Black Mountain Open Space Restoration Project on the Santa Luz Grasslands
By Beth Mather, President
The Friends have an ongoing project to restore coastal sage shrub and grasslands in the area north of the Black Mountain Ranch Community Park. Prior to the start of the Friends restoration project in 2014, this area was almost exclusively non-native vegetation, artichokes, mustard, thistles, and many European grasses. We started working at the area near the gate at the northeast end of the park and have since extended our efforts further east along the Ahwee trail and further north and around the west side of the park. We are converting the weedy area to coastal sage shrub habitat and native grasslands. The photos below show the change in one area northwest of the park.
With the increase in native plant species, as expected, we have observed an increase in animal life in the area. We have found the nests of wood rats hidden in the underbrush.
Wood rat nest
We have seen and/or heard many more species of birds than were observed previous to the restoration efforts. We have seen bluebirds, quail, the American pipet, thrushes, and lesser goldfinches feeding on planted fiddleneck, a merlin out hunting as well as the endangered gnatcatcher who live coastal sage shrub habitat. We have also been observing more insects. Here are some photos of recent sightings captured by one of our student volunteers Peimeng Xu.
This 16-year-to-date restoration project is made possible thanks to many individuals and groups. Thanks to all the boy scouts, girl scouts, high school clubs, military, and interested community members who come out every other Sunday afternoon. They have made this transformation happen!
