BAJA EXPEDITION 2003

STUDENT & TEAM JOURNAL

1/1/2003
Such a spectacular day today! Happy New Year! I can't think of a better way to spend it!
We started off the day nice and slow without any rush, had a delightful breakfast and learned all about the geology basics. It was good to get a review of geologic time. Then off for a walk along the estuary and beach to look at birds, shells, plants etc. We saw great egrets, great blue herons, reddish egret, long billed curlews and marbled godwits. One of the marbled godwits had something that looked like a clam on the end of its beak and looked like it was sleeping. I hope it was OK. I watched several brown pelicans dive. The national geographic bird book shows how it looks when it dives, and its so cool. Turkey vultures circled too.
Winds were pretty gusty today - every once in a while strong enough to pick up the sand (25 mph). The north wind here is called "Chubasco" and it was out in force today.
Ghost shrimp were to be found all over the mudflats - beautiful pink little things. They build little mounds, like anthills with holes in the center. They were all over down there. We found a cool crab - a blue swimming crab - with brilliant blue on the undersides of his claws. He was very mad. I learned how to sex a crab - the males have a triangle shape in the back of their belly and females are more rounded.
The mangrcves here are way smaller than I imagined mangroves would be. I've always thought they were very big trees, so imagine my surprise! David says they are critical to the ecosystem, that in the tropics, coral and other creatures are sheltered by them and that if mangroves are removed, it could cause the downfall of many other species. Our mangroves sheltered oysters.
In the early evening, we went clamming. What an experience! I've never done that before. The clams are all beautiful and very plentiful. I can't wait to see how I like them. We're going to steam them.
It has been an excellent day. Very mellow, lots of learning and exploring. I hope we have lots more days like this one. - Karen Dubose, WWU

1/1/2003
Bahia de Las Animas
David R. was up early to cook us some bacon and eggs. I arranged my plate so that the strip of bacon was Baja California and the scrambled eggs were land bridge islands. I placed them on a tortilla, which represented the North American plate. Another tortilla "Farallon" slid underneath and caused uplift. Hot sauce represented volcanic activity in the Miocene.
After breakfast we looked at and learned about igneous rocks i.e. extrusive and intrusive and mineral composition. Extrusive rocks come to surface as magma and cool very quickly. Intrusive rocks cool slowly undreground and so form larger crystals of minerals in the rock. Uplift and erosion bring intrusive rocks to the surface. We then talked about weathering that produces clasts which are transported, deposited and can go on to be lithified into sedimentary rocks. Sedimentary rocks can be classed according to the size of the clasts, the composition of clasts and the type of cement that holds the clasts together.
We went on a beach walk, where we began to look for identifying features of birds. We discussed how predators will evolve to be more efficient. For example, the American Oystercatcher has a stout beak for whacking limpets off the rocks for eating.
In the marine environbment, the greatest diversity occurs where there is a medium, rather than a great disturbance intensity. The abundance and diversity of species in a substrate depends on the disturbance factors. Fort example, sand is constantly shifting and moving around. The organisms that live within sand have to adapt to the mobility of the environment and its low interstitial space. Tube worms protect themselves from the moving sand by building themselves a tube that will protect them from cave-ins of the sand.
The estuary that we explored was host to red mangroves. Red mangroves are viviparous and salt tolerant, and they provide a substrate for settling. Their live young take root in the bottom, soon after they fall from the branches. They have ariel roots with nodes that exude salt. The red mangroves we saw were living in a sandy silty area. A slight difference in the substrate would change the type of mangrove species. In order of progression, the red mangrove at the bottom end of the estuary could change to be areas of black, white and buttonwood mangrove. In this particular estuary, we saw an abundance of mud shrimp and tube worms, some oysters and a blue swimming crab. The mud shrimp were living in the siltier areas, the tube worms in the sand, and the oysters on the red mangroves. The crab was found in a shallow silty area.
We ate some jicama and looked some shells up in books. - Layla Charlesen, Hesquiaht First Nations, BC, Canada

1/3/03, Friday, 3rd of January 2003
Morning came early, but was welcomed by the anticipation of a boat trip to some of the islands in Bahia de los Angeles. At 7:30 AM our group waded out on to the basaltic rocks of the intertidal, where pangas awaited. Ramon was our boat captain in the panga that I rode in, whom gave us some local insight to the islands. On the ride out towards the islands the water was covered with a brownish spurge. Dennis said that it was an oil from zooplankton that use it to float to the waters surface at night, then ditch it at dawn so they can migrate down into the lower water column for the day. Pretty neat system!

