Open House 2012 Re-cap

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Hello all,

Thank-you to all the staff, volunteers, field trip leaders and evening presenters for making the open house event a success, and to the two girl scout troops conducting a service project removing invasive yellow-star thistle.

More than 70 adults and kids attended, including a good turnout for the birding and native plant identification field trips. The fundraising auction and merchandise sales generated more than $700 for the project's operating expenses and internship support.

Those who stayed on throughout the evening enjoyed the complimentary wine tasting by Saucelito Canyon winery, evening potluck dinner (and Jim's famous upside down cake for dessert!) and PowerPoint presentations by our guest speakers.

We will be planning an event this spring, will keep you posted. - Steve Schubert

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11th Annual Hi Mountain Condor Lookout Campout and Open House Event

Saturday, October 6, 2012 (all day event)
@Hi Mountain Lookout, SLO County, Los Padres National Forest
                       
Come and discover one of the largest and most endangered flying birds of North America. California Condors are radio tracked from Hi Mountain Lookout. This is an opportunity for you to learn more about condor biology and the reintroduction of these magnificent birds back to the wild. The open house event will include condor radio-tracking demonstrations, native plant identification, bird watching field trips, and hands-on activities for kids.

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Hi Mt. Weather

Excerpt from Meteorologist John Lindsey's August 2nd weather forecast:

ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS:A strong temperature inversion layer continues to produce extensive and persistent coastal low clouds and areas of fog along the immediate coastline. At 7 a.m. the temperature at the Santa Margarita Fire Department at 1,000 feet of elevation was 52 degrees, while at the same time, Condor Lookout at 3,200 feet of elevation was 80 degrees.

- Steve Schubert

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Hi Mt weather report

Here is an excerpt from today's weather report by meteorologist John Lindsey, with a mention about Hi Mountain Lookout (and temp. information from the online weather station):

ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS:Skies were clear and temperatures were cool throughout the Central Coast this morning. However, this morning's temperature was 58-degrees at Condor Lookout on Hi Mountain at about 3,200-feet of elevation, while temperatures along the coastline were mostly in the high-40s. This condition is singling thebeginning of a temperature inversion layer. Consequently, look for marine low clouds to develop along the beaches during the late-night and early morning hours beginning tonight and continuing through Sunday. Clear and sunny conditions are expected to continue during the late morning and afternoon hours along the beaches.

-Steve Schubert

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Mike Tyner Memorial Event Re-cap

Hello all,

The Mike Tyner Memorial Event at Hi Mountain Lookout on May 19th was attended by many family, friends, and colleagues. It was a sunny day with a brisk offshore breeze, folks socializing and sharing fond memories of Mike, potluck lunch, and a raffle and silent auction fundraiser for the memorial fund that will help support future internships at Hi Mountain Lookout. Several stayed for the sunset viewing and overnight campout.

Thank-you to all the event planners and attendees. It was a nice way to commemorate all of Mike's contributions over the years to the Lookout Project and the Condor Recovery Program, and reminisce about the many ways Mike impacted the lives of all those who came his way. He is missed.

Steve Schubert

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Condor sightings in SLO CO

A ccondor was also reported today in flight over Coon Creek in Montana De Oro
State Park. Probably the same I.D. as the condor found yesterday on the coast
at Pt. Buchon.
Four condors were also reported over the Santa Lucia Mountains near Hearst
Castle in April...these are recent reports in San Luis Obispo County after a
dearth of condor sightings the past several years.

Steve Schubert
www.condorlookout.org<http://www.condorlookout.org/>

From: Chris Arndt<mailto:chris@...>
To: Hi_MountainCondor@yahoogroups.com<mailto:Hi_MountainCondor@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2012 7:42 AM
Subject: [CondorLookoutProject] 538 Miracle spotted along Pecho Coast trail/Pt.
Buchon


John Lindsey mentioned this event this morning several times during his
weather forecasts on the KVEC Morning News.

The condor was seen, photographed, and IDed by PG&E field biologists
working in the Pt. Buchon area.

Chris

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Donations

The Hi Mountain Lookout Project has received the following donations.
Thank-you!

