Free Nature Walk on Plants and Bugs of Elings Park, Led by Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Followed by Restoration Work Party — November

Free Nature Walk: Plants and Bugs of Elings Park 

Saturday, November 18, 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. – Plants and Bugs

Led by Zach Philips, Ph.D., the Garden’s Terrestrial Invertebrate Conservation Ecologist, and José Flores, Conservation Technician.

Followed at 11 a.m. by a restoration work party

Join us on a free Nature Walk to explore Elings Park’s biodiversity!  Each one-hour walk has a different natural history focus, such as plants, pollinators, or birds, and is led by experts from the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.

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.

Future walks are scheduled, once a month, through the end of 2023.

Meet at the parking lot adjacent to the Elings Park administration building by 9 a.m. No reservations are necessary.

Walks now followed by Restoration Work Parties as part of a new project 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 immediately following the Nature Walks, from 10 a.m. to noon, on the third Saturday of the month.

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 involves installing black plastic and cardboard to discourage weeds, and assembling gopher cages to protect new plantings.

For more information on the Elings Park Transformation Project, visit https://sbbotanicgarden.org/conservation/our-impact/restoring-habitats/elings-park-transformation/.

Upcoming Walk and Work Party

WORK PARTY: Saturday, December 2, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Please sign up in advance to volunteer at https://sbbotanicgarden.org/classes-events/landscape-transformation-project-volunteer-opportunities.

NATURE WALK & WORK PARTY: Saturday, December 16, 9 to 10 a.m. – Birds: Led by Scot Pipkin, the Garden’s Director of Education, and Zach Philips, Ph.D., Terrestrial Invertebrate Conservation Ecologist. Followed at 11 a.m. by a restoration work party.