Park Science

Ecological restoration in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

The ecological restoration program at the Santa Monica Mountains was established to protect and restore natural resources, support park management, and inform and involve the public in restoration efforts. Of major concern to the park is the control and eradication of non-native invasive plant species. Non-native species has reduced the native biodiversity and habitat quality of the landscape, impacted threatened and endangered species, and interfered with ecosystem functioning. Within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, over 4,000 infestations of non-native invasive plants, including over 5,000 acres of non-native annual grasslands, occur within the mountains out-competing native plant species for limited resources. Restoration efforts are targeting some of these areas to bring back native vegetation including coastal sage scrub and grassland habitats.

Three components make up the program: research, management, and education.

Research
The program focuses on three research areas:

• Understanding the impacts of non-native invasive plants on park resources
• Designing effective methods for controlling non-native species and re-introducing native species
• Collecting information on impacts, spread, and communities of occurrence of non-native invasive species in order to prioritize infestations for treatment and to create an efficient and defensible invasive species management plan

Examples of completed research projects inlcude:

• planting arrangement in restoration
• seed viability in non-native invasive species and implications for treatment
• impacts of invasive plants on Pentachaeta lyonii
• habitat of the rare plant Baccharis malibuensis
• impacts of diversity of plantings on restoration success
• seedbanks in restoration areas

Examples of on-going research projects include:

• rates of spread of different non-native invasive species
• relative impacts on native diversity by different non-native invasive species
• impacts of non-native invasive species and ecological restoration on wildlife
• impacts of fragmentation on pollination in the federally endangered Lyon's pentachaeta

Management
Ecological restoration management is centered on protecting and improving park resources through the removal of highly invasive non-native plant species and the subsequent restoration of degraded areas. A majority of the work is focused on non-native invasive species that are the most ecologically damaging but having a limited distribution and non-native invasive species occurring in sensitive ecological areas. Although the park contains over 300 non-native species, removal work focuses on 19 species identified as having negative ecological impacts in the Santa Monica Mountains. Work to control the spread of non-native invasive species into the natural environment is based in integrated pest management and utilizes all available tools to remove these species effectively, efficiently, and with maximum environmental protection. After removal at infestation sites, native species are established, through active planting, in order to suppress re-growth of non-native species. Plants used in active planting projects are grown from seed collected by volunteers on National Park Service properties in the Santa Monica Mountains and grown by volunteers at our native plant nursery. The park has current restoration projects at the following park sites: Paramount Ranch, Solstice Canyon, Zuma Canyon, Cheeseboro Canyon, and Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa.

Map of non-native invasive species infestations in the Santa Monica Mountains

Education
Education and outreach are important components of any ecological restoration program. In a fragmented environment such as the Santa Monica Mountains, activities occurring around park sites by surrounding land owners can have large impacts on park resources. Many non-native invasive plants come into the park from neighboring properties where they were intentionally established for fire clearance or general landscaping. For these reasons, it is important to educate the public concerning the impacts of non-native invasive plants.

Park staff actively participates in a number of community outreach activities through presentations at local garden clubs, homeowner groups, and other interested parties. The park also hosts a native plant fair each spring with information on gardening with native plants.

In addition to outreach activities, several programs are in place providing opportunities for the public to participate in all levels of the ecological restoration process, from hands-on site preparation (for instance, weeding, seed collecting, plant propagation), planting and plant aftercare, and scientific data collection.

Some of the educational programs, targeting grade-, middle- , and high-school students, teach environmental learning and stewardship include:

• EcoHelpers, a one day field trip program, offers high-school students a chance to participate in local restoration including weeding of non-native plants and planting native vegeation in degraded areas.
• SHRUBS teaches local fifth-graders scientific research and stewardship in the park. Students participating in the program visit the same site once a month all year long, observing change in vegetation diversity.
• SAMO Youth is a high-school summer employment program where students work in a variety of park disciplines including ecological restoration.

Native Plant Nursery
The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area maintains a volunteer-operated native plant nursery at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa. The nursery uses local plant stock to grow plants for use in ecological restoration projects within the park. Using local stock protects the genetic integrity and local genotypes at park sites.

To find out more on becoming a volunteer or intern at the native plant nursery, visit the official park internship page.

Plants to avoid in areas adjacent to wildlands
Impacts of landscaping on natural areas