REI Volunteers with Channel Islands Restoration on Anacapa

Employees from the new REI store in Oxnard volunteered for Channel Islands Restoration and the Park Service on Anacapa Island in March REI purchased passage on Island Packers for nearly 30 volunteers and help up plant natives and remove invasive iceplant.  The photo above shows Middle and West Anacapa Island with Santa Cruz Island in the distance.  This photo was our most popular post ever on Facebook with around 3900 views and nearly 160 "likes."

REI volunteers on the Vanguard prior to departure.

The Vanguard after dropping off passengers at East Anacapa Island.

REI volunteers carry plants and other supplies to the restoration site on Anacapa

Giant Coreopsis (Leptosyne gigantea) in bloom on Anacapa Island (with REI volunteers in the background)

Native goldfields (Lasthenia gracilis) in bloom on Anacapa (with REI volunteers in the background)

Close up of goldfields (Lasthenia gracilis)

Looking west toward West Anacapa with Santa Cruz Island in the distance

REI volunteers on a hike on Anacapa after volunteering

Employees from the REI Oxnard store at Inspiration Point.

REI supports CIR with grant funding and volunteer help. Join them at their three-day grand opening event for their new store in Oxnard March 22-24. CIR and other environmental non-profits will have information booths, and REI will provide breakfast and great giveaways! For more information, follow this link: http://www.rei.com/stores/oxnard.html

20,000 Native Plants Grown on Anacapa Island!

Over 20,000 native plants of 30 species, were grown on East Anacapa Island since CIR and the National Park Service (NPS) constructed a nursery there in 2010.  During 2011-12, NPS and CIR staff eradicated 25 acres of non-native iceplant, and volunteers hand-cleared a further 4 acres of iceplant.  Native plants have been planted on approximately x39 acres of the islet.  Nearly 1,400 CIR volunteers contributed over 11,000 hours to this effort.  Conservative amounts of water are being applied to the plantings through a system of ¾” black irrigation tubing which now delivers water to far flung locations on the island, including to Inspiration Point.  With this system, we no longer use valuable volunteers hours backpacking water to planting sites. This tremendous effort has been accomplished with the help of individual volunteers, school groups, corporations and community groups.

Anacapa Island provides critical habitat for seabirds, pinnipeds and several endemic plants and animals.  It is home to 16 plants endemic to the California Channel Islands, two of which are unique to Anacapa.   Anacapa’s dense vegetation was once dominated by the showy plants giant coreopsis, gumplant, island tarweed, live-forever, Santa Cruz Island buckwheat, sagebrush, saltbush, lemonade berry and island mallow, which provided shelter, perches and nesting habitat for seabirds and land birds.  Their large quantities of seeds provided abundant food for the endemic Anacapa deer mouse, and for many small birds. 

The island’s stands of giant coreopsis, as well as all the other plants of its coastal bluff community, were devastated by sheep grazing (up until the early 1900s) rabbit browsing through the 1950s and by large-scale destruction of native vegetation during construction and manning of the Coast Guard Light Station in the 1930s to 1960s.  Only small patches of native plants remained.  The United States Coast Guard planted two types of iceplant around their facilities, with the idea of erosion control and ornamentation  Iceplant is highly invasive, and spread to cover an estimated 30 acres of the islet.  

 

Small-scale eradication of iceplant in the vicinity of the buildings began in the late 1980s, done by Anacapa Ranger and Maintenance staff.  In 1993, Sarah Chaney, a restoration ecologist with Channel Islands National Park, began working with volunteers and researchers to expand iceplant removal to the rest of the island, and by 2010, about 14 acres of iceplant had been cleared.   October 2011 saw the commencement of intensive iceplant removal, with the receipt of the first of three years of National Park Service funding for iceplant eradication. At the end of 2010, Channel Islands Restoration helped fund and construct a native plant nursery on the island in partnership with the NPS.  Channel Islands National Park operation funds have supported the nursery improvements and upkeep since then. The Ventura County Master Gardeners along with many other volunteers have grown an impressive 20,000 plants in the nursery since that time.  These include giant coreopsis, California barley, purple needlegrass, gum plant, alkali-heath and many others—thirty species, to date.

Several groups helped plant the natives in areas where the iceplant has been eradicated, including nearly 1,400 CIR volunteers.  Most of the work occurs on Wednesdays, when the NPS boat makes regular visits to the island.  CIR staff recruit the volunteers, meet them at the NPS headquarters and escort them to the island and to the worksites.  Several corporations have volunteered for the project, including REI, Deckers Outdoors, Amgen, Horny Toad and Citrix Online.  Non-profit organizations also participated, including the Santa Barbara Zoo, the California Native Plant Society and Santa Barbara Audubon Society.  In addition to planting the natives, volunteers helped to remove iceplant seedlings from among native plants, collect seeds of native plants for propagation and provide precious and essential water to the plantings throughout their first year. 

