More than 400 sheep are currently grazing at the San Marcos Foothills
Preserve to restore habitat for a number of bird species, including grasshopper
sparrows; Western meadowlarks; burrowing owls, which live in old squirrel holes;
and white-tailed kites, designated a species of special concern.
Once home to the greatest number of Santa Barbara County’s
grasshopper sparrows, the foothills below San Marcos Pass saw the ground-nesting
birds’ numbers dwindle to zero after cattle grazing ceased around 2008. Too
much thatch, or fallen plant matter, had accumulated between the bunches of
grass, which became thickly overrun with nonnative species like ripgut
brome.
Channel Islands Restoration’s Elihu Givertz, his team, and more
than a thousand volunteers have been bringing native plants back to the county preserve,
often through painstaking hand-planting. Now, to give native grasses a fighting
chance, areas dominated by nonnatives are being munched by ewes brought in by
Jenya Schneider and Jack Anderson of Cuyama Lamb LLC, which is part of Quail
Springs Permaculture.