U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Ventura Fish and Wildlife Offce 2019 Year in Review Conservation success stories from the people of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Ventura who work to protect fsh, wildlife, plants, and natural habitats of the central and Southern California coast. IN THIS ISSUE From devastation to collaboration: Partnership to restore native habitat after devastating wildfre / 2 One river remains: Untouched by development, the Santa Clara River remains the only wild river in Southern California / 6 Hanging by a thread: California’s ‘liveforevers’ face new threat of poachers engaged in lucrative, illegal succulent trade / 10 what’s inside from the feld supervisor A Year in Review We have many conservation success stories to celebrate in 2019. After one of California’s largest wildfres, we worked with partners in the Ojai Valley to restore native habitat for wildlife displaced by fre. We worked to keep the Santa Clara River wild, providing food protection and habitat for rare species, while neighboring farms grow food to support local communities. We asked for the public’s help in curbing the illegal international poaching trade threatening “liveforevers,” rare succulents found only in the Santa Monica Mountains. We celebrated a successful reintroduction of San Fernando Valley spinefower, a plant once believed to be extinct, to the hills above Santa Clarita. We honored a breast cancer survivor who beat the odds, and a former gang member turned conservationist. Thank you to our partners and our community for making these success stories and so many others possible. Restored wetland at North Campus Open Space in Santa Barbara. Courtesy UCSB In This Issue STA Y CONNECTED! From the Field Please subscribe to Supervisor / 1 the Ventura Fish and Wildlife Offce mailing list at Conservation in fws.gov/ventura/ newsroom Action / 2 California red-legged frog. USFWS Western pond turtle. USFWS From devastation to collaboration: ‘All is not lost’: Rare California red- Partnership to restore native habitat legged frogs fght for survival following Field Shots / 36 after devastating wildfre / 2 SoCal wildfre / 20 One river remains: Untouched by Flourishing return: Once presumed Our Community / 38 development, the Santa Clara River extinct, San Fernando Valley remains the only wild river in spinefower returns following successful frst year planting / 24 Southern California / 6 Faces of the Fish and Wildlife Service / 38 Hanging by a thread: California’s From birdies to bird habitat: A former golf course is returned to its wetlands ‘liveforevers’ face new threat of Celebrating our partners / 41 poachers engaged in lucrative, illegal roots / 26 succulent trade / 10 Breast cancer survivor, botanist Connecting people with nature / 44 Hawkeyes, tritons, terns, and rails: beats odds / 30 Unique partnership helps rare birds share land and sky with military Former gang member turned aircraft / 16 conservationist / 34 ON THE COVER: California least terns. Based in Ventura, our biologists and natural resource professionals work across USFWS the southern and central California coast in Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey, ON THE BACK: Sunrise over Channel Santa Barbara and Ventura counties; portions of Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo Islands. USFWS counties; and the northern Channel Islands. Ventura Fish and Wildlife Offce 2019 / 1 conservation in action conservation in action A scene from Rice Canyon in the Ojai Valley after the Thomas Fire. Courtesy Nathan Wickstrum/OVLC Miraculously, Ojai remained mostly Nonnative plants on the property wildlife, habitat and watersheds in unscathed, thanks to frefghters like yellow star thistle, black the Ojai Valley, was actively working from across the West, including mustard, and fennel created the on a 36-acre restoration project to Service fre personnel. perfect fuel for the Thomas Fire to restore native habitat on land that engulf the area in fames. Before was once an orange From devastation to collaboration Just outside of town though, 1,500 the fre, the conservancy, a non- orchard. out of 2,300 acres of Ojai Valley proft organization that works with Land Conservancy’s open space partners to protect open space, Partnership to restore native habitat after devastating wildfre was burned by the fre, including nearly 40 acres of newly planted oak trees, shrubs and grasses. Just two hours northwest of Los A town like no other, it’s no surprise In December 2017, the largest Angeles you will fnd a small city that many of those visitors end up wildfre in modern California called Ojai. The perfect getaway living the rest of their lives here. history threatened the peaceful from the hustle and bustle of The tight-knit community of artists, getaway. The Thomas Fire ravaged big city life, Ojai provides urban free spirits and outdoor enthusiasts communities in Santa Barbara and professionals an escape to a take pride in their beloved town and Ventura counties, burning more picturesque valley backdropped by local natural resources. than 280,000 acres. Encircled by the Topatopa mountains. raging