Biol 134 Conservation Biology Paper: Big Chico Creek and Bidwell Park - What
is Natural?
This is a trip to acquaint you with what happens to riparian
(streamside) and aquatic habitats in areas intensely used by humans.
It is designed to make you think about concepts that are important in our
culture but are rarely given much direct thought such as "wildlife" "nature"
and "natural environment" The areas you will visit can be regarded
as visual options for ways in which we can use/abuse our environment.
All four areas have been highly altered but you should think about which
appears to be the most natural to you and what appears to be the most attractive
and/or desirable state for the creek and its environs. The trip may
also acquaint you with parts of Chico you may not have seen and provide you
with the necessary background for the all-important essay. Note
that there are many questions throughout the assignment but YOUR ESSAY
should address the final essay question at the end, not answer all
the little questions along the way.
Background
If one single theme stands out in the history of Big Chico
creek, that theme is use. Big Chico creek has been used for centuaries
and it has been modified in places from a free flowing, unmanaged waterway
to a semi-regulated and managed waterway that flows (at times) through an
semi-natural channel (Lindo Channel) and supports a number of exotic (introduced)
species of plants and animals.
Big Chico Creek originates on Colby Mtn. and flows 72
km (45 miles) to its confluence with the Sacramento River. Watershed
elevation ranges from about 1830 m (6,000 ft.) to 37 m (121 ft.) at the mouth.
The first known peoples to live along Big Chico Creek were the native Americans
in the Kontow (Northeastern Maidu) and Yahi tribal groups. Big Chico
Creek is likely to have been a boundary between the two tribal groups with
the line of demarcation moving north and south through time. Both native
peoples were primarily foothill dwellers and had their main villages along
the eastern side of the Sacramento River, (possibly near the present site
of the town of Chico). They typically existed with a hunter/gatherer
economy: hunting mainly deer, salmon, native fishes, rabbits and quail, while
they gathered the region's abundance of acorns, tubers, roots and berries.
The total population of the early peoples of the region was likely between
200-300 individuals. With the changing seasons they would move to different
habitats within the landscape: Spring they were generally in the foot hills
gathering the abundant roots/tubers and hunting small game like rabbits and
quail, Summer would lead them to higher elevations after large game (and
to perhaps escape the hot summer temperatures), Fall would bring them down
to the foothills again to fish for the abundant salmon and lamprey and gather
the seasonal crop of acorns. The native people's populations were severely
reduced with the coming of the Europeans after 1770, as the foreigners brought
devastating diseases with them (small pox, malaria, typhoid) which decimated
the native Americans. At the time of European immigration to the region,
the area around Big Chico Creek harbored at least four species of large mammals
and birds no longer found in the region: California Condor, Tule Elk, Antelope,
Grizzly Bear.
Length of Trip
Due to its proximity to campus this trip can be completed
in about three hours on bicycle. You should try to spend at least 15-20
min at each site, walking around, looking at plants, and animals and thinking
about answers to the questions posed in the body of the trip guide.
Cautions
You should avoid poison oak, a shrub standing a meter
or less high along the creek with shiny leaves and reddish stems. If
you contact it and are allergic to it you will breakout in a painful rash
which could last weeks.
It is also possible (though not likely) that ticks may
be present in any brushy or grassy area. It may be prudent to apply
insect repellent to exposed skin. This will keep ticks from attaching
to you (a generally unpleasant experience).
Trip Guide
Stop 1. Lower Big Chico Creek
You should begin the trip on campus at the bridge over
the creek near Cherry Street (corner of Cherry and Rio Chico Way).
Go towards the recreation hall. Find the bike trail that goes around
the golf practice area and the physical plant building (behind O'Connell
and Langdon on the other side of the creek). This area of the creek
is below the campus proper.
Riparian ecosystems in California are of major importance
to 25% of the native land mammals, many breeding and migratory birds, 83%
of the amphibians and 40% of the reptiles. Many of these animals can
be found along portions of Big Chico Creek, along with many native fish such
as Sacramento pikeminnow, Sacramento sucker, California roach, hardhead (the
big fish you see underneath the bike bridge!),and sculpin. The
creek contains three species of anadramous fish: Chinook salmon, steelhead
trout, and pacific lamprey. Anadromous fish make long spawning migrations
from the ocean to tributaries like Big Chico Creek to spawn their eggs.
The creek also contains a number of species of exotic (introduced) fish species
including small mouth bass, green sunfish and brown trout. The most
common and visible animal life (besides the hardhead and suckers in the creek)
are likely birds; the yellow billed magpie, scrub jay, black phoebes, green
backed herons, turkey vultures overhead and perhaps a red shouldered hawk.
The riparian vegetation is fairly closed in along the
creek here. How does it look to you? Would it surprise you to
know that approximately 30% of the trees and shrubs you see in this area
are exotic (not from California)? And that approximately 70% of the grasses
and small ground cover plants are exotic? The common native trees/shrubs
in this area are: white alder, blue elderberry, valley oak, various willow
species, western sycamore and poison oak. Some of the common exotics
are: tree of heaven, English mulberry, Northern Catalpa and black locust.
There are pictures of some of these in the guide at the back, can you find
any of these trees? Does the vegetation look natural? How could
you tell native from exotic vegetation? Does it make a difference to
your sense of whether an area is natural or not to learn about the exotics?
Get off your bike and walk down to the creek here towards
the railroad tracks for a few hundred yards. Don’t worry about getting your
feet wet. The creek and riparian areas are a bit constrained here as
there is development up to the edges of the creek in places. Walking
along this section of creek what do you see? Animals? Plants? Birds?