Supplies and materials:

Sara Silverberg, Arroyo Grande -- plastic cups, plates, napkins, bowls &
silverware

Marcelle Bakula, Cambria -- fixing/reframing interpretive center photos

Financial donations:

Michael and Phyllis Hischier, San Luis Obispo

Paul and Judith Burkhardt, Creston

Donations can be made by writing a check to

'MCAS Hi Mountain Project" and mailing to:

Morro Coast Audubon Society

Po Box 1507
Morro Bay, CA 93443-1507



Contributions are tax deductible under IRS Code 501(c)(3).




Morro Coast Audubon Society tax I.D. # 23-7165021

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Hi Mtn. workday Dec. 11th

Hello all,
Eight of us put in a full workday at the lookout Saturday. An unrelenting
northeasterly -offshore- wind blew throughout the day from 20-35 mph, with a
maximum wind gust of 45 mph. Great visibility towards the coast and coastal
mountains south into the Santa Barbara backcountry. Two Red-tailed hawks hovered
into the wind throughout the day, hunting near the lookout. It was nice to make
a visit this time of the year and see the fall colors -oaks and sycamores -
along the drive up Hi Mountain Rd. and a spectacular showing of Toyon
-'Christmas Berry'- shrubs in bright color mixed in across the wooded slopes.

Marcelle, Kevin, and Joel updated the condor radiotracking frequencies, Chris
worked on repairs to the WeatherElement online weather station, Dave and Joel
dug away the slumping soil around the new post gate, Kevin repaired the roof to
the kiosk, Dave began installing the 12-volt display lights in the glass case
and I worked on organizing the recently purchased educational activities and
supplies for kids. We put in some time discussing and planning for the year
ahead, especially with the upcoming establishment of a condor supplemental
feeding/release site nearby in San Luis Obispo County.

Photos of the Dec. 11th workday event are posted at our Hi Mountain Lookout
facebook page...take a look at the last 14 photos in the "Workdays at the
Lookout" photo album.

Steve Schubert

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Intern Update

Hello All,

My name is Hannah Tillmann and I am one of the Hi Mountain summer interns. 

Our teams have been working hard for the past couple of weeks on small mammal
trapping, vegetation analysis and telemetry. We have been focusing our
mammal/vegetation efforts on 30 GPS locations situated in three major
ecosystems: oak woodland, riparian and chaparral. Finding the GPS points has
really let us get a feel for the land, and we have been enjoying finding new
trails, seeing wildlife and exploring. 

Our main focus for the mammal research is to document the species of small
mammals in the area and also to document the existence of a few species that are
not supposed to occur there (according to literature). We have already been
successful in one of these attempts, 5 specimens of Peromyscus boylii(brush
mouse) have been collected, this species has not previously been documented in
the area. These specimens (upon further genetic identification by Dr. V) will
prove that Peromyscus boylii does occur at Hi Mountain. When the summer is over,
we plan on adding all of our mammal data to the CNDDB (California Natural
Diversity Database) which is currently lacking in the Pozo/Lopez Lake/Santa
Margarita Lake small mammal department.

For those interested: here is a list of other mammals that we have trapped so
far: Peromyscus truei (Pinyon mouse), Peromyscus californicus (California
mouse) , Peromyscus maniculatus (deer mouse), Neotoma fuscepes (dusky-footed
woodrat), Neotoma lepida (desert woodrat), Neotoma macrotis (big-eared
woodrat), Chaetodipus californicus (spiney pocket mouse), Reithrodontomys
megalotis (Western Harvest Mouse), Thomomys sp. (Gopher), Microrus sp.
(Vole). We are hoping to get our hands on a few species of Dipodomes (kangaroo
rats) as well. 

We are also working on adding camera stations around the mountain in the hopes
to catch a glimpse of Bassariscus astutus (Ring-tailed cat), which historically
occurs in the area but has not been seen for quite some time. With in the next
few weeks the cameras should be up and if we find anything fun, the pictures
will be attached to future emails.

