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.