July 25, 2023

SLC Welcomes Conservation Ecologist Emma Levy

Photo by Alix Soliman. July 25, 2023 By Jamison Watts, Executive Director The Santa Lucia Conservancy is excited to welcome conservation ecologist Emma Levy, M.S., to our team. Levy is a biologist and environmental educator with experience in long-term population monitoring. Having grown up in Carmel Valley, she has an intimate knowledge of the wildlife and people that live here, […]

1 min read
July 19, 2023

Grazing as a Tool for California Grassland Conservation: SLC’s Eight-year Study Published in Journal of Applied Vegetation Science

Cattle graze in the foreground, Mesa study plot in the background on the right. Photo by Alix Soliman.  July 19, 2023 By Alix Soliman, Communications & Outreach Coordinator We’re thrilled to announce that the Santa Lucia Conservancy’s eight-year study of livestock grazing as a tool for conservation in California’s coastal grasslands has been published in Applied Vegetation Science. Grasslands cover […]

2 min read
June 22, 2023

8 Bird Species Found in California Grasslands

A juvenile grasshopper sparrow perches on a twig. Photo by Matt Davis / Macaulay Library.  By Alix Soliman, Communications & Outreach Coordinator The grass is reaching up to our hips, catching the morning dew, and dripping it down our pant legs into soggy boots. It’s 6:30 a.m. on a cloudy morning in late May. Wildlife Biologist Mike Stake has set […]

7 min read
May 22, 2023

Prescribed Burn Planned for the Santa Lucia Preserve June 7-8

CCPBA participants work on mop-up at the 2022 Dairy Field Prescribed Burn. Photo by Alix Soliman. LAST UPDATED 5/30/2023 at 8:00 p.m. In collaboration with the Santa Lucia Conservancy, the Central Coast Prescribed Burn Association (CCPBA) will be conducting a prescribed burn on The Preserve June 7 or 8 as part of the first California Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (Cal-TREX) […]

4 min read
January 17, 2023

What Happened to California’s Beavers?

An American coot skittering on the vernal pool in the Chicken Flats, an ephemeral wetland that once expanded into the San Francisquito Flats when beavers were common.  Photo by Andrew Evans. January 17, 2023 By Andrew Evans, Conservation Grazing Associate Every major river in California, except the Smith, is dammed… but no longer by beavers. Towering walls of concrete contain [...]
5 min read
December 13, 2022

Six Years After the Soberanes Fire, How are Coast Redwood Forests Recovering?

Blackened redwoods stand among a cleared forest floor after the Soberanes Fire in 2016. Photo by Christy Wyckoff.  December 13, 2022 By Dr. Brian Woodward, Conservation Ecologist The Soberanes Fire burned over three months in 2016, starting in Los Padres National Forest and spreading north through Big Sur and into the southwest edge of the Santa Lucia Preserve. On The [...]
3 min read
December 7, 2022

Managing Invasive Yellow Starthistle on The Santa Lucia Preserve

Conservancy staff hand-pull yellow starthistle. December 7, 2022 By Jackson Brooke, Restoration Manager Referred to as one of the most serious rangeland weeds in the state, yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis) favors drought conditions and invades grassland, coastal prairie, and oak savanna habitats across California, opportunistically taking over heavily disturbed areas like roadsides and working lands. What makes it so invasive? [...]
4 min read
November 22, 2022

How a Third La Niña Winter in a Row Could Impact Drought

The California Drought Monitor Report released November 17, 2022. Map Courtesy of Brad Rippey/Drought Monitor. November 22, 2022 By Alix Soliman, Communications & Outreach Coordinator We have experienced two consecutive La Niña winters and NOAA climate experts have announced another La Niña winter this year. Precipitation and temperature are influenced by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phases, comprised of El [...]
1 min read
October 20, 2022

SLC Conducts Successful Prescribed Burn on San Francisquito Flats

CCPBA participants lay flames down on thick stands of invasive Harding grass. Photo by Michael Troutman / DMT Imaging. October 20, 2022 By Alix Soliman, Communications & Outreach Coordinator On Sunday, October 16, the Santa Lucia Conservancy conducted a successful prescribed burn in Carmel Valley totaling approximately 65 acres with cooperation from the Central Coast Prescribed Burn Association, the Santa [...]
2 min read
October 10, 2022

