Chaparral Spells Home to Animals Large and Small
- Chaparral is a characteristic plant community on the hot, dry, exposed slopes of our region. Smelling faintly of sage and coyote bush, it is chaparral that perfumes the still air of summer. Seen from a distance, it looks like rumpled, gray velvet.
- Chaparral covers the flanks of POST’s Rancho Corral de Tierra, pops up in patches along the slopes of Skyline Ridge and thrives in the heat of Mt. Umunhum and Rancho San Vicente in southern Santa Clara County. Left undisturbed it can become too dense for humans to penetrate, making it a fine place for animals. Deer, jack rabbits, coyotes, even mountain lions frequent the chaparral. Grey fox, spotted skunks and an array of rodents and snakes also find comfort in this habitat. Chaparral is also the preferred home of California valley quail, the state’s official bird.
- Chaparral grows where winters are mild and rainfall limited to a few months each year. Plants such as sumac, poison oak, scrub oak, chamise and manzanita dominate. California coffeeberry, ceanothus and toyon are often found here. Even yucca and cacti can be part of this shrubland plant system.
- All these plants have tough, woody stems and small, hard leaves for holding whatever moisture comes their way. Historically chaparral has been subject to intense, but infrequent wildfires. More recently such areas have been ignited by arson, poorly tended campfires or stray sparks from machinery, according to the California Chaparral Institute. Like forestland, this shrubland habitat can build up a fuel load of dead material in its understory, making it vulnerable to wildfire; however, chaparral is a fire-adaptive plant community, and many plants return via root sprouts.
- Early settlers in California had no use for chaparral; they called it “brush” and cleared it away to make farming and grazing land. Today’s residents clear chaparral to make way for residential subdivisions. Loss of this unique shrubland forces common animals to seek food and shelter in suburbia. For these animals, protection of chaparral is just as important as that of oak woodlands or salt marshes. For people, it is just a harder sell.
Viewed at close range in early spring, local chaparral puts on a colorful show with California sage, sticky monkey flower, coyote brush and globe gilia.