Ecesis — The News Journal of SERCAL

Ecesis is like a mini-conference delivered directly to California's restoration community! And BONUS! We're highlighting articles in social media. We are soliciting thought-provoking articles from colleagues, from interesting presentations we’ve heard, from people who are on the front lines of the latest trends.

Did you know you have an open invitation to send in an article? We are looking to plan ahead as much as two years in advance. Check out our guidelines . We are soliciting articles from YOU, your colleagues, from interesting presentations we’ve heard, from people who are on the front lines of the latest trends.

In 2026, we are moving to publishing two gloriously packed issues a year, one post-conference and one at year’s end. Ecesis continues to be a top priority, but twice a year — for now — seems to be the most realistic schedule, given that the conference has significantly expanded its scope.

Below are volumes published since 2013; please contact julie@sercal.org for an earlier issue. Not a member? It's easy to join and you'll also receive discounts to our conferences, workshops and other events.

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Winter 2025/2026: Past, Present, and Moving Forward

A robust return of our beloved Ecesis News Journal, under the editorial leadership of Yamina Pressler

Here is a link to the full issue! OR you can browse via the images or the excerpts below.

A NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT — PAST, PRESENT, AND MOVING FORWARD “…I invite each of you to help shape the future vision of SERCAL — to find your place within this organization and contribute your voice and perspective (in whatever way suits you) while growing alongside us. I also challenge you to seek ways to accelerate our restoration efforts while maintaining the highest standards of quality and integrity. Find ways to remove barriers, question the status quo, champion ecosystems and keep learning. Don’t be afraid to experiment and fail — just be sure to share your lessons learned so that we can all move forward together. Always remember the human communities that we work in and around and strive to find balance between development and ecological protection…”

A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR “...As a SERCAL community, our efforts are varied and impactful. One thing I have taken away from these stories is that we learn better together. This issue is full of examples of just that: from the ground swell of student leadership in the Davis Rewilding Society to the hands-on education of the Wildfire Resilience Program and River Stewards Program to the creative and collaborative efforts to restore shorelines, deltas, wildlife habitat, and riparian corridors. Your stories provide inspiration, calls to action, and a vision for a future of restoration in California that we can all work towards..."

FEATURE — The Davis Rewilding Society: Student-Led Conservation, Restoration Education, and Empowerment In 2021, three University of California, Davis students emerging from COVID founded the Davis Rewilding Society to improve habitat for urban wildlife using native plants and foster community. With no funding, these three friends gathered wild native seed and hosted their first planting event with just three tools to go around the 25 students who showed up. What once started as a scrappy, passionate friend group has now expanded into an officer team of 11 and a network of over 2,000 undergraduate students…

BRIEF — Successful High Diversity Chaparral Restoration in 2002 Copper Fire Scar In 2002, the Copper Fire burned approximately 20,000 acres of coastal sage scrub, chaparral, grasslands, and riparian corridor primarily in San Francisquito Canyon. In the wake of the fire, swaths of land gave way to type conversion, changing from mixed coastal sage scrub and chaparral to fields of invasive species. In 2018, TreePeople received the first in a series of grants to restore ecosystems impacted by the Copper Fire through partnerships built with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and the US Forest Service (USFS) within the Angeles National Forest...

BRIEF — Rare plant mitigation in the San Francisco Bay Delta: Dozers and shovels and kayaks, oh my! …Loss of marsh habitat threatens numerous special-status plants (i.e., species identified as threatened or rare by the California Native Plant Society or the California or Federal Endangered Species Act) that rely on diverse Delta wetlands to thrive. However, many special-status plants have reinhabited portions of levees where slivers of their former habitat exist. Attempts to both rehabilitate failing levees and to restore tidal connectivity through excavated breaches have the potential to impact these plants...

FEATURE — Restoring India Basin: Remediation, resiliency, and shoreline reconnection For over a century, the waterfront at India Basin in southeast San Francisco was a place of intensive industrial activity. Within this larger basin, the 900 Innes site once supported a bustling ship repair operation that over time evolved into an engineered shoreline of fill, creosote piles, paved surfaces, dilapidated buildings, damaged concrete wharves, and construction debris. Public access was limited. Today, this same stretch of shoreline is becoming one of the most significant park and habitat restoration projects in San Francisco’s history as the new India Basin Waterfront Park...

