21. Ecological Restoration 3

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21. Ecological Restoration 3

đź“… DateFriday, February 6
đź“Ť AreaHall A
⏰ Time3:05 pm – 4:50 pm
Video Recording
Sponsored by Rainforest Rising

Section 3 of 3. Learn how land managers are increasing the resilience of native plant communities by restoring ecological functions, rehabilitating degraded lands, and applying adaptive management to guide restoration success.
SESSION CHAIRS
Loralee Larios1, Cris Sarabia2,3

1University of California, Riverside, CA, United States. 2Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA, United States. 3California Native Plant Society South Coast Chapter, CA, United States.

Loralee Larios
University of California, Riverside
As an ecologist and associate professor, Loralee Larios leads a research group that seeks to understand the mechanisms that contribute to plant diversity and how those might be impacted by plant invasions and environmental change to aide management and restoration.
Cris Sarabia
Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy
Cris Sarabia is Conservation Director for the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy in southwestern Los Angeles and oversees all conservation projects including land preservation, habitat restoration, endangered species protection, and management of the nature preserves and open spaces on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Cris has a wide history of involvement with ecological and social justice organizations including being the cofounder of the Long Beach cultural community center Flora y Tierra, as a leader within the California Native Plant Society, an ecologist with the Los Cerritos Wetland Stewards, an Explore the Coast grant Advisory Board Member, and an Advisory Board Member with the Conservation Corp of Long Beach. On his free time, Cris advocates for habitat restoration and multi-lingual nature based programs throughout the urban areas of Los Angeles.

21.1 Where Fire Heals: Restoring Relationships with Land and People at Cache Creek

Lynne Haralson

Cache Creek Conservancy, Woodland, CA, United States

Description
Cache Creek Conservancy (CCC) leads ecological restoration in an area scarred by over a century of mining, land clearing, and habitat loss. Since the 1996 Cache Creek Area Plan halted in-channel surface mining, CCC has transformed former gravel pits into vibrant wetland and riparian ecosystems. A central part of this effort is the intentional use of cultural fire, once suppressed in California, to control invasive species, promote native plant regeneration, and uphold cultural traditions.

This fire-based stewardship is shaped by partnerships established through the Tending and Gathering Garden (TGG), a Native-led project at the Cache Creek Nature Preserve rooted in Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). These relationships shifted restoration practices toward integrating TEK, including the use of cultural fire in land management.

CCC's Leok Po Cultural Fire Workshops offer hands-on experience in fire stewardship. Tribal partners, students, and land managers learn about Indigenous fire practices, the effects of fire suppression, and build public support for beneficial fire using TEK. Recent burns have also supported the creation of an edible native plant garden on a degraded, water-deficient pit site, aligning fire stewardship with food sovereignty and climate resilience goals.

Inclusivity, communication, and collaborative stewardship have been key to restoring Cache Creek from a scarred waterway to a thriving habitat. While much remains to be done, the lessons of the past—along with the ongoing, evolving process of restoration grounded in respect, reciprocity, and cultural continuity—have fostered the community necessary for this vital work.
Presenter Bios
Lynne Haralson
Cache Creek Conservancy
Lynne Haralson grew up playing, swimming and exploring in Yolo County's Cache Creek. After 20 years away, she moved back to Yolo County in 2020 and now works as Operations Manager at the Cache Creek Conservancy, which manages the Cache Creek Nature Preserve and conducts restoration work along the lower 14 miles of mining affected Lower Cache Creek.

21.2 Monitoring the Effects of Restored Hydrological Function at Bluff Lake Reserve to Support Endangered Montane Meadow Species

