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 January 2019 newsletter highlights the 2019 goals of the project, such as those related to planting, public access and interpretation, research and education, and wildlife habitat enhancement. The feature story focuses on how trash, contaminants, and sediment in the creeks leading to NCOS are managed and monitored. Community photos include Canada Geese (Branta canadensis), Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus), Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta), and Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana).