Stewarding the Ventura River is a delicate balancing act: we must protect the natural environment while also ensuring that people can enjoy it. The OVLC’s mission is to protect and restore the natural landscapes of the Ojai Valley forever. A crucial part of achieving that mission is connecting people with the land, including the Ventura River. 

This season, our staff is going through a transition, welcoming new faces and saying goodbye to others. Coraylln Moss, a graduated senior at Nordoff High School, is now leaving her position at OVLC after 3 years as a nursery intern. Her work was outstanding. She was our quickest transplanter, and always had a good song to share while working. By the end of her time at OVLC, she knew every native plant in the nursery and where they belonged in their natural environment. It is clear she has a deep relationship with the ecosystems around her. 

OVLC’s Ventura River Steelhead Preserve, situated seven miles inland from the Ventura County coast, is a low-density rural residential area surrounded by open space. It encompasses a unique groundwater-dependent ecosystem along the river that has ebbed and flowed with the river’s breath over many centuries. Over the last 100 years, human activities like grazing have deeply influenced the landscape. 28 acres on the preserve are primarily non-native vegetation communities, dominated by yellow starthistle (Centaurea spp.), nonnative grasses (Bromus spp.), and more. Around the edges of this historical grazing are California black walnuts (Juglans californica), coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia), buckwheats (Eriogonum spp.), and purple sage (Salvia leucophylla) scrub. These native relics of the land are stalled along the edges, waiting in the seed bank, and anticipating a time to recruit into alluvium soil and mix into a diverse ecotone.