Natural Nipomo: Examining our unique landscape

Changes in Nipomo’s landscape are easy to see. Wave-pounded shoreline gives way to wind-sculpted dunes. Further inland, a wonderfully diverse plant community stabilizes older portions of the dunes, culminating in the Nipomo Mesa. The dip on Tefft Street that takes you from the freeway overpass to Olde Towne is the edge of the Mesa, then it’s lowlands and rolling foothills all the way to the Temetatte Ridge. That’s it, right?

For many people in Nipomo’s present and past, these features of the landscape have meant much more. Unique places provide a backdrop for memorable life experiences. I wrote about a few of these places last summer, but I won’t be writing in depth about some of them again.

So here is a brief recap of what I wrote about last summer, with some suggestions for places to visit. I believe the first step in getting to know a place should always be a literal one—get yourself outside and take a fresh look at the world around you. I think you’ll like what you find.

The Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes complex stretches 18 miles of coastline between Mussel Point and the mouth of Arroyo Grande Creek. When the Department of the Interior designated it a National Natural Landmark, they called it “the largest relatively undisturbed coastal dune tract in California … and the flora exhibit the highest rate of endemism in any dune area in Western North America.”

Endemism means that a particular species is found only in one place. The dunes provide unique habitat for many plants, some of which are adapted specifically to this place. Many other species are now restricted to the dunes because of disturbances in similar habitats up and down the coast. A hike from Oso Flaco Lake to the beach will take you through these distinct plant communities.

The Nipomo Mesa rises 300 feet over the surrounding land in some places—much of it dune sand deposited many years ago. Some different species take root here, most notably ancient coast live oak trees that are the climax species for this area.

Nipomo Native Garden and Black Lake Canyon are excellent places to see thriving oak woodlands. Off the Mesa, Nipomo Creekside Preserve behind the Adobe Plaza has some beautifully restored habitat and many native species characteristic of our area.

I was introduced to the concept of bioregionalism in one of my college classes this past year. In his book LifePlace, Robert Thayer, an emeritus professor of landscape architecture at UC Davis, defines a bioregion as “a unique region defined by natural (rather than political) boundaries with a geographic, climatic, hydrological, and ecological character capable of supporting unique human and nonhuman living communities.”

We should think of Nipomo with some of these ideas in mind. No matter where you live on the Nipomo Mesa, the ground beneath you shares a common origin. And all of us in Nipomo share the same climate, drink the same water, and have the same neighbors that humans here have had for ten thousand years—Nipomo’s natural life.