Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration

The Cheadle Center at UCSB manages the North Campus Open Space (NCOS), which is a project that has restored 136 acres of upland and wetland habitats that existed before the area was converted into the Ocean Meadows Golf Course in the 1960s. The NCOS restoration project began in 2017 with a fine-scale grading of the site in order to recreate the salt marsh and use the excavated soil to rebuild the upland habitats to the southwest, which are now called the NCOS Mesa. In addition to re-establishing native biodiversity, a key goal of the restoration is to utilize the site as an educational, scientific, and recreational resource. This archived version of the July 2021 newsletter includes updates on acquisition of an all-terrain wheelchair for accessibility, success of the Ventura Marsh Milk-Vetch (Astragalus pycnostachyus var. lanosissimus), volunteer nature guides, and parking lot and outdoor classroom construction. The feature story focuses on invertebrates’ roles in the NCOS food web. Community photos include Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), American Kestrel (Falco sparverius), Canada Goose (Branta canadensis), Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), and Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax).