December 1933

December, 1933,Volume xii Number 12

THE PUBLICATION OF THE YOSEMITE NATURALIST DEPARTMENT AND THE YOSEMITE NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION

Published Monthly Volume xiI December 1933 Number 12 Yosemite Elk Herd Moved to Owens Valley By A. E. BORELL, Ranger Naturalist At one time tule elk (Cervus nanmals were from Buttonwillow stock. nodes merriam) were numerous in August, 1921. five bulls and throughout the San Joaquin and four cows arrived by truck direct Sacramento valleys. But with the from Buttonwillow. gold rush and the rapid settlement May, 1922, another young bull of the Great Valley of California was brought from Del Paso Park, the elk were much reduced in num Sacramento. Thus a total of 14 anibers. At last but one wild herd remats were shipped into Yosemite mained and that was near Button valley, but eight died shortly after willow. Kern county. Individuals arrival and during the first winter and organizations interested in will leaving only six animals. However, life conservation were greatly wore from that time on the elk began to tied regarding the future of the do better, and two or three calve elk. It was feared that some disaswere born each year until this sea ter might wipe out the remaining son whe r six were born. The nam herd or the shooting by farmers her of animals in the herd reached whose crops we e being damaged 27 during 1933. would gradually exterminate one of For several years there had been California's finest big game anifeeling that the elk herd should mals. Interested parties and organ be removed from Yosemite if a izations captured and shipped small suitable place for them could he herds to various parks in California found. There were several reasons The California Academy of Sci- advanced by those who favored the ences. through Mr. Hall McAllister move. In the first place, so far as chairman of conservation. obtained we can learn elk are exotic to Ye permission to place a few elk in sem to and it is against the policy Yosemite and erected a strong wire of the national parks to introduce fence. eight feet high inclosing 2h non-native species In the second acres, in which to put them. place, the high fence necessary to In May, 1921, three cows and a hold the animals was unsightly a bull calf were brought from Del detracted from the beauty of the Paso Park in Sacramento and upper end of the valley The placed in the paddock. These am mals also were destroying one

our fine meadows, most of Ih • iag capture and shipment. So cae•Ii flower's and shrubs were gone corn of the seven bulls was driven lute pletely and the sod was badly cut the holding pen and thence into the up. During the rutting season the chute where his antlers were sawed bulls rake the trees with their off. The sawing of the antler ha antlers and remove patches of painless as the antlers of the deer strips of bark. As a result of thin family are of solid horny material many of the small trees were badly and do not bleed. An antler does damaged and even some of the not have the tender "thw" core as large trees were dead or dying. does the horn of a cow. It was also obvious that conch. With pen and chute ready and tons were not right for the ell: the antlers removed, we awaited the The paddock was too small, there shipping date. At 8 o'clock on the was not enough browse at any time morning of October 10 we drove it of the year and the animals had to number of the animals into the pen live on alfalfa hay throughout the and then one at a time they were winter. Aside from the fact t wit, put through the chute and into alfalfa is not a natural food of etas heavy wooden individual crate, the.t rs expensive. crates having been made beforeIn the light of the unsatisfactory hand by Mr - Dow. By 6 m the eve conditions in icsemite the State ping all of the animals were in Chamber of Co.t:.,etce.gas :atccu crates and loaded on three trucks to locate a suitable home for ow The caravan of trucks, accost elk herd. When G. W. Dow of Lone panied by Mr. Dow, Ranger Will pine heard of the proposal ne lam Merrill and the writer, left that started negotiations to have the evening via Merced and Tehachapi herd released n Owens valley. Most Pass. We drove all night and until of the land in the valley belongs t 3 p. m. the next day with very few the city of Los Angeles and fur stops in order to get the animals,i,shes the water supply for that to their destination and out of the city. It was first necessary to i e crates as soon as possible. ceive permission or ap;,roval ul Mr, Dow had constructed a several organizations and urci.,in temporary holding pen en the bank uals, and then to finance and arof Owens river, near Aberdeen, 14 1, range for the capture and transpor miles northeast of Independence, tation of the elk. Finally the neces Inyo county, in which to place the sa.ry arrangements were cump,eteu animals until they recovered from and the date of moving set firs their trip. By 5 p. m. all of the elk October 10, 1933. During the month had been released into their nC v of September, Chief Ranger E, s paddock. Here they had a good Townsley, w th the aid of range,. supply of water, browse and alfalfa and C. C. C. men, constructed., hay. When first released some al' wing fence so that the animaia the animals were tired and wobbly could be driven into a small high but when we visited them the next board holding pen A heavy timhr: morning all except one of them chute also was built leading from were in fine shape. One old to 'I which had been injured by fighting the pen. before we started shipping opera It was obvious that, if the bulls tions was lame, but will prohah'v were allowed to keep their en"recover. After one week in the

