On March 5, 2022, the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden’s annual Conservation Symposium will focus on what we can all do to help California wildlands recover after fire. Diverse native vegetation is essential for providing the slope stabilization, watershed protection, wildlife habitat, and other benefits that we rely on as humans – and we can all help by making sure that our wildlands don’t turn into big bare patches or a sea of weeds. Get the scoop from eight regional experts on fire ecology, rare species recovery, weed control and other habitat restoration work, as well as ways that the we can all get engaged. Then get your questions answered in an all-speaker panel discussion. 

Join us as we present Dr. Carla D’Antonio with our Honorable John C. Pritzlaff Conservation Award for her top-notch science, inspiring teaching and mentorship, and dedicated conservation leadership. Carla is a professor in the Environmental Studies and Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology Departments at UCSB. She serves as a Program Officer for the National Science Foundation and received her PhD in Plant Ecology from UCSB after receiving a B.A. in Zoology from the University of Washington and M.S. in Zoology from Oregon State University. She works tirelessly to inform and promote habitat recovery and restoration in our region. Carla will discuss setting realistic goals and best approaches for habitat restoration in the face of persistent environmental change.

Additional speakers at this symposium include Dr. Nicole Molinari, community ecologist and serves as the USDA-Forest Service Province Ecologist for the four southern California forests; Mauricio Gomez, the Director of South Coast Habitat Restoration, a non-profit organization based in Carpinteria; Dr. Aaron Ramirez, professor of Environmental Studies at Reed College in Portland, Oregon; Michelle Wolfgang, District Resource Manager at the Los Padres National Forest; Mark Mendelsohn, botanist for the National Park Service at the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area; Dr Josie Lasage, Applied Ecologist at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden; Stephanie Ma and Shane DeWees, Ph.D. candidates at UC Santa Barbara; and Dr. Max Moritz, Cooperative Extension Wildfire Specialist for the University of California Division of Agriculture & Natural Resources, and an Adjunct Professor for the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at UC Santa Barbara.

Come learn about the complex role of fire in California’s ecosystems, then get inspired by all of the ways that you can help aid habitat recovery and restoration in our region.

Symposium Schedule of Events

10:00 – 10:15: Welcome, videos, presentation of the award

10:15 – 10:50: Carla D’Antonio (keynote) | When and why would we need post-fire restoration?

10:50– 11:10: Nicole Molinari | Development of a post-fire restoration framework for southern California shrublands

10-minute break

11:20 – 11:40: Stephanie Ma and Shane deWees | Creating an ecological framework for chaparral restoration 

11:40 – 12:00: Aaron Ramirez and Michelle Wolfgang | Ecophysiological responses to fire and drought underlie climate resilience of bigcone douglas-fir

12:00 – 12:20: Mauricio Gomez | Post-fire impacts on steelhead trout habitat and strategies for recovery

40-minute lunch break

1:00 – 1:20: Mark Mendelsohn | Native and invasive plant responses to the 2018 Woolsey Fire (and what we did about it)

1:20 – 1:40: Josie Lesage | Post-fire mapping on the South Coast to inform habitat restoration and engage the public

1:40 – 2:00: Max Moritz | Building resilience to fire through the Regional Wildfire Mitigation Program

2:00 – 2:30: Panel discussion and audience Q & A