Hummmmmmmmm

Posted April 8, 2025

You may have noticed, on your treks up the Overlook Trail, that we have some fuzzy friends living in the base of a multi-trunk tree on the left just beyond the main trail/Rattlesnake Cutoff Trail junction. These European honey bees, also known as Western honey bees (Apis mellifera), are the most common kind of honey bee and are a generally docile sort with a placid temperament, only stinging when threatened.

Like all honey bees, European honey bees are extremely social, creating colonies of up to tens of thousands of bees, sometimes as high as 40,000 to 80,000. A hollow tree is an ideal habitat. The bees build intricate wax structures within to house food and their cooperatively raised brood. Colonial activities are organized via complex communication between individuals, untilizing both pheromones and the waggle dance!

So, enjoy the buzz as you go by and leave them bee. Considering that bees worldwide are seriously threatened by pests, diseases and pesticides, we count ourselves lucky to host these little friends.

The Cyclone and the Damage Done

Posted November 23, 2024

Filed under Fall, Trail Maintenance, Weather

Santa Rosa received more rain in three days than ever before in recorded weather history, and it seems likely that we had as much or more here in Sonoma. Given that, perhaps it should be surprising that we still have a trail. But I have a hard time not grieving for the havoc that the storm created.

I should point out that the hillside that the Overlook Trail traverses is essentially all rock. I’m reminded of this any time I try to dig up soil to put on the trail. My shovel is more likely to clang into stones than it is to sink into soil. This results in very little rain soaking into the ground—instead, it runs off. What water does sink into the soil only does for short distances, and it soon flows onto the trail which serves as a convenient exit from the rocky hillside.

And exit it did—in many locations and with great volume. On one section in particular, the water then plunged down the trail, blew through a couple small drains and scoured the trail for about 100 feet (see video below of one small section). This will take a lot of work and many wagonloads of aggregate to fix.

But yes, we already have a strong start to our winter rains. I just wish it would come in smaller increments, or over longer periods. Wish us luck.

We Won the Battle and Lost the War

Posted May 29, 2024

Filed under Invasive Species, Italian Thistle, Plant Life, Stewardship, Summer, Yellow Star Thistle

I’ve spent several days scanning the Overlook Trail and Montini Preserve properties for the invasive Yellow starthistle (YST). Although it’s still early in its season, it’s clear that it has essentially been eradicated from these two properties. I will still be looking for it this season and next, but I’ve pulled so little so far it seems nearly pointless. After over a decade of fighting this scourge, I expected to be able to celebrate this major accomplishment.