An Evaluation of the Maritime Chaparral Section of the California Native Plant Conservation Garden and Native Plant Program The Arboretum at University of California, Santa Cruz By Steven Glascock Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Karen Holl - ENVS Agency Sponsor: Brett Hall – UCSC Arboretum Senior Internship For Completion of B.A. Degree Environmental Studies UCSC August 28, 2015
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An Evaluation of the Maritime Chaparral Section of the California Native Plant Conservation Garden and Native Plant Program
The Arboretum at
University of California, Santa Cruz
By Steven Glascock
Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Karen Holl - ENVS
Agency Sponsor: Brett Hall – UCSC Arboretum
Senior Internship
For Completion of B.A. Degree
Environmental Studies
UCSC
August 28, 2015
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………….………..3
History of Native Plant Conservation at the UCSC Arboretum……………………….…..4
Native Plant Conservation in Central California………………………………….……….5
Site Description…………………………………………………………………………….7
Central Coast Maritime Region……………………………………………………………10
Across the six sections overlying the central coast maritime region, the average percent
cover of Arctostaphylos is 67% (281/419 individuals). Although most species have a good ratio
of individuals per genotype, I found that the living collection within this region is not substantial
enough to be safe from the risks of low genetic diversity. As a whole, this region of the CNPCG
represents a wide variety of endemic species and also very closely resembles the species cover
percentages regarding chaparral compositional diversity (Vasey et al. 2014). In order to increase
the garden’s function as a center of species conservation, future plans for this region should
focus on the expansion of existing collections and the collection and propagation of endemic
species lacking representation to increase overall genetic diversity.
General Recommendations for Promoting the Success of the Native Plant Program
and the CNPCG: During the initial planning stages for future development of the CNPCG,
serious considerations regarding collection techniques, propagation, and plant care must be
carefully examined. First, the individual representations of each species must be substantial
enough to prevent the loss of genetic diversity. Traditionally, fewer than 20 percent of National
Collection taxa had documented evidence of genetically adequate ex situ collections, and all ex
situ populations are vulnerable to the process of random genetic drift, genetic erosion, selection,
or mutation accumulation (Guerrant et al., 2004). Loss of genetic diversity can be negated
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through responsible collection procedures. To obtain genetically adequate samples, collecting
propagules from approximately 10-50 individuals per species in several populations is
recommended, providing enough genetic diversity to support possible future cultivation without
the risk of low genetic diversity (Guerrant et al., 2004). Although there has been careful
documentation of individual species in the Native Plant Program, reaching the goal of 10-50
individuals per species requires significant analyzation of established plants throughout the
CNPCG. Throughout the inventory process, accession numbers of successful species are mapped
and recorded in an online database, and as new technologies develop, different genotypes can be
identified through molecular genetic practices.
The second component regarding the success of the CNPCG and Native Plant Program
emphasizes sanitary and professional infrastructure in the Arboretum’s growing areas. Ranging
from small and everyday aspects of plant care, such as proper nursery practice and irrigation
efficiency, to larger, more conceptual aspects of the Native Plant Program, such as managerial
oversight and long term goal setting, the need for a strong and organized infrastructure is critical
in conservation practice. Sanitation protocol for professional nursery practices helps reduce the
establishment and spread of pathogens, such as local Phytophthora species (sudden oak death, or
SOD, and many others) which currently threatens not only tan oaks and coast live oaks, but also
poses a serious threat to other understory tree species and a number of woody and herbaceous
perennials (Grunwald et al., 2008) several of which are under cultivation in the CNPCG and
Arboretum nurseries. Current efforts by the Arboretum staff to reduce the spread of
Phytophthora are focused on identification and sanitization of vector agents in an effort to create
non-suitable living conditions for the pathogen. Chemical sanitation, however, is only one factor
of a complex solution to this issue. In addition to sanitation, the primary aim of environmental
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control of disease in a greenhouse is to restrict water availability to pathogens (Daughtrey and
Benson, 2005). Critical to disease control is correct identification of the pathogen, which can
also help in deciding how to change the cultural or environmental conditions which further
harbor the spread of disease.
