The Santa Cruz Wharf in 2016. Photo: Lauren Salazar/Mobile Ranger

When it was a bustling port city of the mid-18th century, Santa Cruz exported many goods: agricultural products, lumber, leather, and lime. Initially, goods and people were floated or ferried through the surf to waiting ships. But this too often resulted in wet and damaged goods, plus the ladies objected to the surf spray.

Wharves Are for Boosting the Economy

Between 1849 and 1875, three different wharves were built in Santa Cruz. Elihu Anthony built the first. It was an inclined wharf at the end of Bay Street. It went through several owners, the last of whom was Henry Cowell of the Henry Cowell Lime and Cement Company. After he bought it, it quickly became known as Cowell Wharf. His company used it to ship lime from his lime works, which were at the base of what is now the campus of UC Santa Cruz. That wharf collapsed in 1907 during a storm.

Map of the wharves of Santa Cruz. Image: Courtesy of the City of Santa Cruz and based on work by Frank Perry and colleagues

The promontory from which Cowell Wharf came down to the beach. It is just below the Sea and Sand Inn. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

The Gharky Wharf was built by David Gharky at the base of Main Street in 1857. Gharky’s wharf was bought by California Powder Works in 1865, so it was also known as The Powder Mill Wharf. Apparently, California Powder Works had initially used Cowell Wharf for shipping, but a rift developed with Henry Cowell, who played hardball when it came to protecting his financial interests. So the Powder Works bought the Gharky Wharf rather than deal with Henry Cowell. This wharf was dismantled in 1882.

Cowell Wharf (background) and the Railroad Wharf (foreground) circa 1900. The current Municipal Wharf was built about 100 yards west of the Railroad Wharf. Photo: Courtesy of Frank Perry and the Museum of Natural History

The Railroad Wharf was built just west of Gharky’s Wharf in 1875 by the Santa Cruz and Felton Railroad, which ran a narrow-gauge rail line. It was built primarily to ship lumber, lime, and other products from the San Lorenzo Valley. Between 1877 and 1882, an S-shaped wharf connected the Railroad and Gharky (Powder Mill) wharves. In writings after 1940, it is often stated that the Gharky Wharf became the Railroad Wharf. However, recent work by Frank Perry and colleagues, shows this not to be the case. Railroad Wharf was an entirely separate one.

Wharves Are for Shipping

Although they shipped many things, much of the economic incentive to build the wharves came from the lime industry. Santa Cruz was an ideal place for lime production because of the presence of large marble formations, vast redwood forests with wood to stoke the kilns that turned the rock into lime, and a large and ready market in nearby San Francisco. In the mid-1880s, Santa Cruz supplied a third of the lime for the state and three-quarters of San Francisco’s lime needs.

By the turn of the century, goods could be sent out of Santa Cruz overland by rail. Thus, the need for wharves and shipping decreased significantly. Of the three original wharves, only the Railroad Wharf remained by 1910. It was economically viable and was surviving mostly because of commercial fishing.

Morning scene on Fisherman’s Wharf from a circa 1909 postcard. Fisherman’s Wharf was also known as the Railroad Wharf. This image predates the current Municipal Wharf, but the fishing scene is similar to what would have been for many years on the current wharf. Image: Courtesy of Frank Perry

Pleasure Pier was built in 1904 to carry sea water to a plunge pool at the boardwalk. Its construction was the harbinger of a shift to a new norm in the 20th century: Tourism was to become king, and the traditional industries of the 19th century were on their way out.

Aerial photo of Santa Cruz in 1930. You can see the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf (foreground) and Pleasure Pier (center). Photo: Gordon Woody from the collection of Gerald Weber

Wharves Are for Fishing and Fun

The story of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf, which opened in 1914, embodies the not entirely desired transition to a tourist economy. At the turn of the 20th century, many city fathers really still wanted to be a major port city with lots of shipping of goods out of Santa Cruz. As a last-ditch effort to achieve this, they authorized the construction of a very long wharf in the slim hope that accommodating deep water shipping would somehow turn back the tide of railroads. It didn’t.

The Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf, built in 1914, was much longer than any of the three previous wharves. In fact, it is the longest wooden-pile wharf on the West Coast. Photo: Archer Koch of MultiRotorCam

The Santa Cruz Wharf, as it’s called today, was the last wharf built. The dream of reviving Santa Cruz as a seaport did not come true. Instead, fisherman, many Italian-born, moved over from the Railroad Wharf and turned this wharf into the base for their fishing businesses. For 50 years, it was a hard-working, vibrant fishing hub with 75–100 boats unloading salmon, sea bass, rock cod, and sole every day. That changed in 1964, when a harbor was built and opened at Woods Lagoon. Many of the fishing businesses moved their bases of operations to the new harbor, and the Santa Cruz Wharf became a place mainly for recreational fishing from poles, shopping, and dining.

The Wharf Is a Gateway to the Ocean

In the 21st century, economic and business development has been tempered with an environmental imperative. Ecotourism is an important economic engine for Santa Cruz. Today, city mothers and fathers envision a new future for the wharf as a landmark destination that showcases the Monterey Bay’s natural riches. The Wharf Master Plan seeks to change the way people think about the 100-year-old structure. The planners see more than a place to get fish and chips or perhaps a gelato and to say hello to the sea lions. They see a gateway into the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, a special nexus of land and water resources, a platform for world-class marine research and education, along with a beautiful place to stroll, eat, and shop.

View of the entrance to the Santa Cruz Wharf as envisioned by a Master Plan Concept Graphic in 2013. Source: City of Santa Cruz

View of the south end of the Santa Cruz Wharf as envisioned by a Master Plan Concept Graphic in 2013. Source: City of Santa Cruz

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the West Cliff Drive Tour. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

Dogs running in foam at Beer Can Beach near Aptos, California, October 14, 2016. The foam results from the breakdown of Akashiwo phytoplankton. Photo: Robin Wood

Since early September of this year, the Monterey Bay has been experiencing greater and lesser degrees of a red tide. A red tide is essentially a large algal bloom that occurs when environmental conditions allow for explosive growth of phytoplankton (a single-celled organism often called algae). Very dense blooms can change the color of ocean water and lead to red (or brown or orange) tides, depending on the type of phytoplankton.

Many red tides are harmless, but others might contain toxins or be detrimental in other ways, so they are called harmful algal blooms (HABs). Discoloration of the water alone is not an accurate way to determine whether harmful conditions exist. HABs can occur during red tides or they can be colorless and difficult to detect.