I have been keeping track of our "weekly highlights" in the Journal at the
lookout, but I wanted to add them to this page so everyone could hear them:

(1) First week of work: Grace Mannell (one of our interns) was sprayed by a
Coastal Horney Toad. FYI - Horney Toads spray blood out of their eyes and this
was quite a comical event (and no, this does not harm the animal).
(2) Second week of work: possible bobcat sighting on Hi Mountain road about 2
miles up the hill from the fire station.
(3) Third week of work: Humming bird seen on nest along Trout Creek Trail.

Stay posted for the feature issue of "A day in the life of Hi Mountain Interns
2011" to see what exactly we do all day.

Sincerely,

Hannah

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Hi Mtn. workday summary, 2-12-11

Hello all,

I was a passenger yesterday with Dave Berry driving his vintage 1966 Toyota Land
Cruiser - the high clearance and 4-wheel drive was necessary on the rough road
and many stream crossings along Hi Mountain Rd. driving in from the Arroyo
Grande side. At the lookout we met up with meteorologist John Lindsey, with
SanLuisObispo.com at The Tribune newspaper, and Chris Arndt, with
SLOweather.com, who reinstalled the improved and better working WeatherElements
station. View the online weather station at
www.condorlookout.org<http://www.condorlookout.org/> . During the day Dave
removed the damaged storm door for repairs and installed the new 12-volt lights
in the glass display case. I photo documented and evaluated a number of future
maintenance and improvement projects for the next upcoming workday event.

The skies were sunny and clear, afternoon temperature was comfortable in the
mid-60's, light SW wind throughout the day, and good visibility. The inland view
of the snow-covered Sierra Nevada was impressive.

A new mammal sighting for the Hi Mountain checklist was a black-tailed
jackrabbit running along the lookout road between the two gates. On the return
drive coming around a curve a startled black bear bolted off the road, crossed
Trout Creek and could be heard moving through the understory beneath the oaks on
the opposite hillside. That was fun.

Photos of the views and workday activities are posted at the Hi Mountain Lookout
Facebook page at
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Hi-Mountain-Lookout/133314096701332<htt\
p://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Hi-Mountain-Lookout/133314096701332>


Steve Schubert

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A memoriam for Don Parham

Hello all,
A memoriam for Don Parham can be read at
www.morrocoastaudubon.org/pdf/mar10.pdf<about:blank> Don was involved with the
early years of the peregrine falcon monitoring and management efforts at Morro
Rock and Huff's Hole in SLO CO. He was instrumental in the establishment of the
Audubon Overlook and Sweet Springs Nature Preserve and the protection of the
Carrizo Plain, now a National Monument.

Don Parham was one of the founders of the peregrine falcon nest watch conducted
by Morro Coast Audubon Society volunteers from Hi Mountain Lookout, for several
years in the late 1970's. Don was President of MCAS when he recommended me for
the Forest Service position of peregrine falcon nest guard at Huff's Hole, below
Hi Mountain Lookout, in 1978.

Don attended our 10-year Hi Mountain Lookout Project anniversary event, among
family and friends, and we enjoyed listening to his recollections of days gone
by. He will be greatly missed.

Steve Schubert

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Hi Mtn. gate installations

Hello all,

This past summer and fall culminated four years of planning, obtaining approval,
purchasing and installation of the two new security gates located near the
lookout on Hi Mountain Road. Generous donations from several individuals, the
Morro Coast Audubon Society Board of Directors, and the recent fundraising
'Condor Benefit' event at Saucelito Canyon Winery made possible the $4,800 in
costs for purchases of the two gates, backhoe rental fee for two days,
contractor labor, concrete mix and other supplies used in construction and
installation. Time and labor on the project were also provided by Dave Berry,
Tom Murphey, Kevin Cooper, and Steve Schubert.

