CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS:
POINT DUME NATURAL PRESERVE


California State Parks Brown Bear "Grizzly" Logo
(California State Flag has a Brown Bear with Gopher soil mounds under its clawed feet)

Sunset Glow on Point Dume Natural Preserve

Compiled by
Robert 'Roy' J. van de Hoek, Field Biologist
Point Dume Nature Bus Guide & California State Parks Volunteer
(310) 456-5604


California State Parks' most famous Natural Preserve is at Point Dume State Park, and it is called Point Dume Natural Preserve. Some people call it Cape Cod West, the Headlands, or Zuma. Perhaps, we could say Point Dume East for Cape Cod as well? In any name for a place with a "geograpny of hope" there is bound to be a metaphor and parallel thinking. At Point Dume, there are Seals, Sea Lions, Gray Whales, Dolphins, Pelicans, Osprey, Peregrine Falcon, several kinds of lizards and snakes, and many other kinds of birds. Eventually, every bird of the United States will be recorded at Point Dume. There are several flightless birds in coastal California, such as the California Quail and Greater Roadrunner, which will never occur on the "East Coast." Interestingly, there are no flightless birds in the "East" except for the Turkey, and it is already recorded in California and Point Dume. At Point Dume, all the birds of the eastern U.S. get off course during their migration and end up at Point Dume. Most of them are never recorded by any birder, naturalist, or field biologist. In addition, nearly every kind of seabird comes to Point Dume at one time or another, since it projects out to sea like a small peninsula. Occasionally, three kinds of Albatross can be spotted, as well as Tropicbird, Shearwater, Petrel, Booby, Frigatebird, Jaeger, and nearly every kind of Gull imaginable. All the Songbirds of the western U.S. also pass through Point Dume in their migration. Even rare marine mammals such as the Beaked Whale come to Point Dume, as the "Beaky" that beached itself here two years ago (1999). Of course, it is the resident birds, mammals, reptiles, and insects than can live nowhere else but along the California coast that are the most important animals to preserve at Point Dume. They include various kinds of marine mammals, including the California Sea Otter, California Sea Lion, Northern Elephant Seal, and Guadalupe Fur Seal, but also birds such as the California Brown Pelican and the common California Towhee, not to mention lizards such as the California Legless Lizard and the snake known as the Striped Racer.

Here then is a growing list of web pages on the natural history of Point Dume, provided to you as an educational resource. Use it as you dwell upon your upcoming walk, past saunter, or current tramp at Point Dume Natural Preserve. Even if you are only an armchair traveler to Point Dume, you will gain breadth and understanding of the Natural Preserve by reading these web pages and coming back to them in the future as new pages are added.

Since May 2001, there is a 1000% improvement at Point Dume, with accessible parking, but most importantly, there is the presence of a full time ranger on patrol. This change protects the ecosystem from the public environmental illiteracy. The ranger is both an educator and a law enforcement officer. He cites visitors who bring dogs, because dogs impact the natural ecology by harassing the seals, rabbits, birds, and other wildlife. And putting a dog on a leash does not help in any way. However, it is now clear that a minimum of three rangers are needed, to comprehensively protect Point Dume with its sensitive ecology. For example, we need a ranger to do an early morning shift between 5am-9am, and another ranger to work from 4pm-10pm. Currently there are several days a week when there is no ranger whatsoever at Point Dume. By "comprehensive protection" is meant, seven days a week, dawn to dark, with even night-time ranger patrols. The public and local residents are loving Point Dume Natural Preserve to death. Imagine a Point Dume where the Bald Eagle nests, so that we can see Eagles 365 days a year. Imagine a Point Dume where hundreds, if not thousands of seals give birth each year. Imagine a Point Dume where Sea Otter live in balance in nature, causing more and larger kelp forests to flourish, with more fish. Imagine the American Osprey and American Peregrine Falcon nesting on the cliffs of Point Dume. Currently however, Seals are being harassed on the beach and on the rocks, and too many people visiting the trails with their dogs, fishing, and picking wildflowers. The dogs are scent-marking nearly every inch of Point Dume, wreaking havoc on the natural wildlife. The public needs access to Point Dume, but it would be best to have it limited to when a Ranger is present. We need a perimeter fence at Point Dume with three gated entrances, open only when a Ranger is present. Even the beach area needs a fence perpendicular to the shore that projects out to the sea. In no time at all, there would countless Seals, 365 days a year on the beach and cliff rocks at Point Dume, which after all, was established for wildlife such as Seals first, people second, and not for pets at all! The gates would also protect wildflowers and wildlife on land when the Ranger is not present. It has become quite clear now that both visitors and local residents need to be policed environmentally during their visits, by a Ranger with training in Natural Resources protection. That is why I recommend three Rangers for Point Dume.