A red tide off La Jolla, California. This red tide is a harmful algal bloom caused by a phytoplankton named Lingulodinium. Image: Courtesy of the Raphael Kudela Lab, University of California, Santa Cruz

In California, strong winds and an influx of cold, nutrient-dense waters at the coast lead to blooms of diatoms in the spring, but dinoflagellates are more likely to bloom in the warmer, stratified conditions of the fall. Dinoflagellates are responsible for most red tides, although both dinoflagellates and diatoms can cause HABs.

Photos of water taken from the Santa Cruz wharf (left and middle) and out in the Monterey Bay during a red tide (right) caused by a phytoplankton called Akashiwo. Photos: Courtesy of the Raphael Kudela Lab, UCSC

The Recent Red Tide: Not A HAB

The recent red tide is a classic fall event in that the phytoplankton culprit (Akashiwo) is a dinoflagellate that has probably bloomed because of warmer-than-average waters in the bay — around 56 to 58 degrees. Akashiwo is not toxic to humans.

A phytoplankton called Akashiwo. It causes red algal blooms that are not harmful to humans. Image: Courtesy of the Raphael Kudela Lab, UCSC

However, an Akashiwo bloom can cause a considerable amount of foam when the phytoplankton die and breakdown, especially if it’s stormy. The foam can then act as a surfactant and strip seabird feathers of their waterproof coating. On October 15th and 16th, high winds and rain, combined with a large concentration of Akashiwo, produced a lot of foam. So far though, there have been no confirmed bird deaths as a result.

A large pile of foam at Beer Can Beach in Aptos, California, on October 14, 2016. Photo: Robin Wood.

Have you seen “The Birds” movie? Modern research suggests that a HAB was the cause of the strange behavior that Alfred Hitchcock observed in seabirds, which inspired the story. A bloom of Pseudo-nitzschia, which can produce the potent neurotoxin called domoic acid, is thought to be the cause of the birds’ behavior.

Photos of Akashiwo sampled from a continuous stream of water. Normally there is a mix of phytoplankton species in the water stream. Lately, only Akashiwo has been present. Photo: Raphael Kudela Laboratory, UCSC

Researchers who monitor the environment can identify many types of HABs and their effects on organisms. However, new and unusual HAB occurrences can still stump scientists. In 2007, hundreds of seabirds were found stranded or dead in Monterey Bay in California. They were coated with a mysterious greenish substance that was stripping the protective oils off their feathers. The cause was eventually traced to the decay of an ongoing bloom of a nontoxic phytoplankton species, which turned out to be Akashiwo. The decaying cells, coupled with turbid water conditions, led to a thick foamy substance with properties similar to detergent. So during this fall’s Akashiwo bloom, wildlife experts knew to look for birds in trouble. Wildlife Emergency Services of Moss Landing led patrols along Del Monte Beach and Asilomar State Beach on October 15, 2016 and did not find any birds in distress.

Brown water from the wake of the John H. Martin research vessel during a phytoplankton sampling trip. This was in the middle of a red tide caused by dinoflagellates in October 2013. Note the associated foam in the background. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

For more information and images of red tides and HABs, visit the Ocean Data Center website. You can also see the results of weekly phytoplankton sampling by the Raphael Kudela Lab at the Santa Cruz and Monterey wharves.

More Information about Phytoplankton

This post is part of the Mobile Ranger “Phytoplankton Guide” created by the Kudela Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Download our free Mobile Ranger Guides app to read the “Phytoplankton Guide” and take several of the self-guided mobile tours of the Santa Cruz area that are included in the free app.

The S.S. Palo Alto is a curious oddity with a rich history. It has also become an inspiration to artists who use it to inspire environmental awareness and promote ocean sustainability through the arts. Social Practice Arts Research Center at UCSC is sponsoring the “S.S. Palo Alto Project” which uses the ship as a “thought hub” around which to host art-based projects and events to teach ocean education and inspire environmental awareness.

Depiction of the S.S. Palo Alto by a UCSC art student.

Richard Desanto, who is coordinating the project says “I wouldn’t look to any one of our events or projects as a distillation of our goals; instead, each functions as a building block to a more environmentally sound future.”

Event: Armour Our Shore

In 2014, across from the visitor center near the “cement” ship, the S.S. Palo Alto Project partnered with Save Our Shores and the Public Art class of Professor Dee Hibbert-Jones to bring art to the shores of the park. Joined by local students of the Mt. Saint Madonna Middle School, teams performed skits to highlight the state of our waters. Alongside the plays were information rich posters covering various issues concerning the oceans as well as activities to further engage with the public. Local television broadcasters were present to cover the event.

Skit next to the S.S. Palo Alto titled “Armor Our Shore.” This was an event put on by the S.S. Palo Alto Project in 2014. Image: Courtesy the S.S. Palo Alto Project

Art: Fish Pack Your Trash

The Suitcase. The sculpture is made of items ranging from drinking straws to motor oil containers that flow through the urban catch basins to the beaches following rainstorms. Image: Kim Abeles

Kim Abeles from the S.S. Palo Alto Project has created the “Dolphin Suitcase” made from found trash that had washed up on the beach. The suitcase is a functional “prop” made up of disposable silverware, lighters, straws, and much more. Inside are larger pieces of trash. Abeles, accompanied by her Dolphin Suitcase, visits classrooms and teaches about how trash can become part of the pollutants that get into streams, and then flow into rivers and the ocean.

Ables built the Dolphin Suitcase as a functional sculptural “prop” to discuss storm drains and recycling. Image: Kim Abeles

The exterior detail creates reality. Every kid knows about a drinking straw, and they think of it as one. When they see them all collectively, it begins to have an impact that statistics or facts alone really couldn’t do. Image: Kim Abeles

The interior contains larger objects found in streams and rivers. These are secured with snaps and bindings, then presented home-shopping-network-style during the performance. Image: Kim Abeles

Dynamic Art: Bike Around the S.S. Palo Alto

The Velodrome Powerstation Project by Nathaniel Freeman and Paul Hempstead, aims to have people bike around a the S.S. Palo Alto on a temporary platform. The bikes are set up with batteries charged by the human-mechanized energy of the riders. These batteries are then plugged into a charging station (in visual range of the Moss Landing coastal power station located 20 miles south) that serves as the central power source of the structure itself, as well as being available for visitors to charge personal electronic devices.