The water supply for the island is delivered by NPS boat once a year, at great expense, so water conservation is vital.  To provide for watering plantings without depleting the domestic water supply, NPS staff and CIR volunteers installed rain barrels to collect rainwater from the roofs of several of the buildings.  The large concrete rainwater catchment basin installed by the Coast Guard in the 1930s is again collecting rainwater (now used for plant irrigation) thanks to the work of NPS staff.  Current rainwater storage capacity is 2100 gallons, with plan to expand this capacity this year.  A temporary system of ¾” black plastic irrigation tubing now delivers the water by gravity, assisted by a small pump, to the planting locations throughout the islet.  The strenuous and time-consuming backpacking of water to plants is no longer needed!

Through inspired partnerships and lots of combined effort, the NPS, CIR and many, many volunteers have changed the face of East Anacapa Island.  Formerly the bright red flowers of the non-native, invasive iceplant would color much of the landscape. This year, the landscape was colored bright yellow by the flowers of the native plants like giant coreopsis, gumplant and island tarweed.  Western gull chicks that were formerly exposed to predators and the elements on a low, flat, open iceplant landscape, were instead able to find refuge among  the varied structures of the taller native plants that were grown and planted by volunteers.  Volunteers of all ages obtained a new understanding of this rare island habitat and gained a valuable education of the importance of habitat restoration.  The work continues into 2013 and beyond.

Productive Planting Season on Anacapa!

The last couple months on Anacapa Island has been a tremendous adventure, and 2011 was a very productive year for Anacapa’s native plant restoration project!  With nearly 5,000 endemic and natives planted on the island so far by volunteers (under the direction of NPS restoration biologist Sarah Chaney) we can say with conviction that Anacapa has never looked more native!   Many groups including several hundred CIR volunteers have helped with the growing and planting on the island this season.  Here is how a typical trip has gone recently:

Once volunteers hit the island, we take full advantage of the short time we have there by pulling invasive iceplant  out of priority areas until lunch time.  This can actually be quite meditative for our volunteers, as they watch Risso's dolphins swim off the coast while they work.  After lunch some of the volunteers take a short hike to scenic spots on the island where they see anything from the endemic Channel Islands slender salamander, to the currently migrating grey whale!  After the break, volunteers then get to work directly with native plants, planting them in various spots where iceplant has been removed.   Lately, we have planted a lot of barley grass, needle grass, alkali heath, yarrow, morning glory and Coreopsis, and volunteers always rave about how beautiful the site looks when it is restored.   Volunteers also help out in the island nursery, which provides a unique opportunity to propagate, repot, water, and provide extensive care for thousands of upcoming native plants.  We have gotten so much feedback from volunteers telling us that their island time has really opened their eyes to Channel Island plant ecology, and gave them a rare opportunity to experience the plethora of life in the Santa Barbara Channel.   CIR is currently taking a group of 15 volunteers every Wednesday to East Anacapa Island, and we look forward to working with those of you who will be signing up for future trips!  

 

Planting Begins on Anacapa!

Volunteers plant natives on Anacapa

More than 500 natives were planted on Anacapa last week by CIR volunteers and NPS staff!  Nearly 10,000 plants have been grown in the Island nursery, and so those involved with the restoration effort are going to be busy in the next few months.  The best time to plant is during the wet season to take advantage of the rainfall, so NPS staff made a special effort to install as many plants as possible.  Staff used an auger to dig the holes in areas where iceplant had been removed, and then staff and more than 20 volunteer recruited by CIR planted mostly yarrow and native barley grass.  A small stake (color coded) was placed with each plant, which will help keep track of how each species did in each planting locaiton

There are many thousands more plants growing in the nursery including  two kinds of grasses, Coreopsis, yarrow, morning glory, wild cucumber and even some prickly-pear cactus.  There will be many opportunities for volunteers to participate in upcoming trips, so watch your email for announcements about these trips!

Volunteers including from Amgen plant on Anacapa

Nursery in Full Production on Anacapa Island

The plant nursery on Anacapa island is in full production, and among the native plants we are growing there are two kinds of grasses, Coreopsis, yarrow, morning glory, wild cucumber and even some prickly-pear cactus!  Many thousands of plants are being grown (with more species to come) and volunteers are helping make it happen.  This fall and winter the natives will be planted in areas where invasive iceplant has been removed.

The nursery is a joint project of Channel Islands National Park (NPS) and Channel Islands Restoration (CIR).  CIR helped initially raise funds for the project with a grant from the Ventura Patagonia store and with donations from our Board of Directors.   CIR Board member Gordon Hart (with help from fellow board member Dave Edwards and others) supervised the construction of the nursery in close cooperation with NPS staff.  The project is now chiefly funded by the NPS, and CIR has recruited hundreds of volunteers to staff the nursery.  Sarah Chaney (NPS restoration biologist) provides overall leadership of this important project (see previous blog posts for background on the restoration project).

