Restoration Home PageClick on the Site Map to Examine the Pod
UCI Site Map
The Berkeley Experimental Restoration Site is the main site on the UCI Ecological Preserve. The Berkeley site is located on a north facing slope in the northeast corner of the UCI Ecological Preserve. The model is venturan-diegan coastal sage scrub which is dominated by coastal sagebrush (Artemisia californica), California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum) and coastal brittlebush (Encelia californica). In addition to recreating this endangered plant community the site is providing habitat for the federally endangered California gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica californica), the monarch butterfly, and the state listed threatened coastal cactus wren ( ). In 1995 the site was covered in the exotics black mustard (Brassica nigra) and wild artichoke (Cyanara cardunculus). The site was mowed and sprayed with an herbicide. The first five of 26 pods were planted during the fall and winter of 1996. Those plants used were mature coastal sage scrub species salvaged after heavy rain to facilitate transplantation. On the map those pods are 1,2,3,8 and 12. Pods 4,5,6 and 7 were added during the summer and fall of 1996, also consisting of salvaged plants. Pods 9 and 22 contain prickly pear (Opuntia littoralis) and are transplants designed to rapidly create cactus wren habitat. The remaining pods were started from seedlings either purchased or raised in the greenhouse from natural recruitment.