CCBER - Directors Report
The Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (CCBER) fulfills the university's mission of research, education, and public service through stewardship and restoration of campus lands, preservation and management of natural history collections, and through learning experiences and programs, which offer unique opportunities for students of all ages.
2015 was a transitional year for CCBER. In December 2015, Dr. Jennifer Thorsch retired as the Katherine Esau Director of CCBER and Dr. Katja Seltmann started her role in this position. CCBER has thrived under Dr. Thorsch. After completing a PhD in Plant Anatomy with Dr. Katherine Esau, she continued to work at UCSB for 15 years with Dr. Vernon Cheadle as his lab manager. She began her extraordinary career as the CCBER Director in 2004. During her tenure, she built a strong endowment to help ensure the longevity of the Cheadle and Esau collection legacy, and ran the Kids In Nature Program for 15 years, providing educational benefits to K-12 and UCSB students. Beyond her retirement, Dr. Thorsch plans to continue her work at CCBER in plant anatomy, as a member of the CCBER Directors Council, and as lead investigator for the Kids in Nature Program. We are thankful for all of her past efforts, and for her willingness to continue her contributions to CCBER into the future.
Dr. Seltmann comes to UCSB from the American Museum of Natural History, New York. She has research interests in biological information science (Biodiversity Informatics) and insect science (Entomology). In her first few months, Dr. Seltmann and Dr. Lisa Stratton, the tireless CCBER Director for Ecosystem Management, started an insect biodiversity project on campus lands. This project, funded by the Coastal Fund, consists of a pre-restoration survey of insects that will be completed before the North Campus Open Space Restoration (NCOS) project breaks ground in the Fall of 2016. Dr. Seltmann plans to continue to provide engaging biodiversity research experiences for students in the natural history collections and in support of the center’s restoration efforts. 
CCBER continues to play a principal role in the planning and fundraising preparation for the NCOS project, in collaboration with many campus partners, including the North Campus Open Space Science Advisory Committee, which is composed of faculty from ERI, EEMB, Earth Science and the Bren School; Facilities Management Design and Construction Services, and the Offices of Research, and Budget and Planning. Dr. Stratton has led the effort to raise $15M toward the planning and implementation that is necessary in order to make this extraordinary project possible. As of June 30, 2016, our funding partners include the State Coastal Conservancy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the California Natural Resources Agency and the Department of Water Resources, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The Trust for Public Land purchased 64 acres of the now-closed Goleta course using $7 million of grant funding from several federal, state, and local agencies. The organization subsequently gifted the property to The Regents of the University of California, which will serve as the long-term steward of the open space.
A Director’s Council was established in 2014 with the goal of supporting, promoting, and guiding CCBER, and to serve as connection between the CCBER and the community at large. The Council continues to meet on a regular basis, and has provided critical guidance and support to Katja Seltmann during her transition. Many members of the Director’s Council have made generous gifts to CCBER’s operations and endowment campaign.
A CCBER Advisory Committee was established in 2014. The Advisory Committee is composed members selected based on their expertise in our three programmatic areas—collections, restoration, and education. This year, the Advisory Committee has been helpful in supporting Dr. Seltmann transition into the position as CCBER director.
One of our central roles is to provide curation and research support for the UCSB natural history collections. These collections continue to grow, are engaged by researchers nationally and internationally, and provide extensive research and educational experiences for UCSB undergraduates. This year, 22 interns and volunteers participated in the research and maintenance of our natural history collections. Professor Samuel Sweet (EEMB), Professor Emeritus, Professor David Chapman (EEMB) and Dr. Katja Seltmann offered the Curation of Natural History Collections course. This unique course provides critical training in natural history museum curation. The digital plant collections information that we have made available through the Internet has been downloaded more than 2 million times through the Consortium of California Herbaria, and over 20 researchers from UCSB, Loma Linda University, Universidade de Brasilia, Cornell University, University of Georgia, Harvard University, and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County have used the collection during the fiscal year 2015-2016.
We completed our 16th year of the Kids in Nature program and, due to the support of the Executive Vice Chancellor’s office, the Mosher Foundation, Coastal Conservancy, Office of Academic Preparation (Faculty Outreach Grants), Departments of Environmental Studies and Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology and the Coastal Fund, we will be able to continue this program for another year. We are very thankful to Dr. Sue Johnson, Gevirtz School of Education, who served as the Faculty Advisor for KIN at the end of 2015 and continues to serve in this role at the beginning of this year.
We are grateful for the benefit of collaborative efforts through the North Campus Open Space Scientific Advisory Committee, the Director’s Council, CCBER Advisory Committee, and our natural history collection curators and CCBER affiliates. Both the Executive Vice Chancellor’s office and Office of Research have generously supported CCBER programs. Over the course of the next year, we look forward to continuing these great programs, to fostering unique research experiences for undergraduates, and to continuing our stewardship of campus lands.