Precious Gems Along Our Coastline: Conservation Stories on California’s Channel Islands

The California Channel Islands are world-renowned for their scenic beauty and rich natural resources, including a large proportion of plants and animals found nowhere else on earth. Santa Barbara Botanic Garden Director of Conservation & Research Denise Knapp will share the natural history and conservation of these gems of the central coast. She’ll tell the story of the plants, animals, and human history across the archipelago, the legacy of impacts to these resources, and the heroic recovery actions that have been taken on the “Galapagos of North America”.

Denise Knapp: Denise Knapp received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she investigated plant-insect interactions and habitat restoration. She has worked for 28 years as a plant ecologist in southern California, with eight of those years on Santa Catalina Island and conservation experience on nearly all of the Channel Islands. She has conducted research on a wide range of topics from ecosystem restoration and plant-insect interactions, to rare plant populations, vegetation change, fire, introduced species, and conservation prioritization.

Disclaimer(s)

Participants in this event may be photographed by Library staff. These photos may be used in promotional or educational publications, including in print, social media, and presentations. Please see staff if you do not consent to having your photo taken. Staff will obtain individual, signed photo releases of photographs that contain only an individual as opposed to a group.