California Grassland Restoration Poster
-
Upload
the-green-initiative-fund -
Category
Documents
-
view
215 -
download
2
description
Transcript of California Grassland Restoration Poster
CALIFORNIA GRASSLAND RESTORATION AN EFFORT TO REINTRODUCE THE GRASSLAND PLANT COMMUNITIES
OF THE INDIGENOUS UC BERKELEY CAMPUS SITE Ariel Cherbowsky* and Jennifer Podvin*
*B.S. in Conservation and Resource Studies 2014
The site of the main UC Berkeley campus was a grassland with strips
of riparian vegetation along the course of Strawberry Creek during the
time when only the indigenous Huchuin Ohlone people were the
human residents of the Strawberry Creek watershed.
The Huchuin Ohlone utilized fire as a land management practice to
prevent woody plant invasions of grasslands, promote growth of
favorable plant species, improve hunting and gathering conditions, and
facilitate travel.
It is likely that the site of our restoration project in the Grinnell
Ecological Study Area in the west side of the main campus was a
coastal prairie plant community within a Coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia) grove.
THE INDIGENOUS UCB CAMPUS SITE
THE RESEARCH THE LABOR
CURRENT SITE CONDITION
THE GOALS:
Students from the Strawberry Creek
Restoration DeCal and various
volunteers and student groups hosted
by the Strawberry Creek Collective
have been working to prepare the site
for planting by removing the invasive
grasses. Other strategies for
suppressing the exotics will be
implemented before and after planting as well.
EXOTIC GRASSES
DOMINATING OUR SITE:
Map of “Plant Cover Before
Colonization”
in “Ecology of the Pre-Spanish
San Francisco Bay Area” by
David Mayfield
A depiction of a pre-Spanish era
East Bay coastal prairie,
painted by Laura Cunningham
and printed in “A State of
Change: Forgotten Landscapes
of California”.
A depiction of an Ohlone man and
woman in an oak grove. Drawn by
Michael Harney and printed in “The
Ohlone Way: Indian Life in the San
Francisco-Monterey Bay Area” by
Malcolm Margolin.
We have been researching a variety of
sources to understand what plant
communities grew in our site during the
pre-Spanish indigenous eras, and we have
found that our site was most likely a coastal
prairie bordering Strawberry Creek’s
riparian zone. In addition to reintroducing
plants from the coastal prairie community,
we are also planting representatives of the
valley grassland community, the other
common grassland type of the East Bay. We
will source these plants from local native
plant nurseries as well as collect them from
seed, such as from local reference
ecosystems like the coastal prairie at UC
Berkeley’s Richmond Field Station.
- To encourage awareness of the ecological heritage of
the site of the UC Berkeley campus and the East Bay
and through the inadequacy of the restoration
publicly acknowledge the devastating dismantling of
the ecological and cultural conditions of the Bay Area
as they existed prior to European arrival and
conquest.
- To provide an educational landscape where people
can observe and learn some of the native plants
common to pre-European coastal prairie and valley
grassland ecosystems.
- To raise awareness about previous indigenous land
management practices.
- To raise awareness about exotic species invasions
and their threats to native biodiversity.
- To test various grassland restoration strategies in
hopes of finding successful methods of reintroducing
native grassland species to the larger Grinnell
Ecological Study Area.
- To involve a variety of students and the wider UC
Berkeley community in the continuing project.
Ehrharta erecta, also known as Panic veldt grass, is an invasive perennial
grass that became established in California in the 1930’s. Originally from
South Africa, the plant has proven to be an aggressive invader which
spreads easily from wind dispersed seeds and is able to re-sprout from stems
and tips. Erharta decreases native biodiversity as it competes with and
prevents the establishment of annual wildflowers and native grasses.
Avena fatua, or Wild oat, is a characteristic weed of disturbed
locations such as roadsides or path edges and in agricultural
fields. This annual invasive grass from Eurasia/ North Africa is
thought to have been brought to California by the Spanish
during the Mission period (1769-1824) and either introduced as
forage grass for cattle and sheep or brought unknowingly along
on their travels. It is a superior competitor which can produce
allelopathic compounds that suppress other plants in its
proximity. Their highly resilient seeds can last in the soil seed
bank for up to 10 years!
Coastal Prairie
Plant community
members
Research
Sources
California oatgrass 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
, 6
Purple Needlegrass 1, 3, 4, 5
Idaho Fescue 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Pacific reedgrass 2, 3, 4
California hairgrass 2, 3, 4
Red Fescue 1, 3, 4, 6
Blue-eyed grass 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Junegrass 3, 5
Research Sources
1. Stromberg,M.R., P Kephart and V.Yadon 2002. Composition,
invasibility, and diversity in coastal California grasslands. Madrono
48: 236-252
2. Munz, P.A., and D.D. Keck. 1973. A California Flora and
Supplement.
3. Heady et al. 1988. Terrestrial Vegetation of California. Ch
21:Coastal Prairie. Edited by M.G. Barbour and J. Major. UC Press.
Berkeley, CA.
4. Peterson, P.M., and R.J. Soreng. 2007. California Grasslands:
Ecology and Management. Ch 2: Systematics of California Grasses
(Poaceae). Edited by M.R. Stromberg, J.D. Corbin and C.M. D’Antonio
5. Cunningham, L. 2010. A State of Change: Forgotten Landscapes of
California. CH 6: California Grasslands. Heyday Press. Berkeley, CA.
6. Anderson, M.K. 2005. Tending the Wild: Native American
Knowledge and the Management of California’s Natural Resources.