California Semaphore Grass (Pleuropogon californicus) is an endemic grass species to California.  There are two varieties: 1) P.c. var. californicus, and 2) P.c. var. davyi, with the latteer being the more restricted where it is only known from vernal pools, sloughs, and marshy grasslands in Mendocino and Lake counties.   Plants were collected at the UC-HREC by Al Murphy in 1952, but apparently the population disappeared from the Center during the subsequent decades.

In the fall of 2009 seed from another population near Hopland was collected and planted at two locations at HREC, where it still persists, but in limited numbers.   HREC would be an ideal site location to expand the population in the Hopland area, but it would take some funding, time, and effort to do so.

Italian Thistle (Carduus pycnocephalus) is a Mediterranean annual weed and is an invasive plant throughout California since the introduction in the 1930s. In 1968 the Thistle-head Weevil (Rhinocyllus conicus) was introduced to Canada and the United States as a biological control agent for musk or nodding thistle.  The weevil also has a liking for Italian thistle, and the weevil was purposely relocated in many problem areas through Northern California by UCCE and USDA County Agricultural commissioner agents throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.  The weevil has persisted at the UC Hopland Research & Extension Center where the species follows through with its annual cycle of adults mating and laying eggs onto Italian thistle flower clusters where the larva burrow into the forming seed heads and devour the immature seeds.  The unfortunate part of this story is that the weevil also attacks many of the native thistles belonging to the Carduus, Cirsium and Silybum groups.

In 1972 mountain lions (Puma concolor) became fully protected by the California state legislature because of the presumed low population in the state.  All sport hunting was ceased and mountain lions could only since be taken under a DFG depredation permit.  Since that time the mountain lion population responded and the population has grown.  At the UC Hopland Research & Extension Center there was an obvious resurgence of the numbers beginning in 1984.   Now the large furry critters are a common occurrence, although not easily seen, especially at the upper elevations of the Center.   This lion was captured on film by a trail camera that was set on a lion-killed deer carcass.  It appears as though the lion is enjoying the distant view of the town of Hopland!

Barb Goatgrass (Aegilops triuncialis L.) is a Mediterranean annual grass species that was first identified in California in the early 1900's.   Considered a troublesome weed, this species quickly forms a devastating monoculture that reduces forage quality and quantity.  It is expanding throughout Northern California and the Central and South Coast areas and in those infested areas the species diversity quickly diminishes.  First noticed at UC-HREC in the early 1960's, and soon after thought to be eradicated from the Center, the noxious weed reappeared in the early 1980's and rapidly swept across the Center.  For further information on this troublesome weed refer to http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8315.pdf