UCSB is located on a mesa between four types of wetlands, Goleta Slough, Campus Lagoon, a vernal pool complex and the Pacific ocean and, as such, has the opportunity and obligation to protect the function and ecological diversity characteristic of wetlands. The University's Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (CCBER) helps protect and restore those areas while also fulfilling the University mission to provide education and research opportunities in the field of ecology and conservation.
Each of the areas that have come under CCBER's management has its own story. In general, however, as the campus has grown toward the fragile edges of the mesa it has been required to mitigate its impacts through formal designation of ecologically rich areas for long term protection as "Ecologically Sensitive Habitat Areas" (ESHA) and through long-term commitments to restore impacted habitats with funds for CCBER.
CCBER currently oversees the management of 238 acres in six areas (Campus lagoon, Manzanita Village, North Bluff, East Bluff, Storke Wetlands and San Clemente Project) and will soon be adding 79 acres in two new areas (North and South Parcel projects).