Currently, the organizational leader and former director of the UCSC Arboretum, Brett
Hall, has shifted his focus towards native plant conservation within the CNPCG, with a proposed
plan to work in collaboration with Gage Dayton, administrative director of the UCSC Natural
Reserves. With this shift of focus follows the sanitation and redesign of the lower nursery area
below the main growing areas of the Arboretum in an attempt to create a pathogen free growing
environment following protocols recently released in Central Coast Wild’s Best Management
Practices for Phytophthora, California Native Plant Society, and other nursery networks. Over
the past two decades, the Arboretum has increased its infrastructure substantially through the
construction of both indoor and outdoor growing areas, but in order to prove useful to the Native
Plant Program, these facilities must be brought up to modern standards of sanitation and
operation to prevent the spread of invasive weeds, pathogenic infections, and disease, and will be
a costly investment.
The third general recommendation to promote the success of the conservation garden is a
marketing and monitoring program. Marketing is needed to raise the funds and awareness levels
required to recruit residential gardeners, local community members, and organizations to assist
with maintaining the garden. Marketing should aim to include institutions such as corporate and
public agencies which share similar concerns regarding the future of the environment and
conservation of rare plant species and habitats in California. Through this marketing program,
corporations and public agencies can impact all levels of the project by providing volunteer
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groups and donations directed to the project center to be managed and distributed by the acting
project leader. A list of target agencies consisting of environmentally friendly, non-profit
organizations is available through the Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) reference
page, while other target agencies could range from environmental public school programs to
agencies such as the Boy Scouts of America or the California Conservation Corps. Following the
initial investment (which funded the early stages of construction, infrastructure, and labor),
funding agencies would provide ongoing support to the CNPCG and Native Plant Program
through means of sponsored annual collection trips, material supply, and other necessary support
services. As the strategy progresses, the project center will be responsible for developing an
annual conservation report, which will serve as an informative guide for funding agencies, as
well as a guide for other agencies interested in creating their own conservation gardens.
As a compliment to efforts to increase marketing and community outreach, long term
monitoring is also crucial to understand how these plant communities are responding to a
changing environment, as well as variables such as annual precipitation, temperature, and
summer fog. Recently, a fog measurement system was installed just across the eastern fire road
bordering this garden in an area known as the upper arboretum, and the data collected from this
system, in cooperation with monitoring of fog dependent species in the conservation garden, can
benefit research involving specific plant relationships to fog. As a botanic garden located in the
heart of the Central West Region, the Arboretum can continue its research of maritime and
transitional chaparral species, and promote student related projects to increase awareness
regarding the impact of fog on local coastal communities. Active monitoring of the existing
collection in this regionally diverse garden, in cooperation with annual rainfall reports and
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climate studies, will hopefully increase the exposure of the CNPCG to both public interest and
possible future research.
My final recommendation for the future of the CNPCG is to improve the existing
irrigation infrastructure. Currently, there is one water line running from the Laurasian forest in
the back of the Arboretum which feeds multiple faucets located throughout the CNPCG. The
furthest faucet, however, is only located about half as far into the garden as it should be, and
already creates problems for students maintaining new plants located on the outskirts of the
garden. Without the proper irrigation lines in place, the current process involves a chain of
garden hoses which stretch the entire span of the Santa Cruz section, as well as the lower and
upper area of the Monterey section, labeled SC1, M5, and M3 (Figure 3). If the development of
the CNPCG is to continue to expand its collections to include new species from counties further
north along the coast, the Arboretum will have to consider investing in the extension of this
irrigation line to the north and to the west. A recently developed and submitted irrigation plan for
the entire Arboretum, with extensive plans for the native area, was designed by Brett Hall
(Figure 4). This expansion will help save countless hours of student labor, which can then be re-
invested into other aspects of garden maintenance, effectively increasing the overall efficiency of
future developments. The least laborious method of providing consistent water to newly planted
species is through the installation of drip irrigation, but this method is not used in the CNPCG
due to the history of drip lines being relatively invisible underneath waist high grasses. This
creates a major issue when the area is mowed annually, and while working in the garden, I
occasionally find torn and shredded pieces of plastic hose inevitably destroyed by tractor
mowing.
