Photo-takers

'Not obeying': Photo-takers leave home to see California poppies

By Amy Graff

Vast swaths of the undulating hills of California's Antelope Valley are currently velvety orange with a better-than-usual poppy bloom.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and a shelter-place-order to prevent the spread of the virus, the region's California Poppy State Natural Reserve near Lancaster shuttered to discourage large gatherings of flower enthusiasts and social influencers who snap pictures of themselves posing in the fields for Instagram.

This year, the hope is people will stay home, and to encourage this, the poppy reserve has created a special live webcam and YouTube channel with videos for people to view the bloom from their personal devices. Park officials say the crowds are generally staying away, but as you'll see in the images from last week, some people are still going out to see the poppies in person. What's more, people's photos from recent days are popping up on social media.

"We currently have a roadblock set up to allow only local traffic into the area around the park, to reduce fence-jumping and shifting the impact of the closure onto our neighbors," California State Parks Interpreter Jean Rhyne said. "However, much of the western Antelope Valley is having a great poppy bloom this year, so many people are visiting the poppy fields on the private lands around the area of reserve and tagging themselves as at the park. Only the county roads through them are public and trespassing on private lands is outside our jurisdiction. There are a lot of people not obeying the stay-at-home order, but visitation to the valley is only a fraction of what it would normally be at this time."

California's shelter-in-place mandate issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom on March 20 requires residents to stay at home except for essential needs such as getting food and going to the doctor. Outdoor exercise is allowed but the state is asking people to take their walks, runs and hikes in their neighborhoods and at neighborhood parks.

Rhyne explained the poppy reserve isn't considered a "neighborhood park" within walking access of large residential areas, and is instead a "destination park" which draws people from outside the community, "thereby increasing the danger of importing COVID-19 from other regions." As a result, it landed on the list of parks to close. What's more, Rhyne said the park was shut down because "the trails are not wide enough to allow six-feet distance between passing parties."

Spectacular wildflower displays, often called super blooms, have attracted massive crowds in recent years and last year the poppy profusion in Walker Canyon near Lake Elsinore, about 100 miles south of Lancaster, massive crowds overwhelmed the towns and roads to a point where city officials shut off access to the hillsides awash in orange. The poppies are just starting to appear in this area, but the area has already been closed off to public access, according to the city website.