Greeting & Interview

New Superintendent  

Karen Beppler-Dorn 

I am very happy to be part of the Pinnacles National Monument team and looking forward to opportunities to work with PIPA to care for this beautiful place. I have been amazed by the unique programs and projects that our cooperative venture has provided to the American public and look forward to learning and doing more.

The signs of spring are all around the park now. Many smiling people are out enjoying the trails, happy sounds of school children are ringing off of the canyon walls, and splashes of bright wildflower color abound. If you haven't been out to Pinnacles for a while, please come and see the changes the season has wrought!

A visit might bring a few surprises for those who haven't been to the west side of the park in a while-construction of the new Visitor Center, Entrance Station, Maintenance Building, Quarters, and supporting facilities is well underway. These facilities will bring many possibilities for Pinnacles National Monument and the Pinnacles Partnership to provide new and inspiring interpretive and educational programs. We are looking forward to completion of this project in late winter or early spring 2012.

Many thanks to all who have provided a warm welcome to me in my first few months as Superintendent of Pinnacles National Monument. I look forward to meeting more of you soon, Karen. READ Q & A INTERVIEW...  

National Park Week & Jr. Ranger Day  

Was Fun For All! 

The National Park Service celebrated National Park Week from April 16th - April 24th with a fee-free week to our nation's public lands."Healthy People, Healthy Parks" was this year's service-wide theme at national park units, including Pinnacles National Monument. With this year's event, the Pinnacles hosted 21 Ranger-led activities, which in all were attended by over 1100 visitors over the course of the week.  

On April 23rd, the National Park Service honored our nation's youth with Jr. Ranger Day. Kids and their families had an opportunity to explore the monument and it's natural beauty and resources while they conducted their free Jr. Ranger booklets. All participants that completed their booklet were awarded a Jr. Ranger Badge and had an opportunity to spend time with a Park Ranger to discuss keeping parks healthy and safe for future generations.  

Other Jr. Ranger attractions included a Jr. Ranger Program for children, ages 3 - 13, led by Ranger Joe Smith entitled, "Scavengers!" and two touch-tables that gave kids a chance to interact with coyote artifacts and cultural games of the Amah Mutson, a native-American tribe of the Pinnacles area. Jr. Ranger day and National Park Week, all in all, were a wonderful success for the Pinnacles National Monument, complete with high visitation during a week of gorgeous weather and blooming wildflowers.

By Valentin Lopez, Chairman / Amah Mutsun Tribal Band

Cultural Resources All Around Us

As many of you know the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band has a very active partnership with Pinnacles National Monument. Our historical ties to this land stretches back 10,000 years or more. To give an example of how long we've been here, last summer we participated in an archaeological project in Henry Coe State Park above the Bell Station. This location is not that far from Pinnacles. Artifacts from this study were sent for date testing and the results recently came back showing that the artifacts were approximately 10,300 years old. Can you imagine how many generations the Amah Mutsun have lived on this land?

Often times when people visit Pinnacles they look for evidence of Native American activities. For example, they look for artifacts such as arrow points, pestles, mortars, pictographs, etc. And then when an artifact is found, for example a bedrock mortar, they want to identify the bedrock mortar as the only cultural item of significance. When this happens we always ask, what was the bedrock mortar used for? was it used to grind acorn? was it used to grind pine nuts, was it used to grind seeds? These are food items and most bedrock mortars would have been used for food. In fact, it is estimated that a single bedrock mortar supported up to four families. READ MORE... 

Nurturing Renewal at The Monument 

April 23, the day between Earth Day and Easter, found three groups working and playing in McCabe Canyon. I represented Pinnacles Partnership only a little as an introduction to the small group of members of California Native Plant Society, CNPS, Monterey Bay Chapter. I've been volunteering as a weed wrangler and the publicist of the group for a few years but this was my first time to arrange for a "CNPS field trip." CNPS members are often so enthusiastic about discussing every plant along the way, we joked about possibly not even making it out of the parking lot! It had been a few years since CNPS Monterey Bay had made it into Pinnacles National Monument at all. While setting up the logistics I met with some resistance for the anticipated crowds and shuttle requirements, but the most intrepid hikers persisted, and Kim Kuska even traveled down to represent the San Mateo Chapter.  

Lynn Bomberger and Jesalee LaPatra came out in support and marveled at the work of members of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and traditional basket weaver from the Mono Tribe, on the sedge bed in McCabe. We also met with members of the UCSC Plant Physiology class and heard about efforts to measure effects of a variety of treatments to nurture one of the largest Deer Grass stands known in California.
Lunch was quickly consumed after we gathered in awe of the most amazing Coast Live Oak tree many of us have ever seen. The little CNPS group enthusiastically embraced the measuring of the massive tree with Amah Mutsun Vice Chairperson Paul Mondragon and member of the Mono and Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area Marvin Marine.

All in all, it was a remarkably memorable morning in McCabe Canyon and I look forward to working more alongside new partners for nurturing renewal at Pinnacles National Monument.  

California Condor Egg Hatches

in Pinnacles National Monument

Biologists have verified the hatching of a condor egg inside Pinnacles National Monument. As expected, adult male condor #318 and adult female #317 are currently taking turns tending to the young nestling. Unlike the California condor nest in the park in 2010, this year's site is at a remote, not easily accessible location. There are no plans for public viewing opportunities at the nest. The species can live to be around 50 years old and has one of the longest nesting cycles among birds. Young condors spend 5 and a half to 6 months in the nest before taking their first flight in the autumn. 

The same breeding pair, #318 and #317, was in the news in 2010 when they nested inside Pinnacles National Monument. During a routine health check of the nestling they were tending, biologists discovered the chick had a high blood lead value. The chick was evacuated from the nest and taken to the Los Angeles Zoo for veterinary care. Now known as condor  #550, the young bird's blood lead levels improved during treatment last summer and is now being raised with other juveniles being prepared for release to the wild. The nestling turned 1 year old on March 24.

Research by scientists at UC Santa Cruz indicates spent lead-based ammunition is responsible for roughly 90 percent of lead poisoning events in condors. Preliminary testing using the same isotopic fingerprinting techniques suggests the source of lead exposure to #550 and her male parent #318 was something different. Final results are expected later this year. READ PRESS RELEASE... 

Pinnacles Hosting  

Mediterranean Parks Study Tour  

May 9th and 10th  

Organized by the NPS International Affairs Office, on May 9th and 10th Pinnacles will be hosting a Mediterranean Parks Study Tour from Jordan. They will first be visiting Santa Monica Mtns NRA for the bulk of their time in the USA to get an understanding of park operations, projects, partners and challenges. They will then visit Pinnacles for a more focused look at endangered species reintroduction and working with partners. We are also expecting the PWR Natural Resource Chief, Ray Sauvajot to be here.

All park staff/volunteers are welcome to attend any part of the meeting/hikes, with supervisor approval. Please let me know if you would like to join us - especially for the 10:00 presentation at the SAR cache from our Jordanian guests! Email Denise Louie,  

VIEW FULL SCHEDULE..