Forrest Shreve

The Vegetation of a Coastal Mountain Range

For a distance of about i00 miles (i6o km.) southward from Monterey, California, the coast of the Pacific is closely skirted by an irregular series of elevations known collectively as the Santa Lucia Mountains. The range varies from 25 to 30 miles (40 to 48 km.) in width and is bounded on the east by the valley of the Salinas River. A considerable number of peaks and ridges rise to more than 3500 ft. (io66 m.) elevation, and the highest summit, Junipero Serra Peak, reaches 5844 ft. (1781 m.). The Santa Lucias are almost devoid of arable valleys, the slopes are steep and closely set, and much of the vegetation is difficult to penetrate, at the same time that the heavily forested areas are few and difficult of access. For these reasons they have remained thinly settled and little modified by farming and lumbering operations. The few farms that are to be found south of the Carmel River either occupy terraces along the sea or else the rounded summits or ridges within a few miles of the ocean. The character and ecological distribution of the vegetation in the Santa Lucias is influenced by the proximity of the sea on the west, by the relatively arid conditions of the Salinas Valley on the east, by the topographically controlled moisture conditions, by altitude, slope exposure and the mineralogical origin of the soils. The sharp local contrasts in vegetation which are everywhere so conspicuous in California, are here found in a marked degree. Heavy forests of redwood, several types of chaparral, and a semi-arid winter grassland may often be found within the limits of a single square mile. For several years the writer has devoted portions of the summer months to an examination of the vegetation of the Santa Lucias, and to several lines of instrumentation. Attention has been devoted chiefly to the portion of the range lying north of Point Sur and the Arroyo Seco, and the most intensive work has been done in the vicinity of Palo Colorado Canyon and Rocky Creek, about 12 miles south of Carmel. The aim of this paper is to describe briefly the principal types of vegetation and their distribution. A subsequent paper in this journal will be devoted to the results of the instrumentation carried on in the northern end of the Santa Lucias, and a consideration of the physical conditions. My best thanks are due to Dr. D. T. MacDougal for his sustained interest in the work, to Dr. H. M. Hall for assistance in determination of plants, and to Mr. Magnus Gregerson and Mr. Fremont Ballou for valuable help in instrumentation.

The Sandy Areas of the North American Desert

It is widely believed that all deserts have a sandy surface which is bare of vegetation and constantly agitated by the wind. Such a picture is true of large areas in the Sahara, the Libyan Desert, Arabia, Turkestan, and the Desert of Gobi. In the North American Desert, however, the prevailing type of surface is stony or hard. There are many very small areas of stable or wind blown sandy soil. Only in a few areas (see Fig. 1) is there sufficient extent of sandy surface to affect •physiographic development, the aspect of the landscape, or the nature of the plant and animal life. These areas lie near the International Boundary and are scattered from southern California to western Texas. They differ in origin and history, at the same time that their surface features and physiographic development are very similar. There are very few species of plants confined to the sandy deserts but they have a number of distinct races of reptiles and small mammals. The vegetation is distinct from that of the stony deserts on account of differences in density, the relative abundance of widespread species, and the irregular emplacement of most of the plants. The largest series of sandy areas is found in the region surrounding the head of the Gulf of California. These include the Whitewater Sands, near Indio, California, the Algodones, east of the Saltón Sea, and a long irregular stretch of sandy plain west of Imperial Valley and the delta of the Colorado River. A small dune area is found on the east coast of Baja California immediately south of Bahia San Felipe. In extreme northwestern Sonora a very large area of sandy plains and dunes borders the Gulf coast, extends north into Arizona, surrounds the Pinacate lava fields and skirts the coast as far south as Cirio Point. A detached sandy area occupies most of the valley between the Mohawk and Gila Mountains, in Arizona. A smaller area in

The Edge of the Desert

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The Human Ecology of Baja California

Baja California is one of the most thinly settled parts of North America south of the arctic region. Unfavorable natural conditions, together with political and commercial isolation have prevented the development of this detached Mexican territory. The population at the present times amounts to about twice the number of Indians estimated to have occupied the peninsula in the 18th Century. The people are not primitives, for the remnant of aborigines is small and the great majority of the inhabitants are Hispano-Americans in blood and culture.