The UC Hopland Research & Extension Center owns the UC's only range sheep flock, and the flock is now the largest remaining range flock in Mendocino County.   HREC annually manages a herd of about 650 breeding ewes of the "Targhee" breed, plus replacement ewes and assorted rams to total about 1000 head.   Herding dogs (usually Border Collies) and guard dogs (Great Pyrenees, Akbash, and Anatolian Shepherd breeds) have always played a critical role in the management of the flock.  Here you see a local youth, who has volunteered at HREC for several years now where he receives valuable "hands-on" training for himself and his herd dog.

In 1792, the English explorer George Vancouver, upon his expedition through the Santa Clara Valley, referred to the Valley Oak (Quercus lobata) as "stately lords of the forest".  In 1861, William Brewer, the chief botanist for the first California Geological Survey said, "some of these oaks are noble indeed, one with a diameter of over 6 feet".  The UC-Hopland Research & Extension Center has many of these stately oaks, a few with 4-6 foot diameter trunks.  About twenty years ago a trunk "section-round' was collected from a nearby property (still in storage at HREC) and it has over 400 growth rings on it.  This oak species is endemic to California, growing in the hot interior valleys and foothills.  The Valley oak's deeply lobed, but blunt, leaves help with the identification.  In advancing age, the branches of many trees assume a majestic drooping characteristic. These large, mature trees provide an array of wildlife habitat elements including acorns for food and large cavities for denning and nesting.   Unfortunately, California has lost many of these stately oaks over the last 200 years due to land development for housing and agriculture purposes.

Rattlesnake Grass (Briza maxima L.), other wise known as Big quakinggrass, is now a common non-native grass species scattered throughout California grassland habitats.  It is mostly found in coastal grasslands and coastal woodlands,  but is found inland in many counties including Mendocino.  The species is quite common here at the UC-Hopland Research & Extension Center.  In some sites it can form dense, nearly pure stands that displace other species, but this is unusual.  Typically it is in a mixed community with other grasses and forbs.  The common names are derived from 1) the visual similarity to rattlesnake rattles, and 2) the "quaking" sound of the dry seeds head when blown by the wind.  The panicles are sometimes collected and dried to display in dry bouquets.

Soap Plants, or Soaproot, are mostly found in California.   Here at the UC-Hopland Research & Extension Center, the Wavy-leafed Soap Plant (or California Soaproot) (Chlorogalum pomeridianum) is quite common in the understory of oak woodlands and oak savannahs.  It is a perennial plant with a whitish bulb surrounded by a dark-brown fibrous sheath.  The juices of the bulbs contain saponins that form a lather when mixed with water and were used by Native Americans as a soap, thus giving the plant its common name.  Until the 1980s the plant was considered part of the family Liliaceae, but is now considered within the Asparagaceae family.  The flowers are borne on long stems, are bisexual, and typically open only in the late afternoon or evening and remain open throughout the night when pollination occurs by flying insects.