What signs of human use do you see? Does this section of the creek
seem heavily used by people? Who might be the common users of the creek
here, and what might they be using the creek for? In the landscape
before you what is natural and what is not natural?
Stop 2. Campus Creekside Nature Walk behind Holt Hall and Butte Hall
(Remember to walk your bike while on campus as the bike
cop could be lurking somewhere near ready to hand out tickets to unsuspecting
campus riders!)
We would like you to take the nature walk and follow along
with the Campus Creekside Nature Walk guide. The Creekside Nature Walk
is part of a larger campus arboretum system. As you walk along the
creek reserve reflect what the purpose of an arboretum is, -- a place for
the study and exhibition of trees and vegetation. How is the reserve
constructed to meet these expectations. Can you find from the guide
where some of the trees come from? Does this area seem natural to you?
Does it seem well managed? Do you like the manicured trails and the
neat planting of trees? Is this area pretty? How does the presence
of green lawns along the borders of the arboretum affect your idea of whether
its pretty? What seems to be the major use of this part of the creek?
What signs of human use can you spot along the arboretum? Are they
different than what you saw in the lower reaches?
The area is generally set up to display trees, but in
recent years a tremendous amount of work has gone into exhibiting some native
vegetative species that are often overlooked, namely grasses. Many
of the grass species native to California display a very different growth
pattern from what we normally think of when we think of grass (e.g. lawns
and such). Native grasses grow in the form of a bunch (all growing
from one area), and are called (strangely enough) bunch grasses. There
are a number of patches of these bunch grasses around on the nature walk.
They generally stand between a foot and three feet tall. Can you find
some of them? How do they look to you? Would you feel more comfortable
with a field of bunch grasses or a lawn? Why?
Walk down to the creeks edge at some place along this
nature walk and pull a rock out of the creek and look at the underside of
it. Looking closely what do you see? Are there any stream insects
crawling around on the rock? If so are there many?
Stop 3. One Mile Park and Recreation area, Bidwell Park
John Bidwell purchased a Mexican land grant for the 22,000
acre Arroyo Chico property in 1849. This property was extensive and
included most of the surrounding area around Chico. Bidwell found gold
in the Feather River in 1848 and soon became very wealthy. The town
of Chico was established in 1872 and John started the Chico Normal school
(later Chico State) in 1889. Annie Bidwell deeded 1,900 acres to the
City of Chico for the purpose of establishing a park. This first land
deed formed the basis for what is now the second largest municipal park (city
owned) in the country; Bidwell Park.
Ride your bike to one mile park and leave your bike at
the recreation pool and walk to the bridge over the pool. Can you find
the small dam below the bridge that creates the pool? This dam was
placed in the creek to create a swimming area in the creek in 1918.
The dam consists of removable plates that can be lifted out in the late summer/early
fall to drain the pool and allow fish to migrate through the area.
There is a proposal to replace this dam with one that is automated and can
be more easily raised and lowered. Can you find the fish ladder that
goes around the dam? This is in place to allow fish movement both upstream
(adult salmon in late summer and fall) and downstream (juvenile salmon and
steelhead in the late spring summer). From the bridge, look up stream
and downstream, how are they different? How does the stream habitat
in this portion of the creek compare to the campus and the lower creek?
Take a look at the swimming pool. Is it a typical
swimming pool? What makes it different? Does this portion of
the creek look like a creek? What makes a creek a creek? How
does the swimming pool differ from a normal creek for the fish in the pool?
What are the major human uses in this area of the creek? Is swimming
in creeks a natural or un-natural activity?
Stop 4. Bike Bridge over creek at Hwy 99.
Walk or ride your bike upstream for a ways, there is a
path that goes near the creek starting upstream from the bathrooms.
Soon a dirt path branches away to the left from the paved path, follow this
path. Do you see any tall shrub like plants with light colored stems
and deep purple berries? These are pokeberries. This plant is
a native to the northeastern US and its berries and roots are toxic (although
birds eat the berries). The plant was probably introduced to this area
as the ripe berries are good source of purple dye. This plant is relatively
new to the area and is spreading rapidly along waterways in California.
Do you see any blackberry bushes? These area also not native to the
area, they are Himalayan blackberries. It might be the wrong season
for finding any ripe berries but these berries are highly edible and prized
(eat some if you can find any). Would you have known that these plants
are not native to California?
When you find the amphitheater stop and get off your bike
and walk around down by the creek for a few min. Notice the abundance
of vegetation around the creek. How does this compare to the other
areas you have visited? This area of Bidwell Park was used in the filming
of the original Robin Hood Movie starring Errol Flynn (Bidwell Park = Sherwood
Forest?). Notice as you work your way upstream how the character of
the creek and the associated riparian areas change.
Ride your bike further along the path till you come within
sight of the Hwy 99 overpass. There is a wooden bike bridge over the
creek before you get to the overpasses. Ride or walk your bike out
onto the bridge. Look around you, both up stream and down stream.
Does this area look natural? What signs of humans do you see?
Is this a relaxing place? Does this area feel natural? Why or
why not? Does the sound of the highway effect your ideas of natural?.
After crossing the bridge, ride back to campus and enjoy
the wonderful views of Bidwell park.
-Essay question: Which of the areas you visited seems the most natural
and explain why you chose it? Include a definition of natural in your
essay (i.e. what criteria do you use to define natural?) Are humans
included in your definition of natural? (why or why not?).