The Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration hosts UC Santa Barbara undergraduate and graduate courses and hosts public tours, workshops and seminars. Our seminars, tours and workshops are always open to the public, but preregistration may be required. Keep informed about Cheadle Center events through our Cheadle Center Newsletter and finding the Cheadle Center on Social Media!
Cheadle Center Courses
The Cheadle Center offers several courses that are taught through out the year on a quarterly basis. Each of these classes addresses a unique aspect of the Cheadle Center's mission through hands-on experiential learning. Read about our course offerings to learn more.
Course Offerings
EEMB/ENVS 95 - Restoration Ecology
Join us for an introduction to restoration ecology with hands-on restoration of UCSB campus natural areas for local plants and wildlife. Classes are currently offered during the Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters. Students will gain valuable hands-on field experience restoring native wetland, coastal sage scrub, grassland, and oak woodland habitats. Learn about local plants and animals, earn course credit, meet environmental professionals in your community, and enjoy a beautiful outdoor working environment! Each week throughout the quarter will focus on a specific restoration theme.
EEMB/ENVS 96 - Natural History Collection Curation
This course offers students an introduction to specific areas of museum curation. The course meets once each week to focus on various aspects of museum curation, such as the importance of collections, documentation, methods of preservation, identification, taxonomic nomenclature and labeling, and cataloging specimens. Course focal areas are at the discretion of the instructor, and focus areas change every quarter. For example, past courses have focused on California Bees, Marine Algae, and California Herpetology Diversity. Please contact the instructor for more information.
EEMB 188/288 - Restoration Ecology Seminar
The Restoration Ecology Seminar Series is a topical series that is available for credit to UCSB students and is open to the public. Meeting Monday evenings from 6-7 p.m. during Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters. Seminars feature guest lectures by research scientists, land managers, policy analysts, and community leaders and tours of local restoration projects.
Internships
The Cheadle Center offers a wide variety of internships. Interns can explore ecological restoration, natural history collections, environmental education, or conduct research. Interns work closely with Cheadle Center team members for these hands-on learning experiences.
Cheadle Center Internship Programs
Restoration Ecology Internship Program
In the Restoration Ecology Internship Program, students and volunteers learn restoration site design, implementation and maintenance techniques, native plant horticulture, plant and animal identification skills, seed collection and ecological monitoring protocols.
Students may opt for a for-credit or volunteer internship with no prerequisite requirement. The Ecological Restoration Field Skills Course (ENVS 95) is required in order to qualify for a stipend internship.
Please contact the Intern and Volunteer Coordinator Darwin Richardson for details.
Museum and Curation Internship Program
The Museum and Curation Internship Program offers specialized internships through out the collections and by partnering interns with collections researchers. Learning opportunities include specimen curation, specimen digitization, occasional field work, citizen science initiatives, and museum best practices.
Please contact a Collections Team member for details.
Kids in Nature Education Internship Program
Kids in Nature is an innovative and highly regarded program designed to enrich the learning experiences of underrepresented and underserved youth in our community with a yearlong dynamic combination of hands-on, inquiry-based, classroom activities, interactive custom-designed computer simulations, and field trips.
Please contact Andy Lanes for details.
Research Internship Program
Ecology Research: A commitment of up to a year is often required to complete a research internship project. This is the time it takes for a project to go from an idea to funding development and implementation. Students are currently working on assessing lagoon water quality, evaluating restoration site soil texture, assessing bird habitat links to benthic invertebrates, monitoring wetland hydrology, and analyzing data sets for patterns. Contact Lisa Stratton for more information.
Museum Research: Students partner with a collections researcher to develop and complete an independent research project. Projects have ranged from data driven initiatives, biodiversity research, specimen analysis, and climate change questions. Please contact a Collections Team member for details.
Volunteer Days, Seminars, and Special Programs
Volunteer with Us!
We offer community volunteer days through out the year. These events are advertised in our Newsletters for Restoration and Ecology, North Campus Open Space, and the Natural History Collection.
If you are interested in a long term volunteer position please visit our People Page to find the contact information for the appropriate program that most aligns with your interests.
Sign up for the Restoration Register, and the Cheadle Center Newsletter.
Kids in Nature Environmental Education Program
The Kids in Nature Environmental Education Program promotes the aspirations and achievements of students in underserved schools in Santa Barbara and Goleta by providing quality environmental science education and experiences through field trips, the KIN Science Education Practicum course, tours, and many other hands-on activities that bring K-12 students to nature and UC Santa Barbara.
Restoration Ecology Seminar Series
The Restoration Ecology Seminar Series is a topical series that is available for credit to UCSB students and is open to the public. Meeting Monday evenings from 6-7 during Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters. Seminars feature guest lectures by research scientists, land managers, policy analysts, and community leaders and tours of local restoration projects. Please check the Cheadle Center Newsletter for information about topics and speakers.
Sign up for the Restoration Register, and the Cheadle Center Newsletter.
Cheadle Center Tours
CCBER offers year-round tours of our natural history collections and management areas.
UCSB Natural History Collection Tours
Please contact Greg Wahlert a tour of our UCSB Natural History Collections, including the UCSB Vertebrate, Invertebrate, or Herbarium. We also have public displays and photographs from our collections on display at the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration.
Ecosystem Management Tours
UCSB Management Areas (Contact Lisa Stratton)
Greenhouse and Nursery (Contact Wayne Chapman)
Self-guided Tours
Workshops
Our team is passionate about what they do! And, we love to share that with students and community members. Our workshops are a great way to dive into a topic and learn more about the ecology, history, and taxonomy of California's Central Coast. We advertise upcoming workshops in our Restoration and Ecology, North Campus Open Space, and the Natural History Collection Newsletters. These workshops fill up quickly on a first come basis, if there is an upcoming workshop that interests you we recommend signing up as quickly as possible. Previous workshop topics have included California Native Grasses, Marine Algae of the Central Coast, and California's Pollinators.
Sign up for the Restoration Register, and the Cheadle Center Newsletter.