Read below for a preview of our May 2022 Island Insider Newsletter, that includes this wide-ranging interview from Greg Giloth, Channel Islands Restoration Vice President and Board Member. Greg explains why Channel Islands Restoration is so important and his thoughts on our next 20 years of restoration and education..

CIR: What is your favorite plant, island, native species, or any other facet of nature?

GG: The island silver lotus was introduced to me on San Nicolas Island. When it blooms, it’s one of the prettiest wildflowers I have seen.. My favorite islands are San Nicolas, Santa Cruz, and Santa Rosa Islands. San Nicolas is one I feel connected to because I’ve been there so many times. Santa Cruz because it’s the biggest and most diverse island and there are just so many different things to do there. And Santa Rosa because I’ve done work out there on very special projects. It’s harder to get to Santa Rosa Island but that makes it a bit more interesting.

CIR: So you have taken many trips out to San Nicolas. That’s remarkable.

GG: Yes, and that’s being flown there

CIR: What’s that trip like?

GG: The trip is easy because the Navy flies you out of Point Mugu, and it’s 23 minutes out and back. We can go out at 8 in the morning, come back at 3 in the afternoon and still get a full day’s work in..

CIR: Let’s invert the question in a way as another icebreaker. What is your least favorite invasive species?

GG: I have a bunch of them, but one is easy: Tamarisk. Tamarisk is from my work in the Sisquoc River and all the things we’ve done in the Santa Barbara backcountry. Tamarisk is a nasty plant and very invasive and one you feel pride in removing. It is a scourge.

CIR: What makes it a scourge?

GG: It’s hard to get out. if you get it early, it’s not a problem. When the trees get established, their roots go 30-40 feet in the ground and that’s why we had to resort to cutting them as low to the ground as we could and then using a National Forest Service approved shrub killer. That’s really the only way to get rid of them. The big problem is they get into a watershed and just soak up the water. A project like this [removing tamarisk], it’s overwhelming when you first see it, but I also see that, working with guys like Doug Morgan, CIR Operations Manager and Los Padres Outfitters we’re getting it under control in the backcountry.

CIR: Tell me about how you first learned about Channel Islands Restoration. What was it about the organization that resonated with you?

GG: I had retired in 2013 and I was looking for something to do. Getting out to the Channel Islands interested me, and though I didn’t know all of what I was getting into, I heard about CIR and that they were signing up volunteers to do plant removal on SNI island as well as planting native species around the recently established wind turbines that had disturbed the soil. This was September 2015, so almost 7 years since I’ve been working with CIR.

CIR: Now all those trips to San Nicolas, have those all been since 2015?

GG: Yes, I’d never been on the island. So it’s all with CIR and the Navy.

CIR: You’ve been to the islands so many times, so are there a few memorable trips or experiences that stick out?

GG:, My most memorable trip was working on the Cloud Forest on Santa Rosa Island. I don’t remember exactly when we were out there, but it was 3-5 years ago now that we started this program. The cloud forest is not what you think of as a forest; we’re talking about 10-15 oak trees at the top of the highest point on SR Island. The introduction of sheep and cattle grazing knocked down a lot of the native grasses under these trees and eroded the soil significantly. In fact, on a lot of these trees, you’ll see roots out of the ground 3-4 feet. It was our job to go up to the Cloud Forest on Soledad Mountain. It is an hour trip up the road from the island nursery, to get there, and then it’s an hour back. We put in a lot of plants, a lot of oaks, many straw bundles. In the last 2 years it’s made a huge difference. It’s stopping the erosion and saving and protecting this cloud forest that had become endangered.

CIR: What was making the Cloud Forest endangered?

GG: The wind was eroding the soil around the trees so we were trying to protect them and we’ve had some positive results, and now that this has been funded for 3 more years, we can really change the whole story up there and keep the forest going and see new trees grow in as well. The reason they call it a cloud forest is because in the summer, the fog comes in, surrounds the trees and provides moisture that drips down to the ground and keeps them viable.

CIR: So you’re rebuilding the island to repurpose it in a way.

GG: And CIR played a big part in the first three years of stopping the erosion.

CIR: What keeps you committed to CIR?

GG: The initial mission for native plant restoration and non-native plant removal. That’s the whole core and basic purpose of what we do. The non-native situation has been getting worse for years.

CIR: How so?

GG: It’s just been let go for too long. The islands are a perfect experiment of this; they were native until ranchers arrived with cattle and sheep. Those cattle and sheep brought non-native seeds over from the mainland, and now we have so many species that are not endemic to the island and not helpful. There are grasses that will grow and overwhelm the native grasses and wildflowers on the islands.

CIR: Thinking about that, what’s it like to know what you’re doing is going to have a massive impact for the future?

GG: That’s the whole point: I know that these things I’m doing, I will not see much impact in my lifetime. I will not see a change. But, I know that if we keep doing them, and future generations keep doing them, they’re going to come around. Geologic time is hundreds, thousands, millions of years, and human lifetimes are what, 80 years? It’s just different and you have to work with it.

CIR: What has been most gratifying about your relationship with CIR? How has CIR most impacted your life?

GG: Basically, when I retired, there were lots of things I could do to feel good and fill my time. I think the most fun – and thing I miss most from actual working – was the people I worked with. Not just the employees around me, but my customers, but this gets me back and lets me meet new people and new organizations. Working on the island, you’ll meet people from the military, from different organizations, and people out doing different projects. That’s the interesting thing about working with volunteers: the quality of volunteers we have attracted is extremely high. I haven’t met many people who just want access to the island and nothing else.

CIR: How have you seen CIR grow in the time you’ve been involved, from your first trips in 2015 to now?

GG: It’s been 7 years since I started, and CIR is reaching a critical point. The mission is pretty simple, but it was run by a small group of people before. As the organization grew larger and got involved with projects like Foothills Forever, the organization needed to grow as well. By that, I meant the processes and the responsibilities need to grow too. That’s the biggest thing we’re running into right now and something we have to accomplish alongside fundraising. I think Foothills Forever really changed the perspective.

CIR: How so?

GG: The size of the campaign and the capability that, all of a sudden, CIR may now be in a situation to own land and manage property. That’s different from restoring property under a contract. It adds a whole new level of responsibility to the organization, and a whole new level of fiduciary responsibility.

CIR: As you look ahead to CIR’s next 20 years, what is a particular interest area or initiative you’d like to be involved with?

GG: Financial stability of CIR. What I am engaging in with board members, is how we’re going to implement an annual fundraising capability and how to get other members of the community up to speed on investing in our future.