Mount Laguna
Map SatelliteLying a few kilometers to the west of the Laguna mountain escarpment, this area is of botanic interest. The dominant community is the Jeffrey pine and Southern oak woodlands, with extensive stands of chaparral and some valley grassland and meadow. In this area several widespread California trees reach their southern limits, including the California bay, Umbellularia californica, California black oak, Quercus kelloggii, and the big-leaf maple, Acer macrophyllum. The ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa, may also reach its southern limit here. This is one of several localities where Jeffrey pine, Pinus jeffreyi, is found hybridizing with the Coulter pine, Pinus coulteri. Many endemics occur in these mountains, including four rare species, Heuchera brevistaminea, Limnanthes gracilis var. parishii, Linanthus orcuttii, and Machaeranthera asteroides var. lagunensis.
The animal population is characteristic of the various communities. Among the larger mammals are the coyote, Canis latrans, gray fox, Urocyon cinereoargenteus, and the bobcat, Lynx rufus.
The topography is that of a gentle, rolling upland with intermittent streams and several small lakes. These broad surfaces of low relief may be the remnants of a once more extensive peneplain dislocated by block faulting in the Quaternary. The underlying rock is pre-Cenozoic, some of which, the Julian schist, may date to the Paleozoic.
Integrity: Much of the area is in the heavily used Laguna Recreation Area, which includes a number of campsites, commercial resorts and cabins. Logging has taken place in the past and there is continuing grazing. Portions, however, are relatively undisturbed.
Use: Education, research, light recreation, present.
Ref: Jahns, Richard H. 1954. Geology of the Peninsular Range Province, Southern California and Baja California, in Geology of Southern California Bull. No. 170, California Division of Wines, San Francisco.
Zobel, Bruce, 1951. The Natural Hybrid between Coulter and Jeffrey Pines. Evolution Vol. 5, pp. 405-413.
November 1975
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2009 Steven Louis Hartman