Following are excerpts from a message by Dave Berry, whose energetic and
enthusiastic volunteer efforts made the final stages of the gate installations
possible:

Steve,Dennis Byrnes and I worked on the lower gate horse step over and side panel. Weare both members of the Toyota Land Cruiser Association(T.L.C.A.)Dennis bought a 5 or 6 ft piece of pipe.... the rest of the pipe came from theForest Service. At his shop he used his wire feed welder and a lot ofwelding wire. The pipe was cut with his plasma cutter. Dennis also loaned usthe cement mixer for the upper gate. I took a total of six trips to Hi Mtn.,1st with Tom Murphey to plan the gate and two days to install the lower gate. Itook three trips up to Hi Mtn. with my 1 1/2 ton flatbed truck. Once totake measurements with the pipe panels mocked up, second to haul and install thecompleted panels for the lower gate, the third time tocarry the gate, water, gravel and cement for the upper gate.Dave

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"Hi, but not Above"

Author/journalist and Hi Mt. Volunteer John FitzRandolph recently had this article about the Hi Mt. Lookout and desert tortoises published in The Cambrian. Thanks John!
http://condorlookout.org/archive/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/condor-tortoise.pdf

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"Hi But Not Above" by John Fitzrandolf

Author/journalist and Hi Mt. Volunteer John FitzRandolph recently had this article about the Hi Mt. Lookout and desert tortoises published in The Cambrian. Thanks John!

Download the entire article here (pdf)

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Hi Mt. History lesson

Here are the old lookout photos from the scrapbook that Kevin found (I wonder if the 3rd photo is the same building as the 1961 photo, or an earlier structure??. A 1976 photo from MCAS is also included). Below is the text that is posted on the Buck Rock Lookout Foundation website…from Dave Bulla’s letter, it suggests a lookout was present in 1926, but I wonder if that is correct. The mystery of the lookout’s past history continues.

Steve

Hi Mountain Lookout listed in National Lookout Register

Thanks to the help of Kathy Ball (Buck Rock Foundation), Dave Bula (Forest Fire Lookout Association), Rex Kamstra (firelookout.com), the USFS Santa Lucia Ranger District (LPNF), and the many others who helped us complete our recent application, we are pleased to announce our acceptance to the National Lookout Register! When a structure is less than 50 years old, but has sufficient historical significance to be registered, the lookout is listed in the National Lookout Register with an NHLR number, and is automatically transferred to the NHLR upon the 50th anniversary of its construction. The Hi Mtn. Lookout will be eligible for listing in the National Historic Lookout Register in 2010. Listing in the National Historic Lookout Register is often a first step toward eventual nomination to the National Register of Historic Sites maintained by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

For those of you who don’t know Kathy Ball, she is the founder of the Buck Rock Foundation and has been involved with the Hi Mtn. Lookout Project for several years now. She helped us secure some of our first grant monies to get the project off the ground. You may have seen Kathy’s interview with Huell Howser on the PBS series “California’s Gold”. Kathy attended out Open House/Condor Campout in October 2002, and it was there that we first spoke to her about getting Hi Mtn. Lookout listed in the NHLR. Over the course of the following year, we exchanged dozens of emails and initiated the somewhat tedious application process. Applying to the register involved tracking down as much historic information about our Lookout as we could find, and making a case for why it deserved acknowledgement as a building of historic significance. You can read our official NHLR application here.

The Hi Mtn. Lookout was accepted to the NLR on July 22, 2003 (US Lookout #522) as “meeting those standards of historic and cultural significance established by the American Resources Group, Washington D.C., in cooperation with the Forest Fire Lookout Association, the National Forestry Association, the National Woodland Owners Association, and State and Federal forestry agencies.” At our 2nd annual Open House/Condor Campout on October 4, 2003, Kathy Ball presented us with our Certificate of Recognition and official NLR sign. It was a proud moment for all of us. There were even a few tears as Kathy praised the Lookout Project for it’s dedication to restoring Hi Mtn. as a field research station, interperative center, and Condor telemetry outpost. Kathy told us that Hi Mtn. was the first lookout to be restored and listed in the name of wildlife monitoring. We sincerely hope that the Hi Mountain Lookout Project will now seve as a model, inspiring other folks to find reasons to save and restore their forgotten, dismantled, or vandalized fire lookouts.

