SBI

2012 Update

Growing Solutions’ students and volunteers continue to work with the top notch seabird team restoring Santa Barbara Island plant habitat for ground nesting birds such as the Xantus’s Murrelet and the Cassin’s Auklet. Through good planning and hard work the team has successfully restored portions of the island resulting in the first Cassin’s Auklet nest since the decline of the species due to human activities.

Growing Solutions’ team enjoyed spectacular views and good weather while planting over 1000 island grown native plants.

Growing Solutions

students and volunteers have had the opportunity to participate in seabird habitat restoration on Santa Barbara Island since 2007. This long term project is part of the Montrose Settlement Restoration Program (MSRP). The specific restoration is targeted to the Xantus’s murrelets (a state threatened species) and the Cassin’s auklets by improving the native habitat. The island hosts a small temporary nursery to grow native plants which are outplanted in targeted areas. http://www.montroserestoration.gov/2011/08/10/cassins-auklets/

2009

In November 2009 Growing Solutions students and volunteers enjoyed the opportunity to assist in seabird habitat restoration on Santa Barbara Island. Participants took the NOAA boat, the Shearwater, to the island and stayed for 4 days planting and weeding.

Also in November 2009, restoration work on Santa Barbara Island was featured in Karen Telleen-Lawton’s column in Santa Barbara and Goleta’s Noozhawk. http://www.noozhawk.com/karen_telleen_lawton/article/112109_karen_telleen-lawton_extreme_restoration_santa_barbara_island

2008

The 2nd of 3 seabird habitat restoration trips to SBI took place in March 2008. Growing Solutions led students from the Ecological Restoration and Management program at SBCC on an exploration of restoration techniques and to learn about the fragile ecosystem on the island.