Our boats closely examined two of the islands, Gamilitos Island (Twins Island) and Cabeza de la Caballo (Horse Head Island). We spotted numerous birds and other new marine life. This included sea lions, oyster catchers, brown pelicans, osprey, blue footed boobies, double crested cormorants, grebes, black crowned night herons, hermanns gull, frigate birds and spinner dolphins. We observed that islands with more bird guano had less plant diversity. Gamilita Isla only had cardon whereas Cabeza de la Caballo had mesquite, palo agria, old man pataya, palo adan and agave spp. This second island did not have as much guano as Gamilites Isla did. This is probably because the soils have become acidic and therefore aren't as good for growth. Numerous other reasons could be the cause of this including lack of dispersal mechanisms, unstablized conditions etc..

The islands differed slightly in geologic makeup composed of andesite, tuff and pumice. Landslides and Miocene volcanic events are responsible for their origin. Both islands were landbridge islands that were both connected to the Baja mainland but were separated by higher sea level.

A large island in the distance that we could see, Isla de Guardia, was separated from mainland Mexico millions of years ago by rifting. A very deep submarine canyon was between the nearby coastal islands that we examined and Guardia.

According to Island biogeography theory by McCarthy and Wilson insular populations and speciation are initiated and insular in regards to immigration and emigration to the nearest land source.

After examining the islands we turned our senses to the sea. We observed several feeding frenzies with many bird species , mullet (fish) and pods upon pods of spinner dolphins. The excitement in the pangas was quite a site! Many among our group had never seen wild dolphins. It was a magical experience!

Along a few coastal rocky areas we identified basking sea lions and sally lightfoot crabs. Offshore of La Ventana (The Window) in another small island a large group of female sea lions were cooling themselves at the waters surface by raising their pectoral fins into the air.

Both pangas stopped at a small protected island for a pee break. The island had a protected bay that made it easy for the boats to come up onto the shore.

We departed back to the turtle camp where we packed up and eventually took off for our next destination. We passed cuestas which are a geological landform like a small mesa shape mound influenced by destructive erosion.

After returning back to the Pacific Ocean, sunset came and reflected blues, reds and yellows into the eastern sky. The sky and desert landscape of cardon, cirrio, pitaya, and datillo is unique to the region of Baja. These memories will never fade.

After dark we came to a little town of Gurrero Negro. We had fish tacos at a cute little taqueria with lovely fresh fish. We all stuffed ourselves and waddled back to the trucks.

Being disappointed with the concrete slab of a campground in town we decided to continue onwards. After turning onto a dirt road that ran through slat flats we came to La Laguna Ojo de Liebre (Scammons Lagoon) where we camped at a Parque Natural de la Balline Gris. We all quickly unpacked and drifted away into a dream to reflect upon another great day in Baja! - Christa Strickwerda, WWU, Journal Entry #1

1/4/2003
Upon reflecting on my first week in baja - I feel most comfortable discussing my experiences with native vegetation. This land which we have been exploring is rich in both diversity and subtlety. In some of the literature I have leafed through on vegetation it is noted that the many endemic plant species (30% of the total plant species) and other natives tend to appear similar from one to the next. To the passerby on the highway it would be easy to gaze over a region such as the Vizcaino desert biosphere reserve and find what appeared to be a barren landscape comprised of only several cacti species and some scrub bush. But upon removing oneself from the car, independent of the region one is choosing to explore, it is certain that this first driving impression will be dramatically altered. This phenomeno, of course, is probably true of all areas - but it is in the desert that we most quickly label a landscape "barren" or with less possibility for discovery.

