Santa Barbara County is home to an incredible array of species, sensitive and threatened habitats, and ecological transition zones. The County sits at a unique confluence of four different ecoregions: Southern California Coast, Southern California Mountains and Valleys, Central California Coast, and Central Valley Coast Ranges. These diverse landscapes support an equally diverse range of plants and animals, making the County part of one of 35 global biodiversity hotspots. Habitat types range from lush coastal wetlands to dry interior grasslands and saltbush scrub in Cuyama Valley, to foothill oak woodlands and savannas, to hill slopes covered by coastal scrub and chaparral, to mountain tops of mixed oak and pine forests.
Even with half of County lands under public ownership or other designations that limit future development, land use change and habitat loss continue to impact wildlife, particularly near the coast and interior valleys and foothills. Climate change, invasive species, residential development, and changing agricultural land use patterns threaten Santa Barbara County’s native species and ecosystems. Maintaining habitat connectivity for plants and wildlife will allow them to adjust to shifting climatic conditions across these habitats and between valleys and mountain ranges. This will be vital to maintaining biodiversity and the ecosystem services that support the quality of life and economic, cultural, health, and spiritual benefits that residents and visitors enjoy. Innovative and nuanced approaches to conserve and restore productive and diverse ecosystem while accommodating additional human settlement in the County will become more essential as competition for space increases.
Check out the Flora and Fauna portal on the Blueprint’s Atlas here.