News

How to Attract Monarch Butterflies to Your Garden

Monarch Caterpillar. Photo Courtesy of Courtney Celley / USFWS.  November 24, 2021 By Jenna Allred, Senior Manager of Climate Change Adaptation Monarch butterflies should be arriving to the Central Coast soon for overwintering, where they will stay to breed in February. After breeding, monarchs head north to find their summer sites. Read on to learn
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SLC Publishes Conservation Living Guide for Preserve Residents

The newly published Conservation Living Guide for Santa Lucia Preserve residents. Photo by Alix Soliman.  November 18, 2021 By Jamison Watts, Executive Director We’re thrilled to announce that the Santa Lucia Conservancy will be releasing the Conservation Living Guide for Preserve residents next week! Born from an imperative to foster a comprehensive understanding of what
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SLC Welcomes Conservation Ecologist Dr. Brian Woodward

Dr. Brian Woodward. Photo by Alix Soliman.  November 10, 2021 By Jamison Watts, Executive Director The Santa Lucia Conservancy is excited to welcome Conservation Ecologist Dr. Brian Woodward to our team. Dr. Woodward is a dedicated research ecologist and experienced project manager with a deep knowledge of California’s natural history and passion for education and
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Prescribed Fire Planned for Nov. 7 on the Santa Lucia Preserve

Members of staff from the Santa Lucia Conservancy participated in the 2018 Tassajara Fire Training.  November 3, 2021 By Alix Soliman, Communications & Outreach Coordinator On November 7, the Santa Lucia Conservancy and Central Coast Prescribed Burn Association (CCPBA) plan to conduct a prescribed burn on The Santa Lucia Preserve, just off of Rancho San
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How to Identify 5 Oak Species on the Santa Lucia Preserve

Comparing blue oak leaves (right hand) to black oak leaves (left hand). Photo by Alix Soliman.  October 26, 2021 By Jackson Brooke, Restoration Manager Some of the most dramatic trees on The Preserve are old oaks, which are found sprinkled on grassy hillsides to create brilliant savannas and clustered together in woodlands, providing habitat for
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It’s Going to be a La Niña Winter, Here’s What to Expect on The Preserve

How winter weather in the U.S. is impacted by El Niño and La Niña. Infographic courtesy of NOAA. October 20, 2021 By Jenna Allred, Senior Manager of Climate Change Adaptation With winter just around the corner, The Santa Lucia Conservancy is planning next year’s land management projects and priorities. As current and future climate conditions control
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Before & After: Poison Hemlock Annihilation in 4 Photos

Polo Field down towards Moore’s Lake overtaken by poison hemlock before treatment in 2020. Photo by Jackson Brooke.  October 5, 2021 By Jackson Brooke, Restoration Technician As the Restoration Manager at Santa Lucia Conservancy, my department’s goal is to remove invasive species from 500 acres of grassland on the Santa Lucia Preserve each year. Grasslands
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SLC Places Climate Change Adaptation at the Fore, Promotes From Within

Restoring grasslands and oak savannas across The Santa Lucia Preserve is a crucial component of the Conservancy's wildfire and climate change resilience efforts. Photo by Bill Guion. September 15, 2021 By Jamison Watts, Executive Director The Santa Lucia Conservancy remains steadfast in its mission to protect and steward the unique natural and aesthetic resources of
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Before & After: Eradicating Pesky French Broom in 8 Photos

A thick stand of French broom before the field crew removed it at Penon Peak Gate. Photo by Jackson Brooke. August 31, 2021 By Jackson Brooke, Restoration Technician In 2019, the Santa Lucia Conservancy began implementing the Grasslands Initiative, an ambitious effort to manage and restore roughly 5,000 acres of grasslands on The Santa Lucia
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SLC’s Restructured Stewardship Program Emphasizes Partnership

The Conservancy's new Stewardship Associate Izaac Tompkins and Stewardship Manager Andrew Nguyen monitor a new construction site on The Preserve. Photo by Alix Soliman. August 26, 2021 By Alix Soliman, Communications & Outreach Coordinator Over the past few months, the Conservancy has restructured its Stewardship Program to better serve The Preserve community and safeguard the
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Field Notes: Reflections on Grassland Restoration

Mary Snook hand pulls weeds in the Enchanted Forest in July. Photo by Alix Soliman. August 24, 2021 Mary Snook, 2021 Field Crew Member  In April, we took a trip to Penon peak. We walked in a line to hear the results of the most recent plant surveys, and to learn about some of the
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4 Environmentally Conscious Ways to Kill Invasive Plants

Natalie Chapman and Jackson Brooke hand pull weeds in the Enchanted Forest. Photo by Alix Soliman. August 16, 2021 By Jenna Allred, Natural Lands Manager, and Jackson Brooke, Restoration Technician There are numerous ways to treat invasive species in natural areas, however, not all methods leave the same mark on the landscape or can be
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8 Things You Can Do on Your Openlands

Photo by Adam White. Ramona Bohlander sets up a wildlife camera on her property to help the Conservancy track the movements of our wild neighbors. August 6, 2021 By Izaac Tompkins, Stewardship Associate Each of the 296 residential lots on the Santa Lucia Preserve has two zones, a Homeland and an Openland. While the Homelands
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Outdoor Education During the Pandemic: Expanding Our Virtual Horizons

Plaster casts of a bobcat track made in the Conservancy's mammal class. July 21, 2021 By Julie Sigourney, Conservancy Educator 2020 was a year of disruption, challenge and accomplishment for the Santa Lucia Conservancy’s Outdoor Education Program. The pandemic caused the sudden shut down of our live nature walks. Our last in-person class was on
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Can The Santa Lucia Preserve Become One of the First Rodenticide-free Communities in the Country?

A happy IPM customer holding a California mouse after adopting non-toxic rodent control. Photo by Rodrigo Sierra Corona July 27, 2021 By Sabine Cudney, Wildlife Technician Summary Rodenticides, poison baits used to kill rodents, threaten to upend natural predator-prey cycles by poisoning entire food-chains. Their negative impacts on wildlife have been widely documented in California,
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The Conservancy Welcomes New Board Members, Thanks Outgoing Members

Photo by Adam White June 30, 2021 By Alix Soliman, Communications & Outreach Coordinator The Santa Lucia Conservancy Board of Trustees convened earlier this month to bid farewell to distinguished members Ron Eastman, Jeff Langholz, Sue Sirkus, and Terry Watt, who provided tremendous direction and vision to the organization’s mission to steward The Preserve’s natural
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The Plight of the Nomadic Tricolored Blackbird and its Life on The Preserve

Photo by Dr. Christy Wyckoff. A male tricolored blackbird perched in tall grasses. June 24, 2021 By Alicia Khuon, Field Technician They “darken the sky for some distance with their masses” wrote an observer in 1853 about tricolored blackbirds (Agelaius tricolor). Unfortunately, this is no longer true. The tricolored blackbird has been listed as threatened
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Posted on by Alix Soliman