Aside from the national recognition it brings us, listing in the NLR has other benefits for the Lookout Project. Our listing paves the way to future recognition of Hi Mtn. in the National Historic Lookout Register and as a California Historical Landmark. So as we continue to pour love, money, and effort into our little lookout, we are witnissing history in the making! As an added bonus, the listing process started us digging into the murky past of the Lookout tower. It turns out that the original lookout was built in 1926 and may have stood in a different location on the long spine of Hi Mountain. The current tower was built in 1961 to replace the old one and fell into disuse by the mid 70’s. Bits and pieces of Hi Mtn. history continue to surface, but there is much we still don’t know. What did the original tower look like? Who staffed and maintained it, and what aretheir stories? As the project progresses, we hope to learn much more about the historical significance of the Hi mtn. Lookout to San Luis Obispo County. Below is one of the emails we received from Dave Bula while researching the Lookout for the application process. Its a great example of the interesting history we uncovered while putting our application together.

Hi Steve,
Thanks for the update on the old Hi Mtn LO. It was not at all uncommon for replacement fire lookouts to be built in a slightly different spot from the earlier lookouts. The usual reason was the elimination some nagging blind spot where fires often occurred without being seen directly from the LO until they got a lot bigger. Another advantage to moving the location slightly was the ability to continue to use the old LO even while the new one is being constructed. The old one didn’t need to be removed until after the new one was completed. This happened in a lot of places. In others, where the mountaintop was so small (like up on top of a rock pinnacle), this was not an option, but it was usually done when possible. There are a number of pictures of band new lookouts standing a few feet away from the old lookouts. I also know of some cases where the new LO was placed as much as a mile away from the old one. It just varied.
Now, we have just learned something new about the old Hi Mountain LO. While visitng a CCC museum, Kathy Ball found some old materials in their “Don Hobart Collection”. The CCC did not build the old Hi Mountain LO in 1926, since the CCC wasn’t even formed until after FDR was elected in 1932, but since the CCC did build a lot of other lookouts, the museum must (correctly) have felt it was appropriate to house this entire collection.
Anyway, among that stuff that Kathy found was an undated description of the Hi Mountain LO. It was called a “standard 14×14 cab” on a “10-foot wood tower”. Even though that data is undated, it couldn’t possibly have been describing the current 1961 15×15 LO on a cement block base. It had to be the 1926 LO. To save time, I’m going to quote a little bit of my reaction to this news from Kathy.
“You’re right, that does NOT describe the current LO. The current LO can’t be called a 10 foot wood tower no matter how such things are designed. 10 foot block base? Yes. 10 foot cinder block? Sure. But wood tower? No way. So I think you’ve found something here. Now what we can’t tell from this is whether the cab was up on legs or up on top of a lower wooden enclosed story, like my old Argentine LO is. Either way might have been described as a “10 foot wood tower.” I’ve seen both types described as such.
Now what about the cab itself? “Standard 14×14 house.” To many, that would suggest the classic L-4 cab. However, in 1926, the L-4 had not even been developed yet. Up here in the northwest the lookouts in 1926 were of the cupola variety, usually the D-6, but some were D-1’s as well. However by 1926, as you know better than anyone thanks to Buck Rock, the 4A cab, or whatever you want to call that cab with the steeply pitched roof and large windows, was well established in California. This design WAS standard in the Santa Barbara NF (the earlier name of the Los Padres NF). Chews Ridge LO, Figueroa LO, and others of this type were built. This has been my guess all along for what the 1926 Hi Mountain LO must have been. But with no picture, or otherwise undeniable proof, I’ve been reluctant to state it as such.”
So now I feel like we’re one step closer. Hopefully, a picture of the old LO will turn up someday, confirming all this.
Continued good luck to you and all your group down there on your most worthwhile condor project.
Dave Bula Western Deputy Chairman, FFLA

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Condors on KSBY TV

Tonight on the news Anchorwoman Wendy Thies aired her onsite interviews
and reported on the recent California Condor release at Bitter Creek
National Wildlife Refuge. The 5 minute news ‘exclusive’ was well-done
with a very good overview of the history of the condor recovery program
and the efforts there at Bitter Creek refuge. Our own Hi Mtn. volunteer
Marcelle Bakula also attended the release that day and made a written
report previously to this listserv.

This condor news segment will be repeating on KSBY-tv news airing
tonight -Nov. 10th - at 11pm. Wendy Thies also interviewed staff and
volunteers covering the Hi Mountain Lookout Project on KSBY-tv news in
June of 2005. We appreciate the news coverage.

