Recent ccber_reports items

Burrowing Owl Report: Burrow Usage, Habitat Survey, and Recommendations for the Dangermond Preserve, Cojo Terrace

Fri, 8 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This report, however cursory, provides the first official assessment of burrowing owls onthe Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve, located in Santa Barbara County, California,including prevalence, usage of burrows, habitat assessment, potential for improvements,and threats. The Dangermond Preserve consists of 24,000 acres of diverse habitatsincluding Bishop pine, oak woodland, chaparral, coastal sage scrub, riparian, wetmeadow, and more, from the Santa Ynez mountains to the Pacific Ocean and includes the dynamic place where the coast of California stops trending east west and begins trendingnorth. This report focuses specifically on the Cojo Terrace, 1,046 acres of low elevation,almost entirely flat land encompassing the areas around Cojo Bay, Government Point, andPoint Conception at approximately 10-40 m above sea level.

Ventura Marsh Milk-vetch (Astragalus pycnostachyus var. lanosissimus) 2024 Management and Monitoring Report

Wed, 7 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

UC Santa Barbara’s Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (Cheadle Center) began working with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to plan for the introduction of the federally-endangered Ventura marsh milk-vetch (Astragalus pycnostachyus var. lanosissimus) at UCSB’s North Campus Open Space (NCOS) in 2018. The first individuals were planted in a sandy site with high sub-surface soil moisture on the upper edge of the highwater mark of the newly restored upper arm of Devereux Slough in November 2019. These individuals were grown from seed collected from the original rediscovered population in Oxnard courtesy of Mary Carroll, the senior ecologist managing the site. In an effort to protect plants from inundation during times when the slough is fully ponded and to mimic conditions that may be related to success at planted locations in Ventura, five east-west trending berms approximately 1.5 meters wide, 0.5 meters tall, and 10 meters long were constructed with...

Year 2 Establishment of the Endangered Salt Marsh Bird’s Beak (Chloropyron maritimum ssp. maritimum) at North Campus Open Space, Santa Barbara, CA

Wed, 3 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Chloropyron maritimum ssp. maritimum is an annual halophytic plant that grows incoastal wetlands and salt marshes from California’s south coast to northern Baja California. While it does possess chlorophyll and undergoes a modicum of photosynthesis, it is hemiparasitic, deploying haustoria to steal most of its required nutrients from the root systems of its host plants. It is a decumbent herb with many distal purple branches and leaves which excrete salt crystals. It is listed as endangered both by the USEPA and California, as well as given threatened (“amenazada”) status in Mexico, largely due to the historical destruction and fragmentation of coastal salt marsh habitat. The subspecies C. maritimum ssp. palustre occurs from Morro Bay north to Humboldt county, making NCOS the new northwestern limit of Chloropyron maritimum ssp. maritimum.

In the spring of 2023, the Cheadle Centerobtained 5,000 seeds from Carpinteria salt marsh via Tidal Influence, LLC with permits from...

Cojo West Terrace Wetland Assessment

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This report provides an update to the delineation of potential wetlands that meet federal and state standards on the Cojo Terrace of the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve in Santa Barbara County, California. This section of the preserve, hereafter referred to as the Study Area, consists of approximately 1,046 acres of coastal scrub, grasslands, dunes, and wetlands. A comprehensive wetland delineation study was previously conducted in 2012 by Althouse and Meade, Inc. of the entire 24,000 acres of the preserve. In the subsequent decade, the local climate underwent periods of drought and changes in management and land use. The Study Area covers the historic Cojo Ranch, which was managed as cattle rangeland since the 1800s. In 2017, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) acquired the Study Area as well as the adjacent Jalama Ranch and founded the Dangermond Preserve with the mission to preserve and steward the undeveloped land and protect and restore its biodiversity and wildlife connectivity....

Use of Floating Wetland Islands as a Method of Phytoremediation in Brackish Bodies of Water

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Around the world, fragile, coastal aquatic ecosystems are threatened by a range of factors, including pollution and eutrophication, which hinder their ability to provide ecosystem services such as water filtration, habitat, and coastal resilience to climate change. Elevated nutrient levels, the presence of pollutants, such as chemicals and heavy metals, and low levels of dissolved oxygen all negatively affect these ecosystems. Anthropogenic actions are at the root of the majority of these issues, resulting in severe damage, but also the knowledge that, with changes, this damage can be remediated and eventually entirely avoided. Damage to aquatic systems threatens both local and migratory organisms while simultaneously causing economic and societal damage as productivity levels fall and resilience to climate change is weakened. The importance of coastal lagoons in species conservation and resilience to climate change cannot be overstated, making the conservation and management...

North Campus Open Space Restoration Project Monitoring Report: Year 7, December 2024

Tue, 12 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The North Campus Open Space (NCOS) restoration project has created more than 40 acres of estuarine and palustrine wetlands that historically comprised the upper portion of Devereux Slough. The project is also restoring more than 60 acres of upland habitats that include native grassland, coastal sage scrub, riparian, oak chaparral woodland, vernal pools and patches of annual wildflowers in clay and sandy soils. This report summarizes the results from monitoring native and non-native plants, birds, small mammals, aquatic invertebrates, tree growth, and hydrological functions from 2017 when there was barren, excavated land until 2024 when the restoration project is complete.

Nipomo Lupine (Lupinus nipomensis) 2021-22 Year Outplanting and Assessment Studies