Jacqueline Silva, Dr. Timothy P. Krantz

The Wildlands Conservancy, Oak Glen, CA, United States

Description
Meadow habitat degradation via livestock grazing, agriculture, and recreation have severely reduced suitable habitat for state and federally listed San Bernardino Mountain endemic species. In addition to critically endangered mountain yellow legged frogs (Rana muscosa) and unarmored three-spined stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus williamsoni), Bluff Lake Reserve is inhabited by the birdfooted checkerbloom (Sidalcea pedata), California dandelion (Taraxacum californicum), and San Bernardino bluegrass (Poa atropurpurea). This field study evaluates the effects of restoring the natural drainage and hydrological conditions of Siberia Creek towards Bluff Lake to improve habitat for endangered montane species. Baseline monitoring employed standardized quadrat and transect sampling to quantify species diversity, distribution, and vegetative health, supplemented by depth-to-groundwater measurements via piezometers. Additionally, NDVI analyses and landscape photo monitoring of graded berm areas documented pre- and post-restoration conditions to track vegetative community change. This qualitative and quantitative assessment supports a broader management framework addressing the resources required to restore wetlands to biologically suitable, ecologically functional conditions after persistent drought and upstream hydrological diversions. Restoration actions included restoring Siberia Creek to its historic meandering channel toward the lake, removal of earthen berms, subsequent redistribution of soils in the meadow, and construction of a raised boardwalk, enabling hikers to cross the meadow without harming sensitive species. Species richness increased by 48.39% alongside elevated groundwater levels in the restored meadow, demonstrating the efficacy of combining hydrological restoration with long-term ecological monitoring to support the recovery of California’s rare meadow flora and provide a replicable framework for future restoration efforts in degraded wetland systems.
Presenter Bios
Jacqueline Silva
The Wildlands Conservancy
Jacqueline Silva is an early career conservationist and University of Redlands alum. Hailing from the heart of the Inland Empire, she is passionate about intersectional environmental justice in communities of color and data-driven solutions to complex climate issues. She currently works as a ranger for The Wildlands Conservancy, assisting in a wide range of habitat restoration and climate resilience projects.
Timothy P. Krantz
The Wildlands Conservancy
Dr. Tim Krantz is the Conservation Director for The Wildlands Conservancy and Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies at the University of Redlands. He is an authority on the flora of the San Bernardino Mountains, focusing on endemic, rare and endangered species. He has worked on a wide range of ecological restoration projects, from the Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge to the San Francisco Bay and Delta, Hawaii and the South Pacific.

21.3 Early Progress in Habitat Restoration Following the Three Dam Removal Project on the Klamath River, Southern Oregon and Northern California

Mr. Justin Robert Chappelle

Resource Environmental Solutions, LLC, Sacramento, CA, United States

Description
Resource Environmental Solutions, LLC (RES) has been contracted to assist with large-scale habitat restoration following the removal of three dams along the Klamath River in southern Oregon and northern California. This effort is being conducted in close collaboration with the Yurok and Shasta Tribes, integrating traditional ecological knowledge with contemporary restoration science. The primary restoration strategy involves extensive seeding and planting of herbaceous and woody vegetation throughout the former reservoir footprints to promote native plant establishment, stabilize soils, and reinitiate natural ecological processes.

During the first two years of implementation, restoration efforts have achieved measurable success, with strong germination and survival rates observed in several sections of the project area. However, localized challenges to plant establishment, including variable soil conditions, invasive species pressure, and hydrological fluctuations, have required adaptive management strategies. Looking ahead to 2032, ongoing planting efforts will focus on enhancing plant species diversity, increasing habitat complexity, and supporting ecosystem functionality.

In addition to large-scale plantings, several smaller but significant restoration initiatives are underway. These include long-term monitoring of vegetation performance, conducting an eDNA study using local bee pollen to assess floral diversity, and targeted wood installations to create specialized habitat structures. Further work includes the development of a comprehensive herbarium documenting native species that will be utilized within the restoration footprint. Collectively, these efforts represent an integrated, multi-year approach to restoring ecological resilience and biodiversity to one of the most significant dam removal sites in North America.
Presenter Bios
Mr. Justin Robert Chappelle
Resource Environmental Solutions, LLC
Justin Chappelle is a biogeographer and botanist with Resource Environmental Solutions, LLC in Sacramento, California. He has over a decade of experience conducting rare plant surveys and habitat assessments across the western and midwestern United States. His current work includes vegetation mapping, rare plant monitoring, and landscape management for conservation and mitigation banks, as well as vernal pool restoration. Chappelle is also involved in large-scale revegetation efforts following the removal of three dams along the Klamath River in southern Oregon and northern California.

