Elings Park and Santa Barbara Botanic Garden’s Landscape Transformation Project holds a Volunteer Restoration Work Party on Saturday, December 16 from 10 a.m. to noon, following the monthly Elings Park Nature Walk led by Garden experts from 9 to 10 a.m. These work parties continue on the third Saturday of the month, at least through Spring 2024, and additional dates will be added. To register, visit www.SBBotanicGarden.org/classes-events/landscape-transformation-project-volunteer-opportunities

Donations of clean, wax-free, cardboard are also needed to be used together with wood chips and mulch, as eco-friendly “sheet mulching” to block sunlight and prevent weed seeds from germinating in the project site. Boxes must be broken down. Donations are now being accepted at the Elings Park Administration Building on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. and at the Garden on Wednesday, September 20 from 3 to 5 p.m.; Friday, September 29 and Wednesday, October 4 from 8 to 10 a.m.; and Friday, October 13 from 3 to 5 p.m.

The series of free Nature Walks at Elings Park led by Garden experts continues through December 2023. Each hike has a different natural history focus, such as plants, pollinators, or birds. Walkers meet at the Elings Park Office parking lot. Visit www.SBBotanicGarden.org/calendar.
Saturday, December 16, 9 to 10 a.m. – Birds: Led by Scot Pipkin, the Garden’s director of education, and Zach Philips, Ph.D., terrestrial invertebrate conservation ecologist