Over Easter weekend 2019, Growing Solutions staff, students and colleagues made their first official trip to Santa Rosa Island to study island-endemic plants and help Dr. Kathryn McEachern remove non-native invasive species from one of her many island test sites. With mild sunny weather after a wet winter, the island was painted with amazing wide swaths of rainbow-hue wildflowers. Santa Rosa Island, which opened to the public as a national park in 2011, has a full-time research field station run by California State University Channel Islands. Seven students from the SBCC Restoration Ecology Class made the three-hour crossing (with stops on Santa Cruz Island) and stayed for two nights at the field station. Lots of fresh air, fun and good food…and absolutely no cel reception to keep people off their smartphones! Plans were made to return the following year but were abruptly shut down by Covid-19 precautions. But we look forward to 2022. To learn more about Santa Rosa Island and to tour a gallery of SRI images, CLICK HERE