Land Trust for Santa Barbara County

Land Trust 2007 Events

No cold weather events, but plans are underway for bird walks and wildflower hikes in the spring. More details will first be available in the spring newsletter.

In the meantime, as the weather cools down in Santa Barbara County, the opportunity for easily accessible wildlife viewing goes up. Our natural resources attract visitors from all around the world, and some of those visitors are critters drawn to two special places that the Land Trust and its members protected nearly ten years ago.

The Coronado Butterfly Preserve and the Carpinteria Bluffs are just two Land Trust properties perfect for exploring with your children and grandchildren. Every Land Trust donor is a partner in saving special places like these?and we hope you will share their natural wonders with someone you love.



photo courtesy of Michael Smith Monarch Butterflies
where:	Coronado Butterfly Preserve
description:	In 1998, the Land Trust purchased the 9.3 acre Coronado Butterfly Preserve adjacent to the main monarch butterfly grove on the Ellwood Mesa. Later, the main grove, which hosts thousands of butterflies between December and February, was protected through the hard work of the Friends of the Ellwood Coast, the City of Goleta, and The Trust for Public Land. Educational signs installed along the trails at the Coronado Preserve provide details about the monarchs and their over-wintering behavior. Also seen in the Coronado Butterfly Preserve is a successful effort to replace invasive weeds with native plants, and perhaps the most important measure of success has been expressed by the wildlife. The restored areas are teeming with birds. Monarch caterpillars have been observed on planted milkweed and the butterflies have been seen nectaring on many coastal sage scrub species. Native vegetation is truly the foundation of a healthy ecosystem. We are thankful for the work of our Preserve neighbors, restoration planner Jason Nelson and UCSB interns for the return of biodiversity to this lovely open space.

photo courtesy of H. Keldermans Harbor Seals
where:	The Carpinteria Bluffs
description:	The Carpinteria Bluffs offer scenic ocean vistas, swaying eucalyptus-lined paths and fields of coastal sage and wildflowers throughout the year. The bluffs also overlook the Carpinteria Harbor Seal Preserve, a low-tide beach that is home to about 100 adult seals. In February, it becomes a busy, noisy nesting area, called a rookery, with an amazing display of animals giving birth and nursing their new pups. The beach is closed 750 feet on either side of the rookery from December through May, but volunteers from Seal Watch are usually available on the bluffs above, ready to explain the exciting activity taking place below. If you are enjoying the ocean view from the Carpinteria Bluffs around this time, you might also catch a glimpse of a migrating Gray whale. Hundreds of Gray whales travel close to the coast between February and May, as they make their way from their mating and birthing grounds in Baja California to their home in the arctic. Current Events
If you wish to sign-up for an event, you can call our office at 805/966-4520 or click here to view and print our Events Sign-Up Form. Form must be mailed or faxed to us with payment amount included. (To download the sign-up form, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. Click here to obtain the latest version of this free software.)

Contact Information:

Land Trust for Santa Barbara County
P.O. Box 91830 • Santa Barbara, CA 93190
(805) 966-4520 ph • (805) 963-5988 fax
email: info@sblandtrust.org