Steve Schubert

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Lookout Project Donations- 2006

The following donations to the Hi Mountain Lookout Project have been received. Thank-you!

Supplies, Materials, and Labor:

Marcelle Bakula, Cambria
display board design and exhibit materials; business card design and xeroxing; Hi Mtn. hat design (for sale)

Jeff Osborne, San Luis Obispo
construction of natural rock and concrete water bars on the trail downslope to the outhouse (built with assistance from intern Kelly Biesen).

Brian P. Lawler, Cal Poly, SLO
2 labelled Hi Mountain panoramic photos (46 inches wide)

Paul Andreano, San Luis Obispo
payment of Hi Mountain Lookout website hosting and domain name annual fees; website design and management; display board design and exhibit materials; design of Hi Mtn. merchandise, ie. coffee cups, postcards and stationary, tee shirts, vehicle license plate brackets (for sale at website www.condorlookout.org)

Doug Stinson, San Luis Obispo
1 10×50 Bushnell binocular

Ted and Bonnie Pope, Wild Birds Unlimited, SLO
1 10×50 Bushnell binocular

Jim Duff, Pozo
provision of generator power each year for the annual open house evening speaker presentations; providing homemade pineapple upside down cake for dessert each year at the annual open house dinner!!

Financial donations:

Dave Richardson, Sylmar and Gretchen Keeler, Northridge
4th annual birdathon fundraiser…this one day birdathon and “Big Day” event held in April started at daybreak in the Mojave Desert and concluded in the evening on the Pacific coast. $976 was received from pledged sponsors.

Morro Coast Audubon Society Board of Directors and Cal Poly Biological Sciences Department
sponsorship and salary for 4 Cal Poly student interns, summer 2006

Donations to the project can be made by writing a check to:
‘MCAS Hi Mountain Lookout Project” and mailing to:
Morro Coast Audubon Society
Po Box 1507
Morro Bay, CA 93443-1507
Contributions are tax deductible under IRS Code 501(c)(3).

-Steve Schubert

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5th Annual Open House and Campout- Event Schedule

Hi Mountain Condor Lookout Project 5th Annual Open House/ Campout
Saturday, October 14th, 2006

Schedule of Activities:

Birding Field Trip 8am-11:30am
Hi Mountain to Hi Valley, Santa Lucia Wilderness Area, Los Padres National Forest. Meet at Hi Mountain Lookout. Habitats: chaparral, blue oak woodland, riparian woodland, rocky outcrops. Strenuous hiking conditions and steep slopes. Bring water and snacks. Some poison oak along the trail. Advanced registration requested: contact Al Schmierer 805-772-2026

Arrival and set up for campers 11:30 – 1pm

Picnic lunch 12 noon - 1pm
Bring your own lunch. The Hi Mountain Lookout Interpretive Center will be open. Information fair with Natural history exhibits, booths, and Condor info. Please sign guest register. Raffle tickets, condor pottery, and Hi Mt. merchandise for sale.

Afternoon activities and field trips 1pm-late afternoon

Welcoming comments and introductions.

Morning birding field trip report by trip leader.

“Hi Mountain Lookout Project Year in Review” and recognition of staff, interns and volunteers- Steve Schubert, Volunteer Coordinator, Morro Coast Audubon Society and Paul Andreano, Project Volunteer.

“Updates on the Condor Recovery Program”- brief updates on 2006 recovery activities from Arizona and California agency staff.

Raffle drawing and fundraiser- prize donations. Event announcements.

“Geographical landmarks- a 360* view from the Pacific coast to the Sierras”- Kevin Cooper, U.S.F.S. Wildlife Biologist.

Condor radio tracking demonstration.

Volunteers training session, practicing with radio telemetry.

Natural history field trip: Geology, native plants and birding. Easy stroll along the ridge top road.

Late afternoon sit down chat with condor biologists and staff…reminiscing about experiences in ‘Condor Country’.

