CSUCI and the Santa Barbara Zoo are partners in nature-based education and conservation. Together we are committed to providing learning opportunities that promote environmental awareness and outdoor engagement; provide career preparation, training, pathways; and contribute to the health and vitality of native species and human communities.
Conservation priorities for the Zoo include the Monarch Butterfly, Red-legged Frog, Western Pond Turtle, Western Snowy Plover, Island Fox, California Condor, and Southern Sea Otter. CSUCI is an ideal partner in this work because of our:
- emphasis on experiential and service learning including undergraduate research, particularly through our Biology Program, which has played a central role in shaping this partnership.
- satellite campuses including the Channel Islands Boating Center in Channel Islands Harbor, near Western Snowy Plover habitat, and the Santa Rosa Island Research Station in partnership with Channel Islands National Park, where Island Foxes live.
- main campus, which is officially designated at the national level as a Bee Campus USA, Tree Campus, and Certified Wildlife Habitat, where Monarch Butterflies and other native species thrive.
Since establishing our formal partnership in 2023, we have been working to expand educational opportunities at the Zoo and on CSUCI’s campus.
PAST: Previously we have collaborated on course offerings, class activities, field trips, guest speakers, and events. In 2023, the Zoo hosted a 6-month “Help the Kelp” marine debris art exhibit through the efforts of CSUCI’s Santa Rosa Island Research Station and the Art Program and funding by NOAA as part of their Marine Debris Program. This example highlights how these opportunities span across academic disciplines and connect different educational and government partners.
Through 2024, collaborations continued, helping sustain momentum and deepening faculty and student involvement across campus.
Dr. Alarcón and his Entomology (BIOL 452) students meeting with Nadya Seal Faith at
the Santa Barbara Zoo’s Conservation Office on campus.
CURRENT: As a way of promoting opportunities on CSUCI’s campus, in fall 2025 we are excited to be opening the Conservation Office at Modoc Hall, where Zoo staff will connect with CSUCI students, faculty, and staff. It will also serve as a lab space for amphibian rescue and headstarting (raising young animals in a protected environment before release).
In September 2025, Zoo conservation experts and our non-profit partner Native Monarchs participated in the Center for Community Engagement’s annual Day of Service, during which they demonstrated Monarch Butterfly tagging in the Modoc Garden. This is just one example of on-campus collaborations that can provide hands-on training and community outreach while also contributing to the monitoring and protection of a species that is at risk of becoming endangered.
Learning about Monarch conservation: Zoo experts demonstrate butterfly tagging for
CSUCI students in the Modoc Garden.
FUTURE: We are actively fundraising to construct a Santa Barbara Zoo-managed Conservation Center on CSUCI’s campus that will serve as a/an:
- animal care facility for local threatened and endangered species including amphibians (Red-legged Frog) and birds (Western Snowy Plover). This will create greater capacity for animal care and recovery that can be responsive to the needs of public land managers, including in times of emergencies such as wildfires.
- headquarters for the Zoo’s field conservation program, especially given the proximity of field sites on public lands. Through coursework, research, and volunteerism, CSUCI students can take part in real-world projects and conduct fieldwork alongside experienced practitioners.
- hub for experiential and service learning focused on conservation, including opportunities beyond field conservation, such as data analysis, environmental communication, art, education, business, and much more.
Whether at the Zoo, on CSUCI’s campus, or at field sites on public lands across the region, we are creatively expanding the ways we can collectively make a positive impact on the health and welfare of our native species, human communities, and our region – from butterflies in the Modoc Garden to foxes on Santa Rosa Island.
For more information about the partnership, please contact: Dr. Jennifer Perry, Executive Director of Regional Educational Partnerships, at jennifer.perry@csuci.edu.
Click here to donate to current educational programming and the future Conservation Center.