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Closing Statement: Dedicated to both native plant conservation and botanical expertise,
the UCSC Arboretum sits in the model position to become a leader in plant conservation along
the central coast of California. Adding to its propagation and garden management practices, the
Arboretum staff and associated community are involved in field research, vegetation
classification, GIS mapping, and related horticultural training for people of all ages. As a
community based agency, the Arboretum connected with University research regarding land use
management, natural history, conservation, and restoration, although further effort is needed to
build the research and teaching collaborations between the CNPCG, faculty, and students
involved in native plant research on campus. Having dedicated more than 50 acres to conserving
endemic plants and rare habitats throughout the central and northern California, the CNPCG at
the Arboretum could serve as the foundation for a complex and genetically diverse site for ex
situ plant conservation.
With the purpose of building on the current foundation of the CNPCG, Arboretum staff
continually work on propagation, maintenance, and monitoring of all recently collected seed and
vegetative clippings as well as the living collections and all other rare central coast plants within
its nurseries. Additional updates and enhancements to our website database with central coast
habitat distributions, local target species lists, and special status listings with both common and
botanical names, can guide anyone in the community interested in landscaping their own
properties towards benefiting specific habitat types or rare species. Other major considerations
regarding the progression of this project are the management of staff time, student gardener time,
and nursery improvements. To best serve the rare habitats and plant communities which we are
trying to save, we must strive for excellence and efficiency in every aspect of the project. As
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immediate neighbors to these at risk species and habitats, it is our responsibility to properly care
for the land and protect our natural heritage.
Conservation of maritime chaparral diversity is clearly an issue with multiple factors
which create difficulties for conservation and affect its success. Such difficulties create
opportunities for conservationists, such as the establishment of conservation refugia in
landscaped settings outside of the wildlands (Vasey et. al., 2014). The expected continuance of
fire suppression in the coastal zones, in collaboration with model predictions for the climatic
future of the California coastline, estimated having annual reductions in fog thickness (a trend
already being observed over the last century) (Johnstone and Dawson, 2010), supports the
importance of the CNPCG as a future source population for the collection of seed and vegetative
material of rare endemic species given the genetic integrity of desired species has been retained.
In cooperation with existing nursery practices at the UCSC Arboretum, as well as resources
offered by different departments throughout the University, the implications for conservation
through means of assisted migration are vast. The continual maintenance and expansion of the
CNPCG, as well as maintaining a collaborative research based relationship with faculty and
students at the University, should be among the Arboretum’s top priorities in the upcoming years
and beyond.
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Figure 1: Map of different habitat regions overlying the maritime chaparral garden in the
CNPCG.
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Figure 2: Map of the entire CNPCG, ranging from the Arboretum Reservoir to the top of the upper Arboretum, noting that the maritime chaparral section is found in the core of this image.
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Figure 3: Map of different county representations, pathways, water lines, and faucets.
Codes within each zone correspond to the inventory list included at the end of this report. All
inventoried species can be located within their matching region.
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Figure 4: Below is a map of the master plan for expanding the irrigation infrastructure
beyond the back gate of the UCSC Arboretum into the CNPCG.
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Species Inventory Lists Corresponding to their Respective Counties of Origin:
Santa Barbara County, Ventura County, and Baja California Inventory (SB.V1):
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San Luis Obispo County Inventory (SLO1):
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San Luis Obispo County Inventory (SLO2):
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Monterey County Inventory (M1):
44
Monterey County Inventory (M2):
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Monterey County Inventory (M3):
46
47
Monterey County Inventory (M4):
48
49
50
Monterey County Inventory (M5):
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Santa Cruz County Inventory (SC1):
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