Sunset watch, dinner and socializing. Stove and oven heating are available at the lookout facilities. Participants are encouraged to bring a potluck dish to share. Note: no campfires are permitted for cooking or during the overnight campout, but small propane bar-b-ques are OK.

Evening guest speakers 7pm-??
California Condor research and recovery program topics:

“2006 Field Research Season Highlights”- A slide show and discussion by the 2006 Hi Mt. Interns.

“Arizona Condor reintroduction efforts”- A Powerpoint presentation by Chris Parish, The Peregrine Fund Condor Project Director.

“Lead reduction efforts in the Arizona range of the California condor”. A Powerpoint presentation and discussion by Kathy Sullivan, Condor Coordinator AZ Game and Fish Department.

“Telescope observations of the evening skies”- interactive astronomy presentation with Noll Roberts, a Cuesta Physics student in collaboration with GNAT (Global Network of Astronomical Telescopes).

Optional Hi Mountain Campout
Camping sites are available for Friday and/or Saturday nights for staff and volunteers at ‘Cypress Hill’ near the lookout. Other vehicle camping sites are located on the ridgeline near the entrance gate – views overlooking the Santa Lucia mountains and the coast - and at the U.S.F.S. Hi Mountain Campground, located one mile down the road from the lookout. Picnic tables and outhouses are at the campground- bring your own potable water.

For additional information about the open house event and driving directions to Hi Mountain Lookout, see our website at:
http://www.condorlookout.org

Driving directions and maps are at:
http://www.condorlookout.org/directions.html

Download/print a copy of the event flyer (pdf) at:
http://www.condorlookout.org/archives/06_Open_House_Flyer.pdf

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"California Condors back"- by John FitzRandolf

Special to The SLO Telegram-Tribune by Hi Mountain volunteer John FitzRandolph

Posted on Sat, Sep. 09, 2006

For those keeping track of significant dates in California wildlife conservation history, mark April 19, 1987, in bright red ink.

On that day, the last free-flying Gymnogyps californianus — California Condor — was plucked from the wild and moved to a captive breeding program at the San Diego Zoo. Along with 26 other captured condors — all that remained from the estimated thousands who soared the western skies during the last Pleistocene epoch (ice age) 10,000 years ago — that last wild condor was knocking on extinction’s door.

Still, while North America’s largest birds, weighing up to 30 pounds with 91⁄2-foot wingspans, entered the boldest captive breeding program in U.S. history, high-visibility ornithologists, biologists and outdoor experts said it would never work.

Fortunately, those dissenters were wrong, and the condor has subsequently been resurrected, rolling away the stone of doubt for this and other endangered species.

Indeed, first-time visitors making the rocky 6-mile trek through the shallow Salinas River and up twisty Hi Mountain Road to the Hi Mountain Condor Lookout Project west of Pozo are discovering the California Condor Recovery Program is a sizzling success.

Let’s be clear: the chances of seeing a condor circling the Hi Mountain lookout site are slim, albeit the colossal birds do fly near the lookout on their pilgrimages between Big Sur/Pinnacles in Monterey County and Sespe Wilderness/Bitter Creek in Ventura County.

A pivotal point of the recovery effort is to encourage the condors to travel and socialize with other condors.

Biologists and Cal Poly interns use telemetry technology to track the condors’ movements, part of the Hi Mountain daily duties visitors can witness up close, as the birds fly, hang out and eat with other recently released condors.

Ultimately, the plan is for condors to cruise the state, find their own food, meet, mate, lay eggs, raise chicks and become prolific in the same way bald eagles re-emerged from near obscurity to their proud prolific population today. The Hi Mountain portion of that plan utilizes the combined resources of U.S. Forest

Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the Morro Coast Audubon Society.

Meanwhile, tentative plans are under way to create a central feeding location in the Santa Lucia Wilderness in San Luis Obispo County; condors from around the state would congregate and share nutritious meals of stillborn calves and fresh-thawed raw rats, mice and rabbits.

(Yes, that’s what they are fed by field biologists in the four release areas.)

As for the current free- flying condors, 28 thrive in the Ventana Wilderness area, 13 call Pinnacles

National Monument home, 22 live in the Sespe Wilderness and Bitter Creek areas in Ventura County and around 60 are in the Grand Canyon area.