My relationship to the desert is one that has been slow in evolution as my time spent in this sort of environment has been limited. The desert life form, however, is one that will always be precious in my mind - for its ability to persist in such harsh conditions. When water is so essential to all life - and is increasingly becoming a scarce resource - it is easy to marvel at the natural conservation of water by the adaptations of the desert plant. The diverse habitats found on the peninsula further the possibilities for adaptation - allowing the explorer to discover the many avenues a plant might take to survive what may be as little rain as to have no rain for 2 years at a time.

These notes were taken 12/30/02

As was seen later on our expedition, these plants are marvelous for more than just their adaptive qualities. Chuey (our indigenous ethnobotany expert) discussed with us another way in which these plants can be precious - their amazing abilities to heal and to feed when chosen appropriately. His relationshship to the land on which we walked was touching both in its depth (as he has lived in Bahia de los Angeles all of what I assume has been a long life) and in the ideas he inspired. Suddenly the "cactus forest" became not just a mesmerizing maze of thorns around which to dodge - but a medicinal and nutriment treasure chest in which we were all possible scavengers. Finding the fairy duster, with its breathtaking red flower, was so exciting to Chuey that it was at once the same for us. A successful brew of tea later that evening - and attempts at a discussion about uses for local plants - brought many thoughts to mind in terms of what scientific botany has lost in ignoring the local scale of knowledge almost entirely. With sweetness and effectivness of plants like a gradient across the land - Chuey brings a common subject on the mind of biologists into a different light. While this amazing conservation of water that plants perform hopefully inspires us to conserve the land on which the plants grow, the importance of conserving certain local relationships to the land should also be taken into account in order for our treasures to be practically realized. - Bridget Deemer, Vassar College, 1/4/03

1/8/03 Miercoles, el ocho de enero, 2003
Each morning I awake to the zip and unzip of my tent. I try to ignore the reality that morning has come and that I too must get up. My cozy bag and desire for extended dreams must be out on hold for what is in fact a living dream, Baja!

Just after breakfast today I presented some literature/information on the National Estuarine Research Reserve system and the controversy around the Tijuana watershed to our group.

After our group secured the camp, we all went out on the town! Even in the daytime these city adventures of ours are much enjoyed and probably needed by all. Todos Santos is a great town. If perhaps it was in New Mexico or Arizona I would completely relish it. But the fact that we are in Mexico and every shop one enters you are greeted in English and all prices in US dollars doesn't make sense. Thankfully I was able to convince store worker to speak to me in Espagnol, as I told them I needed much practice.

In the afternoon our group was supposed to meet up again for a hike in Las Sierras de las Lagunas. David showed up with a guide, Fernando, for a excellent talk and hike into dry tropical forest.

I had never been in a dry tropical forest and I was very surprised at how it almost seemed to be a mixture of a desert biome and a temperate forest. Supposedly this biome receives greater than 350 mm of precipitation each year. This condition results in the growth of numerous new plant species. A few of the new plants I observed include: palo ario, cardon barbon, Encino Negro (black oak), palo escopeta (riffle stick), wild fig, palo eba, mauto, black palm and malo mujeres (nasty women). These all fit into the plant structure of the forest which consists of emergents, canopy spp., sub canopy spp., shrubs, and forbs. This creates a complex niche partitioning system. The only bad thing that we saw, but interesting to note, was introduced agricultural species grazing of lower canopy spp., shrubs and forbes. It proves how useful on the ground ecological surveys are versus merely arial surveys.

After our great hike we all went back to Todos Santos to a little restaurant for dinner. All you can eat pizza! I loved it…I am such a bloody American! Yum Yum!

