Blue Ridge: an important refuge for native ants

by: Philip S. Ward

Ants are one of nature’s great success stories. They are the most abundant and ecologically diverse of all social insects. California alone has more than 280 ant species, exhibiting a great range of shapes, sizes, nesting habits and foraging behaviors. Most Californians see little of this ant diversity, however, since landscapes near towns and cities are usually dominated by just a few small brown introduced species. The most notorious of these, the Argentine ant (Linepithema humile), plagues urban and agricultural areas and eliminates most other ant species.

A Vision for the Future

By:

Bob Schneider, President, Tuleyome Carol Kunze,
Executive Director, Berryessa Trail
Victoria Brandon, Sierra Club Lake Group

January 6, 2008

The Berryessa Snow Mountain region is an area of over 800,000 acres that provides habitat and critical long-term movement corridors for many species of wildlife, with a level of plant biodiversity that is so high it registers as a “hot spot” for the planet.Situated north of San Francisco and west of Sacramento, the region includes substantial portions of Lake and Napa counties, as well as areas of Yolo, Colusa and Solano counties. This vast expanse - the wild heart of California’s inner Coast Range – is a mosaic of public lands including wilderness, recreation lands and wildlife areas, and private lands, encompassing undeveloped watersheds as well as working ranches and farms.