UC Santa Barbara Begins Major Campus Point Restoration

UC Santa Barbara’s Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration has broken ground on a significant project to restore the native ecology of Campus Point, a headland adjacent to the university beach in Goleta. This initiative involves removing asphalt and concrete foundations, remnants from its time as a World War II Marine air base, and replacing carpets of invasive iceplant with native flora.

Project lead Lisa Stratton, the Cheadle Center’s director of ecosystem management, noted that Campus Point is an “iconic headland” for the university that still shows the impact of military-era degradation. The center is actively working with the Barbareño Band of Chumash Indians to safeguard the site’s cultural resources and to develop signage that highlights its ecological, geological, and cultural heritage.

Restoration efforts at Campus Point began in 2012 with the construction of a boardwalk stairway, funded by UCSB, the Coastal Fund, and State Coastal Conservancy. Since then, the Cheadle Center has focused on reclaiming the area from invasive iceplant. The current undertaking, which covers nearly 7 acres, is a major capital project. Slightly more than $150,000 has been raised from local sources, university funds, and individual donors.

The university plans to restore diverse habitat types, including beach dune, coastal scrub, and seasonal wetlands. Iceplant, introduced in the 1950s, has overgrown the bluff, creating a monoculture that smothers native plants and offers limited habitat or food for local wildlife. Cheadle Center staff have used tarps to deprive the iceplant of sunlight, converting it into fertile mulch for native shrubs now present on the site’s eastern extent.

The team will commence restoration on the south side of the bluff. Efforts are also underway to secure additional funding to replace fallen trees with native fruiting species such as toyon, elderberry, and lemonade berry, aimed at supporting the small woodland on the lagoon side of the headland. Acorns planted in 2005 have already contributed to habitat restoration in that area.

Chris Berry, the Cheadle Center’s Campus Lagoon steward, emphasized the team’s focus on reintroducing increasingly rare native wildflowers and annuals. These plants are crucial for supporting native bees, butterflies, and other parts of the food web but are vulnerable to invasive annual grasses, requiring long-term management, controlled burns, and careful weed control. The Cheadle Center has successfully used prescribed burns on Lagoon Island, with a 2020 survey showing 84% native plant cover from 33 different species and less than 1% invasive plants in the burned area. A prescribed fire was also conducted on Lagoon Island in September, though there are no plans for burns at Campus Point.

Community members, including school groups, student workers, interns, and members of the Barbareño Chumash community, will be invited to assist in the restoration. LoryAnn Velez, a cultural monitor and former councilmember for the Barbareño Band of Chumash Indians, highlighted the importance of maintaining a connection with the land and understanding traditional ecological knowledge. Campus Point, known as Sismikiw to the Chumash, is part of a culturally and environmentally sensitive area around the Goleta Slough (Sitiptip), which historically hosted numerous Chumash villages.

Natural processes, such as debris flows in 1861, and human activities, like WWII airfield construction that filled much of the Goleta Slough and destroyed half of Mescaltitlan Island (Helo’), have significantly reshaped the area. Velez expressed appreciation for the Cheadle Center’s commitment, stating their work is helping return Campus Point to its original character and prevent further ecological and cultural impacts.

To foster a connection with the location’s ecology, culture, and history, interpretive signs will be installed as part of the restoration. Stratton anticipates that the project will “restore this amazing headland for generations to appreciate and enjoy,” making it accessible to the campus community and beyond.