January 10th, 2003
Location: La Paz Bay, Baja California Sur

The area of study is Bahia de la Paz, which is the largest harbor bay and estuary on the gulf side of the peninsula. It is located above the Tropic of Cancer and in Baja California Sur. Below there is a map of the area which indicates the bay, the city and the sandy peninsula that protects Bahia de la Paz from the gulf (El Mangote) and forms the La Paz lagoon. We looked at coastal wetlands and dunes region first and then we looked at south gulf coast desert. The coastal wetlands were in La Paz city. There are other wetlands in the Bay of La Paz. This wetland had low vegetation. Mangrove and grasswort were the most dominant. The main mangroves found were Red Mangrove (Risoflora amangle), Black mangrtove Ragucularia Rasomosa) and white (Avicinia germana), determined by the tidal influences and heights in the soils. The soils were mainly mud and the birds found in here were: great blue heron, tricolor heron, white egrets, great white egret, snowy egret, double breasted cormorant, marbled godwits, American oyster catcher, spotted sandpiper. Mainly, this area is important for wintering shorebirds and egrets, herons, white pelicans, ducks and gulls. 40,000 birds come down to this area. Some continue to go down to southern Mexico or Central America and a few of them stay in the area, get eaten or die from all the energy of migration. Western sandpiper is the most common and most important.
The area is also important because of the mangrove community. Mangroves provide habitats for clams, oysters and play a major role in the transition between terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems. It is known that 60% of the mangroves population has been destroyed for human purposes such as smoking fish, fisherman houses, and other types of housing. The importance of the coastal wetlands needs to be expressed better to the human communities because of its great value as an ecosystem.

The second stop was at 4 km off San Juan de la Costa Road. This areas belongs to the southern Central Gulf Coast Desert phytogeographic province. It was mainly dominated by pitaya agria, choilla, cardon, torote, palo adan, pitaya dulce, lamboy. This area has been highly disturbed, especially by Uninamgo cattle. Cattle were introduced 300 years ago to the area and have done high damage to this area. Cows tend to eat all the leafy plants. It was obvious to see the disturbance because of the high abundance of cholla.

The third stop was at 25 km off the same road. This stop was a sand dune area which was along the coast of La Paz Bay. In this dune, plants had more salt, low moisture retention and low organic content in the sand. A little bit more inland more vegetation appears. The most common plats were golandrina, sand verbana, mangle dulce, cinelo (wild plum), frutilla, lupine. A little bit more inland at the other side of the road, a combination of lava, welded lithic tuff, cobblestone and other sedimentary rocks could be seen along the escarpment. The geological formations were affected by a normal fault, with us standing on the hanging wall, this lower part mostly covered by seawater.
-Beatriz Ana Callizo, WWU

January 10, 2003
La Paz, Camping at the Aquamarine RV Park
We met with Dr. Juan Guzman bright and early at 8 am at the CCC parking lot. Dr. Guzman is a professor at UBCS in la Paz. He is an ornithologist, but also has become a kind of jack of all trades as a professor, teaching many subjects. He took us to a very muddy area just outside of La Paz on Ensenada de La Paz lagoon. A not-so-attractive tidal flat that is one of the most important winter bird stops during migration. The flats have a very high clay content - they are sticky and our shoes are not happy about it! It was raining a smidge - not much really, but Dr. Guzman says it hasn't rained in La Paz in years! There are little crabs running all around the mudflats - they are food for the various birds that stop here. We see western sandpipers, royal terns, curlews, willets, American oyster catchers, a tricolor heron ( very cool!), whimbrells, dowichers, great white egrets, snowy egrets, double crested cormorants and even an ibis! ( I wish it were a scarlet ibis - I've wondered what they look like since reading a short story involving one years ago in high school). Juan says that some of the birds have only 3 stops before they get here - Fraser Valley in BC, somewhere in Oregon, somewhere in California and here. There are 1000's of kilometers between stops! The birds will stay at each stop 4-10 days to eat and get their weight up again before they continue on. Imagine that journey every year! I wonder if it originates with limited food resources in an area, forcing birds to follow where the food is so they don't eat an area beyond recovery the next year. Juan says he's seen birds land here too exhausted to lift their heads to feed, and so they just die there in the mudlflats. Such a sad vision. He says birds stay true to their flock and if the flock leaves before they've gained enough weight, they'll go anyway, and end their lives exhausted on a beach.

There are some black mangroves on this beach. Only 40% of the mangroves are left in this area due to use for firewood and building materials. Black mangroves have pneumatophors that come up out of the ground, like little arms rreaching up! Nutty looking things. I think red mangroves are way cooler with their stilty legs.

Juan has been working to get this area protected from development that is encroaching on it, but the protection is a long one. One of the biggest problems is the financial ability to create management plans and hire staff to enforce regulations.