Velodrome Powerstation Project by Nathaniel Freeman and Paul Hempstead. Image: Courtesy the S.S. Palo Alto Project

The structure is designed to mimic the existing architectural elements of the pier, and will use reclaimed and sustainable materials as much as possible. The walkway is made in part of a transparent material to allow for views of the vessel and the surrounding water; the same material is used to surround the interior of the track, ensuring rider safety and a clear view of the ship. The project aims to produce enough energy to sustain itself, as well as to incite visitor dialogue and create experiential learning opportunities for alternative energy generation.

For more information and upcoming events as part of the S.S. Palo Alto Project, check out the S.S. Palo Alto Project website and contact Barbara Benish at barbara.benish@gmail.com.

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the Santa Cruz Marine Protected Areas Beaches Tour made possible by the Santa Cruz Collaborative with support from the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation and the Resources Legacy Fund. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

1. Sources

   • SS Palo Alto Art Park, by Barbara Benish. Social and Environmental Practice in the Arts at UC Santa Cruz, 2012. Sparc.ucsc.edu website.
   • Personal communication with Barbara Benish, University of California Santa Cruz Art Department Research Associate, Santa Cruz County, April 2016.

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]]> /santacruz/ss-palo-alto-war-ship-to-night-club-to-modern-art-hotspot/feed/ 0 /tour/west-cliff-drive/ /tour/west-cliff-drive/#respond Thu, 22 Sep 2016 17:27:04 +0000 /?p=6776

The Mark Abbot Memorial Lighthouse at Lighthouse Point, along West Cliff Drive.

No visit to Santa Cruz is complete without a walk along West Cliff Drive. It’s home to several of Santa Cruz’s iconic landmarks, houses the heart of Santa Cruz surf culture at Steamer Lane and is a great place to see the local marine life. We highlight a few of the stops below, but all twenty one stories can be found in the mobile app and many can be read in blog form at the bottom of this page.

A screen shot of the stops and the interactive map feature in the self-guided mobile tour.

The lighthouses at Lighthouse Point have come and gone and moved around. Do you know how many there have been?

Aerial view of Lighthouse point circa 1941. You can see the beacon and the old lighthouse on the north side of West Cliff Drive. Image is used courtesy of Frank Perry. Ed Webber was the photographer.

Locals call it the blow hole. It is the last remaining vestige of a wave motor built in the 1890’s.

Waves spouting through a vented but plugged shaft: the last remaining vestige of the Armstrong Brothers’ Wave Motor.

Natural Bridges State Beach is so named because it used to have three bridges. Now there is just one arch.

The lone remaining arch at Natural Bridges State Beach in April 2012.

The three natural bridges circa 1900. Photo courtesy of Frank Perry and UCSC Special Collections.

Don’t miss the crazy “toilet bowl” formations lurking within the local rocks.

Half of a “toilet bowl” exposed along the coast near Swift Street. There are several whole toilet bowls. Can you find some?

Santa Cruz City Hall gardens and the accidental date palm tree. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

This self-guided tour of several trees in Santa Cruz’s urban forest was created in 2016 by UCSC Environmental Studies student Laurel Wee. Trees make urban spaces more inviting, cool, and pleasant, but they are often overlooked and under-appreciated. Trees have stories too, and the goal of this tour is to give some of Santa Cruz’s urban trees their due.

A screen shot of the stops and the interactive map feature in the self-guided mobile tour.

The tour has seven stops that form a loop around the downtown and west side of Santa Cruz. Each includes small historical anecdotes, information about characteristics of the tree, and additional fun facts. The tour starts at Neary Lagoon Park and takes about two hours. We suggest you use the public parking at the top of Neary Lagoon Park at 110 California Street (next to the intersection of California Street and Bay Street). The stops can be toured in any order, but we give walking directions in the order shown in the interactive table.

We thank Randall Morgan and Leslie Keedy for helping us extensively with this project.

Elkhorn Slough with Moss Landing Power Plant in the background. The orange stuff is called dodder (Cuscuta) and is a parasitic plant. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

At Moss Landing, Highway 1 crosses over Elkhorn Slough, one of the largest estuaries in California. Estuaries are places where the sea meets freshwater. They are home to a rich array of plants and animals that can live in this unique habitat. At Elkhorn Slough, the seawater enters the estuary at the harbor mouth directly west of the Highway 1 bridge, and freshwater comes from several sources: the Salinas River; Tembladero Slough, which runs south of Castroville; and upland creeks that feed into both Moro Cojo and Elkhorn sloughs.

Most of the Elkhorn Slough Watershed and the majority of fresh water sources that drain into it. Image: Courtesy of The Elkhorn Slough Foundation

People have lived along the shores of Elkhorn Slough for at least 8,000 years. Successive waves of people have used the slough in different ways, including harvesting shellfish, fishing, hunting, agriculture, and even helping to generate electrical power. Conservation work in the last few decades has protected much of the natural habitat at Elkhorn Slough and has restored areas that were impacted by earlier human uses.

Today, it is one of the largest and most ecologically important estuarine systems in California. It provides habitats for native shorebirds, marine mammals such as sea otters and sea lions, and a wide variety of marine invertebrates. The slough also serves as an important nursery for a variety of fish species.

Moss Landing harbor at Elkhorn Slough. Photo: a7pointstar

Habitats and Wildlife at Elkhorn Slough

Elkhorn Slough tidal habitats encompass extraordinary biological diversity, providing critical habitat for more than 135 aquatic bird, 550 marine invertebrate, and 102 fish species. The slough is also home to sea lions, harbor seals, and California sea otters. More than 200 different bird species use the slough as a resting spot during their annual migrations.

The upland habitats within the watershed include three of the top 10 most imperiled US habitats: freshwater wetlands, coastal prairie, and maritime chaparral. These systems are amazingly diverse, with coastal prairie being the most species-rich grassland in North America.

Several harbor seals rest at a side channel in Elkhorn Slough. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Estuaries like Elkhorn Slough are among the most threatened ecosystems in California, facing rates of habitat loss between 75 and 90 percent. As a result, a disproportionate number of rare, threatened, and endangered species reside in these areas. In the Elkhorn Slough watershed, two dozen species are included in these categories. Because experts recognize the value of these resources to the country, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) designated areas of Elkhorn Slough as part of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and as a National Estuarine Research Reserve.

There are few native oysters left in Elkhorn Slough due to overfishing in the 1920s and habitat burial by sediments. Restoration work is underway. In this photo the growth rates of native oysters are being surveyed. Photo: Elkhorn Slough Reserve

Moss Landing Harbor

The estuary habitats were profoundly affected by the creation of the present day Moss Landing Harbor. In 1947, just two years after the end of World War II, the Army Corps of Engineers dredged a channel through the barrier dunes for a new harbor entrance.