fames, devastation of life and property threatened the small city. 2 / Ventura Fish and Wildlife Offce 2019 Ventura Fish and Wildlife Offce 2019 / 3 conservation in action conservation in action Biologists with the Service’s Ventura offce lend a hand restoring native plants. USFWS Top right: Nathan Wickstrum, restoration feld crew supervisor, leads the restoration effort for Ojai Valley Land Conservancy’s open space that was burned by the fre. Bottom right: Charred restoration area following Thomas Fire. USFWS From 2015-2017, the team restored to manage and a lot of weeds that “We recognized the huge impact private lands for the beneft of fsh, “There are species in our watershed savannah habitat, with the newly the 36-acre orchard to native oak need removal. It takes an army, the Thomas Fire had on the wildlife and plants through fnancial that have the opportunity to use this installed plants fourishing. woodland savannah. They had and we were unable to remove a community,” said Mary Martin, a and technical assistance. site as they’re moving to and from installed oak nodes, an encircled lot of weeds [before the fre,]” said biologist with the Service’s Ventura breeding sites.” Organizations involved in the cage to protect newly planted oaks, Nathan Wickstrum, restoration offce. She reached out to the “California’s native vegetation is restoration efforts of Ventura River planted over 3,000 native plants, feld crew supervisor with the conservancy to offer assistance with actually adapted to fre and can The conservancy will work with the Preserve include the California and installed a new irrigation conservancy. post-fre habitat restoration. “We bounce back relatively quickly Service to improve habitat for rare Wildlife Conservation Board, system. Of the 36 acres that had collaborated and leveraged funding, after these large scale events,” said wildlife including least Bell’s vireo, Ventura County, California State underwent the restoration process, Devastated by the loss of habitat, and we were able to get this project Martin. southwestern willow fycatcher, Coastal Commission, Patagonia, 29 were scorched by the Thomas plants, and time that went into off the ground.” California red-legged frog, western Natural Resources Conservation Fire. restoring the preserve, the She’s hopeful that the conservancy’s pond turtle and steelhead trout. Services, Ojai Rotary, Federal conservancy quickly shifted gears The Partners for Fish and Wildlife efforts to restore the native habitat Emergency Management Agency, “One of the issues we have out and received an overwhelming Program works with private will bring back many of the native By the end of the year the volunteers and local schools. here with restoration that is so response from organizations and landowners to implement voluntary species that use adjacent lands. conservancy hopes to see the area tough is that there’s a lot of land volunteers seeking to help. habitat restoration projects on restored back to its native oak 4 / Ventura Fish and Wildlife Offce 2019 Ventura Fish and Wildlife Offce 2019 / 5 conservation in action conservation in action Southern California rivers are not Beginning with headwaters in with riparian trees and shrubs known for their abundance of water both the Los Padres and Angeles like willows, fragrant mule fat and fow. Yet, when the rains do come, National Forests, the river native pollinators like buckwheat. One river remains the rivers can swell in dramatic meanders for more than 100 miles These provide habitat for local fashion. through Los Angeles and Ventura birds that feed on the bugs zipping counties before fowing into the through the air or crawling along Untouched by development, the Santa Clara River remains Attempts to tame inconstant estuary on McGrath State Beach. the sandy river bottom. rivers have resulted in channelized, In dry months, many areas of the the only wild river in Southern California dammed or leveed waterways that Santa Clara River fow completely Eleven federally listed species, resemble concrete canals more than underground. and several species with dwindling Instagram-worthy landscapes. But population numbers, rely on the one wild river remains: the Santa Despite this lack of water, much Santa Clara River as a food and Clara River. of the Santa Clara River is alive habitat source. The Santa Clara River estuary at McGrath State Beach in Ventura, California, where the river fows into the Pacifc Ocean. USFWS 6 / Ventura Fish and Wildlife Offce 2019 Ventura Fish and Wildlife Offce 2019 / 7 conservation in action conservation in action “This includes other sensitive or The council, made up of remembers the day he realized that listed species like the southwestern representatives from the U.S. protecting local agriculture could pond turtle, the unarmored Fish and Wildlife Service and the help protect this one last wild river. threespine stickleback, and California Department of Fish and southern steelhead,” said Chris Wildlife funded the acquisition of “I was actually standing on a levee Dellith, senior fsh and wildlife six parcels of land along the river in and kind of marveling that we’re on biologist for the U.S.