GS and UCSB’s Coastal Fund

Over the last year Growing Solutions has worked with students from UCSB’s Coastal Service Program on a variety of Santa Barbara restoration projects as part of GS's Healthy Habitat program. The Coastal Service Program is dedicated to preserve, protect, and enhance the terrestrial and marine habitats associated with the shoreline of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Hosting various clubs, sororities, fraternities and groups at UCSB gives Growing Solutions staff an opportunity to work with students outside of the restoration community. Many students we work with are majoring in areas without an environmental health emphasis and so we have a golden opportunity to show how PLANTS MATTER (happily said) to everyone.  Through plant propagation and nursery work students gain an understanding of the importance of native plants and specifically plants important to our local wetlands, ocean bluffs and beaches. We’d like to thank students from Phi Sigma Pi, Lambda Theta Nu and La Escuelita de UCSB for spending time and attention with us.

County Nursery Moves On

In 2003, with support from former 2nd District County Supervisor Susan Rose and partially funded by the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project, we built our third nursery with the mission of propagating native plants for the benefit of Santa Barbara county residents. The nursery was sited on 30-acres of property adjacent to the County Campus Foothill Open Space. Over the last 15 years, with help from area students and volunteers, thousands of plants were grown for hundreds of projects. This enabled the region to retain the biological diversity for which the Santa Barbara area is renowned. As times have changed, so have the needs of the community and the nursery is now being decommissioned. The nursery is currently being recycled into other Santa Barbara-area projects. The hoop house is going to SBCC where it will continue to be used by students practicing their horticultural skills. The irrigation and benches will be used at our other nursery, either expanding tabletop space or replacing aging benches. 

Malibu Lagoon Restoration...A Reason To Celebrate!

Five years after planting thousands of native-California wetland seedlings at Malibu Lagoon, Growing Solutions staff and volunteers joined the staff of the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Foundation to remove irrigation and allow Mother Nature to do the heavy lifting in ensuring the long-term health and vitality of the lagoon. Starting in 2013, Growing Solutions was part of a multi-agency effort to restore the lagoon’s natural tidal flow and ecosystem back to the historical function that existed before human pollution, sewage, and debris dumping started in the late 1800s. Misguided efforts to turn the lagoon into a jogger’s haven by building manmade islands connected by bridges choked off the natural ocean and creek flow vital to lagoon ecology. Over the last 100 years the lagoon was plagued by decreased tidal flushing, increased pollution, non-native weed infestation and massive algae blooms that turned the once-pristine wetland into a stinking cautionary tale.

However, through careful planning and wetland re-contouring—together with vigilant watering, weeding and maintenance—the 31-acre lagoon is now able to maintain itself and provide critical habitat for dozens of wetland creatures that use the lagoon for shelter, feeding and reproduction. GS’s role was to collect the surviving native plants, propagate them off-site, deliver them back to the lagoon and help with installation and maintenance over the last five years. Results: marine species (i.e. fish, snails and crabs) populations have increased which in turn have attracted the native seabirds in increasing numbers. Many threatened species such as snowy plovers are experiencing modest but significant rebounds. Park visitorship has doubled, and many local schools now use the lagoon as a living learning lab to teach the critical value of ecology and just how hard it is to restore native systems after thoughtlessly destroying them.

Over the weekend of May 26th GS staff and volunteers helped remove, haul and recycle over three miles of irrigation pipe while managing Santa Monica Bay Restoration Foundation volunteers for the weekend event. In between they found time to enjoy some bird watching; observing osprey, egrets, pelicans, hawks and snowy plovers scurrying among the sand dunes.

If you would like to volunteer for future Lagoon events, contact the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Foundation. 

UCSB Smithsonian Scholars Program To Santa Cruz Island

Last summer Growing Solutions' co-founder Karen Flagg volunteered as an instructor with the UCSB Smithsonian Scholars Program for a fun and highly productive field trip out to Santa Cruz Island. Over 25 students and instructors made full use of the UC field station to learn about the incredible biodiversity across the 22-mile long island. The Scholars program provides multidisciplinary research opportunities in biodiversity conservation to first generation, low-income, and/or underrepresented minority undergraduate students from UC Santa Barbara and local community colleges. To see a slideshow click on the image below. For more information on the Scholars program click here.

2017 UCSB Smithsonian Scholars Santa Cruz Island Trip (Click on image for slideshow).

2017 UCSB Smithsonian Scholars Santa Cruz Island Trip (Click on image for slideshow).

Channel Islands Serve As Reptile Evolution Laboratory

Growing Solutions has been collaborating recently with Dr. Amanda Sparkman, a herpetologist researching the effects of island evolution on reptiles out on the Channel Islands, including Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and Santa Barbara Islands where GS has been doing native-plant restoration ecology for over 15 years. Amanda will be setting up research stations on GS managed property on the mainland to compare and contrast with island species.  Click here to read a full account!

