New Restoration Strategies for Holocarpha macradenia in light of
2011 field studies Report to Parks & Recreation Resource
Managers presented by Michael Lewis & Jean Brocklebank For
years, the City of Santa Cruz has experimented with various
management prescriptions for the restoration and retention of a
viable population of Santa Cruz tarplant (Holocarpha macradenia)
at Arana Gulch. 1987 is usually noted as the year that grazing
ended at Arana Gulch and that tarplant began its demise.
Currently all management prescriptions are based on trying to
replicate grazing and/or disturbance. On occasion, catastrophic
treatment has been tried, with some immediate success. However,
over the years, such catastrophic treatments at Arana Gulch have
not produced intended results and may have even been responsible
for the loss of seed and seedbed. We surveyed two other coastal
terrace prairie grasslands in the county and compared management
treatments to see if there is a correlation with treatment and
success or failure. We