CIR and NPS sponsor ongoing trips to the island so that volunteers can help with the project.  If you would like more information about the CIR trips, contact our Volunteer Coordinator at: volunteer@cirweb.org. 

Keeping Busy on Anacapa!

We continue to get support from our great volunteers, including folks who are signed up on our email list (http://www.cirweb.org/volunteer.htm) and from our corporate partners like Citrix Online.  At least twice a month we take volunteers out to the island to help us remove non-native iceplant and to grow plants in the on-island nursery.  At this point, we are growing a large amount of two species of native grasses (barley and needlegrass).  These will be planted (along with other native species) in areas where iceplant has been removed.  If would like to volunteer on Anacapa, please follow the link above and fill out the volunteer form.  You can also ask questions about the project by sending an email to volunteer@cirweb.org

Latest photos:

 Volunteers receive instruction on how to grow plants in the nursery on Anacapa Island

   Volunteers take grass sprigs and "pot them up" (place them in larger pots for maturing).

   Volunteer removes iceplant from around a native "gum plant."

  CIR staff and a volunteer prepare to move large bags of pulled iceplant.  The iceplant is taken so a spot on the island and allowed to dehydrate.  It essentially turns into compost at that point.

  Volunteers take in the view at "Inspiration Point"at the end of the volunteer day.

  Departing the island!

Citrix Online Volunteers on Anacapa

We have been privileged to have employees of Citrix Online, a locally based software company volunteer with CIR on Anacapa and elsewhere in the this summer.  As part of the Citrix "Global Day of Impact" program, the company sponsors and encourages employees to volunteer for local non-profits.  More than 100 Citrix volunteers have helped us on the mainland on on the islands so far.  Citrix has taken two trips to Anacapa and one trip to East Santa Cruz (two more trips are planned).  The Citrix employees have been top-notch workers and a great company.  Thanks Citrix!

Check out the company website here:
www.citrixonline.com

Anacapa Island Habitat Restoration Blog

Welcome to the CIR Anacapa Blog!  This blog is meant to keep volunteers and others up to date with the exciting habitat restoration project happening on East Anacapa Island, part of Channel Islands National Park (NPS).  CIR is one of several organizations partnering with the park to restore the native plant communities of the island.  For nearly five years, CIR has brought volunteers to the island to remove invasive plants.  These volunteers have included hundreds of school children and even more adults.

Starting in 2011, the park and CIR started constructing a native plant nursery, with park funding and with funding from the Ventura Patagonia store and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  The NPS has a goal to eradicate iceplant from the island by 2016, and park staff is working hard with CIR and other organizations to achieve that goal.

If you would like to volunteer for the project, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator at: volunteer@cirweb.org

Background on Anacapa Island and the Restoration Project

Anacapa Island, located only about 11 miles from the urbanized coast of Southern California, provides critical habitat for seabirds, pinnipeds such as California sea lions, and several endemic plants and animals.  It is home to 16 plants endemic to the California Channel Islands, 2 of which are unique to Anacapa. The island’s steep lava rock cliffs incorporate numerous caves and crevices that are particularly important for the increasingly rare seabird species, Xantus’s Murrelet (Threatened) and Ashy Storm-petrel.  The largest breeding colony of the California Brown Pelican in the United States, and one of the only two in California, also occurs on Anacapa Island.  This is where the Brown Pelican has been able to recover so dramatically from near extinction in the 1970s.   A unique subspecies of deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus anacapae) occurs only on this island.  Anacapa also has an endemic form of the interesting and attractive Side-Blotched Lizard (Uta stansburiana).

Anacapa’s prolific and dense vegetation was once dominated by the showy Giant Coreopsis, an erect, shrubby perennial with a stout, succulent trunk growing to some 8' tall.  The main trunk grows up to 5" thick and often resembles a small tree.  During its blooming season, March to May, it bursts forth with a mass of showy, bright yellow flowers and green leaves.  Giant Coreopsis provided shelter and perches for seabirds and land birds, and nesting habitat for many. The prolific seeds provided abundant food for the endemic Anacapa deer mouse, and for many small birds.  The island’s stands of Giant Coreopsis, as well as all the other plants of its coastal bluff community, were devastated by sheep grazing in the late 1800s and early 1900s, rabbit browsing in 1910-1950s, and by large-scale destruction of native vegetation associated with facility and road development by the U.S. Coast Guard during construction and manning of the Anacapa Light Station.  Only small patches and individuals of native plants remained. 

After completion of the lighthouse and associated facilities, the Coast Guard planted two types of iceplant on East Anacapa Islet: red-flowered iceplant (Malephora crocea) and sea fig, aka ‘freeway iceplant’ (Carpobrotus edulis x aequilaterus).  Both are highly invasive.