Alamo • Danville • Blackhawk • Diablo • San Ramon
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Valley
The
Sentinel
always for the community VOL 18, NO 1 January 2013
valleysentinel.com SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
SPOTLIGHT
Flower nursery owner decorates the Alamo Cemetery by Brian Yu
The Alamo Cemetery, established more than 150 years ago, is the burial site of many. Visitors often come to see the resting places of early pioneers of the San Ramon Valley or World War II veterans, but during the holiday season, they also find something else there–gravesites decorated with flowers. This is the work of Judy Sandkuhle, the owner of Sunset Color Nursery located in Danville. Founded in Oakland in 1906 by her grandfather, Ms. Sandkuhle moved the nursery to Danville in 1985, where it has been ever since. She specializes in pelargoniums and perennials, works with organically grown herbs, and also grows her own poinsettias.
Happy New Year! from all of us at the Valley Sentinel
ECRWSS
Postmaster: Dated Material
PRESORTED STANDARD US POSTAGE PAID DANVILLE, CA PERMIT NO. 70
See FLOWERS page 15
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California Grizzly - The Golden Bear By James Hale
It was just a short time ago that the California Grizzly (Ursus horribilis californicus) was a dominant feature of the fauna of California. The grizzly was common to abundant throughout the state in lowlands, foothills and the western Sierra, being absent only in the deserts. Naturalists Tracey Storer and Lloyd Tevis found records of grizzlies in nearly every habitat. The California grizzly appears to have been unusually gregarious. In September 1846, John C. Fremont’s expedition party traveling in the Salinas Valley came upon a number of grizzlies in the oak woodlands. The party killed twelve and others escaped. A settler in the Napa Valley area in 1831 said one could see as many as sixty bears in a day. Settler John Watson saw three hundred grizzlies in a single valley
in the Santa Cruz mountains in the 1860’s. Local histories state that grizzlies were numerous in the Berkeley hills and east bay area. Names of nearby places such as Grizzly Peak and Bear Creek attest to the fact. Storer and Tevis suggest the statewide population for the California grizzly was perhaps close to 10,000 based on their extensive research. As late as 1850 grizzlies still wandered on the outskirts of San Francisco. The golden bear was so widespread in Old California that it earned a place on the state flag. Several features set the California grizzly apart from other bears, except their close relatives, the brown bears and other grizzlies. The shoulder hump, the long front claws, the color of the pelage, and
the structure of the skull and teeth are diagnostic and species specific. The hump results from the size and placement of the muscle mass above the shoulder blades. The front claws are longer, slightly curved, heavier and broader than in other bears. They are an adaptation for their omnivorous diet in digging for bulbs, roots, rodents, invertebrates and insect larvae. Carrion was a perennial favorite. One of the earliest accounts for the California grizzly was by the Spanish explorer Vizcaino, who in 1602 observed grizzlies scavenging beached whales in Monterey. The abundance and diversity of oaks provided a seasonal bounty of acorns for the large numbers of huge bears. It is estimated they could gain several pounds a day from this
This month’s Special Section:
New Year–New You! pages 8-9
Grizzly Adams and Bear Ben Franklin
rich resource. I find it interesting to note that the introduced wild boar appears to have reoccupied the ecological niche that was vacated by the extirpated California grizzly. See BEARS page 11