The web pages are also provided to you for just pure education, knowledge, and curiosity to know about the natural landscapes of CALIFORNIA from the perspective of WILD NATURE. And remember, the best places in California to see "wild nature" are in the California State Parks.

July 15, 2001

POINT DUME NATURAL PRESERVE WEB PAGES
California Sea Lion at California State Parks: Point Dume
California Legless Lizard Needs Native Plants: Ambrosia chamissonis (Beach Bur)
California Croton at California State Parks: Point Dume Natural Preserve
Point Dume Geology by Robert Sharp
American Osprey (Fish Hawk) at Point Dume
American Peregrine Falcon at Point Dume
Pocket Gopher at Point Dume
White-throated Swift at Point Dume
Point Dume Doom
Point Dume Squirrels and Rabbits Doom
Point Dume Cobble Beach
Point Dume Lizards
Human Population Patterns Point Dume
Burrowing Owl Natural History
American Bald Eagle of Point Dume
Mountains to Ocean: Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
Point Dume Hiking Guide
The Coreopsis Lichen First Known to Science from Point Dume
Giant Coreopsis Biogeography
Giant Coreopsis Scientific Study by Paula Schiffman
Point Dume Public Access?
Point Dume: Sea Otter

Across the Earth, along every coastal landscape, the various European explorers have given names to pieces of land that curve out toward the sea as promontories. A few of the synonomous geographic names are presented here, so we might think deeper aboout whether we prefer them over the current use of "Point" for Point Dume. Perhaps Punta Dumetz is best in keeping with the Spanish name of of the Franciscan Padre Dumetz of the Ventura Mission in 1792, for whom Point Dume is named. Or perhaps, Headlands, Cape, Hook, or Hoek, is preferred over Punta and Point? Maybe the Native American word for Point Dume needs to be resurrected as ZUMA. By the way, the Native American peoples who lived here before 1792, still live here today. Chumash people still come to Zuma to give offerings, to walk, and to sings songs of wild nature, such as bird songs.

Closing Observations
by a
Naturalist and Geographer
Robert Roy van de Hoek

There is so much more to educate you about the natural history and biogeography of Point Dume, the Giant Coreopsis for example, as well as the many other plants and animals found at Point Dume State Park Natural Preserve. It is so important to link and connect the rocks, soil, sky, ocean, plants, and animals together into a "landscape picture" called ECOLOGY, NATURAL HISTORY, or BIOGEOGRAPHY.

In conclusion, it is my belief that through literature research and outdoors ornithology observations that Giant Coreopsis was bird-disseminated to each of the islands and headlands of southern California. The ecological focus of bringing together animals and plants and geography to understanding the natural landscape is a major priority for environmental education.

