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 2018 newsletter includes updates on public site tours, the From Golf Course to Wetland documentary, Goleta West Sanitary District maintenance, and a sighting of a nesting Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus). The feature story highlights some of the memorable wildlife sightings of staff and students who have been doing work at NCOS and other CCBER restoration sites. Community photos include killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) and green heron (Butorides virescens).