Visitors to the Hi Mountain Research & Interpretive Center — on the ground floor of the lookout — have access to an impressive collection of native animal specimens, a Condor egg, feathers and more.

And speaking of impressive, the vistas from 3,180-foot Hi Mountain Condor Lookout are certainly that. On a clear day, looking south, the eye takes in Lopez Lake, Pismo Beach, the Nipomo Dunes, Avila and more; looking west, Santa Margarita Lake is like a little pond in the distance; to the north, Black Mountain, the San Andres Fault (Temblor Range) and some days even the snow-capped High Sierra Mountains are visible.

For camping enthusiasts, the drive up Hi Mountain Road to the condor lookout leads to the U.S. Forest

Service Hi Mountain Campground; ten campsites offer fire rings and picnic tables; it’s first-come, first served and about a mile and a half below the lookout. Other nearby hiking trails and an invitation to the public to attend the Hi Mountain Condor Lookout Open House on Oct. 14 is available online at www.condorlookout.org.

Original article:
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispotribune/sports/15478246.htm

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MCAS in Audubopn Magazine

Howdy folks,
The current issue of Audubon Magazine features this article on the MCAS and Hi Mountain Lookout.I pasted the text below, or you can follow this link to the story…..
Paul

http://magazine.audubon.org/fieldnotes/fieldnotes0509.html#Chapter

Chapter Spotlight
On the Lookout

It was on an early spring day last year that Steve
Schubert of the Morro Coast Audubon Society set off
with colleagues and family members into central
California’s Santa Lucia Wilderness Area. Clearing the
trail of brush and poison oak as they went along, they
made their way past a pair of nesting prairie falcons
into Hi Valley, then up to an observation point to
view a known peregrine aerie in the cliffs across an
intervening canyon. Schubert scanned the cliffs with
his binoculars. “I found myself saying, ‘Oh, my God,
there is a condor in a cave!’ ” he recalled. The bird,
Condor B168—identified by the numbers on its wing tag
and by telephoto lens and videotaping—is an
eight-year-old male that had been released by the
Ventana Wilderness Society.

The history of Morro Coast Audubon, chartered in 1967,
is spiced with tales of service and adventure.
Schubert (above), an environmental educator who joined
the chapter more than 30 years ago, when he was a
biology major in college, is a past chapter president.
He and Kevin Cooper of the U.S. Forest Service are
cofounders of the Hi Mountain Condor Lookout Project,
which now involves several agencies and institutions
in tracking the wide-ranging condors. Here, in the
Santa Lucia wilderness, the chapter is repeating its
pioneering work in identifying vital bird habitat and
helping reestablish endangered species.

The best known of Morro Coast Audubon’s projects is
its long-running peregrine nest watch. By the 1960s
the falcons’ population had crashed in the United
States, their eggshells thinned by DDT residues.
Biologists then knew of only two nesting pairs on the
California coast, one of them in a pothole cave on
Morro Rock, an eroded volcanic neck emerging from the
sea off the small city of Morro Bay, about 200 miles
up the coast from Los Angeles.

In 1967 chapter volunteers began monitoring the nest
around the clock. The nest guards returned, along with
the falcons, year after year, resulting in much
behavioral data and the occasional arrest of poachers
scaling the rock with climbing equipment. For a time
during the late 1970s and early 1980s the California
Department of Fish and Game paid for a full-time
warden. But as nest failures threatened the continuing
existence of the aerie, chapter volunteers cooperated
with the Peregrine Fund in various projects to
stimulate peregrine reproduction on the rock,
including the placement of captive-bred chicks in the
nest. Falcons that had fledged at Morro Rock spread
across California, helping to rebuild the state’s
once-decimated population, now estimated at more than
250 breeding pairs.

“The falcon pair at Morro Rock successfully hatched,
reared, and fledged two young in 1993, the first
nesting attempt there without human intervention in 16
years,” Schubert says proudly. “Last year there were
two active aeries on the rock. Each fledged
young—noteworthy because in California peregrines
don’t usually tolerate another peregrine nesting pair
nearby.”

— By Frank Graham Jr.

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