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The six habitat systems for which the California Central Coast Joint Venture have identified in its strategic planning effort offer points of entry into prioritization of conservation action. While these systems are interconnected, with actions taken in one influencing another, highlighting these spaces of need helps the C3JV and its partners to identify critical gaps, integrate existing actors, and discover the C3JV niche. Explore each of the six conservation targets in more detail below.

Conservation Spaces

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Oaks and

Prairies

Riparian and

Freshwater

Wetlands

Scrub and

Chaparral

Conifer and Mixed

Hardwood

Urban and

Intensive

Agriculture

Coastal and

Marine

Oaks and
Prairies.

No terrestrial habitat in the C3JV region hosts greater vertebrate species richness than oak woodlands, alone supporting more than 330 species, including as many as 110 breeding birds. With the addition of hardwood rangeland and grassland components archetypal of the Oak and Prairie landscapes of the Central Coast, vertebrate species richness exceeds 450 species. This diversity, at least in part, is attributable to the habitat heterogeneity and productivity in oak and grassland systems, where the production of acorns drives significant avian species richness, while forb and grassland endemics characteristic of the Mediterranean hardwood rangelands support diverse species assemblages driven by dynamic disturbance such as fire. As a significant component of the California Floristic Province, diversity in the C3JV is augmented by endemism, exemplified by the occurrence of six of the seven California endemic oak species, among a total of fifteen oak species present on the Central Coast.

Read Oaks and Prairies Chapter

Oaks and Praires

Oak Woodland and Savannah

Oak Woodlands principally consist of Coastal Oak and Blue Oak Woodlands in the C3JV region, though significant representation of Blue Oak – Foothill Pine and Valley Oak Woodland types are present. Oak woodland habitats are highly variable, consisting of closed canopies in mesic sites, to relatively open conditions in drier sites with poor, shallow soils. In closed canopies, trees tend to exhibit columnar shaped growth patterns with limited lower branch and foliage development. The understory is also variable, with shade-tolerant forbs (bracken fern, miner’s lettuce) and shrubs (toyon, California blackberry) under closed canopies and annual grasses and shrubs (coffeeberry, buckbrush, poison-oak) in open woodlands. Over 110 bird species are known to breed in Central Coast Oak Woodlands, with some characteristic bird species including black-headed grosbeak and purple finch in closed canopies, and oak titmouse, bushtit, and California scrub jay in more open, variable canopies. Savannah-like conditions exist principally in the deep soils of the Valley Oak Woodlands, though Blue Oak Woodland, Blue Oak-Foothill Pine Woodlands and Coastal Oak Woodlands all exhibit savannah under certain conditions as well. Oak Savannah habitats are grasslands with scattered oak trees and an open canopy (<25% cover). Oak trees in savannahs are “open‐grown” which at maturity results in large mushroom‐shaped trees with well‐developed limbs and canopies. Characteristic bird species include western bluebird, acorn woodpecker and lazuli bunting.

Annual and Perennial Grasslands

Grassland habitats in the Central Coast are often further classified into two main types: perennial or coastal prairie, consisting of small, relic hold-outs of native perennial bunchgrasses and forbs and often restricted to the coastal fog-belt; and interior grasslands composed primarily of annual, nonnative grasses and native and nonnative forbs, known as Annual Grasslands by CWHR or Valley Grasslands by others (Bartolome et al. 2007). The specific vegetative structure in Annual Grasslands depends largely on weather patterns and livestock grazing, but importantly, forb richness is typically four times greater than grass richness (Sims and Risser 2000). These habitats occur mostly on flat plains, coastal terraces and gently rolling foothills . Perennial species in the more humid climate of the coast maintain higher biomass and are active over a longer period of the year, whereas the native and non-native annual species in the drier inland areas thrive in the more erratic and generally lower moisture regimes . Characteristic bird species include northern harrier, western meadowlark and loggerhead shrike .

Vineyards

Vineyards, primarily including grapes but also kiwi, raspberry and other vine crops, are often developed in Oak and Prairie habitats, including annual grasslands, oak woodland and oak savannah ecosystems. Vineyard development has and continues to occur in regions of deep, fertile soil, often on valley bottoms or rolling foothill regions, and are mostly irrigated. While vineyards simplify ecosystems and reduce overall biodiversity, opportunities exist to strengthen practices that reduce wildlife conflict, and support greater bird and other wildlife species diversity through retention, restoration and integration of oak and prairie habitat conditions within operations. Characteristic bird species of vineyards include American kestrel, barn owl, and western kingbird. Photo by Cameron Venti on Unsplash

Oak and Prairie community types.

Ramajal Spring Mtn Lion_JFurrow_Jun 2019_edited.jpg

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Riparian and Freshwater Wetlands.

Though composing a small fraction of the C3JV Region, riparian and freshwater wetland systems of the Central Coast can be characterized as perhaps the most important habitat for landbirds relative to their extent in the JV region.

Riparian habitats occur on the margins of freshwater features, embodying the transition zone between riverine, lacustrine and upland ecosystems. Highly productive, riparian systems play an outsized role on the landscape, particularly in semi-arid landscapes that characterize much of the C3JV region.

Freshwater wetlands include a diverse array of landscape features including rivers and streams, lakes (including natural and artificial), vernal pools, swamps, ponds, sloughs, and freshwater marshes. Importantly, coastal estuaries, lagoons, brackish and saltwater marshes are included in the Coastal and Marine Conservation Target. Major waterways include the Salinas, Santa Ynez, Pajaro, San Benito, Nacimiento and Santa Maria rivers, while hundreds of smaller perennial and thousands of intermittent streams further comprise the surface hydrology of the region. Perennial streams are typical to the coastal slopes, draining into the Pacific, while interior and eastern drainages are more commonly intermittent.

Read Riparian Chapter

Riparian

Riparian and Freshwater wetland community types.

Riparian Woodland

While riparian communities vary depending on elevation, rainfall gradients and other factors, characteristic canopy species common across the JV include western sycamore (Platanus racemose), Fremont’s cottonwood (Populus fremontii), California bay (Umbellularia californica), arroyo (Salix lasiolepis) and Pacific (Salix laevigata) willows and red (Alnus rubra) and white (Alnus rhombifolia) alders. The microclimates afforded by moist soil regimes tend to accommodate a well-developed understory of shrubs along riparian corridors, including poison oak, California blackberry, redberry, blue elderberry. Photo by Melanie Magdalena, Unsplash.

Lakes and Rivers

Often considered the largest underground river, the Salinas is the defining watershed of the California Central Coast.
Its also sometimes referred to as the upside down river as one of only a few large river systems in North America that flow south to north. Most larger watercourses in the C3JV region are dammed to support agriculture, reduce catastrophic flood risk and provide municipal water supplies to what is a relatively arid region. Of course, the functionality of rivers and streams are dramatically altered, a key constraint in the recovery of aquatic, and riparian habitats in the C3JV.
Perhaps unsurprising then, aside from a few natural waterbodies, inland lakes tend to be artificial reservoirs, including Lake San Antonio, Nacimiento, Cachuma, Lopez, and Santa Margarita. Open water bodies provide important water storage capacity for agricultural production and drinking water, recreational opportunities, and key stoppover and breeding habitats for avian species including Western Grebe. Photo: Cachuma Lake, Santa Barbara Co, by Katie Bonilla, Unsplash.

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Rare Freshwater Habitats