The Reserve Is Buzzing

The Elkhorn Slough Reserve is abuzz with activity! Walk through the new gardens that we planted this last winter in front of the Visitor Center and you cannot miss the buzz of busy pollinators. Inside the Visitor Center, Reserve staff have also been busy at work making lots of exciting changes. We hope to have finishing touches in place by the time we get the thumbs up to welcome visitors indoors — meanwhile, we invite you to come walk the extensive trails.

Around the Reserve we’ve been just as busy. Reserve Stewardship Coordinator Andrea Woolfolk worked with stewardship and research staff to monitor transects at each of three grazed (test) and ungrazed (control) grasslands, in an experiment to study the role of cattle in managing coastal grasslands. The Reserve Stewardship team is also excited to continue eucalyptus removal. Over the coming year, we will have cleared almost all these invasive trees from Reserve lands to restore native oak woodlands and coastal scrub.

The Reserve’s Coastal Training Program (CTP) did its part to cross-pollinate knowledge about native salamanders. In May, CTP hosted a virtual workshop on the biology and management of California tiger salamanders for wildlife and resource managers, with in-person field sessions in early June.

This is an exciting time to visit the Reserve. If you haven’t been out lately, come out for a walk and witness the buzz of activity!