Las Tunas Road Native Grassland
Map SatelliteThe best remaining native grassland in the County is found in a large field in the heart of the residential area above the Mission Santa Barbara. This grassland includes perennial bunch grasses, primarily Nassella pulchra, and some Nassella cernua, as well as the rush Juncus patens and a scattering of annuals such as Clarkia purpurea.
There are introduced species, including the oats Avena fatua and Avena barbata, but until recently the annual burning for fire control has generated conditions more favorable to the Nassella than to its Mediterranean competitors.
While there are no rare species, per se, the community itself is rare.
Integrity; The area has been grazed in the past but never heavily enough to eradicate the natives. To maintain the grassland it should be managed, primarily by burning.
Use: Private
July 1975
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2009 Steven Louis Hartman