Modern day Elkhorn Slough and Moss Landing Harbor. Photo: US Army Corps of Engineers

Elkhorn Slough in 1979 with the expanded harbor. Photo: © Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman, California Coastal Records Project .http://www.Californiacoastline.org

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the Santa Cruz Marine Protected Areas Beaches Tour made possible by the Santa Cruz Collaborative with support from the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation and the Resources Legacy Fund. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

1. Sources

   • Elkhorn Slough Tidal Wetland Plan: Evolution of Elkhorn Slough and Associated Wetlands 20,000 years before present (ybp) to 1880 A.D. Andrea Woolfolk. Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Reserve, September 7, 2005.

    

   • Elkhorn Slough Tidal Wetland Plan: 150 Years of Human Alterations and Tidal Habitat Change (1870 - Present) . Barb Peichel, Kerstin Wasson, Andrea Woolfolk, and Eric Van Dyke. Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, February 20, 2005.

    

    

   • Changes in a California Estuary: A Profile of Elkhorn Slough. Edited by Jane Caffrey, Martha Brown, W. Breck Tyler, and Mark Silberstein. Elkhorn Slough Foundation, 2002.
   • What is a Salt Marsh? National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Website.

    

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]]> /santacruz/elkhorn-slough-interface-between-land-and-sea/feed/ 2 /santacruz/greyhounds-almost-nuclear-powerplant/ /santacruz/greyhounds-almost-nuclear-powerplant/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2016 20:00:53 +0000 /?p=12240

Aerial image of El Jarro Point in 1993. This is area is about 3.5 miles south of Greyhound rock. The buildings in the center-top portion are what is now Swanton Berry Farms. Photo: © Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman, California Coastal Records Project .http://www.Californiacoastline.org

​Greyhound Rock lies right next to one of the major faults within the San Gregorio Fault Zone. This fact might be no big surprise in earthquake-prone California, but what is startling is how ridiculously close we came to building a huge nuclear power plant right on top of this active fault zone.
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In 1969, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) announced it had leased 6,800 acres of Coast Dairies and Land property and intended to build a 6,000-megawatt-generating nuclear power plant at El Jarro Point, a wide marine terrace between Scott Creek Beach and Davenport Landing. The plant would have stood approximately where Swanton Berry Farm is now and required a major rerouting of Highway 1.

Geologist Gerald Weber standing in the field where El Point Nuclear Power Plant was to have been built. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

“It is a classic exposure of fault movement. The fault had been completely covered by vegetation for probably hundreds of years. If not for the El Niño storms of 1972 and 1973, no one would have ever noticed it.”

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The entire zone between the two black arrows is the Frijoles Fault at Año Nuevo/Cove Beach. Notice that it is a “zone” about 70 feet wide. To find it when you go to our Año Nuevo/Cove Beach stop, look for the trees and the slumped area. If you see the dark tilted layer in the cliffs, above the right-most arrow, you know you have found the fault. Image: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

In the 1970s, the San Francisco Bay Area was well-known for earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault, of course. But the San Gregorio Fault, which extends from San Francisco to south of Santa Cruz all along the coast, was just being discovered and mapped. Weber’s work was crucial in detailing the faulting around Año Nuevo State Park and Greyhound Rock.

Faults in the San Francisco Bay Area and Santa Cruz coast region. Image: Courtesy Gerald Weber

By 1971, a passionate group of people was already on the move to stop the nuclear power plant at El Jarro Point. In September 1971, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted 3 to 2 for a moratorium “in principle” on a permit for the plant. But it was really Weber’s discovery of the Frijoles Fault and other faults in the San Gregorio Fault Zone at Cove Beach that stopped the El Jarro Nuclear Power Plant dead in its tracks.
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For a nuclear power plant to be approved, there can be no nearby active faults and, in geologic terms, “active” means a surface rupture within the last 10,000 years. By using radiocarbon dating of plant remains at the base of the cliffs at Cove Beach, Weber was able to prove clear movement within the San Gregorio Fault Zone at Año Nuevo/Cove Beach in the last 10,000 years.

A map of the many faults in this area. The fault exposed at Greyhound Rock is still not well mapped. Image: Created by and courtesy of Gerald Weber

Faults from the San Gregorio Fault Zone continue north and south and can be seen in the beach cliffs at Greyhound Rock. Greyhound Rock itself is not faulted.

These cliffs at Greyhound beach clearly show fault movement. The two black arrows point to the most obvious places where rocks have slid past each other. There are likely two other faults in this area two but they are a bit harder to see. Image: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

One way to cope with the threat of earthquakes: poke fun at the threat with a t-shirt!

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As you enjoy the California coast, keep in mind that it could start moving and shaking at any time. The San Gregorio Fault Zone has moved in the last 10,000 years and it will move again. We just don’t know when. Geologist Gerald Weber admits that he hopes the San Gregorio Fault Zone, which he spent much of his life laboriously mapping, might show some modest sign of movement while he is still alive.

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the Santa Cruz Marine Protected Areas Beaches Tour made possible by the Santa Cruz Collaborative with support from the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation and the Resources Legacy Fund. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

1. Sources

   • The Geology from Santa Cruz to Point Año Nuevo, with the San Gregorio Fault zone and Pleistocene Marine Terraces. Gerald E. Weber and Alan O. Allwardt. University of California, Santa Cruz

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   • Personal communication with Dr. Gerald (Jerry) Weber, Lecturer Emeritus University of California, Santa Cruz, Geologic Consultant. May and June 2016.

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]]> /santacruz/greyhounds-almost-nuclear-powerplant/feed/ 2 /losgatos/redwood-estates-and-easy-living-in-the-santa-cruz-mountains/ /losgatos/redwood-estates-and-easy-living-in-the-santa-cruz-mountains/#comments Thu, 23 Jun 2016 06:43:56 +0000 /?p=11936

Gail Loyd, Hollywood movie star, helps advertise mountain cabins at Redwood Estates (Cabinland magazine). Image: Modified from original provided by Richard Beal

And this air! There’s nothing like it anywhere in the world! And the crystal-clear spring water, so cool and sparkling! And—just think!—it’s supplied, abundantly and freely, to every cabin! Why, just to be here makes a person feel like a happy, frisky child of ten! This is the place to come for vacation. This is the place to live!

Redwood Estates Then

This 1927 promotional video for Redwood Estates, put on YouTube by the California Pioneers of Santa Clara County, takes you back to that time:

Lots in the development ranged from $100 to $1,000, and the Redwood Estate company offered cabin plans for quick and easy building. There was a large community center with a pool, free water, ready electrical hook-up, and, if you owned a car, passable roads.

Apparently, many visitors stopped at the Dutch windmill, built strategically just in front of the sales office, and then become land owners in the Redwood estates development. Before the windmill was built in 1927, they used a large wooden bear to attract attention.

Redwood Estates entrance. The Dutch windmill was built to catch the attention of passing motorists and attract them to the sales office located  behind the windmill. (Bruce Kennedy Collection) Photo: Courtesy of Richard Beal

Redwood Estates Now

Evidence of the original subdivision is subtle. Today, the housing is certainly no bargain and is primarily permanent, not vacation homes. Although the US Census Bureau classifies the area as part of Lexington Hills, the name of the local post office is still Redwood Estates. Given the power of the post to define and shape towns throughout US history, I am gonna bet that Redwood Estates will be the name that endures.

The Redwood Estates post office in 2006. Photo: David Jordon

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the Highway 17 Tour. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

Modern day Lighthouse Point showing the Purisima Formation and the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse, which was built in 1967. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Lighthouse Point in Santa Cruz, California, is surrounded by world class surf spots and amazing views. It’s named for the lighthouse built to commemorate a local boy who went surfing and never came back. The lighthouse is a museum of local surf history, and the whole area has grown to be a special nexus of expression for the Santa Cruz surfing community. So it seems fitting, even though unfortunate, that this gateway to the ocean’s beauty and power is threatened by the power of the ocean.

Its Beach with Lighthouse Point in the background. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Lighthouse Point is composed of a particularly resistant part of the Purisima Formation. In general, the Purisima erodes fairly easily. For this reason, the ocean was able to cut landward and create the Monterey Bay. However, Lighthouse Point and a few other resistant headlands, including San Lorenzo Point and Pleasure Point, have withstood the ocean’s erosive force. Lighthouse Point actually protects Monterey Bay’s northern beaches from much of the wave energy they would otherwise get from the dominantly northwest waves. Even so, Lighthouse Point is not immune to wave erosion.

The lighthouse circa 1888. Photo: Courtesy of the Santa Cruz City-County Library System

Original Lighthouse Had to be Moved

The original lighthouse was built in 1869, close to the edge of the cliff. In 1878, less than 10 years later, a letter was sent to the Lighthouse Board noting that three large caves (all over 50 feet long and 50 feet wide) penetrated the point, and the largest extended to within 12 feet of the lighthouse.

To preemptively save the lighthouse from potential catastrophic cliff erosion, the Lighthouse Board ordered it to be picked up and moved 300 feet inward. Thus, from 1879 to 1948, the lighthouse was located on the north side of what is now West Cliff Drive.

Aerial view of Lighthouse Point circa 1941. You can see the beacon and the old lighthouse on the north side of West Cliff Drive. Photo: By Ed Webber, used courtesy of Frank Perry

A Long Run Comes to an End

In 1939, the Coast Guard assumed responsibility for all of the nation’s lighthouses. Shortly thereafter, the Coast Guard installed an automated beacon on top of a white wooden tower and decommissioned Santa Cruz’s lighthouse. The beacon was about 20 feet north of the current Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse. The light from the beacon was less than half as bright as that from the lighthouse. Despite a vibrant shipping past, by 1930, due to roads and railroads, Santa Cruz no longer had much shipping traffic. Therefore, the beacon was bright enough to be seen only by local fishing boats.

The lighthouse facilities were used briefly during World War II to house 200 soldiers stationed there during the war. After WWII, however, the lighthouse was not serving a particular purpose for the Coast Guard, so it was demolished. From 1948 until 1967, Santa Cruz had no lighthouse. There was just a beacon with a light so weak that local fisherman complained it couldn’t be distinguished from the car headlights on West Cliff Drive.

Aerial view of Lighthouse Point in 1957. The beacon stands alone. The only traces of the original lighthouse are the cypress trees that outline where it stood from 1879 to 1948. Photo: Used courtesy of Frank Perry

The New Lighthouse

The beacon might still be the only light here today if not for the tragic death of a local boy named Mark Abbott. On a Sunday morning in February, 1965, Mark went to the beach with his friends, went body surfing, and never returned. Mark’s parents, Chuck and Esther Abbott, were able to turn their grief from losing a child into something positive for the community: a new lighthouse at Lighthouse Point. The Abbotts made sure that the lighthouse honored even more than their son. A bronze plaque inside the lighthouse reads:

“This lighthouse is further dedicated to all our youth whose lives, through fate or misadventure, are terminated before realizing their true potential. May their spirits find new dimension in the unknown horizons that await us all.”

Same Cave Problem

The brick remains of the original lighthouse built in 1869 lie just a few hundred feet toward the ocean from the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse.

Brick remnants of the original 1869 lighthouse (center left). The round brick shape (center right) was a cistern used for collecting rainwater from the lighthouse roof. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

In 1980, one of the caves that undermined the original lighthouse was plugged with concrete because it threatened to undermine the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse. Unfortunately, the plug did more harm than good, because it deflected waves upward, increased erosion of the upper cliff, and exposed the brick foundation of the original lighthouse site. It eventually washed out in 2000.

Filling the caves under Lighthouse Point in 1980. Photo: By and courtesy of Frank Perry

During the El Niño storms of 1982–83, waves eroded the sea cliff to within 10 feet of the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse. A new concrete retaining wall was built in the 1990s, and the walkways and fences in this area are constantly being moved landward. Two caves still remain: one just to left of lighthouse, facing south (the one that had the concrete plug) and another on the west side, facing southwest. That second one is quite deep and extends almost to the lighthouse.

The cave filled in 1980, which is still eroding. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

A cave in the Purisima Formation, which is undercutting modern day Lighthouse Point on the west side of Santa Cruz. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

A crane placing rip rap rocks near Steamer Lane in 1981. Photo Courtesy of and by Frank Perry

Much of West Cliff Drive has been armored with rip rap (1– to 2–ton boulders placed in a group) and sea walls to try to prevent erosion from cutting back the coastline. Such protections at Lighthouse Point certainly conflict with its natural beauty and surf. But the caves are there and, at some point, hard decisions about additional armoring of Lighthouse Point versus saving the lighthouse will have to be made. Perhaps it could be moved back across West Cliff Drive?