BRIEF — You Build It and They Will Come: The swift return of life to restored Coastal Cactus Wren habitat Restoration work often requires patience. Years can pass before ecological change is visible, and even then, nature may chart a different course than we imagined. That is why it has been particularly rewarding to witness a once-barren sand mine in Lakeside, San Diego County, begin its transformation into a thriving native cactus scrub ecosystem…

BRIEF — Chainsaws and Fire Teach Us to Listen to the Land: A workforce training program shaping the future of land stewards …Shone forest is home to the Wildfire Resilience Program (WRP), developed in 2021 with a grant from the county obtained through a PG&E settlement in direct response to the devastation caused by catastrophic wildfires. WRP is a workforce development program from which participants emerge with the skills and experience to enter the land stewardship profession. WRP offers paid internships, college credit, and a Wildfire Resilience certificate from the Natural Resource Management program…

FEATURE — Saratoga Creek Hazard Tree Removal and Restoration Project: Large scale eucalyptus removal on a suburban creek in Silicon Valley …Valley Water manages 10 surface water reservoirs, 100 groundwater percolation ponds, three water treatment plants, a water quality laboratory, and more than 300 miles of streams and rivers (Valley Water 2025). The Saratoga Creek Hazard Tree Removal and Restoration Project is on Saratoga Creek in the City of Saratoga. The project goals are to remove hazardous invasive eucalyptus trees for public safety, enhance native and mixed riparian habitat, reduce the risk of bank erosion, and contribute to the regional understanding of post-eucalyptus restoration science…

BRIEF — Healing Together: The interdependence between conservation and people experiencing homelessness …While people often refer to it as a “drainage ditch” and “void of life,” in reality the lower stretch of the San Lorenzo River serves as important habitat for many unique species; there are also many encampments and people experiencing homelessness. To help provide part of their path out of homelessness, the River Stewards Program engages unhoused individuals with environmental education, river stewardship, and outdoor experiences...

FEATURE — Yes in Our Backyards! A creek restoration showcase for urban biodiversity & resilience briefs This is a story about an urban creek, degraded by decades of short-sighted engineering decisions, that was brought back to health. Bringing nature back into our cities is essential not only for climate resilience, but also for generating support for biodiversity. Direct engagement can reconnect us to the natural world in our backyards and on our streets, to foster a deeper environmental ethic that spreads beyond city borders and across future generations…

IN SUMMARY — SERCAL 2025 Conference Field Safety Panel Recap The 2025 SERCAL conference in Sacramento included a panel discussion of field safety experiences and solutions. Trina Ming with Michael Baker International convened a diverse panel chosen based on their varied professional and academic backgrounds and level of experience to represent a wide range of perspectives from practitioners throughout the state…

IN SUMMARY — The Evolution of Public/Private Sector Partnerships for Building Locally Sourced Seed Industries Current restoration seed markets are already insufficient to supply a growing eclectic market. Post-wildfire restoration alone has overwhelmed the market. Further, due to climate change, urban transformation to drier landscapes in the arid west has become an existential issue. Until our agricultural sector can catch up on cultivation and expansion of inventories, we must rely on other approaches, including native seed collections from the wild...

Summer 2024: SERCAL 2024 Recap

Have we mentioned it was a superlative gathering? Here are some of the highlights…

How rethinking our annual conference amplified its impact in 2024

Meet our first cohort of Torchbearer Recipients

How native seed farms can help inform restoration decision-making

An archipelago of biodiversity in the city

Cactus wren monitoring program informs critical conservation efforts on the Palos Verdes Peninsula

Steelhead recovery in the Los Angeles River Watershed

Rindge Dam: Removing an obsolete dam to reconnect 15 miles of stream habitat

SERCAL 2024 Winning Posters

PLUS

Looking to the Future

Considering field safety through an equity lens (from Cal-IPC Dispatch)

Research Link (from Restoration Ecology)

Remembering Susan Clark

Leadership Team & Supporting Members

Amplifying New Voices

Spring into Summer 2023: Restoration With All

Many thanks to Guest Editor Will Spangler (Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District) and all contributors for this inspiring issue!

INSIDE

Ecological Restoration for California’s Native Bees

We Shape the Land and the Land Shapes Us

An Innovative Project is Underway to Supply Source-Identified Native Plant Materials for Resilient Habitat Restoration

PLUS

Mentoring Today for a Better Tomorrow

Cultivating Collections: Just a few great moments from SERCAL 2023

Leadership Team & Supporting Members

Amplifying New Voices

Winter 2022/2023: Process-Based Restoration

Many thanks to Guest Editors Ashley Zavagno (WRA, Inc.) and Brian Bartell (Prunuske Chatham) and all contributors for this compelling issue!

INSIDE

The Science of Letting Nature Do the Work

Beaver and Process-Based Restoration Build Momentum in California!

