Free Nature Walk, Led by Santa Barbara Botanic Garden — November 2024

Free Nature Walk at Elings Park: Plants of Elings Park and Introduction to iNaturalist

Saturday, November 9 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. (Note late start time: 10 a.m.)

Meet at the parking lot adjacent to the Elings Park administration building by 10 a.m.

Led by the Garden’s Invertebrate Biodiversity Technician José Flores, and Tucker Plant Systematist and Curator of the Clifton Smith Herbarium Matt Guilliams, Ph.D.

Join us on a free Nature Walk to explore Elings Park’s biodiversity! Each walk has a different natural history focus, including plants, birds, bugs, or their interrelationships in the ecosystem, and is led by experts from the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. This walk focuses on to use the app iNaturalist to monitor the native plant species as part of the Native Plant Restoration at Elings Park.

The walks are part of a collaborative effort between Elings Park, Botanic Garden, and the public to transform a section of the Park from invasive to native plants and document the effects. See more information below.

No reservations are necessary.

Volunteer to Help with Landscape Restoration with Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.

Volunteers are needed to help restore a one-acre site on Elings Park’s South Bluffs using California-native plants. Restoration Work Parties are held following this Nature Walk and at various other dates and times in coming months.

Volunteers are needed to help restore a one-acre site on Elings Park’s South Bluffs using California-native plants. Restoration Work Parties are held following this Nature Walk and at various other dates and times in coming months.

The restoration project and science experiences concentrate California’s native plants in this area and will compare the abundance, diversity, and composition of plant and animal life both before and after the transformation. The first phase of the project involved installing black plastic and cardboard to discourage weeds, and assembling gopher cages to protect new plantings. Now, a variety of California-native plants have been planted and volunteers help with their care, weeding, and more.

Please visit the Elings Park Transformation Project website and to sign up to volunteer:  https://sbbotanicgarden.org/conservation/our-impact/restoring-habitats/elings-park-transformation.