargentii. The first one almost completely burned, only having a few surviving trees near the top. The other stand, located about 0.5 mile East, has a large patch of trees that survived, about half of the stand. California's Cypress stands are disappearing at an alarming rate. In 2007 alone, this stand, most of the Northernmost stand of Cupressus forbesii in the Santa Ana Mountains, and the stand at Otay Mountain in San Diego burned. |
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| A few surviving trees on first stand. |
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| One of the few trees nearly untouched by the fire in the first grove. |
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View of the second part of the grove that was much less affected by the fire. The mountain also contained Pseudotsuga macrocarpa - some are resprouting leaves from the burned branches. Also Pinus coulteri, Pinus sabiniana, and a few Pinus attenuata near the road at the top. In the distance you can see the patches of burned areas on the mountains from this same fire. It burned for about 60 miles! |
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There are many new seedlings. There was good rains last winter, however the spring was unusually dry, with no rain at all since the beginning of March. It will be a long dry summer. Hopefully the seedlings will survive it! |
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| All the surviving trees in the first grove. |
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| Some of the many wildflowers blooming in the fire zone. |
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| Cones |
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Photos : © Jeff Bisbee
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