Habitat Restoration Volunteer Opportunities - September 14-15, 2002

Date: August 22, 2002
Contact: Malia Laber, 415-464-5285

Point Reyes National Seashore is hosting a volunteer weekend event on September 14-15, 2002 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. to restore and protect coastal habitat. Volunteers are needed to help remove invasive plants that threaten our coastal environment and the rare native species that live there. Park staff will be hiking and working outdoors at the beachfront of Abbotts Lagoon and at the Point Reyes Lighthouse headlands.

The Abbotts Lagoon area hosts some of the last intact coastal dune habitat in California. Unfortunately, European beachgrass (Ammophila arenaria) is overtaking the dunes along our National Seashore. Volunteers will be removing this non-native invasive plant to protect rare and endangered species that live in these areas. These species include the federally endangered plants, Tidestrom’s lupine (Lupinus tidestromii) and beach layia (Layia carnosa); an endangered butterfly, the Myrtle’s silverspot (Speyeria zerene myrtleae); and a threatened shorebird, the Western snowy plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus).

The Point Reyes Lighthouse headlands supports a unique array of native plants, most often noticed during the showy spring wildflower display. Many factors including weather and unique soil type combine to create an exceptional habitat type that exists no where else. Non-native plants threaten to overtake native plant species, cover cliffs used by nesting birds, and alter the view surrounding one of our historic and cultural treasures, the Point Reyes lighthouse.

The weekend consists of a short presentation on these restoration projects, a hike to beautiful Abbotts Lagoon to work on beachgrass removal, an overnight stay at the historic Point Reyes lifeboat station, walking off-trail at the Point Reyes lighthouse headlands to remove iceplant, and a special tour of either the lighthouse or the historic lifeboat station. Volunteers are needed on September 14-15, 2002 (for one or both days) from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Free overnight accommodations are available at the Historic Point Reyes Lifeboat Station – space is limited so please RSVP as soon as possible by calling Malia Laber or Patrick McIntyre [phone].

-NPS-