PCO, LLC (Santa Cruz County).
Jodi McGraw Consulting serves as the Preserve Manager for the Ben Lomond Sandhills Preserve of the Zayante Sandhills Conservation Bank in Ben Lomond, CA. JMc developed the Adaptive Management and Monitoring Plan for the Zayante Sandhills Conservation Bank in 2006, and is has been working to implement the plan since that time by:
- Conducting exotic plant management, including removing invasive acacias, brooms, and vines such as periwinkle;
- Conducting habitat enhancement using prescribed fire and related vegetation management, to manage sandhills communities and promote populations of the fire-adapted species;
- Monitoring populations of six rare and endangered for which credits are sold at the conservation bank, to ensure that their populations are sustained or increased over time; and
- Monitoring the native plant communities to track native plant community structure and species composition and detect changes due to drought, disease, and fire exclusion; and
- Conducting outreach to neighbors and other members of the community to increase awareness and understanding of the conservation bank and the species and communities that it protects.
JMc conducts this work in collaboration with interns from UC Santa Cruz, providing aspiring land managers and biologists with hands-on opportunities to learn a diverse suite of management and monitoring techniques.