Beginning this month, several acres along Nipomo Creek will be getting a makeover from the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County as part of a native plant restoration project aiming to install more than 10,000 native shrubs and trees on the property over the next three years.

In a recent interview, Land Conservancy Restoration Manager Michael LeBrun said the project would be completed in three phases.

First, planting will begin the week of March 9, culminating with a large-scale planting on March 14. At the event, local volunteers will help Land Conservancy and Dana Adobe Nipomo Amigos staffers plant 300 to 400 native shrubs and trees along 
the creek.

The Land Conservancy used funds allocated from the Guadalupe Oil Field Restoration Sub-Committee to buy plants for the project. Money also went toward weeding and setting up proper site irrigation.

“This acreage has been open graze for decades,” LeBrun said, adding that the site was also covered with a “weed seed bank” that took months to remove.

The seeds and weeds, LeBrun said, will be replaced with dozens of “pioneering native plant and tree species,” such as wild cucumber and coyote brush, and creek dogwood, sycamore, and coast live oak trees.

The last two phases of the project will include fencing the riparian corridor and establishing a livestock water source.

The volunteer planting event is scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon at the Dana Adobe. For more information or to RSVP, call Dave Rau at 544-9096, Ext.14, or visit LCSLO.org