In addition to being on all eight (8) Channel Islands, Giant Coreopsis is also found on five smaller islets associated with three (3) of these eight (8) islands. Furthermore, Giant Coreopsis is found only in four mainland geographic regions of headlands (points and capes) at Point Dume, Point Mugu, Point Conception and Point Sal. At each of these locations, the Giant Coreopsis is found in association with cliffs and sand dune soils (i.e. loamy sands). And perhaps most interesting of all is the occurrence of Giant Coreopsis on Isla Guadalupe, about 200 miles from the nearest Channel Island away to the south and more than five times further out to sea than any of the Channel Islands. Ocean currents and wind simply cannot explain this dispersal, certainly not as easily as birds, particularly strong fliers that regularly show up on Isla Guadalupe namely: Western Gull, Great Blue Heron, and Brown Pelican. Let it be known that the Brown Pelican nests in Giant Coreopsis thickets on Anacapa Island. And immediately after raising young, these Pelicans make long-distance post-breeding dispersal movements as far as San Francisco Bay and down to Baja California, and including Isla Guadalupe. Western Gulls make even wider and longer post-breeding dispersal movements. Lastly, the Great Blue Heron nests on cliffs on Catalina amidst Giant Coreopsis populations. The Great Blue Heron makes the easy flight between the mainland and the Channel Islands regularly. This bird would head straight for wetlands such as lagoons and estuaries on mainland southern California, such as Zuma Lagoon adjacent to Point Dume and Mugu Lagoon adjacent to Point Mugu. Thus the feathers and feet of this strong fast flier could easily drop seeds off inadverdently at Points, dunes, wetlands, headlands, and capes and on islands in its interisland flights. The Great Blue Heron of Catalina often flies to Santa Barbara Island and to San Clemente Island. Also, the Brown Pelican and Western Gull makes many interisland flights for nesting, feeding, resting, and nocturnal communal roosting. I see no reason to rely on ocean currents and winds to disperse the seeds of Giant Coreopsis.

Ecologically, Lichens do occur on Giant Coreopsis, as discussed in another web page. Knowing the taxonomy/systematics of Lichens with DNA analysis may be able to assist in discovering the origin and biogeographic spread of this unique plant.

Additionally, ecologically, with regard to herbivory by mammals, there are none that would feed on Giant Coreopsis. There simply are no herbivore specialists that occur on the islands. There are no gopher, squirrel, or rabbit on the islands. The Squirrel of Catalina is by all measurements a 19th Century introduction, or perhaps a few hundred years earlier by Indigenous Peoples that navigated maritime boats to and from the island regularly with 500 pound cargoes including the known transport of Fox and the Mouse. Additionally, rodents and rabbits are less common on headland cliffs and sand dunes along the mainland, although they can and do occurr there. But if one goes inland a short distance, Deer, Rabbit, and Rodents become major herbivores. Nonetheless, on steep cliffs, Giant Coreopsis can be inaccessible to these mammals. Hence, on steep cliffs inland along La Jolla Canyon near Point Mugu, the Giant Coreopsis occurs to about 1/2 mile inland to the waterfalls of La Jolla Canyon. Similarly, the cliffs near Camarillo at what is called the Conejo Grade on the western end of the Santa Monica Mountains have significant populations of Giant Coreopsis, but in cliff-situations, more than likely inaccessible to heavy mammal predation. I would rule out insect herbivory as signficant on the leaves since these insects occur on both the mainland and islands. Thus, we are left with an interesting biogeography and ecology of this most-interesting plant. The question remains of whether this plant evolved on the islands or the mainland with unusual woody-arborescence. Paula Schiffman has pointed out to me in personal communication, her thoughts on it similarity to San Diego region Coreopsis maritima. This Coreopsis is slighty woody, and may have been the genome that dispersed to Catalina or San Clemente a long time ago. Once established on the Islands, it evolved into a different plant and hence has become successful in it niche and habitat, and then disperses both interisland and to mainland points, capes, headlands, dunes, and "hoeks" as might be said in the Dutch language. In Holland, a "hoek" is a cape or headland along a sandy coast, which as we all know are some of the most beautiful, photogenic, and interesting landscapes on Earth. And lastly, to the beauty of this unique plant, which so delicately and boldly paints our landscape and seascape yellow and green during the winter and spring months, I can only plead to all of us to do our best to preserve, protect, restore, and recover this magnificently gorgeous and special being of the Earth.

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