Exploring California’s Open Spaces

Nearly 100 years ago, naturalist John Muir helped protect California’s wilderness and urged people to discover the beauties available in nature. “Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out . . . that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.” Explore the wonders of California’s wildlife and wide-open spaces through the direct links on the Times Launchpoint Web site: https://www.latimes.com/launchpoint

Level 1

Come and Explore the California Biomes: California offers a range of habitats: redwoods, deserts, valleys, mountains and more than 1,000 miles of coastline. Explore California’s geographic diversity and get acquainted with some of the plants and animals that live in these regions.

https://www.wildernessexp.com/cal-eco/cal-eco2.htm

Tree Identification: The first step in identifying trees is to look at the leaves: Broad and flat leaves indicate a deciduous tree; sharp needles or scales indicate a coniferous tree. Learn how to identify trees by their characteristics and test your knowledge with an online quiz.

https://www.sd22.bc.ca/hillview/treeid.html

The California Hiking Trail Experience: Through this site’s many photos and interactive maps, you can tramp along 15 nature trails in California, including hikes in Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks.

https://www.cyberhikes.com/AQUICKIX.HTM

Level 2

Los Angeles Times Hiking Guide: The Best Hikes of Southern California: Where are good places to view birds, waterfalls or wildflowers? Find out through Jerry Schad’s helpful guide that gives maps, recommendations and descriptions of 18 hikes you can take in Southern California.

https://www.latimes.com/HOME/DESTLA/HIKING

Let’s Talk About Poison Oak: The saying goes “Leaves of three, let it be,” but did you know that some varieties of poison oak grow in leaves of five? Since this common California shrub can get you scratching any time during the year, find out some facts that can help you at this site created by Boy Scout Troop No. 5.

https://www.troop5psc.com/PoisonOak/DillonOak.html#TOP

Level 3

California’s Natural Resources: As one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world, California offers a tremendous variety of plants and animals, many of which can only be found here. This site provides many resources on California’s geography and wildlife as well as guides to its state and national parks.

https://ceres.ca.gov/natural_resources

Exploring Ecosystems at Limestone Canyon: Unique to Southern California and Mexico, the coastal sage scrub ecosystem is home to such animals as road runners, coyotes, hawks and lizards. Explore four habitats within Orange County’s Limestone Canyon and find out about food chains as well as Native American uses of plants.

https://128.200.23.67/Limestone/tablepg.htm

Southern California Natural History: Miner’s lettuce has edible leaves that resemble a gold miner’s pan: round with small white blossoms inside like bits of ore. This site’s many photos and clear descriptions teach about California’s wildflowers and other vegetation, as well as reptiles, amphibians, mammals and birds.

https://eco.bio.lmu.edu/WWW_Nat_History/descript.htm

EXPLORER’S QUEST: Why is the coast live oak called a “live” oak?

CLUE: See Exploring Ecosystems at Limestone Canyon-Oak Woodland.

Find What You Need to Know: Have a project on California history? Need help doing a math problem? Launch Point now covers more than 50 topics for getting your schoolwork done. Go to https://www.latimes.com/launchpoint for the full list of subjects and direct links to the best Internet sites.

Answer to last week’s Quest: Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein created large paintings that simulated comic-book images.

For more information on how today’s topic affects Orange County, see the Beyond 2000 story on A1.

Launch Point is produced by the UC Irvine department of education, which reviews each site for appropriateness and quality. Even so, parents should supervise their children’s use of the Internet. This week’s column was designed by Courtney McColl, Lauri Resnikoff, Michael Ciecek, Angela Ames, Amy Ko, Jessica Webster and Anna Manring.