By: Wendy Langhans   Optical illusions can help us see more clearly.  That’s because what we perceive depends not only on sensory input from our eyes but also the rules and assumptions hidden in our brain.  Optical illusions are designed to uncover these assumptions.   Look at this example of an optical illusion and you’ll see what I mean.  The ...

By: Wendy Langhans   Sometimes it’s the things we avoid that have the most to teach us.   The parasitic dodder weaves a tangled web of tendrils around the host plants. Take for example, the parasite dodder; when I point it out to people on the trail, most wrinkle their nose and grimace.    We give it ugly names such ...

By: Wendy Langhans   A bat hanging on to the side a wheelbarrow in the middle of the afternoon – Photo by C. Grogan. Who ever heard of a bat hanging from a wheelbarrow in the middle of the afternoon? Yet there it was in Chelsea’s photo, a little scrawny looking thing, carefully gripping the wooden frame with its delicately ...

By Wendy Langhans   What effect will insecticides have on this bee? Wendy Langhans is speaking as a private citizen of Santa Clarita, not as a member of the City of Santa Clarita’s Opens Space Preservation District Financial Accountability and Audit Panel nor as a volunteer for the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.   The meeting room was packed with ...

By Wendy Langhans My father celebrated his 87th birthday earlier this month.  That’s quite an accomplishment for a man who at one time did not expect to live long enough to see his 23rd birthday.   I came home to Wisconsin to help him celebrate.  We went for many wildflower walks over those 10 days.  Neither one of us spoke ...

By Wendy Langhans       “How long have you lived in California?” San Gabriel

By: Wendy Langhans It’s bittersweet when fledglings take flight.   This spring I watched two families of Canada Geese rear their chicks. Both families were always together – one set of parents with a single chick and another with seven.  Normally, a female goose lays a clutch of 2-8 eggs, so I wondered what happened to the first family.  Coyotes ...

By: Wendy Langhans     On June 18, 1860, Englishman William Tallack rode through the San Francisquito Pass on the Butterfield Overland Mail stage.  As he later recounted his journey, he wrote:   “Half way through it we had a wash and a good breakfast at a ranch, where we were warned that a hunter had that morning shot a ...

By Wendy Langhans   This report represents the opinions of Wendy Langhans and not necessarily those of the City of Santa Clarita ’s Open Space Preservation District Financial Accountability and Audit Panel   Vasquez Rocks, part of the San Gabriel

By Wendy Langhans When the vegetation gets too thick, it blocks the trail and spoils the view. Creating a well-designed trail requires the technical skills of a civil engineer and the aesthetic sensitivity of an artist.     For example, you can evoke an aura of mystery and excitement by designing curves in a trail, which alternately reveal and conceal ...