Michelle Mariscal, MS, Ecologist for the Puente Hills Habitat Preservation Authority will present Habitat Restoration for the Coastal California Gnatcatcher.

Once considered locally common, coastal California Gnatcatchers populations declined significantly by 1960 because of widespread destruction and fragmentation of its habitat. The coastal California Gnatcatcher is a small, insect-eating bird that ranges from Southern California to northwestern Baja California, Mexico. Coastal California Gnatcatchers occur in or near sage scrub at elevations of less than 2, 500 feet. On March 30, 1993, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the species as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The Puente Hills Habitat Preservation Authority has restored over 300 acres of habitat across the Puente Hills Preserve. The majority of the restored habitat has been coastal sage scrub specifically to benefit Coastal California Gnatcatchers as mitigation for offsite impacts to this species’ habitat elsewhere in the region.  In her presentation, Michelle will describe the restoration process and highlight the success of these efforts on the Preserve for this special species.

The program is open to the public and is free.

This will be a virtual meeting, please RSVP here and we will send you a link to the meeting.