A few budding naturalists recently addressed the question, “What do you find interesting in nature this time of year?” The consensus was the arrival of spring flowers. Just like all inquiries, the observation led to another question. Why does it seem like yellow flowers bloom first?  
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According to Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of the popular book, Braiding Sweetgrass, and distinguished professor of environmental biology—there is some science behind the colors we view as beautiful…and the same for bees! Both love purple and yellow.

Spring flowers give us a warm fuzzy feeling. From a biological perspective, are we anatomically attracted to purple and yellow first? In a roundabout way, yes! Humans have a thin layer of cells in the back of each eye called a retina. Cones are the part of the eye that lets us see colors. 

Colors like yellow and purple activate three types of cones at once. Light from the leaves and trees is activating your green cones. Light from the sky is activating your blue cones. And light from the pollen in the center of the flower is activating your red and green cones at the same time. That makes it look yellow.

Bee eyes perceive many flowers differently than humans, and have the ability to see color much faster than us. The most likely colors to attract bees, according to scientists, are purple, violet and blue. 

According to Robin Wall Kimmerer, “It turns out, goldenrod (a yellow flower) and asters (a purple flower) appear similarly to bee eyes and human eyes. Even more intriguing is that yellow and purple plants growing together receive more visits from pollinators, therefore leading to better plant success.” Doesn’t it seem fitting that yellow and purple are also called complementary colors on the color scale?

Currently, in Big Basin State Park, the reservation-only parking lot is covered with a substance that looks like an oily sheen, and has a "sulfur-like" smell in some areas.

Visitors have shared their thoughts about the smell, and many think it's a human-made event (like leakage from an old septic tank, etc.).
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What is it? What are its characteristics? What does it remind us of?  Staff are currently gathering observations. Uncovering a mystery is always exciting, and challenges one's assumptions, and patience.
 

Here's what we know:

1. Water bubbles out from underground at the interface of crushed rock/soil and the edge of the parking lot asphalt. The entire portion of this lot is covered with "slime."  Video of parking lot
2. It has been observed during the rainy season, and dries up in early summer into early fall.
3. It breaks apart like glass if you poke it with a stick. (Oil doesn't do this.) 
4. In sunshine, it displays a rainbow-like sheen.
5. Many areas appear to have an orange-rusty appearance. (Iron?)
6. Some areas have a sulfur-like smell. (Bacteria-eating iron?)
7. We're not sure this occurred before the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire.  All structures in this vicinity were burned, and the parking lot is new.

According to Justine Dees, a PhD in microbiology, bacteria living in water or sediments can change the form of metals like iron, manganese, and copper. 1 Some bacteria can change iron from a solid to dissolved, and back to solid again. Crazy, right?! Some bacteria ferment while growing…thus the stink!" "Microbial diversity also responds to changes in environmental variables, such as sun, temperature, and location." 2

The image below shows the shiny rainbow colors. If this is biofilm, it meets the characteristics of floating on top and ‘shattering' like glass when disturbed.  Stay tuned. The mystery of the post-fire, redwood forest, with a slimy parking lot, has yet to be uncovered!

PG&E will decommission an old hydropower plant, remove its dam, and remove the Lake Pillsbury dam that sits on an active Fault Zone. Dams can disrupt natural water flow, leading to increased flooding in some areas and reduced water availability. Removing dams can help restore natural flow patterns, improving water management.

• Eel River: Removing the Scott and Cape Horn dams on the Eel River will open up nearly 300 miles of historic spawning and rearing habitat for salmon and steelhead. 
• Russian River: The agreement surrounding the Eel River dam removal also addresses water security for the Russian River watershed, by modernizing the water diversion system. 

Map below from Friends of the Eel River