Malibu Lagoon 2017 Update

One and half million visitors flock to Malibu Lagoon and adjoining Surfrider Beach each year…and that’s not counting the birds! With the extensive restoration completed in 2013 and four years of plant growth, the Malibu Lagoon ecosystem is attracting birds and other wildlife in increasing numbers. Growing Solutions was a key player in the Lagoon restoration, growing over 65,000 native wetland plants and helping plant and maintain them over a two-year period. Our boardmembers Larry Loeher and Grace Murayama are avid birders, regularly monitoring and taking photos for the Santa Monica Bay and Los Angeles Audubon Societies.  Least Terns and Snowy Plovers are again successfully nesting (after a 68-year absence) near the lagoon, tucked away in the sandy flats between the Lagoon and the Shore, and hopefully staying on the right side of the construction fencing put up to protect them from wandering dogs and beachgoers. We are pleased to see The Bay Foundation getting volunteers on-site to weed and maintain the site. For a recent article about protecting and respecting nesting seabirds in the Malibu Surfside News, Click Here! Photos used with permission by Larry Loeher.

 

Former GS Employee Discovers Rare Native Plant On Santa Barbara Island

Former Growing Solutions intern and employee Andrew Yamagiwa made headlines last March with his chance discovery of a rare island endemic plant on remote Santa Barbara Island.

From VC Star News, March 21, 2017: "A small, delicate-looking flower has been discovered for the first time on one of the Channel Islands. What’s known as the White Mallow has been found on Santa Barbara Island, which is part of Channel Islands National Park. Andrew Yamagiwa is a plant biologist who works in the Channel Islands, and says he noticed some of the white, and pale purple flowers as he was exploring recent plant growth on the island. He consulted with other specialists, and says it took a few weeks to confirm the discovery. Eventually a number of groups of the white mallows were found on Santa Barbara Island. The white mallows aren’t completely unknown to the islands. But, the last known sighting on Santa Cruz Island was in 1888, and Santa Catalina Island in 1902. Because the plants are so isolated between the islands, Yamagiwa says they could be subspecies. He says it would take genetic testing to conform it. The big question is why the plants have appeared at this time. They are from a plant family that’s common in desert areas, with seeds that can remain dormant for decades until conditions are just right. Yamagiwa spends days at a time on Santa Barbara and Anacapa Islands. He’s working for the California Institute of Environmental Studies on a project to restore the native plant habitats for some bird populations hard hit by man-made pollution coming from Southern California." 

Summer Farm Intern Joe Sacks

Meet our new Farm Intern, Joe Sacks. Joe has studied at Santa Barbara City College and is interested in putting his knowledge into practice as an intern in the Future Solutions program. Joe will spend six weeks working on raised garden beds planting artichokes and asparagus. He will put best management practices into play paying attention to pollinator habitat, wild animal movements through the landscape and soil building techniques.

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Santa Cruz Island Rescue and Recovery

Growing Solutions is pleased to report successful ongoing rescue and recovery of the island bush mallow- Malacothamnus fasciculatus var. nesioticus (aka “MAFA”) on Santa Cruz Island. This species of plant is endemic to Santa Cruz Island, meaning it’s found on the island and nowhere else in the world. However, a century of overgrazing, primarily by sheep, reduced the bush mallow to three single plants scattered miles from each other, eliminating any chance at normal interspecies cross-pollination. Five years ago, under direction from USGS, Growing Solutions’ staff and volunteers located the plants, harvested cuttings and propagated over 500 plants in a purpose-built island nursery. This January, under direction from USGS Ecologist Dr. Kathryn McEachern’s direction with the Channel Island National Parks’ full collaboration, suitable planting sites were chosen on the eastern end of the island. With Kathryn, her son Carson and Growing Solutions staff and board member Steve Barilotti we planted over 150 plants. Since then the plants have been regularly watered and monitored and we are happy to report the plants are doing well and even expanding by sending out root sprouts. We hope to see this species become a common sight for park visitors. Click on the purple blossom for more info on the Bush Mallow and other island endemic plants.

GS Organic Food Production and Composting Workshop

Growing Solutions recently hosted a garden and compost workshop for those interested in organic food production and farming. Over the one-day hands-on workshop we did a sampling of tasks that included raised-bed planting, composting and intercropping of kale, onions and arugula. In an adjoining bed our participants sowed White Sonora wheat. This heirloom wheat was once widely cultivated throughout the Southwest as it requires less water than current commercially grown varieties. We concluded with building a compost pile through layering various organic ingredients (kitchen scraps, shell hulls, chicken manure, etc.) that bio-degrade quickly and “hot” to produce rich fertile soil.