Novato Baylands: Native Plant Restoration

Novato Baylands: connecting people to place through native plant restoration

Monday May 13, 7:30 pm –  Zoom presentation – register here

Guest Speakers: Leia Giambastiani and Alycia Matz

Have you ever wondered what species inhabit the areas on the edges of the bay? Or what adaptations native plants have to handle salts? Do you know what animals depend on salt-tolerant plants for food and habitat? Join Point Blue Conservation Science staff Leia Giambastiani and Alycia Matz in an exploration of the Novato Baylands plant restoration and community volunteer program. Learn a few highlights of native plants and animals inhabiting the diverse salt marsh to upland communities and how restoration benefits the larger community through increasing climate resilience.

Hamilton Restoration
Novato Baylands

Additionally, come out in the field with us on May 21st for a tour of the Novato Baylands tidal marsh ecosystem and native plant nursery with Point Blue staff and CNPS Board Member Stacey Pogorzelski.  See CNPS fieldtrip, Novato Baylands.

Leia Giambastiani, Senior Restoration Project Manager for Students and Teachers Restoring A Watershed (STRAW) at Point Blue.  Leia oversees projects, staff, volunteer programming, budgets, grants, contractors, planning, implementation, and monitoring of riparian and wetland restoration projects. Since joining the STRAW program in 2007, Leia’s work has been dynamic with numerous sites, partners, watersheds, habitats, and property types, including native plant nurseries. Leia is currently focusing on bay edge restoration projects but has a background in riparian, other wetlands, as a naturalist, a waste auditor, and an organic farm assistant in Italy. Leia grew up in Santa Rosa, California, and attended Cal Poly Humboldt with a Major in Environmental Science and a Minor in Appropriate Technology. Leia volunteers on the Milo Baker Chapter of the CNPS as Past President and has held the positions of publicity, program chair, and past president. Her hobbies are found outdoors, finding peace in the ocean, fun on the soccer field, and rolling or striding around the park trails.

Alycia Matz has been part of Point Blue Conservation Science’s STRAW program since July ’22. As the Restoration Project Manager at the Novato Baylands, her role centers on engaging communities in hands-on restoration activities grounded in the latest science. Before Alycia’s role with STRAW, she worked at Novato Baylands Stewards as a Restoration Intern and later, as a Restoration Technician. Her love for the outdoors extends beyond work, as she usually spends her free time hiking, camping, and taking photos of plants, birds, and fungi to upload to iNaturalist. Alycia also volunteers on the board of Friends of Corte Madera Creek Watershed. She anticipates graduating with a M.S. degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in December 2024.

Saltgrass in flower,
Sam Smith

Western Snowy Plovers, Novato Baylands,
David Sexton