Phacelia argentea : a population assessment and comparison of crisis restoration treatments for an endangered species in Del Norte County, California
(Book - Regular Print)

ProQuest Number: 27665401.

Advisor: Peter Sherman.

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science from Prescott College in Environmental Studies: Restoration Ecology.

M.S.,Prescott College,2019.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 119-122)

"This paper considers Ammophila arenaria as an invasive species that alters and homogenizes coastal dune ecosystems, creates ecosystem-modifying foredunes and threatens rare, seriously endangered, and endemic species such as Phacelia argentea. Because A. arenaria poses severe issues to P. argentea in northern California, a community group called the Tolowa Dunes Stewards (TDS), and the Tolowa Dunes State Park (TDSP) began implementing two separate efforts to restore populations of P. argentea from continued decline. Though their efforts were not designed to be analyzed by researchers, and thus, constructed as a form of crisis restoration, this study analyzed and compared each group's degree of success in restoring P. argentea populations. The methods used for this study included an intuitive meander approach, flagging P. argentea plants, collecting GPS waypoints for spatial analyses, and outlining identifying features such as width and size classification for every counted plant. GPS waypoints of plants were used to create a GIS database, and multiple maps were created to document plant locations and categorizations in different treatment zones and in control areas where no treatments occurred. The results of the population study were compared to previous population counts to assess the degree of efficacy for TDS and TDSP recovery efforts. Results from this study indicate that restoration treatments by both groups significantly increased populations of P. argentea; however, TDSP treatment frequencies may offer a more productive means by which future conservation efforts can contribute to increasing populations of P. argentea."--leaf 8.