Juan took us to several places with characteristic vegetation and coastal dunes (that have been partially developed). Our last stop was at a geologically stellar canyon on the road to San Juan de al Costa. (Veer to the right off the main highway north of town). The first visible rocks were cross-beded sandstone- probably a coastal dune deposit. It was a nice iron oxide color. Lots of tuff, welded and not were foiund up the canyon, and there were a bunch of comglomerates as well, but they may be leftover from block and ash flow or just have been deposited high up in a drainage basin.

We found a gecko without a tail that tried to crawl up Bridget's pants (good thing he didn't mare it - I've seen the results of such adventures.

Bridget Deemer, Vassar College, January 17, 2003

Our visit to the Kumiai village San Antonio Necua brought many issues deep within my mind to the surface. Our discussion following Layla's presentation on local versus scientific knowledge in many ways captured the intenal struggle that being a scientist entails. Even brief exposure to radically different systems of knowledge, thought, and being encourages us to more deeply explore and consider our own.

The community we visited in the foothills of the Sierra Juarez was like no other place I have been. The village lives on approximately 63,000 hectares of land 27 of which are currently under irrigation, 50 of which are cleared for seasonal dry farming and 6205 that are suitable for cattle grazing. The total population of San Antonio Necua is hard to estimate due to the semi-nomadic lifestyle of its inhabitants, but the ejido consists of approximately 116 individuals making up 21 families. The proposal for and potential impacts of an ecotourism industry as part of a sustainable development plan on basically all their land was what brought us to this isolated group of people.

While the Mexican government refers to the Kumiai at San Antonio Necua as an ejido; the tribe does not organize itself in a community-centric fashion the way that the traditional Mexican ejido does. Families move to and from the main town seasonally. This flux of individual isolation, however, is overlaid by a more pressing challenge to the tribal isolation that has been historically upheld. This tribal isolation I refer to is a cultural separation from the modern day world and the bustle of downtown Ensenada culture.

San Antonio Necua is perhaps the most developed area of Kumiai being the only vicinity in which electricity is available. The community also has a kindergarten and primary school as well as radio communication with the town nearby. The school is bilingual teaching its students in both Kumiai and Spanish. While some families choose to continue speaking their native tongue at home, many families are only speaking Spanish resulting in the overall trend toward the loss of the Kumiai language and the conformation to the outside world. This trend is becoming entirely too common; some scholars such as Luis Maffi think that the current high language extinctions rate and lowering level of global language diversity is directly linked to lowering levels of global biodiversity.

In our discussion with Layla we were addressing a point that will, in my opinion, be increasingly important for scientists to consider as the scientific community continues on its path towards more diverse forms of inquiry. Layla introduced the Cartesian model upon which scientific systems of thought and inquiry were based during the scientific revolution/enlightenment. Since its formation as a dominant idealogy, problems with the system have been articulated and developed many times over. The scientist usually feels that science approaches truth, but as we approach truth we find that we must reconsider our frameworks.

What struck me upon arriving at our campsite within the village was our deep intrusion in an area where fiew outsiders had stepped foot. This is not to say that we were not generously welcomed, but I still found problem keeping the unbiased frame of mind that the scientist is encouraged to strive for. I found myself taking strong opinion with the method and purpose of the work our group was doing with the community. Around the campfire I found myself amazed at the irony of our presence here. The local knowledge of the community seemed to be in the process of a slow displacement by the western scientific framework. Traditional land use has already come into conflict with water diversion practices for new agricultural uses. A nearby vineyard also competes for local resources that were traditionally ascribed to the Kumiai. While some of the women in the tribe practice traditional basket weaving, this is a practice that was outdated years back and has only been reinstated as a means of economic profit. Participation in the Mexican economy is becoming necessary as the two cultures increasingly come in contact. The development of an ecotourism industry in the Kumiai land would only further this need for broader-scale economic involvement. Our survey took account of the resources currently available to the village so that the possible impact of such an industry can be thoroughly accessed. In terms of personal idealogy, however, I think the encroachment of such an industry can do nothing but bad for this small village. The masters student whose project this survey is has a large responsibility to these people, and I am glad we were able to assist her in attaining the most accurate assessment in the most timely fashion.

