The Altar at Mission San Carlos Borromeo

"Soon after founding San Carlos Borromeo, Father Serra moved the mission south to the Carmel River.  This spot was closer to the Rumsien village of Ashista.

Father Serra wrote guidelines explaining what methods the missionaries should use to convince Native Americans to join the missions. Through letters, he recruited Franciscans from Spain."

From: The Missions of the Monterey Bay Area by Emily Abbink, 1996.

Picture from: What I Do

The Mudejar Star window

Founded in 1770, Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, the headquarters of the father-presidents, was the second mission of the chain.  The old mission features the Mudejar Star window, an example of an architectural style once popular in Spain. Mudejares were Muslims who lived in Spain after the 1200’s.

From: The Missions of the Monterey Bay Area by Emily Abbink, 1996

Picture from: What I Do

The Carmel River is flowing through a pipe

'"...The Carmel River is flowing through a pipe around the construction site. When crews clear out for the winter rains, they'll set the river loose along its new path.  Next year comes the fun part: taking down the San Clemente Dam."

From: The Monterey County Weekly
Picture from: San Clemente Rancho

California Red-Legged Frog: Rana draytonii

"The dam removal will also restore the natural movement of sediment downstream toward the sea, replenish sand on Carmel Beach, and improve habitat for the California Red-Legged frog, the largest native frog in the western United States"

From National Geographic
Picture from flickr

Cal Am has never had a silt management plan for San Clemente Dam nor the Los Padres Dam

"Cal Am purchased both dams and all other water facility assets in 1966.  Any responsible water agency will have either a silt management plan to extend dam usefulness, or a plan for supply replacement. Cal Am has never had a silt management plan for San Clemente Dam, and does not have such a plan for Los Padres Dam."

"Based on Cal Am's own numbers, the average bill for residents will at least double in 2018. Cal Am profits will rise from a current $13.8 million per year to $40 million in 2018. All the profits are going straight to Cal Am corporate headquarters in New Jersey."

From the Great Dam Robbery

The Chinese Dam

Cal Am settlement money will allow water managers to finally remove the obsolete Chinese Dam on the Carmel River.
 From: MC Weekly

Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo

Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo
Picture from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonevines/

Officials submit a confidential proposal to extend the deadline for complying with the cutback in pumping from the Carmel River

Monterey Peninsula officials have already submitted a confidential proposal to extend the approaching deadline for complying with the state-ordered cutback in pumping from the Carmel River set to take full effect at the end of 2016.
The cutback order would cost the Peninsula more than two-thirds of its water supply and an estimated $1 billion in economic activity.

From: The Monterey Herald 
Picture from: SFGate 

The Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias)

Lifeguards, researchers and boaters have made numerous sightings of great white sharks in Carmel Bay.
From: City on a Hill Press
Picture from: SFGate

Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus)

The Monarch Butterfly population has sharply declined since the 1990s, going from an estimated 1 billion in 1997 to 35 million in 2013

From: The Monterey Hearald 
Picture from: NatHab

2014 Drought: The Carmel River is no longer flowing out of the Ventana

Tuesday, August 26, 2014: The Carmel River is no longer flowing out of the Ventana Wilderness and into the Los Padres Dam reservoir.

The state Water Resources Control Board has ordered California American Water Co. to cut back 70 percent of its river pumping by December 2016.

From: http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/blogs/news_blog/drought-watch-carmel-river-goes-dry-above-los-padres-dam/article_17bc6adc-2d90-11e4-8c51-001a4bcf6878.html
Picture from: http://www.1hope.org/watersit.htm

1850 Baldwin & Co. Ten Dollars

On May 1, 1850, a notice appeared in the Pacific News of San Francisco: :BALDWIN & CO.
Successors to F. D. KOHLER &- CO.

.

Assayers, refiners, and coiners
Manufacturers of jewelry, etc. George C. Baldwin and Thos. S. Holman.
All kinds of engraving. Our coins redeemable on presentations

From: Coin Facts

Picture from: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/500603314800859322/ 

Abalone shell necklace, Costanoan, 1806

Abalone shell necklace, Costanoan, 1806. This is one of several ceremonial items collected and illustrated by Georg von Langsdorff while visiting San Francisco on Russia's first voyage to California. Abalone pendants, clam disc beads, and fiber. Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde, Munich.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/426153183462145577/

The Crown of Spain 1770: King Charles III

 Charles III (20 January 1716 – 14 December 1788) was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788.
As king of Spain Charles III tried to rescue his empire from decay through far-reaching reforms such as weakening the Church and its monasteries, promoting science and university research, facilitating trade and commerce, modernizing agriculture and avoiding wars.

Mission San Carlos Borroméo de Carmelo was founded in 1770.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_III_of_Spain

The Holman Ranch

Under the Crown of Spain, what is now called the Holman Ranch was part of the lands bestowed to the Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Rio Carmelo.
When the Mexican government secularized the mission lands, one of the first ranchers in Carmel Valley, Don Jose Manuel Boronda, was granted the Los Laureles Rancho—6,625 acres that included what is now .
Their ranch passed through many hands until the Pacific Improvements Company acquired it in 1882.
From: http://www.holmanranch.com/our_story/our_story.html
Picture from: http://carmelvalleyhistoricalsociety.org/

25-acre fire in a remote area in Carmel Valley

Fire crews are battling a 25-acre fire in a remote area in Carmel Valley. The vegetation fire started at 12:52 p.m. Wednesday burning about 5 acres of dry grass near the intersection of Robinson Canyon Road and San Clemente Trail. The fire spread fast as the wind blew the flames uphill past a ridge line

Picture from: @VFisher45
From:  http://www.montereyherald.com/localnews/ci_26330752/crews-battle-5-acre-fire-carmel-valley

San Clemente Creek

San Clemente Creek provides over 25 miles of essential spawning and rearing habitat for the threatened South-Central California Coast Steelhead.

