An ecosystem-level approach to oak research, protection, and restoration on Catalina Island, California

In 2003, faced with the need to establish research and restoration goals to better manage oak woodland ecosystems on Santa Catalina Island, the Catalina Island Conservancy, with funding from the Seaver Institute, initiated a four-year collaborative project to assess the status of oaks using an ecosystem-level perspective. Not only did this umbrella framework approach help answer broad interdisciplinary questions and provide guidance for future management objectives, but it helped establish a solid common reference baseline and secure funding for a number of diverse projects, some of which were otherwise difficult to fund.  The ecosystem-level approach was also instrumental in forming and strengthening collaborative partnerships. After initially identifying key oak ecosystem issues, the Conservancy invited potential collaborators from a wide range of disciplines to an island workshop to evaluate existing knowledge and establish immediate conservation needs.  As expected, recognized knowledge gaps were confirmed, but just as importantly, several new issues surfaced as a result of the workshop’s interdisciplinary nature. Thirteen new research projects were initiated by both Conservancy and off-island researchers, looking at aspects of oak stand demography, genetics, distribution, and trends, modeling both current stand site characteristics as well as potential outplanting sites, assessing ecological components such as influence of fog, dispersal mechanisms, understory species, associated fauna, soil system dynamics, and evaluating threats to oaks including dieback and impacts of nonnative plants and animals. In 2007, a follow-up island workshop was convened to present results and formulate a long-range oak management and implementation plan.