Little Lake Valley Restoration Blog
Week #14 Coyotes and Mergansers at the Creek
Watch this pack of coyotes interact and explore the creek at night. A pair of Common Mergansers also meander by the water during the day. It is still breeding season and the male does his best to give chase. An elusive bobcat also makes a brief appearance!
Read moreA Few Mushroom Decomposers
May 3, 2023 This cool and moist week has me thinking about mushrooms and fungi, important members of every ecological community. Luckily, there are still plenty of them out there to photograph and enjoy before the summer heat. There are different definitions for decomposers but this one from the Biologyonline.com website is clear and concise:…
Read moreCelebrating the Arrival of Spring
April 24th, 2023 It has started off as a cooler spring and our wildflowers are just beginning to bloom and the neotropical migrant birds have arrived to nest in our area. The colors are a welcome relief from the drab browns of winter. So many shades of green, and now there are pink, yellow, and…
Read moreWeek #13 A Honey Bee Hive in a Wood Duck Box
MCRCD maintains Wood Duck Boxes on the Mitigation Lands and has installed a few more this spring. These boxes not only provide suitable nesting habitat to the Wood Duck population, but also occasionally provide a space for important pollinators such as honey bees to build their hives. The surplus honey is often a target for…
Read moreWeek #12 Spring Trillium Blooms
Spring blooms of Trillium flowers cover the ground in oak woodlands throughout the Willits Mitigation Lands in Little Lake Valley. This is a wonderful time of year to get out and enjoy the sunlight and magnificent California wildflowers.
Read moreMonitoring the Beautiful North Coast Semaphore Grass
March 27, 2023 To better understand the effectiveness of our habitat management that includes grazing and invasive species management in support of protecting threatened North coast semaphore grass populations, the MCRCD added an additional early-spring round of semaphore grass monitoring in some select areas on the project. North coast semaphore grass, Pleuropogon hooverianus, is a…
Read moreWillits Mitigation Lands Wildflower Tour Earth Day April 22nd
Contact Marisela at marisela@mcrcd.org
Read moreTule Elk Springtime Activity
March 15th, 2023 As spring approaches, the Tule Elk in Little Lake Valley seem to be more present and spread out in the north and south parts of the Mitigation Lands. They are just as likely to be resting on higher and dryer ground as they are running through the inundated pastures. The bull elk…
Read moreWeek #11 Western Pond Turtles
The Western Pond Turtle is the only freshwater turtle endemic to California. In anticipation for spring, enjoy this footage of pond turtles relaxing and basking in the sun. This mild-mannered turtle doesn’t have to move for anybody, including a crossing squirrel.
Read moreButter Butts Everywhere
March 13, 2023 Out on the north end of the Mitigation Lands there is a beautiful wetland. This time of the year it functions as a small lake where ducks and geese congregate. The Tules and cattails change color with the seasons and grow lush and thick in some areas. Walking out into this area…
Read moreWeek #10 Grazing Elk
Watch these impressive Tule Elk bulls graze and interact with each other on the Willits Bypass Mitigation Lands. The bulls have just recently began shedding their antlers from last season to make way for a new set of velvet antlers this spring.
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