Ice plant be gone! Carle helps restore native plants
With its ocean views, walking path, and ice plant-covered cliffs, many in Santa Cruz consider West Cliff Drive to be a jewel of the community. Now a couple of scientists want the community to help them restore native habitat to the coastal bluffs.
They’ve started the non-profit West Cliff Ecosystem Restoration project to help organize the restoration. Last winter, volunteers with the group ripped out ice plant in a small bed near the entrance to Natural Bridges State Park.
“Having the community participate in it is really important,” says Bill Henry, an ecologist at Moss Landing Marine Laboratory, who helped start the non-profit. “Oftentimes projects happen where people come into a community and do some point change and then leave. And a lot of times that model doesn’t really work. A lot of projects take some follow up.”
