Native Plant Nursery

In 1989, the nursery was formed by the Catalina Island Conservancy to provide native seeds and propagules for the conservancy's conservation and restoration efforts. The nursery is responsible for all horticultural tasks ranging from seed collection to outplanting. It is part of the Conservation and Education Department, one of 11 departments within the organization. Since its formation, the nursery has gathered germination and propagation data on 124 of the 422 island natives. The operation was expanded in 1998 with the addition of a new facility to add seed processing and storage facilities and increase available space for plant propagation to meet increasing needs of restoration activities on the island. Volunteers remain at the heart of the work accomplished at the nursery, committing thousands of hours (5795 in 2004) to help nursery staff grow 8000 to 12 000 plants annually (increased to 22 000 in 2005).

Currently, the 2 staff at the nursery face a variety of complex challenges as the Conservation and Education Department transitions from initial research to revegetation and restoration activities. Challenges include collaborating with the department to develop strategies to address adverse impacts of nonnative animals and plants, and propagating and growing for a variety of restoration needs (that is, revegetation, rare plant population augmentation) while striving to be environmentally sustainable.