Watsonville Wetlands Watch
Current Restoration Projects
Students Restore Land
During spring 2010, students have been replanting natives and removing non-native plants as a part of the 80 acre restoration project surrounding Pajaro Valley High School. This spring’s work has focused on upper Hanson Slough. There have been many signs of recovery in this new habitat (formerly a strawberry field), such as good growth from 4 and 5 year-old native trees, and a healthy raptor population, including Red-shouldered hawks, White-tailed kites, and Burrowing owls. Click here for more information about this project. (Photos by Integrated Science teacher Rob Hoffman.)
California Red-legged Frog Breeding Pond Enhancement
The Red-legged frog is a threatened species. There are many reasons for this: habitat removal, stream degradation and divisions, non-native predators, farming and hunting activities, collectors and disease. The restoration project described here is an important step in efforts to reverse the frog’s decline.
This major restoration program ran from June 2009 to March 2010. A road was removed and the site prepared and mulched to kill invasive species and facilitate planting with natives. For better equipment access and to begin the restoration process, invasive species growing on the site were removed with a bulldozer. A chisel plow was used first to break up the hardpan left by many years of use of the area as a road. Roto-tilling was used to break up remaining invasive roots. A wood chip and rice straw mulch was spread. Drip irrigation was laid out. The first flush of weeds that came up in areas where the mulch was spread too thinly were removed with a flame torch.
The photo shows the pond after the restoration. To see a detailed photo report of the restoration process, click here.
Last Mile of Watsonville Slough
The Last Mile of Watsonville Slough Restoration and Enhancement Project is designed to restore native salt marsh and dune habitat, remove invasive species, and provide opportunities for outreach and volunteer participation for local high school students and community members. The project began in 2007 with an extensive survey of the site, hand removal of iceplant, and an outreach component. It has continued for the past three years. Click here to read The Last Mile of Watsonville Slough Restoration and Enhancement Project 2009 Monitoring Report.
The Last Mile of the Watsonville Slough is the south-western most portion of the Watsonville Slough System. Within its boundary is the confluence of the Watsonville Sloughs with the mouth of the Pajaro River and the Pacific Ocean. This area represents the only salt marsh habitat in the Pajaro Valley and the sloughs environment. There are a number of species that are found or are potentially found in this habitat, whose population decline is recognized by the Federal and State government, including the Tide Water Goby, Monarch butterfly, and the Smiths Blue Butterfly.
Watch Awarded Trails Contract with City
We received over 100 applicants for our new position of Trails Restoration Specialist and have hired John Moreno. John is a Watsonville High grad, and grew up on a farm in the Royal Oaks/Watsonville area. He will be working three days a week for us and two days a week for the Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County’s Community Restoration Project. He began work on December 2, and has hit the trails running!
Grazing Program
“Appropriately timed rotational grazing is a part of mimicking the historically important grazing of herding animals such as elk which were once common and important to local native grassland health,” says Jonathan Pilch, WWW Restoration Director. “Goats, sheep, and other animals can remove invasive plants and improve the soil so that native grasses, wildflowers, and habitat can thrive. Grazing also keeps the grass short. Many of our native species, such as the burrowing owl, the marsh hawk, and the short-eared owl, favor short grass for nesting and habitat.”
Grazing Program to Continue
For the next phase of our grazing program, we are working with Laura Kummerer and High Ground Organics on the possibility of rotating animals in between that grassland site and the Dept. of Fish and Game property. We have also just completed the annual monitoring summary data, which will be used as a foundation for student monitoring projects as a part of Project Tierra, our biodiversity monitoring program. Stay tuned for development of the program during the spring and summer.
California’s native coastal prairie is a rarely recognized old-growth type of environment, greatly in need of conservation. Less than 1% remains undisturbed by urban development, farming, and invasive species. The coastal prairie is a short-grass dominated prairie and supports a huge diversity of plant and animal species. This includes many grassland-dependent bird species whose populations are in great decline throughout the State, such as the Burrowing Owl, Short-eared Owl, Northern Harrier, Grasshopper Sparrow and the White Tailed Kite.
Grazing animals, or human practices which mimic grazing animals, are necessary to maintain and restore native diversity of the grasslands and improve the quality of the habitat.
If you would like to help with restoration efforts or volunteer with the WBMP, contact Jonathan by email or call 728-1156, ext. 4.
Tarplant Hill
Watsonville Wetlands Watch has undertaken a three-year effort to restore and enhance the Tarplant Hill parcel, work made possible by a $35,000 grant from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. WWW is committed to maintaining the site in perpetuity, providing conditions that will create a self-sustaining native habitat. Click here for the annual report of work accomplished during the two years ending Oct. 1, 2009.
Preservation of the grassy knoll was guaranteed when Watsonville Wetlands Watch bought the property in 2006 with a $475,000 grant from the state Wildlife Conservation Board. This six acres of native coastal prairie is essential to the recovery of the endangered Santa Cruz tarplant.
Tarplant Hill is surrounded by hundreds of homes built in the past few years between Ohlone Parkway and Struve Slough in Watsonville. Preserving the site ensures it will remain the home of several rare and endangered species beside the Santa Cruz tarplant, including the threatened California red-legged frog, and the burrowing owl. Other species likely to be found on the property include marsh and northern harrier, short-eared owl, white-tailed kite, peregrine falcon, loggerhead shrike, and nesting cinnamon teal.
Other Restoration Projects
- Restoration of coastal prairie and wet meadow habitat on the Watsonville Sloughs Ecological Reserve at West Struve Slough.
- Restoration of the Fitz Fresh farm property
- Restoration of the Tsisan Sia wetland at the Watsonville Charter School of the Arts
- Restoration of the ESHAs at Pajaro Valley High School.
