Ojai valley land conservancy ovlc proposes a comprehensive habitat restoration project benefiting native pollinators, including the western monarch danaus plexippus, that builds upon existing…

Ojai valley land conservancy ovlc proposes a comprehensive habitat restoration project benefiting native pollinators, including the western monarch danaus plexippus, that builds upon existing efforts at ovlcs ojai meadows preserve OMP. The project includes planting 10 valley oaks, 20 elderberry stakes, 400 native pollinator plants, and sowing over 4 pounds of native annual wildflower and grass seeds across two acres in the degraded lomita field. The ojai valley land conservancy will work in partnership with the service and members from the local community, to implement a habitat restoration project to benefit native pollinators, including but not limited to the western monarch butterfly danaus plexippus. The project will restore and enhance breeding and migratory habitat. The ojai valley land conservancy is a nonprofit 501C3 land trust with over 35 years of experience conserving and restoring land across the ojai valley. Ovlcs restoration program has a dedicated field staff that carries out all of ovlcs restoration projects. The project area is identified as the lomita field at the western end of the OMP appendix a., located in the unincorporated community of meiners oaks in ventura county, california. Ojai meadows preserve is a 58ACRE, publicly accessible nature preserve with restored wetlands, over two miles of trails, and ovlcs native plant nursery. The OMP is one of ovlcs most loved preserves, with more than 100,000 visits every yearthe majority of which are from repeat visitors, community members, and families who visit the preserve monthly, weekly, or daily. The OMP connects the community of meiners oaks and the city of ojai, providing safe pedestrian and bike access routes for residents, and for students of the surrounding schools nordhoff junior high school, meiners oaks early education school, and OAK grove school making IT highly visible to the local community and an easily accessible location for hosting volunteers and school groups. This 2ACRE restoration project is proposed at the lomita field, located adjacent to the native plant nursery field 2.5, the cotyledon field 3.6ACRES, the agency field 1.9ACRES appendix a, figure 1, an accessible walking and biking trail, and ovlcs groundwater well, which supplies water for plant propagation and restoration activities. Funding from partners for fish and wildlife will enable ovlc to expand restoration activities into the lomita field and, along with the native plant nursery, cotyledon, and agency fields, bring the total acreage of active habitat restoration at the OMP to 9ACRES. The proposed project will benefit from more than S900,000 of recent improvements funded by public and private entities, which have contributed to improving the trail through the project area, constructing a bridge across the happy valley drain, expanding ovlcs native plant nursery, and plantings of oaks and native plants in the agency and cotyledon fields.native pollinators are essential to the health of ecosystems. The ecological service they provide is necessary for the reproduction of over 85% of the worlds flowering plants, and native pollinators are keystone species in most terrestrial ecosystems xerces society. Fruits and seeds derived from insect pollination are a major part of the diet of approximately 25% of all birds, and of mammals ranging from the california ground squirrels to black bears. But habitat loss due to urbanization and booming populations of invasive plant species due to human disturbance, such as grazing, present a significant threat to native pollinators.