Butte Sink Mitigation Bank: Adapting a Process-based Based Restoration Approach to Mitigation Banking

Rewilding the Carmel River at Rancho Cañada

Low-Tech Process-Based Meadow Restoration in the Kern Plateau-Golden Trout Wilderness

PLUS

SERCAL 2023 Call for Abstracts — Cultivating Connections

Opening Plenaries

Leadership Team & Supporting Members

Amplifying New Voices

Fall 2022: Special Issue of Resource Conservation Districts

Many thanks to Guest Editor Isaiah Thalmayer (Point Blue and UC Davis) and all contributors for this illuminating issue!

INSIDE

What is a Resource Conservation District (RCD)

Marin RCD — Enhancing Shared Resources by Stewarding Private Lands

Mendocino RCD — Management of the Willits Bypass Mitigation Project: A Success Story

RCD of Greater San Diego County — Native American Conservation Corps (NACC) Program

PLUS

Upcoming event: Restoring Fire-Safe Communities, Nov. 11–13

Restoring the Carmel River Floodplain

SERCAL 2023 Call for Abstracts — Cultivating Connections

Leadership Team & Supporting Members

Amplifying New Voices

Summer 2022: Special Phytophthora Issue and So Much More!

Many thanks to Guest Editor James Mizoguchi of Triangle Properties and all contributors for this enlightening issue!

INSIDE:

Surface and Irrigation Types Have a Big Impact on Water Splash in Nurseries, Choose Wisely!

Steaming is an Efficient Way to Treat Soil, Potting Mix, Pots, and Other Supplies Infested by Plant Pathogens

Sampling and Diagnostic Guide for Soil-borne Phytophthora Species on California Native Plants

Overcoming Challenges in Phytophthora Diagnosis for Restoration Plant Health

Phytophthoras, Restoration and Native Plants: Recent research findings

PLUS:

Personal Perspective: Sonya Vargas

Carrying the Torch of Mentorship to the SERCAL 2022 Conference and Beyond

Hire These People! Snaps of our first cohort of conference stipend awardees

Leadership Team & Supporting Members

Spring 2022: Restoration through the Eyes of our Non-profit Partners

Many thanks to Guest Editor Geoff Smick of WRA, Inc., and all contributors for this informative issue on nonprofits partners…

INSIDE:

Pepperwood: A Living Laboratory for Climate Adaptation in California’s Coast Ranges

The Ecological Workforce Initiative

Restoration Overview on The Wildlands Conservancy’s Sonoma Coast Preserves

Partnership-Driven Post-Fire Restoration in the San Gabriel Mountains

From Grass Roots to Native Roots — A Case Study in Urban Restoration and Community Partnership

PLUS:

SERCAL Annual Update

Diversity & Inclusion Conversations, Volume 1.2

Winter 2021: Presentation highlights from SERCAL 2021

Many thanks to the contributors of this issue — a roundup of some of the most popular presentations at SERCAL 2021.

INSIDE:

Increasing the Diversity of People and Ecosystems through Restoration

Bringing Habitat Home through Leadership and Mentorship

Restoration and Cultural Fire

PLUS:

Leadership Team & Supporting Members

Fall 2021: California Sycamore Restoration

Many thanks to Guest Editor Will Spangler of Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency and all contributors for this informative issue on sycamores…

INSIDE:

California Sycamore Hybridization with a Common Landscaping Tree and Implications for Restoration of Riparian Habitat

Native Sycamore Propagation: A Collaborative Research Study

PLUS:

SERCAL 2021 Jobs & Networking Panel Recap

Mattole Field Institute: Fertile Ground for Field-Based Learning

Post-Fire Seeding & Mitigation on the Butte Fire

Mentoring the Next Generation

Summer 2021: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in California’s Restoration Community

Many thanks to Guest Editor Lindsay Teunis of SWCA and all contributors for this inspiring issue!

INSIDE:

#RestorationForAll

Diversity & Inclusion Conversation (new, regularly occurring feature)

The Unsung Workforce

Being a Brown Biologist

The Revitalization of Morrison Creek

e’Muht Mohay (Love of the Land)

Personal Perspective (new, regularly occurring feature)

Scrolling for Good (new, regularly occurring feature)

2021: Springing into Dam Removal!

Many thanks to Guest Editor Ross Taylor of Ross Taylor & Associates for shepherding this issue!

INSIDE:

Dam Removal as a Watershed Restoration Action

SERCAL 2021 Virtual Conference Sep 13–17: Call for Abstracts through May 15

Annual Sponsors Rise to the Challenge!

Removing Upper York Creek Dam and a Century of Steelhead Habitat Damage

Klamath Dam Removal Update — What’s Going On?

Habitat Blocked by Scott Dam in the Headwaters of the Mainstem Eel River: Is it enough to aid in recovery of steelhead trout and Chinook salmon populations?