Chaparral Locations

The Chaparral is in these parts of the world

- “Once the ruler of the chaparral, the last California grizzly was seen in 1924. The last one in Southern California was shot in 1908.”

There are many endangered species in the Northern california Chaparral...The California Grizzly once ruled the biome and now is completely extinct.

Maps of Northern California chaparral

Our Chaparral Tumblr

http://wirkus-chaparral.tumblr.com

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Itinerary

Day 1)9AM-12PM Educate students on why / how mercury is affecting organisms in the northern california chaparral12PM-1PM Break for lunch1PM-3PM A director will come to speak with the teens on how to produce a persuasive commercial3PM-5PM Students begin to brainstorm and design their commercial that will convince the public how bad mercury pollution is in the northern california chaparral and how important the it is for them to get involved by donating funds and spreading the word
Day 2)9AM-11AM Finish brainstorming and designing their commercial. Also, prepare to shoot the film11AM-12PM Break for lunch12PM-3PM Shoot the film for commercial3PM-4PM Edit and shoot any necessary film4PM-4:30PM Burn copies of the commercial onto DVD's 4:30PM-5PM Distribute the DVD's to local schools and to the students to give to their schools. The commercial will then be aired to show all the high school students the importance of the northern California chaparral.
Day 3) 9-10:30am - Inform about the threats of industries moving closer to the biome.10:45-12:00pm - Go over the different types of pollution and threats to the biome.12:00-1:00pm - Break for lunch1:15-4:15pm - Tour the biome going over how every different living thing could be     harmed by pollution.
Day 4) 9-10:30am - Brainstorm ways to improve the stability of the biome along with its wildlife.10:45-12:00pm - Observe wildlife along with ways to conserve the different species.12:00-1:00pm - Break for lunch1:00pm-8:00am - sleep over in the biome observing the different activities which happen regularly.

Day 5)Day 5)9am-10:30am inform about the endangered species in the Chaparral10:30am-12pm Try to spot the White-eared pocket mouse (Perognathus alticolusalticolus), Santa Cruz kangaroo rat (Dipodomys venustus), and the-Heermann kangaroo rat (Dipodomys heermani). (They are nocturnal, so wewill try to spot them in their resting places)12pm-12:30pm hike up mountain12:30pm-1pm Eat lunch at a mountain peak1pm-3pm Go into the woods and try to spot endangered birds   Day 6) 9am-10am Take pictures of the wildlife 10am-11am Edit pictures and examen for endangered species. 11am-1pm Have a photo contest between the group 2pm-3pm Send pictures to scientists to exam the photos for anydiscoveries, problems, etc. 2pm-3pm Eat lunch 3pm-6pm Hike up a mountain ofchoice and back down (while up there try to spot creatures that your learned about.) Day7
9am-12pm educate students on what is happening in the community
12pm-1pm break for lunch
1pm-2pm Go to a fire scene and teach kids how deal with a fire  
2pm-3pm Tell students about project they will attempt
3pm-5pm brainstorm ideas on how to persuade the people of northern california to take care of their land

Day 8
9am-12pm students work on projects
12pm-1pm break for lunch
1pm-2pm prepare for quick presentation
2pm-4pm present
4pm-5pm try to put some into action

Air Pollution

A second source of pollution is air pollution. The main reasons why this is so is specifically because of industries and homes getting closer and closer to the chaparral since the biome is being trimmed down to make up space for more and more industries to fit in such limited space in the world today. As a result the many endangered animals living in the biome would be scrambling to seek shelter, along with finding food to feed on. Another threat about humans getting closer to the wildlife would be because it presents an easier opportunity for the citizens to hunt and kill the endangered animals as a form of game.

Mercury Pollution

One source of pollution is mercury pollution. It is coming from abandoned mines into the Cache Creek. It is spreading to the northern california chaparral because Cache Creek drains eastward through the chaparral to the Cache Creek Settling basin on the valley floor. As a result, the mercury is killing the vegetation near it. Consequently, the animals and other organisms in the chaparral will suffer and eventually perish because the food web has been tampered with. Excavation would be the most effective way to solve the problem.

Land Development/Degradation

-There are four primary threats to the chaparral ecosystem in California: development, excessive fire, conversion to rangeland, and negative public attitudes.

-After the flood of December 1964, 12 gaging sections in northern California widened as much as 100% and aggraded as much as 4 m, and then degraded to stable levels during a period of 5 years or more. As channels aggraded, bed material became finer, and low to moderate flow through gaging sections in pools became shallower, faster, and steeper.

-Three significant fires in 16 months

-Public attitudes about chaparral have the potential of being the most dangerous because without the public's understanding and support, chaparral and other native shrublands have no protection against the other three.

-Chapparal as an ecosystem runs off fire, because of that the land is being over degraded.

-Non-native plants grow in the burned areas to try to reduce erosion

General Information

*Climate- Mild winter, hot and dry summer, temperature is 50-65 degrees, average annual precipitation is 14-30 inches per year    
*Average sun/clouds- More sun than clouds   
*Abiotic and biotic factors- poor and rocky soil, periodic fires, Manzanita, Scrub oak, California mouse, and bobcat

About:

Chaparral Project
by Jakob Kaplan, Connor Chamberlin, Andrew Van Riper, Nathan Panzer