San Diego Management & Monitoring ProgramSan Diego Audubon has been leading efforts to restore coastal sand dunes in Mission Bay for decades, largely focused on supporting nesting California Least Terns (Sternula antillarum browni), and rare and endangered sand dune plants such as Nuttall's Lotus (Acmispon prostratus) and Coast Wooly Head (Nemacaulis denudata). The primary threat to these species is the presence of fast-growing, nonnative vegetation, which takes up space that Least Terns require for nesting, and outcompetes native dune plants. Volunteer-led hand management of these sites has resulted in a dramatic reduction in invasive cover, and bi-annual vegetation monitoring has revealed that hand management is a more effective strategy in reducing nonnative growth than the more traditional mechanized scraping and broadcast herbicide application strategies. These results are being used to inform year-to-year site management, and to create longterm strategies for managing coastal dunes in Mission Bay.
Project type: General Management
Target species: California least tern, cottonheads, Nuttall's acmispon
Target vegetation: dunes and coastal bluffs
Data steward: San Diego Zoo
Main implementing entity: San Diego Audubon Society
Partner: County of San Diego, Department of Parks and Recreation; Institute for Ecological Modeling and Management at San Diego State University; Mission Bay Park Rangers; San Diego Management and Monitoring Program; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; U.S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center
Point of contact: San Diego Zoo
SDMMP lead: Kris Preston
Study lead: San Diego Zoo
MSP Objectives and actions:STEANT-5; ACMPRO-2
