CCBER manages over 238 acres of open space on UCSB campus in order to fulfill several mutually supportive goals:
- To preserve native plant resources and biodiversity of the region
- Provide educational opportunities through signs, intern program, seminars and workshops
- Advance understanding of restoration strategies and preservation of ecological function in urbanized areas to retain water quality, biodiversity through research.
CCBER management areas include areas that already contained portions of intact native vegetation or wetlands which are protected by the Clean Water Act and Coastal Act, as well as areas that are being restored after significant human impacts: the North Bluff, Campus Lagoon, Manzanita Village, Storke Wetlands, San Clemente.