Santa Clarita - East & Rice Canyon Hike (Lisa Hellinger)
By: Lisa Hellinger, AP Biology teacher at Immaculate Heart High School
Location: Address - 23801 The Old Rd, Newhall, CA 9132, 34.3500° N, 118.5490° W
Description:
This hike is an easy 4 mile (Rice) or 6 mile (East) round trip walk, with plenty of shade and several creek crossings over stepping stones. The creek is dry by mid-summer. The East trail leads into the 500-acre Michael D. Antonovich Open Space Preserve which is part of the Santa Susana Mountains. Students will enjoy native oaks, chaparral and several open meadows. The LA Mountains web site describes the vegetation best, "it takes one through three species of oak, California bay laurel, California black walnut, and big leaf maple, up in elevation to an unusual forest of big cone Douglas-fir." Common animals to the area include mountain lions, bobcats, bear, coyotes, skunks, raccoons, squirrels, deer, turkey vultures, and red-tail hawks. The area is managed by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.
Beware: Rattlesnakes,Ticks, & Gun Noise
Tips for Hiking in Snake Areas
Oak Tree Gun club is located a bit south so don't be alarmed if you hear distant gun fire.
Audience:
Teachers and students of biology, botany, ecology, geology, and earth science would benefit from a visit to East and Rice Canyon because it provides real-life examples of concepts learned in the classroom such as:
diversity and interactions of plants and animals
biotic and abiotic real-life examples
effects of rainfall and erosion
Standards:
NGSS Cross-cutting Concept Standards
Stability and Change
Feedback (negative or positive) can stabilize or destabilize a system. (HS-LS1-3)
Energy and matter: Flows, cycles, and conservation
Energy drives the cycling of matter within and between systems. (HS-LS2)
NGSS Disciplinary Core Idea Standards
LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems Progression
The many dynamic and delicate feedbacks between the biosphere and other Earth systems cause a continual co-evolution of Earth’s surface and the life that exists on it. (HS-ESS2-7)
LS4.C: Adaptation
Natural selection leads to adaptation, that is, to a population dominated by organisms that are anatomically, behaviorally, and physiologically well suited to survive and reproduce in a specific environment. That is, the differential survival and reproduction of organisms in a population that have an advantageous heritable trait leads to an increase in the proportion of individuals in future generations that have the trait and to a decrease in the proportion of individuals that do not. (HS-LS4-3),(HS-LS4-4)
ESS2.E: Biogeology
The many dynamic and delicate feedbacks between the biosphere and other Earth systems cause a continual co-evolution of Earth’s surface and the life that exists on it. (HS-ESS2-7)
Study Guide:
Photographs and Videos:
The water found in this pool is an example
of an abiotic factor, one that is essential to
all living organisms.
Lichen is an example of a mutualistic relationship between cyanobacteria or algae and fungus.
Berries are an example of a primary producer. Primary producers or plants form the foundation of most food webs.
A moth is an example of a biotic factor. Note its coloration helps to camouflage it, providing protection from predators.
The organism that has burrowed beneath this fallen log is adapted to living below ground. This adaptation protects the animal from predation, heat, cold and rain.
Grass and algae growing in an almost stagnant puddle of water illustrates the close relationship between biotic and abiotic factors, like water and photosynthetic organisms. Note also the decomposing organic matter in the foreground.
For additional information: