Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve preserves 552 acres of the Santa Cruz Sandhills in California’s Santa Cruz Mountains, protecting rare species adapted to Zayante soils, sandy remnants of an ancient seabed found only in scattered local patches. This warm, dry habitat supports an unusual concentration of distinctive plants and animals, including the Bonny Doon manzanita, Santa Cruz wallflower, Ben Lomond spineflower, Zayante band-winged grasshopper, and Mount Hermon June beetle. Purchased in 1989 by The Nature Conservancy and transferred to the state, the reserve later recovered from the 2008 Martin fire, which damaged much of the land but also aided fire-dependent species such as Santa Cruz cypress.