21.4 Lessons in Special-Status Plant Mitigation in the San Francisco Bay Delta

Karley Rodriguez, Megan Keever

Stillwater Sciences, Berkeley, CA, United States

Description
The natural marshland of the San Francisco Bay Delta has been subject to habitat loss and degradation through the creation of levee networks established to reclaim marsh for agricultural use. Loss of intertidal marsh habitat threatens numerous California endemic special-status plant species that rely on these habitats for their unique ecologies.  While some of these plants have since colonized the levees, attempts to rehabilitate failing levees or restore tidal connectivity to Delta islands through excavated breaches now have the potential to impact these populations. The Department of Water Resources, Reclamation Districts, and other Delta entities operate under a complex regulatory framework to balance habitat protection and restoration with flood protection and conveyance, and often must mitigate impacts to special-status plants from levee rehabilitation and tidal restoration projects. Stillwater Sciences has supported planning and implementing mitigation strategies for several of these species across the Delta. We will share case studies from mitigation efforts involving three special-status plant species: Parry’s rough tarplant (Centromadia parryi subsp. parryi), Mason’s lilaeopsis (Lilaeopsis masonii), and Suisun Marsh aster (Symphyotrichum lentum). Each case study will discuss the successes and challenges of mitigation, and include details from salvage and transplantation efforts, seed collection and nursery grows, coordination with construction crews, and teachings gleaned directly from the plants themselves.
Presenter Bios
Karley Rodriguez
Stillwater Sciences
Karley is a plant ecologist and GIS analyst at Stillwater Sciences. Her work takes her throughout California supporting wetland, vegetation and ecological restoration projects but she has a soft spot for the rare plant work closer to home in the San Francisco Bay Delta. If she had to pick a favorite plant from her days working in these salty systems, she would choose Hydrocotyle verticillata (Whorled marsh pennywort).
Megan Keever
Stillwater Sciences
Megan Keever also works with Karley at Stillwater Sciences – she has her Master’s degree in Conservation Biology and has been with Stillwater for 18 years conducting a wide variety of rare plant and ecosystem restoration projects throughout the state. During that time, she has spent many hot, windy, and muddy days paddling and mucking about the Delta worrying about rare plants. She has so many favorites, but she always loves witnessing the many native bees feasting on the fireworks of a blossom on Cephalanthus occidentalis (California button willow).

21.5 Large Scale Riparian Restoration, Sensitive Plant Population Expansion, and Altered Hydrology: Opportunities and Challenges from a Case Study of Bakersfield Cactus (Opuntia basilaris var. treleasei).

Emma Havstad, Anna Talken, Dr. Sarah Gaffney

River Partners, Chico, CA, United States

Description
Bakersfield cactus (Opuntia basilaris var. treleasei) is low-growing perennial cactus endemic to Kern County, CA that grows on well drained, sandy or gravelly soils, which often correspond to floodplains and riparian systems. Due to continuous land conversion both urban and agricultural, as well as modified river hydrology, the cactus has lost significant habitat and is listed as federally and state endangered. Previously found in abundance, only 33 populations are extant, with only a third having more than 100 individuals. 

Efforts to conserve the endangered Bakersfield cactus through propagation and population establishment have been successful. In this talk, we present results on a recent population experimentally established at Panorama Vista Preserve. In this experiment, 70 pads were propagated and planted into 8 plots, yielding an 87% survivorship after 2 years, with an average growth of 16 pads and 35% of the individual flowering and reproducing. Pollinator monitoring observed 4 distinct species of bees and 7 genera. 

Despite this success, translocation sites are limited, and to truly conserve this species and expand populations along rivers and creeks, improving river processes is necessary. Plant and river systems are highly connected, and must be considered together, especially when saving an endangered species is the goal.
Presenter Bios
Emma Havstad
River Partners
Emma Havstad is Director of Restoration Science at River Partners, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating wildlife habitat for the benefit of people and the environment. Her work focuses on planning and monitoring large scale riparian restoration in the Central Valley and Southern California.

Thank you to our 2026 sponsors!

Giant Sequoia

Special thanks to Esri, our 3-time Giant Sequoia Sponsor, for making this movement stronger than ever!

Valley Oak

Manzanita

CNPS Sacramento Valley

Buckwheat

AECOM

California Invasive Plant Council

California Native Bee Society

EBMUD

H.T. Harvey & Associates

Judy and Robert Fenerty

Kleinfelder

Moulton Niguel Water District

PSOMAS

Riverside-Corona Resource Conservation District

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

California Poppy

ASCENT

Barona Band of Mission Indians

Carol Witham

Inland Empire Resource Conservation District

Land Trust of Santa Cruz County

Linda and David Chipping

Vern Goehring

Northern California Bontanists

Stillwater Sciences

East Bay Regional Parks

Northern California Botanists

Rutherford and Bransfield

Wildlife Conservation Board

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