Looking for Black Swifts at Claremont Hills Wilderness Park – Sunday, July 12, 5:00 PM

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Please join the Friends of the Wilderness Park and the Pomona Valley Bird Alliance to look for Black Swifts in the CHWP!

Claremont is one of the only places to reliably see Black Swifts as they return from their aerial hunts to their roosts high in the remote San Gabriel Mountains. Tom Miko will lead us on the hike to the bluff overlooking Cobal Canyon to see these mysterious birds as well as swallows and typical chaparral birds and wildlife. 

This is a great opportunity to learn about using eBird and iNaturalist to share your observations of birds and other wildlife. If you’re interested, please download the apps to your phone before you come to the Park, as cell phone reception in the Park is spotty at best.

To reserve your spot, please RSVP Tom Miko at tgmiko@gmail.com.

Details:

When: Sunday, July 12, 2026, 5:00 PM

Where: Meet at the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park main entrance, Mills Avenue and Mt. Baldy Road, Claremont, CA 91711 

Parking: Park at the south (TCT) lot: $9 for 4 hours non-residents, free for Claremont residents.  Proceed north from the south lot on Mills Ave to meet at the park entrance gate at 5:00 PM. Parking in the north (CHWP) lot is $9 for 4 hours for everyone.

Difficulty: Strenuous (one mile hike on fire road with steep grade, possible high heat)

What to bring: Be prepared with ample water, insect repellent, sunscreen, sturdy shoes, and binoculars.. 

Join us March 26 for a “Walk on the Wild Side”

Posted on by friendsofthewildernesspark
A Mountain Lion

Please join us March 26, 2026, at 7:00 PM for a “A Walk on the Wild Side”, a lecture by Dr. Paul Faulstich featuring some of his many photographs of animals in our foothills.

Flyer for the lecture.

Paul Faulstich is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Analysis at Pitzer College.  He holds a doctorate in anthropology.  He has been a Thomas J. Watson Fellow, a Research Associate at the East-West Center, a Senior Fulbright Scholar, a Visiting Professor at Flinders University in Australia, a Cultural Specialist with the U.S. Information Agency, and a Fellow at the Australian National University. Dr. Faulstich’s scholarship foci include environmental justice, ecological restoration, human ecology, and environmental art. He serves on the Leadership Team of the Friends of the Claremont Wilderness Park.

Thursday, March 26, 2026
7:00 –8:00 PM
Claremont McKenna College
Robert Day Sciences Center
855 N Claremont Blvd
Claremont, CA 91711

We hope this will the first of lecture series presented by the Friends of the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park.

Mediterranean Cabbage Removal

Posted on by friendsofthewildernesspark

On Saturday, February 28, a terrific group of volunteers removed Mediterranean Cabbage (Brassica fruticulosa, also known as Twiggy Turnip) from around the trail and little stream near the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park entrance.

With its yellow four-petaled flowers and narrow, spreading, bumpy seed pods,  B. fruticulosa somewhat resembles its more infamous near cousin Sahara Mustard. B. fruticulosa is native to the southern Europe and North Africa, and was first reported in the US in 1996. It has since emerged as a highly aggressive plant in Southern California. Like Sahara Mustard, it comes up early – typically in December or January – and you can see that by the time these photos were taken in February, it had already set seed. It will, however, continue to flower for a long period of time – perhaps through June – and forms dense persistant stands that displace native plants.

B. fruticulosa was first noted in the park in 2018, when three plants were reported by the little seasonal stream where it crosses the trail near the main entrance. Since then, it’s spread, and there are now thousands of plants up and down the trail and upstream and down stream along the little stream, so we are trying to get it out while there is still some hope of control, and we collected 14 large contractor bags full of these nasty plants. (Nasty to the environment, that is; they are reported to be edible.)

Here are some photos from the workday:

Mediterranean Cabbage with its characteristic 4-petaled flowers and bumpy seed pods.
Kris removing Mediterranean Cabbage from the stream bank.
Brian at work on Mediterranean Cabbage.
Emily with a bunch of uprooted cabbage.
Jackson with a bouquet of prize Mediterranean Cabbage specimens.
Paul filling bags of cabbage.
The weed workers – Brian, Jackson, Joscelin, Cristina, Ash, Paul, Candida, Emily, Richard, and Kris with bags of Mediterranean Cabbage. Pauline and Calvin are not in the photo because they were still pulling cabbage!

Although your intrepid photographer forgot to take “before” photos, you can enjoy some mustard-free “after” photos.

The trail after Mediterranean Cabbage was removed from the sides.
The Rangers’ storage shed with no more Mediterranean Cabbage.

Many thanks to all who came! If you’d like participate in the future, just use our contact form to get added to our mailing list.

Saharan Mustard Take 2!

Posted on by friendsofthewildernesspark

On Saturday, January 31, Friends volunteers removed Saharan Mustard from the Sycamore Canyon Trail.

Sahara Mustard has done horrible damage to the desert east of here, displacing native wildflowers and other native plants as well as creating a fire hazard where none had existed previously. Fortunately, Sahara Mustard has only established a few relatively small infestations in the Wilderness Park, so we have an excellent chance of eradicating this pest.

Two of the infestations are along the Sycamore Canyon Trail – a large one at the bottom of the trail and a small one about one-third of the way up. We first removed Saharan Mustard from these areas in January 2023. We were unable to hold a removal event in 2024, and the Saharan Mustard never came up in 2025, so this was our second removal at Sycamore Canyon.

There was less Saharan Mustard than in 2023. We tried to remove all of the mustard in these areas and filled 9 large contractor bags – compared to the 15 contractor bags we collected in 2023. It will take a few years before all the mustard is gone, as a seed bank has already been established, but we’re already seeing progress.

We hope to be having invasive plant removal events about once a month except for the hot part of the summer. If you’d like to get an announcement, just sign up for our email list.

Here are some photos from the mustard removal:

One of the Saharan Mustard plants.
Kris, Pauline, Calvin, and Jenna hard at work.
Catch of the Day! Jeff with a giant-sized Saharan Mustartd plant.
Calvin, Kris, and Pauline with the bags of uprooted mustard.
Hugh wading in to tackle the mustard.
Jeff and Lori starting to work on the mustard.
The above area afterwards. Still weeds – but no Saharan Mustard.
The above area afterwards. Still weeds – but no Saharan Mustard.