The Elfin Forest Natural Area is a

nature preserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

protecting a unique plant community in Los Osos-Baywood Park,

San Luis Obispo County San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo. Junípero Serra founded the Mission ...

, central

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

.Elfin-forest.org: Elfin Forest Natural Area
/ref> It consists of prehistoric sand dunes, rising above southern Morro Bay, on the north of Los Osos-Baywood Park.

Description

The Elfin Forest Natural Area covers that have been acquired by The Los Osos / Morro Bay Chapter of Small Wilderness Area Preservation (SWAP) since 1988. The land was accepted by and now belongs to San Luis Obispo County Parks and California State Parks. The transfer's acceptance by the agencies was based on ongoing active

stewardship Stewardship is an ethical value that embodies the responsible planning and management of resources. The concepts of stewardship can be applied to the environment and nature, economics, health, property, information, theology, cultural resources e ...

by SWAP, which continues to the present day under the new name of Friends of El Moro Elfin Forest. The nature preserve opened to the public in 1994.

Natural history

The native Coast live oak (''Quercus agrifolia'') trees compose an

elfin forest Dwarf forest, elfin forest, or pygmy forest is an uncommon ecosystem featuring miniature trees, inhabited by small species of fauna such as rodents and lizards. They are usually located at high elevations, under conditions of sufficient air humi ...

, in a naturally harsh location with poor soil conditions, salt spray, and constant winds, that have stunted and directed their growth. They now compose a woodland of trees, with the largest between 200 and 400 years old, and range from a height of in sheltered areas to a low of near the tallest ridge line.Elfin-forest.org: About the Elfin Forest
/ref> There are several other native plants of

pygmy forest In anthropology, pygmy peoples are ethnic groups whose average height is unusually short. The term pygmyism is used to describe the phenotype of endemic short stature (as opposed to disproportionate dwarfism occurring in isolated cases in a po ...

scale in the nature preserve, also adapted to the harsh habitat, including the locally

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Morro manzanita (''Arctostaphylos morroensis'').

Habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s in the nature reserve, within the California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion, include: *

Coastal sage scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is w ...

*Coastal brackish marsh * Riparian woodland fringe *Pygmy

oak woodland An oak woodland is a plant community with a tree canopy dominated by oaks (''Quercus spp.''). In terms of canopy closure, oak woodlands are intermediate between oak savanna, which is more open, and oak forest, which is more closed. Although the ...

*Maritime

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

* Coastal dune scrub *Oak and manzanita complex. The Elfin Forest supports more than 200 species of plants, 51 species of

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

times, the Chumash people had a significant settlement now named ''

Los Osos Back Bay Los Osos Back Bay is a prehistoric Chumash archaeological site in the Los Osos Valley, near the coast in San Luis Obispo County, California. These ancient Californian Native Americans had a significant settlement, now named "Los Osos Back Bay, ...

'' on a stabilized

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...

to the east of the Elfin Forest.C. Michael Hogan. 2008
''Los Osos Back Bay'', Megalithic Portal, editor A. Burnham
/ref> There is a long Chumash

midden A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...

within the dwarf forest.

References

External links

Elfin-forest.org: Official El Moro Elfin Forest Natural Preserve website
— ''info, images, biota lists, maps''.
California State Parks, San Luis Obispo Coast: Elfin Forest Natural PreserveElfin Forest photo galleryHikespeak.com: Elfin Forest Natural Preserve
— ''images''. {{Coord, 35.3336, -120.8269, type:landmark_region:US-CA, display=title Parks in San Luis Obispo County, California Nature reserves in California Morro Bay California chaparral and woodlands Estuaries of California Forests of California Marshes of California Natural history of San Luis Obispo County, California Chumash Landforms of San Luis Obispo County, California Protected areas established in 1988 1988 establishments in California

Description

Natural history

See also

References

External links