Santa Barbara Botanic Garden Restoration and Conservation Project Series

The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is bringing the community together to regenerate ecosystem health beyond its acres. In a new four-part video series — now available on YouTube (see links below) — the Garden highlights its landscape transformation work at Elings Park in partnership with Channel Islands Restoration. The series showcases their efforts, the power of community action, and how we can all contribute to a more sustainable future. 

With funding from the Santa Barbara Foundation’s Conservation, Environment, and Public Trails (CEPT) grant, the Garden, along with Channel Islands Restoration, has begun a series of landscape transformation projects across Santa Barbara County to restore local landscapes and prevent the loss of native species. The goal of the landscape projects is ultimately to inspire action while fostering community engagement, restoring habitat, and leveraging science to improve future restoration practices. 

There are currently three transformations underway, each chosen for unique reasons. The Garden’s series sets out to document the projects and celebrate the benefits of restoring local native landscapes and how transforming spaces, even one’s own backyard, can support biodiversity.  

Through work like this, the Garden serves as a model for how restoration and conservation can preserve native ecosystems. By highlighting the impact of transforming landscapes, whether in public spaces or in one’s backyard, the Garden showcases how individuals and communities can come together to restore native species and promote biodiversity. 

From the Garden’s grounds to conservation projects across California, the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden works to support flora and fauna native to the Central Coast, collecting, cataloging, and saving seeds in hopes that no native plant goes extinct on their watch.  

 

Restoration in Action 

• Elings Park – A recreational hub for the community, Elings Park’s weed-laden South Bluff was in need of restoration and a great location to test transformation techniques like mulching and tarping. Though it’s still early, promising signs of improvement are already appearing, from new bird sightings to early research results. 

• Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden – Nestled in the heart of Santa Barbara, Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden is a beloved green space for locals and visitors alike. As a display garden, it provides a perfect opportunity to demonstrate how native plant gardening can enhance landscapes while supporting biodiversity.  

• Cuyama Valley – With California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) going into effect this year, the Garden is working alongside Quail Springs and other partners in Cuyama Valley to help the community adapt to water-saving requirements. Over the next three years, this project sets out to transform landscapes at three farms, three community centers, and a school, leveraging native plants to empower residents with the tools they need to protect and restore their lands while complying with state water regulations.  

 

The Four-Part Series 

Restoring Nature: A Story of Biodiversity and Community at Elings Park

Invaders of the Wild: Understanding the Threat of Invasive Plants 

Adapting to Our Changing Climate: The Science of Native Plant Conservation  

Planting Seeds of Change: How Community Action is Growing a Brighter Future