Cheeseboro Canyon
Looking down into a grove of mature Valley Oaks (Quercus lobata)
Cheeseboro and Palo Comado Canyons encompasses an area of 4,000 acres in the northernmost section of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. This area was home to the Chumash for thousands of years. Until the 1800s when ranchers came in and made the canyons their own for cattle grazing. In the mid 1980s the NPS acquired the area. The mature groves of Valley Oaks in the canyon represent one of the southern most populations of the species. Valley Oaks can live between 400-600 years old depending on conditions. The Oaks in the canyon most likely pre date rancher settlement, and were probably alive when the Chumash inhabited the area.
A mature Valley Oak (Quercus lobata)
The burn scars seen above are from the 2018 Woolsy fire that burned 96,949 acres in the Los Angles area. The fire swept through part of Cheeseboro Canyon destroying some mature trees and leaving others with scars. Some of the mature Oaks were able to withstand the fire from years of fire adaptation. Most likely from the Chumash periodic burning to clear land.
The handy work of an Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) on mature Valley Oak bark. Majority of the larger Oaks in Cheeseboro are blanketed with these granaries. Allowing the Woodpeckers to have wood throughout the winter. Without these Oaks, the Woodpeckers would most likely go elsewhere.
