Full Length Films by Michael Love
Bringing Back the Wild (2015)
Duration: 1 hour
Description: This 2015 film by local film maker Michael Love tells the inspiring story of the restoration of Coal Oil Point Reserve (COPR). COPR’s native wetlands and precious coastal-strand environment are home to the threatened Western Snowy Plover and Tidewater Goby. After a decade of care by COPR Director Cristina Sandoval, the Snowy Plover is breeding again and the protected and yet accessible reserve attracts a myriad of birds. Birders, researchers, and nature enthusiasts flock to the area to observe the wildlife. In contrast to ongoing tragedies of human environmental degradation, the film reveals the people behind this successful restoration project and their invitation to the public to respect and enjoy it.
Duration: 45 minutes
Description: The threatened Western Snowy Plover lives on our west coast beaches nesting in the open sand. This is a full length film detailing the natural history and recovery efforts of the species.
Short Films by Michael Love
Devereux Slough (2016)
Duration: 9 minutes
Description: A short film about the seasonality and ecology of Devereux Slough at Coal Oil Point Reserve.
The Snowy Plover and You (2016)
Duration: 10 minutes
Description: This beautiful film introduces us to the natural history of the threatened Western Snowy Plover and invites the public to play a part in the recovery of the species by simply learning to share its habitat.
Additional Short Films about Coal Oil Point Reserve
Duration: 30 minutes
Description: One of the best remaining examples of a coastal-strand environment in Southern California, the University of California Natural Reserve System's (NRS) Coal Oil Point Reserve protects a wide variety of coastal and estuarine habitats. Thousands of migratory birds visit throughout the year. Located adjacent to the UC Santa Barbara campus, the reserve provides a unique and accessible research and teaching resource, which is used by many university courses, including botany, ecology, biodiversity field methods, natural history, marine biology, invertebrate zoology, and environmental studies.

UCSB Current: A Lesson in Nature's Restoration (2014)
Duration: 4 minutes
Description: The fire at UCSB’s Coal Oil Point Reserve may have charred more than 20 acres of the landscape, but it also opened up a rare opportunity for the scientists who work there.

UCSB Current: A Brush With Preservation (2014)
Duration: 3 minutes
Description: UC Santa Barbara creative studies art instructor Hank Pitcher paints a cycle of seasons at Coal Oil Point Reserve.

UCSB Current: Protecting the Plover (2015)
Duration: 3 minutes
Description: At UCSB’s Coal Oil Point Reserve, it’s all hands on deck to safeguard the western snowy plover, a threatened species on the Pacific coast, against effects from the recent oil spill.

UCSB Current: Living Laboratories (2015)
Duration: 2 minutes
Description: UC Santa Barbara celebrates 50 years of the UC Natural Reserve System.

UCSB Current: Saving the Season (2019)
Duration: 4 minutes
Description: Protecting the snowy plovers at Coal Oil Point Reserve while they nest is an ever-changing exercise in creative conservation.