From: http://www.sanclementedamremoval.org/?page_id=43

Blasting the Reroute Channel

Blasting the reroute channel for San Clemente Creek to bypass the San Clemente Dam on August 5, 2014.
From: San Clemente Rancho

Carmel River August 4, 2014

Carmel River rocks covered with dried algae.

From: Passion For Place

Black Rock Creek Dam

The fourth dam on the Carmel River, Black Rock Creek Dam, constructed in 1925 on Black Rock Creek, a tributary to the Carmel River, is used for recreational purposes.

The Waterfall is found in upper Black Rock Creek, which joins San Clemente Creek (the largest tributary to the Carmel River).

From: Carmel River Basin Biogeographic Population Group

From: San Clemente Rancho

The Basin Complex Fire of 2008

"In Big Sur the Basin Complex Fire of 2008 continued to burn for another month, scorching 162,818 acres. After firefighters directed the fire into the still-burning area of an earlier blaze, the combined Basin-Indians Fire burned 240,000 acres, making it a contender for the state’s second-largest wildfire on record. Over 90 percent of the burn was within Los Padres National Forest’s unsettled and wild Ventana Wilderness."
From: Bay Nature

Northern California Lightning Siege of 2008

"Northern California Lightning Siege: Beginning June 20, 2008 and continuing into the early hours of June 21, severe thunderstorms swept across northern and central California. More than 6000 lightning strikes sparked over 2000 wildfires in 26 counties and eventually burned 1.2 million acres."

From: http://www.mrc.com/history_project/stories/MLC.htm
Picture from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/28/california-lightning-storm_n_5628881.html

Big Sur Fire 1916

"Frantic efforts are being made to stem the huge forest fire which is spreading raidly toward the headwaters of the Carmel River and imperiling the Carmel watershed..." Monterey Daily Cypress September 5, 1916.
From: River in Ruin by Ray March, 2012.

The Cottonwood-Sycamore stands

Garland Ranch is home to a variety of landscapes that occur at elevations from 200 to 2,000 feet. From the willow covered banks of the Carmel River through the cottonwood-sycamore stands of the old floodplain, the trails ascend steeply. Atop the northern crest of the Santa Lucia Mountains, the trails encounter open oak savannas and spectacular vistas. Along the way, you will travel through maple-filled canyons, dense oak woodlands, and thick stands of chaparral.

From Inge's Blog: http://ingetraud.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/my-country-blog-hop/

California Idiomality Areas ca. 1800

California Idiomality Areas ca. 1800

43. Ohlone (San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Jose) dialects.
53. Rumsen dialects.
54. Mutsun (Humontwash) dialects.
55. Esselen language.
56. Chalon dialects
57. Teopthalap (Ennesen, Slinan) dialects.

From:Native Americans of California and Nevada by Jack Forbes, 1969.

Olivella beads

  "The rancho provided another means whereby Indian labor was integrated into the Hispano economy. Beginning in the 1780's soldiers and settlers were allowed to graze stock in the countryside, using Indian labor entirely. Title to the land always was retained by the Crown, and the ranch owner almost always lived in town, leaving his stock and crops in the hands of Indians working on a share-crop basis. Gradually the Indians became serfs similar to the economy of the Deep South."
From: Native Americans of California and Nevada, by Forbes, 1969.

Olivella beads abundant during the Protohistoric and Historic Periods in central California.
From: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~tljones/CA-MNT-1748H,%20Cultural%20Chronology.htm

Rio del Carmelo 1835

"The earliest map we know for our stretch of coast is the diseño of Rancho San José y Sur Chiquito above. A diseño is a hand-drawn descriptive map that was submitted in an application for a Mexican land grant. Rancho San José y Sur Chiquito was first granted to Teodoro Gonzales in 1835."

From: Red Egg Gallery
Map from The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

Coastal phytoplankton off the Central California coast

This copepod from Monterey Bay is less than one millimeter (1/32 inch) long.

“Traditionally, we picture a dense phytoplankton [microscopic algae] bloom near the surface, full of grazing copepods. Yet we’ve detected large numbers of copepods that appear to be feeding at the interface between the bloom and plumes of upwelled water,” said MBARI molecular ecologist Julio Harvey. “The copepods are at edges of the bloom, not just inside it.”

"Near-coastal retention of larvae affects the ecology of many marine species. In coastal upwelling ecosystems having strong offshore transport, larval ecology is greatly influenced by nearshore retention in bays and in the lee of headlands. Further, frontal dynamics along the periphery of retention zones can drive larval accumulation and transport. "

From: http://www.mbari.org/news/homepage/2012/esp-zooplankton/esp-zooplankton.html
From: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022098114001361