the way it was in suburban habitats

Paul Cherubini monarch at saber.net
Mon Jan 21 16:24:06 EST 2002


Barb Beck wrote:
> 
> Earth to Paul... by the 60s big changes had taken place in the state!! Take
> a look at the population between 1945 and 1965.  By then a lot of the damage
> had been done.  The fact that you claim to have noticed nothing in the last
> 35 years means nothing when trying to say what was in the previous 20

Barb, Lucia Shepardson wrote about seeing only 10,000 monarchs
in Pacific Grove around the year 1910.  Another reference from
the 1880's reports only "three trees" covered with monarchs at Pacific
Grove.

In 1945 Natural Bridges did not have a big monarch colony.
Back then, the stand of eucalyptus trees at Natural Bridges was only 
15 years old and too small to support a large colony. Aerial photos of
Santa Cruz going back to the late 1920's tell the true story
(photos available at UC Santa Cruz map room). 

> In the bay area you have a lot of semi wild habitat left - the top of the
> Berkeley Campus and Strawberry hill if nothing else.

In the last 30 years there has been a substantial INCREASE in
the numbers of monarchs ovewintering in the East San Francisco
Bay Area, despite the urban sprawl. Stands of eucalyptus trees planted 
in the 60's on golf courses began to be utilized by tens of thousands 
of monarchs in the 1990's. 

Paul

 
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