Community members are invited to City of Goleta’s Ellwood Mesa Monarch Butterfly Habitat Management Plan (MBHMP) Workshop on Monday, September 12 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Ellwood Elementary School Auditorium (7686 Hollister Ave). The workshop will cover implementation projects for the MBHMP and will feature the project team, detailed project plans, and breakout group activities to encourage more community feedback on the proposed activities at Ellwood Mesa. We hope you will join us for this important discussion.

The City held community outreach events on this topic earlier this summer on July 7 and 9 on location at the Ellwood Mesa Monarch Butterfly Grove to engage with neighbors and the wider community on the City’s proposed MBHMP implementation projects. Approximately 50 people attended each event to learn about upcoming:

• Vegetation management to reduce fire risk;
• Infrastructure improvements, including upgrades to the pedestrian and authorized vehicle access entryways at the end of Santa Barbara Shores Drive;
• Dead tree removals;
• New eucalyptus, native tree, and native shrub plantings to benefit monarch butterflies and other wildlife;
• New signage and trail improvements; and
• Creek restoration and pedestrian footbridges to access the monarch butterfly viewing areas. 

This project is funded by a $3.9 million grant from the California Coastal Conservancy. The Coastal Conservancy is a California state agency, established in 1976, to protect and improve natural lands and waterways, to help people get to and enjoy the outdoors, and to sustain local economies along California’s coast. It acts with others to protect and restore, and increase public access to, California’s coast, ocean, coastal watersheds, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Its vision is of a beautiful, restored, and accessible coast for current and future generations of Californians.

Questions or comments about the project can be sent to the City of Goleta’s Parks and Open Space Manager George Thomson at gthomson@cityofgoleta.org or 805-961-7578. 

We hope to see you there!

George Thomson, Parks and Open Space Manager, presenting to the attendees of the July 7 outreach event