Outline of Quino Recovery Plan - The Xerces Society

equire complete reconstruction from old agricultural fields. Adaptive
management can include management/control of selected native species, such as
California sagebrush or other native plant species in Quino checkerspot
restoration sites, so that they don't dominate the vegetation. Until the
appropriate Quino checkerspot larval food and adult nectar plants are fully
established, monitoring and control of aggressive native species may be required
in addition to controlling nonnative nonnative plants. Rapid succession from an
open-ground habitat to a dense shrub-dominated community can exclude Quino
checkerspot food plants through competition.
Restoration techniques such as heavy mulching of newly planted containers or
entire sites are promoted by some ecologists but are usually inappropriate for
small native annuals. Similarly, a heavy mulching strategy is not appropriate for
restoration of most rare annual and perennial herbs, or for Quino checkerspot
food plants, such as Plantago and Lasthenia. The use of light, natural mulch
made up of salvaged native sticks and branches is acceptable, but a thick mulch
is unnecessary to grow many of the native shrubs and annuals.
Selected Literature
Belnap, J., J. Williams, and J. Kaltenecker. 1999. Structure and function of
biological soil crusts. In Proceedings: Pacific Northwest Forest and Rangeland
Soil Organism Symposium. R. Meurisse et al. (eds.). U.S.D.A. Pacific
Northwest Research Station, Portland, Oregon. PNW-GTR-461.
Buchmann, S. L., and G. P. Nabhan. 1996. The Forgotten Pollinators. Island
Press/Shearwater Books, Washington D.C. and Covelo, California.
Read, E. A. 1994. The importance of community classification to mitigation
and restoration of coastal sage scrub. Restoration Ecology 2:80-86.
Sunset Book and Magazine Editors. 1995. Sunset Western Garden Book.
Sunset Publishing Corporation, Menlo Park, California.
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