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 April 2022 newsletter includes updates on the success of rare Coulter’s Goldfields at the open space, planting of rare Coulter’s Saltbush (Atriplex coulteri), planting at the Outdoor Classroom, trail use survey results, the use of a binder for dust control on the Marsh Trail, and the upcoming grand opening of the Mesa Trail. The feature story focuses on nutrient cycles in the wetland. Community photos include Wood Duck (Aix sponsa), Sora (Porzana carolina), Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia), Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus), Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca), and Yellow Faced Bumblebee (Bombus vosnesenskii).