Perched high above the bluffs, prairies, and forests of the central California coast lie a small collection of incredibly rare habitats known as the Santa Cruz Sandhills. These sandhills are outcrops of ancient marine life sediment known as Zayante Soils, which were deposited over 15 million years ago when our region was beneath the sea. Among the sand dollars and marine fossils embedded in the soil, unique plant, animal, insect, and fungi communities that are found nowhere else on earth have adapted to the low moisture and nutrient content of the sandhills. The Santa Cruz Kangaroo Rat, Mount Hermon June Beetle, Santa Cruz Wallflower, Silverleaf Manzanita, and Sandhill Amanita are just some of the many notable species’ endemic to the Santa Cruz Sandhills.

As with many of our local ecosystems, the Santa Cruz Sandhills are threatened by historical land development, fire suppression, and habitat degradation. It is estimated that only 4,000 of the original 6,000 acres remain intact today. The Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve is 552 acres of protected sandhills habitat managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. In partnership with the CDFW, a devoted group of local community volunteers known as the Friends of Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve, and the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County work collectively to steward the public access trails meandering throughout these ecologically significant soils. As part of our commitment to preserve the sandhills, the Land Trust monitors and maintains the gravel trailhead and parking lot for the reserve, which can be impacted by heavy rainfall at times.

While parking lot erosion may be inconvenient for vehicles and visitors; the real risk is the sediment, which can flow from the gravel lot into the sandhills habitat. Following the historic winter storms of 2022 and 2023 and notable precipitation last winter, The Land Trust has upgraded the Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve trailhead each year with additional base rock to secure the parking lot. We also installed biodegradable straw wattles to catch any harmful sediment flows before they reach the soil. Measures like this help protect the endemic species of the sandhills habitat and secure a future of sustainable public access at the reserve.

If you have yet to visit the Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve, be sure to add it to your list!