A view from the Santa Cruz Mountains to the eroding coast along West Cliff Drive in 2010. Photo: © Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman, California Coastal Records Project www.Californiacoastline.org

Further Information

• Lighthouse Point: Illuminating Santa Cruz, by Frank Perry. Otter B Books, 2002. Available at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, Santa Cruz Surfing Museum, and Natural Bridges State Beach Visitor Center.
• Santa Cruz historian Frank Perry’s website.
• Santa Cruz Surfing Museum. Located at Lighthouse Point, the museum is open Wednesday through Monday, 10 am to 5 pm, July 4 through Labor Day and Thursday through Monday, 12 noon to 4 pm, the rest of the year.
• Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. Located at 1305 East Cliff Drive, the museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm, during summer (Memorial Day through Labor Day) and Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm, the rest of the year. Call 831.420.6115 for more information.
• Lighthouse Friends website.
• The Huge Boulders Along the Santa Cruz Shoreline: A Common Coastal Story. Mobile Ranger blog.

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the West Cliff Drive Tour. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

Brandt’s cormorandts tending to their babies on a sea cliff ledge on West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz, California, May 2016. Photo: Lauren McEvoy/Mobile Ranger

Brandt’s cormorants (Phalacrocorax penicillatus) are back on the sea cliff just west of Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz. They started using this ledge in large numbers in 2011 after the breeding habitat was improved by removing the non-native and invasive ice plant. The Brandt’s cormorants do not nest on top of ice plant and are sensitive to human disturbance. To breed, they need open ledges free of predators and safe from people walking, talking, or sitting to drink coffee.

The ledge before ice plant removal in April 2011. Photo: Courtesy of Jonathan Fellis

In the photo above, you can see one Brandt’s cormorant on a nest (the greenish mound) and one empty nest. In April 2011, as part of the West Cliff Restoration Project, local ecologists Bill Henry, Josh Adams, Ryan Carle, and Jessie Beck cleared encroaching ice plant from this ledge. By the next day, a large group of Brandt’s cormorants started building their nests.

The same ledge one day after ice plant removal, April 2011. Photo: Courtesy of Jonathan Fellis

The cormorants incubate their eggs for ~30 days, and the chicks leave the nest when they 40–50 days old. When the birds fly from the ledge for the first time, usually in late August, they are not yet strong enough to fly back, so they hang out on the beach below for up to several weeks while the parents still feed them.

The young Brandt’s cormorants on the beach below their breeding ledge. Photo: Courtesy of Alayne Meeks

In 2011, after the ice plant was cleared, 21 nests were counted and 44–45 chicks were documented as hatching (Alayne Meeks, Oikonos). In 2012, the numbers of nests and chicks hatched were practically the same. The ledge was not used again for breeding from 2013 through 2015, but it was used again in spring 2016, with 35 birds and 14 nest sites as of May 17.

The reasons for the three-year hiatus are unclear. Fluctuations in the numbers of mating birds might be related to changes in ocean conditions, disturbances, presence of predators, or simply better habitat conditions elsewhere. In many years, the Brandt’s cormorants nest on the remaining Natural Bridges arch, less than 100 yards away. The same population might even alternate between the two sites.

Native Plant Restoration Is for the Birds

Although Brandt’s cormorants are not a threatened or endangered species, they are vulnerable to the loss of breeding habitats, including the erosion of offshore rocks, such as the remaining arch at Natural Bridges State Beach. Potential mainland breeding sites are heavily impacted by coastal development, coastal armoring such as sea walls, rip-rap (1– to 2–ton boulders placed in a group), invasive vegetation, and predators. Clearing of ice plant on West Cliff Drive provides more places for the birds to breed along the shore.

An example of coastal “armoring” along West Cliff Drive. You can see that both a sea wall and rip-rap were used to protect the coast from wave erosion. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Bill Henry, a local scientist, has spearheaded removal of ice plant and restoration of native plants along West Cliff Drive since 2012. Henry’s goal is to restore plant biodiversity, increase habitat, and engage the public in stewardship of the coast. An example of this restoration work can be seen just a few hundred feet to the east of the Brandt’s ledge pictured above (just past Chico Avenue).

Native plant restoration between Natural Bridges State Beach and Chico Avenue in January 2013, several months after planting. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

The plot was cleared of ice plant and replanted in spring of 2012. The native species planted include California sagebrush, coast buckwheat, dudleya, lizard tail, seaside daisy, sticky monkey flower, prunella, and yarrow, all grown from locally collected seed. These plants are typical of the northern coastal sage scrub habitat that was here before it was displaced by ice plant. The restoration sites are already supporting increased faunal diversity, including native bees and birds.

The same restored location in May 2016. Photo: Lauren McEvoy/Mobile Ranger

Native coastal sage scrub vegetation in its full glory at 3-Mile Beach (Wilder Ranch State Park, three miles north of Santa Cruz). Coast buckwheat is in the bottom left of this photo, dudleya are the yellow flowers in the center, and California sagebrush dominates the back, toward the right. Photo: Courtesy of Jackie Pascoe

Restored coastal sage scrub vegetation also surrounds the Seymour Center at the Long Marine Lab.

The work was initially the West Cliff Restoration Project of the nonprofit Oikonos. Since 2012, partners and volunteers worked along West Cliff Drive (at Lighthouse Field, for example) and at the entrance to Seabright Beach. The project has since become a separate organization, Groundswell Coastal Ecology. Groundswell enhances coastal resources in Santa Cruz by pairing education, community activities, and science with ecological restoration. Sites include Seabright Beach, Lighthouse Field (across from the surfer statue), and Natural Bridges. Their 2016–17 plans include planting of more than 10,000 native plants along the Natural Bridges headland.

Volunteer for Restoration

If you are interested in participating in the coastal restoration process or want to receive Groundswell updates, please send email to info@groundswellecology.org. Groundswell ecologists are seeking volunteers to assist with seed collection and plant propagation, which will support the 2016–17 restoration season.

Zora Thomas planting native plants at Natural Bridges, January 2016. Photo: Groundswell Coastal Ecology

Groundswell volunteers with California State Parks employee Juan Villarino at a Lighthouse Field Coastal Stewardship Day sponsored by Groundswell Coastal Ecology. Photo: Groundswell Coastal Ecology

The Santa Cruz Chapter of the California Native Plant Society also leads restoration projects at Natural Bridges State Park and various places around the county. If you would like to get involved with them, check the meeting schedules and contact information on the Santa Cruz Chapter of the California Native Plant Society website.

