So What is This About? And What Are Bunchgrasses?
This map is part of PoaPalooza, a annual series of events in San Francisco to help people see bunchgrasses.
Most of the grasses we're familiar with are European annual grasses. They make the hills green in the winter and brown in the summer. Their seeds, usually called foxtails, get caught in our socks. As annual grasses, they have a short life span, usually about six months. After the first heavy rains, they germinate quickly, grow from 1 to 6 feet tall, flower, produce seed, and die.
But there are other grasses out there, grasses that live for over a hundred years, have root systems up to eight feet deep, easily survive fires, and appreciate a good grazing. We call these grasses bunchgrasses, and by that, we mean native perennial grasses, most of which grow in bunches.
These bunchgrasses provide the foundation for the entire grassland ecosystem, an ecosystem that brings us not only soaring raptors and wildflower blooms, but provides habitat for literally thousands of different birds, insects, and reptiles.
As this map illustrates, bunchgrasses are all around us, but learning to see them, much less identify them can be difficult.
We hope this map, along with our bunchgrass workshops, will help you first see bunchgrasses, that is, tell the difference between European annual grasses and native perennial bunchgrasses. After that, we hope you'll soon learn to identify them.
This map is a work in progress. We welcome your feedback, corrections, additions, and expertise. Please feel free to email us.