Year: 2008

Since the Gap Fire has greatly heightened our awareness of fire, we are taking this opportunity to present a final update of plant recovery from the fire that broke out on More Mesa almost exactly a year ago.  That fire was described in our August 2007 News.

Also, we previously presented an interim update concerning recovery of the fire area in our February 2008 News.

To gather information on recovery, MMPC routinely monitored the five-acre burn area, from September of 2007 until June of this year. Specifically, we were interested to see how both native plants, as well as invasive plants, were recovering, or colonizing, after the fire.  To do this, we observed and annotated what was happening in specific areas of the burn, and photographed the changes in different trees, shrubs and ground cover.

The Bad News:  Predictably, all invasive species exhibited a robust recovery:

• Malva and radish occurred almost everywhere.
• Harding Grass was slow to come up in the fall, but winter rains produced spring grasses as high as six feet tall.
• Small eucalyptus recovered fully, with shoots quickly appearing at the base of burned trees.
• In spring, at least two species of Oxalis covered a large portion of the burn area with a thick coat of light green leaves, and then yellow flowers.  However, as the summer progressed, Harding Grass and Mustard obliterated the oxalis and created such an impenetrable wall that it became impossible to traverse from one north-south trail to another on the east side of More Mesa.

The Good News:  While many natives reappeared, the recovery was slower than that of the invasive species.  However, winter rains in late January benefited native plants in that:

• Coastal live oaks have healthy new shoots in the burned upper branches of young trees, as well as shoots from the bottom of main trunks.  And, a new tree appeared as well.
• Coyote bush made a robust comeback all over the burn area.
• Willows sported new leaves in the top burned branches as well as near trunks.

In addition, many native wildflowers such as lupine, poppy and owl’s clover were seen in, and near, the burn area.

Coyote Bush – 2007

Coyote Bush – 2008

Coyote Bush – 2008

Last month’s news described the steps involved in the Updated Biological Resources Study on More Mesa subsequent to the selection of a consulting organization to perform the work.  On March 24th, Santa Barbara County announced the selection of the group that will conduct the survey in the message below:

More Mesa Biological Resource Study – Status Update

The County of Santa Barbara has selected an independent contractor, Rincon Consultants, to prepare the biological resource study of More Mesa.  Rincon Consultants has offices in Ventura and San Luis Obispo and has done extensive work in the Santa Barbara area.  Preparation of the study, including intensive field survey work, will begin immediately in order to capture the late winter/early spring survey season.  Formal approval of the contract is expected to be granted by the Board of Supervisors on April 15th.  The study will be comprehensive, lasting approximately one year.  You may notice survey equipment and other materials out on the site in addition to researchers investigating the site throughout the year.  If you are out on More Mesa, please respect, and do not disturb any collection or study materials. If you have any questions or comments during the preparation of the study, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Alex Tuttle
Planner, Development Review
Planning & Development
(805) 884-6844
123 East Anapamu Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

MMPC continues to encourage all who are interested in being kept informed of County announcements about the Biological Resources Study to contact Alex Tuttle at  atuttle@co.santa-barbara.ca.us .  Ask to be put on the “Interested Parties” list.

Above average rainfall has produced a profusion of glorious native wildflowers on More Mesa.  Some of the dozen or more species found on More Mesa this year are pictured below.  Enjoy!

Baby Blue-eyes and Tidy-tips

Goldfields and Redmaid

California Poppy and Lupine

In previous monthly news updates we have written of the Biological Resources Study Update that has been requested from the County by the owner of More Mesa.  In this month’s news we will describe what we know about the process and ensuing actions that may, or may not, be undertaken by the owner subsequent to the completion of the study.  The process requires pubic involvement at key points.

As we reported earlier, the existing Goleta Community Plan provides a process to change the developable area; a process that begins with conducting an updated Biological Resources Study.  Subsequent to the owner’s request for such a study, the County requested bids from various companies and organizations and has received several responses.  They are currently in the process of evaluating the bids.  When this evaluation is complete, the owner, who is funding the study, will be allowed to make the final choice of who will perform the study.  As we understand it, the steps in the process after this selection are:

• The Board of Supervisors (BOS) must approve the selection of the consultant team to perform this study.  As part of this process, all proposals and rating information will become public.  The BOS hearing concerning consultant selection will be an open public process that is ex pected to take place some time in April. The study, once begun, is proposed to be conducted over a period of a year or more.
• A draft report will be prepared and presented in a public forum such as a workshop.  Comments from the public will be solicited at this time.
• Revisions and changes to the draft report may be made as a result of public input to the draft.
• At the end of the study, county staff will assess study results and, dependent upon consultant team findings, may make recommendations about development relative to what currently exists. That is, they may decide to rezone all, or portions, of More Mesa; a decision which has the potential to increase the area of More Mesa allowed for development and/or the number of units permitted to be constructed on More Mesa.
• Any changes that are recommended will have to be taken before appropriate decision makers; specifically, any changes to the environmentally sensitive habitat areas or land use and zoning designations would be subject to review and approval by the County Planning Commission, Board of Supervisors and eventually the Coastal Commission.  Such changes are likely to require the preparation of a full environmental impact report aftercompletion of the biological study. There would likely be several public hearings spanning a multi-year process.

History shows us that the steps outlined above will extend over several years.  We know this from experience during the 1980s work on More Mesa, and from comparable projects on the Ellwood Mesa and San Marcos Foothills properties.  The 1980 Biological Resource Study of More Mesa and the resultant ESH and Land Use designations were the subject of an extensive biological evaluation and environmental review. The biological basis for the ESH designations was the subject of a remarkably detailed study conducted for over a one-year period by a team of impartial researchers from the University of California at Santa Barbara.  These processes, and subsequent hearings, spanned a period of more than 12 years.  Given the extensive scientific, public and legal discussion and debate that shaped More Mesa’s ESH and land use designations, any reconsideration of these matters must meet the same rigorous standards inherent and imposed in the original effort.