Tecate cypress notes: Tecate cypress (pictured above), Cupressus forbesii, is fire dependent and many individuals may not have the opportunity to attain much age, they reproduce best in areas that burn every few decades. For the first few years, the trees are upright and symmetrical, i.e., classic conifer-shaped. It is particularly true of cypress that their form becomes more irregular (sometimes more interesting) with age. The oldest dated individual in this area is about 210 years old. The west facing slopes of Otay Mountain burned a few years ago and only a few small stands survived. Most of the trees on the west side are small saplings. A visit to the high east facing slopes might amaze many San Diegans -- a young but vigorous forest of cypress covers the hillsides and ravines so densely that it is generally difficult to walk among the trees. (I would guess that this side of the mountain hasn't burned in at least 20 years.) A sweeping landscape of coniferous woodlands and the aroma of evergreens, not much more than ten miles from the city of San Diego -- as the crow flies, that is. For us non-crows, it's about a forty-five minute drive, much of it on narrow, mountain dirt roads which are traveled mainly by US Border Patrol agents. The international border runs along the southern reaches of Otay Mountain and the mountains that spread southward are in Mexico, sometimes standing like islands in the low fogs that penetrate the coastal strip. Most of the mountain was recently designated as a federally protected Wilderness Area.

Tecate cypress Otay Mountain	Canyon live oak Bucksnort Mountains	Coulter pines Volcan Mountains	Desert willow Anza-Borrego Desert

Fremont cottonwood Descanso area	Cuyamaca cypress Cuyamaca Mountains	Black oak Laguna Mountains	Palo verde Anza-Borrego Desert

Ribbonwood Bucksnort Mountains	White alder Cuyamaca Mountains	Torrey pine Torrey Pines Resv / Beach	Velvet ash Indian Flats

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