My March 2023 Photo of the Month is CMP51, an image created in San Diego’s Carmel Mountain Preserve.
CMP51 Background
Two vernal pool photos in three months may be apropos. With a break in ongoing severe drought in the Southwest, these ephemeral water features are quite a sight.
Forgotten across thousands of miles of suburban building sprawl in decades bygone, vernal pools host endemic species that are threatened by the disappearance of 95% of these pools.
The Carmel Mountain Preserve is one example of an urban island that just missed a housing tract fate, and hosts a few seasonal watering holes along its mesa rim.
With an El Niño weather pattern forming, will the rains continue or will drought come roaring back? This past year was supposed to be a La Niña, which is loosely associated with a drier climate. That didn’t happen.
I miss the rains already. All the beautiful green that marks our spring will be brown in a few months, and may be black and charred by the end of autumn. That’s how it goes for California chaparral life.
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy the image.
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T.M. Schultze is a San Diego-based photographer, traveller, and writer. He writes, photographs, and draws things of the outdoors that have inspired humans for thousands of years. He co-authored the Photographer’s Guide to Joshua Tree Park which can be purchased here.