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Field Trip Gualala River Coastal Barrier Lagoon led by Dr. Peter Baye Sunday, May 16, 2004 at 10:00am Gualala Point Regional Park Come join Peter Baye as he leads us on a walk and discussion of plant communities found on the mouth of the Gualala River. We will be meeting at the Gualala Point Regional Park parking lot (Sonoma Co. Regional Parks), west side of highway 1, just south of the Gualala River bridge (Mendocino border). The cost is $3 at entry; follow the road to the end. Alternatively, people can meet at the dirt pull out/parking area that is on the east side of Highway One and just north of the Gualala River Bridge at 9:45 AM. From there we can car pool to the Gualala Point parking lot. For More info. call Jon at 884-4847. Peter Baye is a botanist/coastal plant ecologist from Annapolis. He was formerly with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Endangered Species Recovery Branch, Sacramento), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The mouth of the Gualala River and its barrier beach form a cycle of seasonal lagoons and estuaries. Its dynamics are relatively free from artificial constraints such as flood control breaching or upstream dams or diversions, and its plant communities are relatively unaffected by agriculture or development, unlike many other north coast stream mouths. Vegetation includes a perennial sedge/rush/tule marsh; natural levees with willow-alder riparian vegetation; seasonal wetlands with uncommon stands of western lilaeopsis (Lilaeopsis occidentalis); and submerged aquatic vegetation, wigeongrass (Ruppia maritima). The halophytic (salt marsh) elements of the vegetation are minimal or absent, unlike those of typical persistent estuaries. The barrier beach is also free from European beachgrass, and supports a mix of typical foredune species and the uncommon (or underdetected) Pacific ryegrass, Leymus pacificus, and the more widespread creeping wildrye, L. triticoides. |