Further Information

• Groundswell Coastal Ecology website
• Oikonos ecosystem knowledge website
• Santa Cruz Chapter, California Native Plant Society website

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the West Cliff Drive Tour. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

Range of the California buckeye, Aesculus californica, which is endemic to California. Image: USGS

The entire life strategy of the California buckeye optimizes for economical water use. It is the first shrub (small tree) to leaf out every year and grows rapidly in the wet winter and spring months when its neighbors are still dormant. It finishes its creamy, fragrant floral show by the end of June, loses all its leaves, and then enters dormancy by mid- to late summer, although in cooler coastal climates the leaves might hang on until fall. The bark, leaves, and large eye-catching seeds are toxic to most animals. The pollen and nectar, although safe to many butterflies, hummingbirds, and native honeybees, make non-native bees sick, so that it’s a common problem for beekeepers. A “buckeyed-bee” hatches with deformed legs, body, and crippled wings.

Late May into early June is a great time to spot the California buckeye when it’s in its full flowering glory.

The Thimann greenhouse facilities. Many of these plants are used in local land restoration. Photo: Courtesy of Jim Velzy

The tops of UCSC’s science buildings have three high-tech greenhouses that make them a botanist’s paradise in the sky. All three facilities are computer-controlled to enable staff to fine-tune the internal climate.

In just one of the facilities, there are currently 700 species of plants. A portion of them is housed indoors within three different microclimates, and the rest are outside, surrounding the two outdoor classrooms. Faculty and graduate students use the research facilities to study plant pathology, genetic modification, the effects of climate change on ecosystem restoration, and more. Consequently, the UCSC greenhouses play a big role in restoration efforts here in Santa Cruz, California.

Outdoor local flora waiting to be transplanted to their respective restoration sites. Photo: Courtesy of Jim Velzy

There are usually between 20 and 30 different experiments being conducted at any time. They investigate questions such as how quickly invasive weeds such as periwinkle and fennel can crowd out native grasses and flowers. Some of the plants grown in the facilities are endangered and are used in a coastal prairie restoration project near the Seymour Marine Center. They germinate native grass seedlings and transplant them to Younger Lagoon Reserve to restore the native ecosystem.

Students and faculty from the greenhouse facilities also manage protected lands through the UC Natural Reserve System. Together with other UC branches, they maintain more than 30 different protected areas throughout California. They perform a variety of vital services for the state’s native flora, such as removing invasive weeds like periwinkle, ice plant, scotch broom, and poison hemlock.

The work and research done in the greenhouse facilities help ensure that the native flora of Santa Cruz remain as pristine and undisturbed as possible for everyone to enjoy.

This post was written by Antonio Lamb, a Mobile Ranger intern at the time of writing, and Julia Gaudinski.

The Salton Sea, 2015. Photo: Marc Cooper, public domain

In 1904, the Salton Sink was merely a dry lake bed. But in 1905, it became a huge inland sea almost overnight when the Colorado River was accidentally diverted into the basin in a botched diversion project for the Imperial Canal.

The accidental diversion created a habitat for the thousands of pelicans seen in the background of this photo taken in 1910. Photo: Pierce, C.C, public domain

Although it became a booming vacation destination during the 1950s, today, the Salton Sea area is a ghostly place. Exploring it now can feel like visiting the set of a horror movie that takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. It is a very interesting place to visit, the water can be smelly, but it’s not toxic at all, so do not worry about that.

Someone must have been distracted by watching television when the apocalypse hit. Photo: Christopher Bowns CC BY-SA 2.0

How the Sea Came to Be

At the turn of the last century, concerns over the environment didn’t really exist. Development was paramount. That’s why people saw the accidental formation of the sea as an opportunity to turn the area into a tourist hot spot.

In 1927, budding entrepreneur Gus Eilers opened a new resort and started boat races. That inspired other young men to try to make their fortunes from the Salton Sea.

The yacht club and North Shore Motel at the Salton Sea in the 1960s. Photo: SkinheadSportBiker1 CC BY 2.0

During the 1950s and ’60s, the Salton Sea really started to boom as thousands of boaters, water skiers, and vacationers flocked to the area. The appeal of the sea even attracted celebrities, including Frank Sinatra and The Beach Boys. The sea was stocked with fish from the Gulf of California, so that attracted people who liked to fish, and bird populations began to migrate there, too.

The Salton Sea had its day in the sun. Photo: Shastared CC BY 2.0

An Aberration Created by Humans, Destroyed by Nature

Beginning in the 1960s, still at the height of its popularity, the sea went through dramatic changes. Unlike natural bodies of water, the Salton Sea has no outlet, which is why its water level is static. The water lost by evaporation is replaced in roughly equal quantity by irrigation runoff from local farms. This runoff contains large amounts of salt and nutrients from fertilizer (primarily nitrogen and phosphorus), so the salinity and nutrient levels rise every year.

A combination of three surrounding rivers and farm runoff feed the Salton Sea. Photo: Phil Konstantin CC BY 2.0, 2009

The extra nutrients from the fertilizer creates algal blooms, which smell horrible, especially in hot weather. When these die, the algae sinks to the bottom. Bacteria then eat the algae, creating hydrogen sulfide gas that depletes oxygen from the water.

Separate pools show different concentrations of algae and bacteria. Photo: Raindrift CC BY-SA 3.0

Because the gas restricts the oxygen that’s necessary to breathe, thousands of fish began to die during the 1980s. The birds that frequently migrate to the Salton Sea eat the rotting fish and become sick, sometimes dying from botulism poisoning. The sand on the beach is actually composed of fish and bird bones.

A dead fish in the Salton Sea, 2013. Photo: Courtesy of Livia Hyams

Just when it seemed things couldn’t get any worse, two large tropical storms in 1976 and 1977 caused the water in the Salton Sea to rise. Homes and buildings were flooded, and the damage was irreversible. On top of the dead animals and putrid stench, the flooding influenced a mass exodus of residents.

What’s left of the tourist attractions now. Photo: Greg Mannin LB, public domain

Today, the lake continues to shrink as there are no freshwater inputs and people avoid going in the salty often algal filled water at all. While it appears un-appetizing, the truth is the water is not polluted with anything harmful to humans. In fact, if you removed the high levels of salt and nutrients, it would actually meet federal standards for safe drinking water.

This post was written by Livia Hyams, a Mobile Ranger intern at the time of writing, and Julia Gaudinski.

