Habitat restoration tools of the trade incorporate a variety of techniques and strategies utilized in the creation, restoration, and enhancement of degraded and ruderal native ecosystems. These tools include research into past land uses and historical stream alignments to restore natural processes; planting species native to Orange County with acknowledgement of their focal wildlife species; promoting natural recruitment from
localized native plant sources with limited to no reliance on supplemental irrigation; early detection and rapid response to address non-native invasive plant species; sediment and erosion control; and ongoing trash removal.
Throughout site establishment and long-term management, our restoration sites are routinely monitored to ensure performance metrics are being met and that the site continues to be a well-established, self-sustaining diverse ecosystem. Monitoring and reporting metrics can include native plant cover and abundance, non-native plant cover, and presence/absence of special status plant and animal species.
