The natural communities of Wave Cut Ranch are dominated by short stature, open grasslands of California’s Northern Coastal Prairie, but we do have five native tree species on the ranch:
Bishop pine
Informally we have a couple of mature Bishop pines (Pinus muricata) dipping their blue-hued needle clusters over the property line from our eastern neighbors.
Tan oak
A hearty and familiar coastal woodland native on the ranch is Tan oak, (Notholithocarpus densiflorus). Like an old friend emerging from the wreckage of felled eucalyptus and Scotch broom stands, Tan oak is found on the ranch as a shrub-sized healer and keystone of the native pine understory for insects, birds, fungus, lichen, soil health, and as a major contributor to the mulch layer.
Frangula
We have one (and soon to be a grove of) Cascara (Frangula purshiana), a willow like deciduous small tree/large woody shrub of the Pacific northwest coastline, which the birds love.
Shore pines
We have our emblematic and majestic grove of stout and stoic Shore pines (Pinus contorta var contorta) straddling the tectonic topo line which defines the rise between marine terrace one and two, cutting diagonally through the middle of the ranch.
Pygmy cypress
And finally, we have a newly identified small stand of the rare and threatened Mendocino Pygmy Cypress (Hesperocyparis pygmaea) on the ranch, a species only found in an extremely narrow range from the central Mendocino coast to the northern Sonoma coast. We take this tiny population on our property extremely seriously, and are anxiously concerned for its well-being and survival. We are actively proceeding to protect, nurture, and encourage this population.
More on our native trees and living landscapes from Cal Geographic:
Shore Pine vs. Bishop Pine ~ On the Marine Terrace
Pygmy Forest ~ On the Marine Terrace