Prescribed Burns Planned for The Santa Lucia Preserve

The Central Coast Prescribed Burn Association (CCPBA) and Conservancy staff heading out to the prescribed burn site on The Preserve in November 2021. Photo by DMT Imaging.  October 10, 2022 By Alix Soliman, Communications & Outreach Coordinator The Conservancy is planning to conduct prescribed burns this fall totaling approximately 90 acres of grasslands in the San Francisquito Flats and the [...]
4 min read
September 14, 2022

800 Goats Forage to Reduce Fuels on The Preserve

Goats muching on grass in their first pasture on The Preserve. Photo by Alix Soliman. September 14, 2022 By Alix Soliman, Communications & Outreach Coordinator Last week, we welcomed 800 goats and an entourage of herders and dogs from Star Creek Land Stewards to conduct fuel reduction on The Preserve and help fulfill The Conservancy’s wildfire preparedness objectives. The goats [...]
2 min read
September 7, 2022

Before & After: Conservation Grazing on the Flats

Andrew Evans steps over the single-wire fence into the San Francisquito Flats pasture. Photo by Alix Soliman. September 7, 2022 By Andrew Evans, Conservation Grazing Associate Eating an estimated 1,051,200 pounds of forage each year, the Conservancy's herd of cattle manages disturbance in The Preserve’s prairie ecosystems across a 2,800-acre footprint. Adapted to fire, our grasslands need disturbance to remove [...]
4 min read
July 21, 2022

Field Notes: Highlights from the 2022 Seasonal Restoration Crew

2022 crew members pull Italian Thistle in the Enchanted Forest on The Preserve. Photo by Jackson Brooke. July 21, 2022 By Jackson Brooke, Restoration Manager, and the 2022 Seasonal Restoration Crew When the Santa Lucia Conservancy launched the Grasslands Initiative in 2019, one of the goals that we set was treating 500 acres annually for invasive species. To achieve this [...]
6 min read
May 6, 2022

Shaded Fuel Breaks Increase Fire Safety on The Preserve

A shaded fuel break along Dormody Road, where young bay laurel trees and shrubs have been cleared in the understory. Photo by Jackson Brooke.  May 6, 2022 By Jackson Brooke, Restoration Manager The Conservancy’s vision for fire and fuels management on The Preserve is one that harmoniously combines the protection of life and property with ecological management goals. Our proactive [...]
4 min read
April 28, 2022

April 2022 Newsletter

Blooming native wildflowers are evidence of a job well done by our seasonal restoration crew. Photo by Jackson Brooke.  Within the 20,000-acre Santa Lucia Preserve exists a mosaic of oak woodlands, redwood forests, grasslands, chaparral, ponds, and streams. One of the most important facets of the Conservancy’s work is maintaining and enhancing these natural habitats which provide food, shelter, and migration [...]
1 min read
April 4, 2022

Sudden Oak Death on the Santa Lucia Preserve

A volunteer pins a sudden oak death (SOD) sampling tag to a tree. April 4, 2022 By Dr. Brian Woodward, Conservation Ecologist Sudden Oak Death (SOD) is a tree disease caused by the exotic plant pathogen Phytophthora ramorum. Originally introduced with imported nursery plants, the pathogen has spread widely across coastal California and southwestern Oregon, where it has killed hundreds [...]
2 min read
February 28, 2022

What Does Applied Ecology Look Like on the Santa Lucia Preserve?

Conservation Ecologist Dr. Brian Woodward conducts a raptor survey on The Preserve. Photo by Alix Soliman. February 24, 2022 By Dr. Brian Woodward, Conservation Ecologist Driving through The Santa Lucia Preserve, you may see Conservancy staff wading through ponds, crouched in a field looking closely at budding flowers, or gazing through binoculars at soaring raptors. To manage biodiversity and ecosystem [...]
5 min read
Subscribe to SLC News

Recent Posts