rnous antlers they would injure paddock the gate was opened and themselves and other anima's dunr e ell: pert_' tied to roam at laet,t,

over their new range. There are very few private The many friends of the Yosemite ranches left in Owens valley, the elk herd will be happy to know nearest being 10 miles from the that their new range promises to place where we released the herd. be ideal. There is an abundance of Unless the elk concentrate about willow, tule, brushy undergrowth one of these ranches they will do and grass; some of the undergrowth no damage. It seems unlikely that is six feet high. This type of counthey will bother the few ranches try extends for at least 50 miles when there is such an abundance along both sides of the Owens river. of natural forage and shelter along The river never dries up and will the river. supply the elk with drinking water The local fish and game officers and wallowing places. and residents are taking an active Mr. Dow wrote that on October interest in the welfare and protec 22 he found the elk in a thicket tion of the elk. The animals tie ncar the paddock and that when tainly are under more natural conhe called them they came out and ditions and I believe that the elk rt^ tipples from his hand, seemingw'll he much better off than they 1,' very contented. were in Yosemite.

TOWHEE TEETERS

By Ranger Naturalist C. H. Oneal The green-tailed towhee is a brilAutomatically he jerked his hand liant little songster who lives close away with such suddenness that to the thicket. He is one of the the trusting little visitor was friendliest of birds. When things dropped but not frightened. are quiet he is likely to announce Breaking off some crumbs from his arrival with a few kitten-like my lunch I went over to the para mews. pet Placing the crumbs in the palm He is slightly larger than a sparof my hand I held it out with the row; he wears a bright chestnut index finger extended Onto this cap on his crown; his gray chest is perch hopped the spry little fellow protected by a pure white bib and My moving my index finger and he cocks his head from side to side arm up and down interfered not as he looks at you. As the sun hits one whit with his eating. Each his back and tail it is reflected in a downward movement caused an inbeautiful yellow-green color. stinctive extension of the wings but One noon a weary hiker was sit. no fear. After eating his fill his ting en the parapet of the lookout mind centered upon his family ohlidreamily resting. There was a flash gations. Gathering his bill as full of grayish brown and a newcomer of crumbs as possih'e off he flew to.'ighted ahem a foot away. I called satisfy the lusty appet'tes of h is to the rain to hold still Up hopped offsprings. the spry litt'e creature first on the Close association with man and rin's leg and then onto his hand eo•rfiden-e in his friendship have in hopes of finding some choice made this little gleaner of the morsels there. The dulled intellect ground respond in as full measure of the man registered surprise as he has received.

Mountain Sheep Found in Lyell Glacier By M. E. BEATTY, Assistant Park Naturalist Mountain sheep (Ovls canadensis ralist Bert Harwell and I were sierrae) have been rated as extinct scrambling over the east lobe of in the Yosemite region for at least the Lyell Glacier on our third an 50 years. That they once inhabited nual glacier measuring expedition, this area in fairly good numbers is we made a startling discovery indicated by the fact that horns, While pausing to regain normal together with fragments of skulls breathing, I chanced to glance over and cores, are often found by hikto my r,ght, where to my great ors in our high country. astonishment I saw what appeared On October 4, while Park Natuto be, at first glance, a normal M. E. Beatty. Assistant Park Naturalist, with mountain sheep as nnnA on 'well Glacier.