The Baja Experience - Patrick Sutton, Davidson College

Four days after Christmas and I'm inching my way carefully through the desert trying to avoid the jumping choyas, rattlesnakes and scorpions like a typical Gringo. I had been plucked from the snowy hills of a Robert Frost poem and thrown down into the artistic visions of a Dr. Seuss desert landscape. We are in the Valle de los Cirios, our group consists of seven students and four professors on an Environmental Learning Institute expedition down the Baja peninsula in Mexico. Our director, David Silverberg, and accompanying professors have an impressive understanding of the geology, biology, marine ecology and cultural history of Baja. Along the way we are also introduced to Mexican local area experts from the University of Baja California Sur and the CICESE in Ensenada, as well as community ethnobiology experts.

The Valle de los Cirios is a federally protected geographic region, which is in the Viscaino Phytogeographic province of the Sonora desert. The desert is filled with a beautiful array of cacti and soft rolling hills of sand. The unusual cirios or boojum trees are famous to the region and have inspired the artistry of Dr. Seuss. This unique tree basically looks like a huge green carrot planted upside down and can grow to heights of 70 feet. Jumping choya is a common cactus found all along the peninsula and is named for their tendency to sneak up and jump onto a person's boot, arm or face.

After spending a couple days in the desert, I became more comfortable with the environment and learned that there wasn't too much to worry about. Rattlesnakes are mostly inactive during the winter and the only one we found was sleeping in a bush. We never came across any scorpions or if we did we certainly didn't see them as they crept under the dark veil of night. To be honest, we never saw or heard of choyas jumping on anyone's face either. In fact, choyas are physically incapable of any such motions.

By fueling our stomachs on fish tacos and quesadillas, we were able to cover nearly the entire length of the peninsula all the way down to the Tropical Dry Forest biome of the Sierra Laguna in the Cape over a three week period. Learning modes included hands on field activities, student presentations and PowerPoint lectures by generator and starlight projected onto the side of a white GMC suburban. Our travels zigzagged back and forth between the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez. The Sea of Cortez was created between the peninsula and mainland of Mexico by rifting millions of years ago and since that time has become the habitat for an incredible diversity of aquatic species.

Pacific Loggerhead turtles have been tracked migrating from the Sea of Cortez across 11,000 km of ocean to Japan in just over 400 days. The Loggerhead spends its youth feeding on the richness of the gulf until it is about 15 to 20 years old and then migrates to Japan to breed. We learned and experienced how Baja, and its surrounding waters, are also an important site of migration for whales, birds and other species of turtle. Large species migrations through international waters and lands highlight the importance for countries to work together to create equal laws of protection.

By the end of the second week, we had developed a good sense of the native flora. The Nature Conservancy needed to collect information on the biodiversity and cultural history of a very isolated region of land called Timvichi along the southeast coast of the peninsula. The area had previously been written about as their monthly cover story in the interest of purchasing the land for protection. Our group had volunteered to collect preliminary data about the biodiversity and cultural significance using a Rapid Ecological Assessment protocol. Unfortunately, we awoke our first morning near Timbavicci to see rain clouds slowly pushing in and had to leave in case of flash flooding.

The last week of our expedition we spent living with the Kumyiee indigenous peoples in their indigenous ejido of Valle de Gaudalupe. We helped conduct transects and nested quadrats to collect information on the riparian and chaparral vegetation. The Kumyiee are interested in the data to conserve ethnobotanic resources and to help promote sustainable eco-tourism for outdoor recreation and to increase their economy. Working with the Kumyiee was an interesting experience because the language barrier made it difficult to clearly communicate how to establish objective methodologies in the field. I later came to the realization that regardless of language barriers it's hard to establish objective standards. The Kumyiee were more interested in the application of their local knowledge to the land rather than the process of trying to conform to "ideal" objective standards.

I think there is a need for more emphasis on applied sciences in Western ecosystem management. Too much time is wasted trying to build up abstract scientific foundations of knowledge and universal standards for making management decisions, when sometimes a lot more can be learned through practical local knowledge applied to a specific ecosystem. The Baja course is being offered again in 2004 and students may get more information on the course at www.environmentallearning.org or by emailing David Silverberg at Silverberg@alum.mit.edu.