Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration

[1] CCBER has three main functions: curation and preservation of natural history collections, native coastal ecosystem and habitat restoration on campus lands, and education and outreach for both UCSB students and local community schools.In 1954, a UCSB faculty member, Dr. Cornelius H. Muller, founded a herbarium to be used for research and teaching.

Vernon Cheadle was the chancellor at UCSB between 1962 and 1977, but also a botanist who, along with Katherine Esau, contributed thousands of specimens to CCBER's natural history collections.

[8] The open space areas are used for multiple purposes, such as ecosystem and native habitat restoration and conservation, education, research, outreach, and community involvement.

According to Section 30607.1 of the California Coastal Act, when UCSB plans to develop and potentially damage land, specifically wetlands, they must undertake restoration projects on separate pieces of land of equal or greater area and biological productivity in order to mitigate the ecological impacts of construction.

[9] Many of these restoration efforts are handed over to CCBER, including San Clemente wetland, the lot 38 bioswale, North Bluff and the Campus Lagoon.

For example, nearly half of the area that comprises NCOS was the site of a former golf course before CCBER began restoring the wetland and upland habitats that previously existed there.

[14] Another National Science Foundation grant of $4.3 million will allow Katja Seltmann, the center's Collections Director, to investigate terrestrial parasite species.

[4] CCBER is conducting research to help understand how ecosystems will shift as a result of climate change, with a goal of developing adaptation and mitigation strategies.

[18] CCBER is funded through grants for scientific research and restoration from institutions like the National Science Foundation and Museum and Library Services, and agencies such as CalTrans and U.S.

A grant awarded in 2013 by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), will allow CCBER to digitize around 70,000 of the specimens in their Natural History collection.

Pictured above is CCBER's main office where collections are kept. Located in Goleta, California.
Vernon Cheadle, the Chancellor of UCSB 1963–1977, was a botanist focused on the examination of the anatomical and phylogenetic specialization of vessels in monocotyledons. [ 2 ]
The Ventura marsh milk-vetch, a plant thought to be extinct for 30 years, is being reintroduced by CCBER. [ 2 ]
CCBER is currently working on digitizing specimens of their natural history collection, making the collection accessible on a large database for research and education. [ 2 ]
Kids in Nature (KIN) is a K-12 education program run by CCBER . [ 19 ]