Restoration Update

It's a new year, and in some ways Año Nuevo Island looks like a new island. It's green!

I hitched a ride yesterday with the Elephant Seal research crew from UC Santa Cruz to check up on how the island restoration is looking. It's been two months since we planted the last plants and packed up for the season. December and January were luckily full of consistent rain, and the restoration area is carpeted in a beautiful swath of green!

The primary species we planted were Saltgrass and American Dunegrass. These species were covered with erosion control material to encourage root growth and protect them from wind and salt spray. The dunegrass is already popping up through the erosion control material (EC) and looking very happy. Saltgrass was harder to see under the EC but where it was exposed was surviving well. These species have strong, spreading roots which will improve burrowing seabird habitat by slowing erosion. 

Photo: American dunegrass (Leymus mollis) coming up through erosion control material.

We also planted a variety of shrubs throughout the island. Lizardtail, beach bur, buckwheat and dune strawberry are all thriving so far. The vertical growth of shrub species will add an important structural diversity to the island which will provide shelter for breeding seabirds and benefit songbirds passing through.

Photo: Lizardtail (Eriophyllum staechadifolium)

Farallon Weed (Lasthenia maritima) is germinating in the six experimental plots where we spread seed. This species is highly specialized to grow in the harsh soil of seabird colonies, and is primarily found on the Farallon Islands near San Francisco. 

What is really making the island look green is a sterile annual barley that we seeded. This thick cover will prevent erosion throughout the stormy winter and will die without reseeding. It has been loving the rain and from the shore the restoration area is a bright splash of green on an otherwise barren looking island.

The Habitat Ridge (the Eucalyptus structure we built to protect the restoration area) is holding up marvelously and fits the landscape perfectly.

It is the height of elephant seal season on the island and female seals are arriving rapidly, ready to give birth to new pups in the next couple weeks. The gigantic males are jousting and starting to form harems.

Left Photo: Germinating Farallon Weed (Lasthenia maritima)

The bird life is quiet for now--only a few gulls hanging around here and there, but soon enough auklets, cormorants and gulls will be returning to form territories, lay eggs, and raise another generation of seabird chicks on the lush green saltgrass of Año Nuevo Island. 

Photo: The tunnel of a newly installed Rhinoceros Auklet clay nest module with beach bur growing at the entrance.