About Our Mission To Restore Habitat

Channel Islands Restoration is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to restoring native habitat on the Channel Islands and the adjacent mainland. We remove invasive plants, grow native plants from local seed, and plant them back into the landscape.

We also bring people into that work through lectures, service trips, and volunteer restoration projects that build lasting environmental education on the Central Coast. Our research and monitoring show us what's working and guide our next steps.

Learn More

EAI 01-13-17 (152 of 215).jpg — *A view of Anacapa Island, one of the eight Channel Islands off the California coast.*

Volunteer to Protect Endangered Species

You can protect endangered native species and work in unique and beautiful places when you volunteer with Channel Islands Restoration! Participants get the opportunity to visit spectacular natural areas while working to protect rare plant and animal species. Sign up to volunteer and stay updated on future trips with our organization.

Volunteer With Us

*Volunteers congregate on San Nicolas Island after a successful restoration day!*

We’re Establishing A Native Plant Garden with Local Chumash Groups

*Local Chumash pose at the Foothills, kicking off our first collaborative native garden.*

Channel Islands Restoration is nearing the completion of the first phase of an ethnobotanical garden that will educate the public about the native plants that grow at the San Marcos Foothills and will include information on how the local Chumash people used the plants for food, fiber, and medicine. In the coming months, we will install signs along the trail next to the plants, featuring the plants' names in multiple languages and a QR code linking to a web page that provides details on how the plants were used and still are used. The garden was conceived by Chumash elder Ernestine Ygnacio-De Soto and is dedicated in her memory. The garden exists to honor the Chumash people on whose unceded land the garden sits.