living mountain sheep staring at us back to the valley, where it is now across the ice. Needless to say, I being prepared for exhibition at could scarcely believe my eyes, and the Yosemite Museum. asked Bert Harwell whether I was In attempting to piece together seeing things. We immediately rethe story of the animal, it was alized that the animal lacked both found necessary to have more data, hair and hornsa mummified speso a return trip was made with cimen! steel stakes and surveying equipWe discovered that the life-like went to measure distances and rate position was due to the fact that of flow of the glacier. We found the animal was supported in an upthat the glacier moved only one right position by a pedestal of ice inch during a four-day period, or at that the body had shielded and the rate of seven and one-half foot thus prevented the sun from meltper year. The ram was found 1936 ing The warm summer had meltfeet from the head of the glacier. eel, the ice of the glacier sufficientNow, assuc,ing the air _.r:a ail ly to eap"se all of the animal, with or was ' alight n a slide while fe2dthe e ::ception of two of the feet. ing on the crest of i,~ount Lyell The ram seemed to be in a perand was buried in the bergschrund, feet state of preservation, the flesh it would take close to 250 years for ied iii the ma mer of "jerky;" the the glacier to carry the sheep to s :.in d. y and taut as a drum 's head. the spot where found. This great The missing horn shells were found length of time is borne out by the with little difficulty in the moraine aged appearance of the horns and below, one at a distance of 30 feet the dehydrated flesh. Dr. Eric Was. and the other about 75 feet from mund, geologist from Kiel Univerthe specimen. sity, Germany, and specialist on A closer examination showed decomposition of animals in ice that the neck of the animal was and water, upon examining the broken, but none of the leg bones specimen stated that the white or other bones was broken. One patches on the back and rump repfront leg had come apart at the resent "leichenwach," or corpse knee joint. We found the missing wax, an initial stage in the formapart all intact near one of the tion of petroleum. horns, and we realized that we had The animal shows a broken neck, discovered the first complete skeleprobably sustained at the time of ton of a Sierra mountain sheep for death, and a concave body, probathe region. bly the result of varying ice presAfter photographing the ram in sure. place, we undertook the laborious The only "wool" found on the job of carrying the specimen over body was directly back of the ears ice, loose morainal rocks, and down and in the folds of the neck. It the steep mountain side to our base may be argued by some that the camp several miles away on the lack of hair, together with the Lyell Fork. The extremely rough dehydrated flesh, proves that, the goi; 7 caused several falls, which animal could not have remained res~.cllcd in snapping the brittle constantly buried iii the ice It is braes of t wo sou-ad legs. The :LaiirrpossiF le to state just what effeel ma] was then transported 10 miles the ice might have on the pe lage by pack horse to t' e Tuohin'ue of an animal, but quite likely the e ranger star ha, a,.d 7') miles by ear.ae sufficient frict on to wear ii

off without severely damaging the deciduous trees, especially dogwood, skin. aspen and oaks. visitors come from The dryness of the meat leads afar to view and photograph one to believe there were summers nature's great floral display rang of sufficient melting in the ice to ing from brilliant yellows to reds at times partially or completely exand from deep crimson to browns. pose the specimen for short periods. Many people admire these color but this can again be discounted tints, but few pause to consider the by f'nding coyote tracks on the marvelous change that takes place glacier every year, and the sheep to gi e them their striking anshows no sign of being chewed on tumnal robes. On our return trip to the glacier, Frost is commonly believed to be we found the bodies of a marmot the cause of leaves coloring and and a cony in the ice of Mount falling. The truth is, that while Lyell. The marmot also lacked fur frost plays a part in determining and hair with "leichenwach" in evithe fall of the leaf and hastens this dence showing similar conditions, process, there are other factors, but the carcass was badly mutimainly in the tree itself, that bring lated, possibly the work of coyotes it about. The cony was in better condition. it The leaf has been an important being necessary to dig it out of the factor in manufacturing food all ice, and quite a bit of fur still re. during the summer. If the leaves mained with no evidence of were to fall at this time there "leichenwach." would be a considerable loss and This mountain sheep is a mature wasting of those valuable submale specimen measuring 55 inches stances produced in the leaves. Th's in length and 33 inches in height. is provided for by the fact that The circumference of each horn before the period arrives when the at the base is 12½ inches, and tin' leaf is to fall practically everything length of the horns along outer which is of value for the nutrition curve 27 inches. Judging from the of the tree has been gradually growth rings on the horns, the transferred to other parts of the animal was a 7-year-old. tree. The result is that the leaf The weight, as is, 45 pounds, which is left is little more than a National park officials feel that skeleton whose cells contain various this find is one of the most imporpigments which are of no further taut discoveries of the year in th e use to the tree. It is these pigments whole park system. that color these leaves during autumn. So with the coming of autumn we see nature preparing for a well earned rest. Our migratory birds are bidding us good-bye; bears and other hibernating animals are saying good night, and our autumn leaves are saying farewell in a blazing sunset color that makes this season a favorite for many visitors to Yosemite.

