Director's Statement - CCBER - 2012-2013
Natural history collections, education, and ecological restoration are the three main programmatic areas that have shaped the expansion and development of the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (CCBER) for the past nine years. The integration of these activities support the overall campus mission and provide unique opportunities for faculty, staff, students, and community members to explore, learn, and be inspired by our collections and campus natural areas.
CCBER’s staff has been very successful in fundraising and receiving grants to support our many programs. With funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the university, we hired a collections manager to oversee the curation of the vertebrate collections and assist with teaching the curatorial internships. Over 24,000 specimen records have been uploaded to VertNet, a network of vertebrate data from over 86 institutions, making our collections accessible to researchers worldwide.
CCBER offers a wide variety of educational opportunities for students of all ages. The Kids in Nature environmental education program focuses on local 5th grade classrooms; the curatorial internships for UCSB students provide valuable hands-on learning that centers on restoration, museum science, research, and education while preparing students for graduate school or the work place; and the Monday night seminar series engages the campus and community members who wish to learn about local environmental issues.
Fulfilling an important part of our educational role, CCBER staff mentored several student projects, theses, and a dissertation in 2013. In partnership with the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, a Ph.D. student wrote her dissertation on how university students enrolled in the Kids in Nature education practicum course develop science content knowledge, use effective teaching strategies, and improve their science teaching confidence over time. An undergraduate student in Environmental Studies completed her senior thesis analyzing the attitudes and behaviors of elementary students in an environmental education program. CCBER restoration staff also mentored Bren students who are working on compiling data for the Upper Devereux Slough restoration project.
Our restoration staff continues to be very busy managing UCSB’s natural areas. In 2013, UCSB accepted the donation of Ocean Meadows Golf Course from the Trust for Public Land. This acquisition, now named the Upper Devereux Slough restoration project, will continue CCBER’s focus on ecological restoration and provide research and educational opportunities for faculty, staff, and students while engaging the community in restoring these historic wetlands
Funding from Wetlands Recovery Project, Coastal Fund, Allergan and US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) supports the ecological restoration program, including the installation of eight new interpretive signs on campus, encouraging the campus and community members to explore, learn and be inspired by our beautiful and unique location.