Earth Discovery Institute

Land management agencies often lack the staff and resources necessary to restore native habitats and maintain ecosystem health on conserved lands. Restoration work may be necessary where lands have been historically degraded, mismanaged, or where invasive species are out-competing native species.

EDI partners with federal, state and private land management agencies to provide both technical expertise and a community volunteer labor force to help restore native habitats. We do this by engaging volunteers from communities throughout San Diego County to participate in restoration projects, either on an on-going basis or during one-time events. Projects include invasive species management, seed collection and processing for future dispersal, and sowing or planting native plant species.

Often, professional scientists need the help of community scientists to deepen our understanding of large-scale problems for which large datasets are necessary. Scientists especially need help collecting monitoring data.

EDI trains teams of community scientists in San Diego County to collect crucial data about the state of our own unique biodiversity. All observations go into a global database that research scientists use to understand the change in composition, abundance, and habitat use of species over time, as well as make informed decisions about how to protect and preserve San Diego’s flora and fauna.

San Diego is known as a biodiversity hotspot, containing greater diversity of life than any other county in the continental United States. It is also home to the greatest number of plant and animal species threatened with extinction anywhere in the country.

EDI partners with land managers to restore native habitats on protected lands.

Habitat restoration often includes the removal of nonnative invasive plant species because they reduce biodiversity, drive extinctions, alter ecosystem processes, and reduce resilience of the system to climate change. After removing the nonnative species, we replant and seed with native plant species. Once restored, these areas are soon reoccupied by the community of native wildlife species that depend upon them.

EDI also undertakes projects that benefit rare and endangered species, for targeted species conservation. Currently, we are partnering with San Diego Pollinator Alliance and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a regional conservation strategy for the recovery of the western monarch butterfly, which focuses on its host plant, the narrow-leaf milkweed (Asclepias fasicularis).