The trees covering the Kern River beyond the bluffs on Panorama aren’t just a pretty sight against the blight of oil fields that cover most of the hills beyond the bluff; the trees are part of a concerted effort by the Kern River Corridor Endowment & Holding Co. Inc. nonprofit to restore the Panorama Bluffs to their former glory.
The Panorama Vista Preserve was officially established in 2004 in order to “protect and enhance educational, recreational, environmental, scientific, cultural, and historic values” of the Panorama Bluffs around the Kern River, according to their website.
In the early 1900s, the area over the bluffs were rife with trees, plants, and animals, but the land would be cleared to make way for agriculture and oil, leaving it barren but for oil rigs.
It is the preserve’s goal to rectify that as their website states that they want to “maintain the Preserve in its natural state.”
In the years they have been working, they have revived 259 acres of their land through seeding and planting native trees and shrubbery, and they are currently working on reaching 300 acres of revived land.
For future projects, functioning Operations Manager of the preserve, Mic Hall, stated that the preserve aims to restore as much of the land as possible, but they are restricted by a few factors.
For one, native plants need a few years of consistent water before they are established to ensure that they don’t die. They only have enough funds to run their pumps so far into the preserve, and they must purchase the water that they do use.
They also do not have the infrastructure to take care of that many acres of newly planted native brush and trees. They are working on their own in-house nursery though, which they hope will “grow as much of our stock as possible,” according to Hall.
Volunteers like BC student interns help the preserve maintain their hundreds of acres.
In October, BC forestry students helped plant the preserves hundreds of milkweed plants to help the endangered Monarch Butterfly. They have already found eggs on a few of the plants.
The preserve also works with the city and fire department to help with fire and flood reduction. The saltbush, a fire-resistant native, is abundant throughout the preserve. According to Hall, “is not very pretty,” but it does reduce fire risk.
For far in the future, the preserve would eventually like to buy and revive the rest of the oil fields that now border them once the oil industry is phased out in California.
As of right now, they are slowly starting to see their efforts materialize. Bobcats, coyotes, red-tailed hawks, qual, owls, and beavers are all back in the revived habitat. Hall said that he even saw the migratory turkey vulture roost overnight in their maturing trees this year for the first time.
Hall hopes that the preserve is “a demonstration project for what can be done along the river.”
To access the preserve, Hall prefers that visitors drive to the preserve entrance rather than walking down the bluffs. To get to the entrance from Bakersfield College, go west on Panorama Drive, then take Manor Street for a mile and a half, lastly turn right onto Denise Ave. and follow that road to the entrance where you can park in their dirt parking lot.