AUTUMN COLORS

By M. E. BEATTY Assistant Park Naturalist, Yosemite National Park One of the most delightful signs of autumn in Yosemite is the fine colorations of the leaves of our

Roadside Planting of the New Wawona Highway By ENID MICHAEL Ranger Naturalist On July 26 I motored over the upon the raw bank and spreads out new highway that leads from Yolike a starfish in the hottest secsemite valley to the Mariposa tions. Grove of Big Trees. Along the highThe ceanothus group was repreway I was amazed and very much sented in the raw soil by four spepleased to find many native flowerties, integerrimus parvifolius, coring plants taking hold in the raw dulatus and a creeping form of cuts that are not yet three years cuneatus. All of these shrubs are old. These plants, apparently, had excellent roadside cover but the originated from seed that had rolled very best type for the new slidy down from above the cuts and banks is the crawling cuneatus, It found lodgement on the steep banks. forms dense leafy clumps, tough Among these pioneers of the roadenough to take rough treatment side the pea tribe is prominent. without breaking, and down the And among the peas Lupinus latisteep banklowers rope-like folius is the most frequent and branches. most splendid. This lupine favors Other shrubs to take hold are the moist canyons but it occasionthimble berry (Rubus parviflora), ally steps out onto the digest of blue elderberry (Sambucus velutiraw banks and makes a glorious na, the gray and the green mandisplay. Another charming lupine zanita, woodbine (Lonicera interupis Lupinus excubitus. A gray, matta), yerba santa (Eriodictyon calllike plant, it colonizes dry slopes in fornicum), wood rose (Rosa gyma delightful manner. And in spring nocarpa), hazel (Corylus rostrata), its wa.__s -like spray of lavender bear clover (Chamaebatis folioloflowers is lovely. Another pea that sa) and chinquapin (Castanea semsteps out boldly upon the raw bank pervirens). is Giant Lotus (Hosaekia crass :- Bright flowering plants in bloom folic) and with robust form and upon the raw, dry banks, especialclusters of handsome pods, makes ly the east bank, are as follows: a pleasing display. The fastest Blue bugle (Penstemon leatus). worker among the pioneer plants yawning pentstemon (Pentstemon is the Creeping Phlox (Phlox diffusa decumbreviflorus), Yosemite straw flower (Gnaphalium microcephalum

pussy paws (Spraguea umbellata),

NATURE NOTELETS

yellow pea (Lathyrus sulphureus), p,`, Ranger Naturalist J. C. Shirley Indian hemp, (Apocynum androsaemifolium), penny royal (MonardelOn a conducted nature walk July la lanceolata), farewell-to-spring 5 from Mariposa. Grove camp, a (Godetia viminea and G. didleyana), clump of 21 plants known as Pleuribare-stem buckwheat (Eriogonum ecspora fu_mbriolata was observed. nudum), cliff aster (Malocthrix oh. The plants were from one to three tusa), shield leaf (Streptanthus inches tall. The large ones had tortuosus), candle plant (Stephaflowers which were beginning to nomeria virgata), and others, open. These plants are closely reFrom the observations noted fated to Sareodes saaqu°nea and above the following conclusions w : uld be mistaken quite easily for may be drawn : A variety of attract the snow plant, except for the fact tive native plants grow readily in that there is no red pigment, and the raw soil of the new cuts; memalso dre to the fact that the petals bees of the pea tribe, especially are separate instead of united. he;reeping lotus, giant lotus and ape1:1_at a e rap •ep.rytes, end. 'n teat vies of lupine are excellent for inirespect resemble the snee r pan,. t al plautiag; ceanothus and other shrubs may be pla.rted with splendid results; other flowering plants noted may be used to advantage in Z d~

NOTICE

udside beautification.

S~' LC3

The above data may be considThis is a special appeal for supeeed pertinent at the present moport of our Yosemite Natural meat as Colonel C. G. Thompson IIistory Association. superintendent of Yosemite NaWe are continually receiving retional Park, has a program of Wauests to k~e placed on a ceiving et- \. ona roadside planting underway. q try mailing lira e receive o emite Cuts too steep for planting are now being graded and the superfluous NATURE NOTES. There is considerable expense involved in the produesoil used to mask rock fills below tion of these notes. 'through the the road. Seeds of suitable flower ing plant are now being collectedYosemite Natural History Associationpaper, cuts, linotype, ink and boys. Last spring Dr. F. E. Clepostage are supplied. rrents of the Carnegie Institution of We urge those requesting compWashington, came to Yosemite at limentary membership to con:5i,i,r Colonel Thomson's request, to take the purposes of this association as charge of the new Wawona Highprinted on page 01 the last Aug - : yroadside planting, ust issue and be willing to share n view of this ambitious program the expense of i;suing this publicawe may look forward with confition as well as contributing to the dence to the day when ribbons of fine work of the association by joinwild flowers shall lead the way ing it. from out Yosemite valley to the Annual dues $2 a year inciu 1a id old Wawona. Grove of Big ing subscription to Yosemite NatTrees. ure Notes.

Digitized by Yosemite Online Library Dan Anderson