East Beach Habitat Restoration Project

Restoration of the native coastal dune aids in the formation and stabilization of sand dunes, supports local birds and wildlife, and honors Santa Barbara’s unique coastal ecology.

Event Canceled

The Project has three distinct phases:

1. Solarization, a process where a black tarp was placed over non-native plants to heat up and kill the plants and seeds. (September 2023 – December 2023)
2. Removal of invasive, non-native plants and installation of irrigation, fencing, native plants, and seeds. (December 2023 – January 2024)
3. 5-year maintenance period (2024-2029) where plants, irrigation, and fencing will be maintained. At the end of the maintenance period, the irrigation and fencing will be removed.

Funding for this project is provided by the Water Resources Capital Program

The Project’s plant palette was selected by a qualified biologist with decades of experience supporting coastal restoration utilizing local flora. The palette has native species that aid in the formation and stabilization of dunes and support Santa Barbara’s unique coastal ecology. All plants were grown from seeds collected from local sources including Cabrillo Bridge, UCSB Campus Point Lagoon, Ellwood Beach, and UCSB Coal Oil Point Reserve. The Project was reviewed and approved by the California Coastal Commission.

The native plants and seeds are well established. Native cover increased rapidly during the spring and summer of 2024 and remained consistently high throughout the remainder of Year 1, culminating in approximately 75% cover in January 2025.

Ice plant is a coastal succulent shrub native to the coast of South Africa. Ice plant was introduced to California in the early 1900s as an erosion stabilization tool used on railroad tracks and later used by Caltrans on roadsides. Unfortunately, ice plant spreads easily and has become invasive in coastal California from north of Humboldt County to as far south as Baja California. 

This specific area of East Beach was selected due to the dense presence of ice plant and due to its proximity to the multiuse path.