Grasslands supporting plant and wildlife biodiversity and water quality

Grasslands are an important part of Northern California’s beautiful and diverse landscapes. Our sweeping hillsides are shades of green during the winter and swaying fields of golden grasses in the summer. We don’t have to be grassland experts to appreciate the diversity of lifeforms supported this ecosystem


Who’s at Home? There’s Life at Every Level…

Grasslands form the base of the food chain that supports the many animal species we know and admire. Unfortunately, our grasslands are one of the most endangered ecosystems in the United States. Restoring grasslands can make all the difference to slow climate change, support plant and wildlife biodiversity and protect water quality.


Invasive Plant Removal and Grassland Restoration

The purpose of Conservation Works invasive plant removal and grassland restoration program is to involve the community to look beyond the “Green Blur” and volunteer with us to protect and restore grasslands in Sonoma, Marin, Lake, and Mendocino Counties.

Our grassland planting projects control and reduce invasive plants, enhance native plant communities, promote healthy wildlife populations, and support healthy watersheds.

Conservation Works Grassland Restoration Activities

Resources

Enter your address to see native grasses for your location

Native Grasslands of Coastal California: Landowners Guide to Native Grasses and Management. Hastings Natural History Reservation. 

How to Manage and Restore Coastal Prairie: Thoughts From the Field, California’s Coastal Prairie. A project of the Sonoma Marin Coastal Grasslands Working Group by Claudia Luke, Diana (Immel) Jeffery,  and Kathleen Kraft. Last modified June 2013.   

California Prairies and Grasslands, California Native Plant Society Journal Fremontia, VOL. 39, NO. 2 AND VOL. 39, NO. 3 • MAY 2011 AND SEPTEMBER 2011



“These are the things that grasslands are doing for us while we’re not paying attention: sequestering carbon through the production of massive structures underground where we can’t see them; allowing water infiltration for rejuvenation of the aquifer. This allows the landscape to retain water overall. They’re an incredible reservoir of biodiversity: arthropod, bird, mammal, predator and herbivore, fungal, and soil microbe life. And when you have an intact old-growth grassland, good stuff is happening there,”.

— Alina Neubel, Conservation Works staff member