Salton Sea: Bizarre in Every Way. https://t.co/yo9mTZ5Ze4 #saltonsea @Visitsaltonsea @SaltonSeaMedia @SaltonSeaWalk pic.twitter.com/wQpNyxR3zZ

— Mobile Ranger (@Mobile_Ranger) May 10, 2016

Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde, 1 of 3. Photo: Courtesy of Livia Hyams

From 600 to 1300 AD, the ancient pueblo people (sometimes called the Anasazi) lived in Mesa Verde, Colorado. Sometime around 1190, they moved their homes from the plateau to the natural alcoves in the steep cliff faces of Mesa Verde Canyon. Only 100 years later, they left Mesa Verde altogether. Why did they move into the cliffs, and why did they leave after just a few generations?

Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde, 2 of 3. Photo: Courtesy of Livia Hyams

The ancient pueblo people attained a cultural Golden Age between 900 and 1150, a span that encompassed innovations such as pottery, food storage, and agriculture and enabled rapid growth in population. They probably retreated to the alcoves for protection from the elements because they had become able to transport water and food in pottery and because the cliff dwellings were defensible positions.

Around 1150, the climate in the region began to shift and entered a dry period that lasted 300 years. The pueblo people probably left Mesa Verde because it became too dry to sustain them. The Tiwanaku civilization around Lake Titicaca in present-day Bolivia collapsed during that time, too.

Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde, 3 of 3. Photo: Courtesy of Livia Hyams

Yet 700 years later, the dwellings still stand due to the durability of the sandstone and protection from natural elements provided by the alcove ceiling. The story of the ancient pueblo people highlights that water is so critical that it can drive the migration of peoples. It is a particularly good story to reflect on after the western United States recovers from grappling with a prolonged drought. El Niño rainfall in late 2015 into 2016, helped, but another drought in the future is almost inevitable. We need to think long-term.

This post was written by Livia Hyams, a Mobile Ranger intern at the time of writing, and Julia Gaudinski.

Boneyard beach, 2012. Photo: Fran Trudeau CC BY-SA 2.0

Jekyll Island is a spot frequented by tourists on the barrier islands off the coast of Georgia and home to a picturesque boneyard beach. Barrier islands are long, thin, and generally parallel to the mainland, which they protect from the full force of the ocean’s might. They are dynamic ecosystems, and the islands themselves are often on the move from the influence of changing sea levels, storms, waves, tides, and longshore currents.

These decimated trees resemble a boneyard. Photo: oliver.dodd CC BY 2.0

Jekyll Island, like many barrier islands along the Atlantic coast, has a maritime forest. The forests of mostly oak and pine originally grew on high ground, protected from the ocean by sand dunes on the beach. Shoreline retreat is also a common phenomenon on barrier islands. Longshore currents move sand from the north to the south and can erode the dune fields that protect the forests.

The changing landscape and salty conditions created this unique beach. Photo: oliver.dodd CC BY 2.0

Without protection from the dunes, the salt water exposure kills the trees, and they uproot and fall over. The tree “corpses” are preserved due to the salty air, which starves insects and prevents fungal rot. These beaches can be up to three miles long and are an eerily beautiful reminder that landscapes are always changing.

This post was written by Livia Hyams, a Mobile Ranger intern at the time of writing, and Julia Gaudinski.

Feral pig. Photo: Ricard Bartz CC BY SA 2.5

Spanish ships visiting Monterey Bay in 1769 released a bunch of domestic pigs, hoping they would go forth, multiply, and be a plentiful food source for restocking their ships. This they did quite well for over 150 years, thanks to the tubers and grubs in the coastal prairies and the acorns in the woodlands.

Then in 1925, Eurasian wild boar were imported from North Carolina and released in Carmel. The feral pigs we have in coastal California today are a mix of these two stocks. About 30,000 wild pigs are hunted and killed each year in California, most in Sonoma, Mendocino, and Monterey counties.

If you want to know how to stalk, kill, and cook a wild pig, read Jack Bouleware’s article titled “Hunting Wild Boar.”

The Wave (Coyote Buttes). Vermillion Cliffs, Arizona. Photo: Lobineau

Have you ever ridden a sand wave? Chances are you probably didn’t ride this one. It’s not at Mavericks, and it’s 200 million years old.

Originally a sand dune up to 60 feet high, this wave was part of a vast sand-blown desert on the super continent of Pangea. The desert was much bigger than the modern Sahara and was part of a massive and sinking basin that received sediment from areas as far as the ancient Appalachian Mountains. Known today as “The Wave,” it’s located in the Coyote Buttes of the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs in Coconino County, Arizona.

How Ancient Winds Formed The Wave

Large dunes require strong winds. The Wave has layers that record the changing winds, which brought sand from different directions. The rhythmic and cyclic alternating laminae represent periodic changes in the prevailing Paleo era winds, which pushed the huge sand dunes back and forth across the massive desert.

Over time, more sediment came into the basin via a huge ancestral river system on the scale of the Mississippi. After being covered by other sediments, the dunes solidified into Navajo Sandstone. If you have been to the Grand Canyon, or just about anywhere else in the Colorado Plateau, you have probably seen the Navajo Sandstone. To give you an idea of the amount of sand in the Navajo Sandstone: It’s about what the modern day Mississippi River would put out in about 10 million years of flow!

The Wave close up. Photo: Peter Fitzgerald

After another 200 million years of first burial and then uplift, erosion has uncovered and exposed the Wave. The thin ridges and ribbing are primarily from differential erosion of these layers by the wind. However, water has also played a part. Vertical movement and precipitation of iron and manganese within ancient water tables probably created the Liesgang bands, which are the alternating ribbons of red, orange, and pink that make The Wave so visually appealing.

The 1996 release of the German nature documentary “Fascinaztion Natur” created a huge influx of European tourists that hasn’t stopped. Access has since been restricted to only 20 hikers a day to preserve the natural rock formation and prevent overcrowding. These days, you need to apply for the required permits four months in advance. So if you want to check out these Paleo dunes, plan ahead!

The gray whale at the Seymour Center surrounded by restored native plants: Erigeron glaucusseaside (seaside daisy) and Dudlea caespitosa (sea lettuce). Photo:  Jackie Pascoe

Lots of great things happen at Long Marine Laboratory, including marine research, marine education, and lagoon and bluff habitat restoration. The lab sits atop a beautiful bluff on the west side of Santa Cruz, California, where it opened in 1978. It is named after Joseph M. Long, founder of the now-defunct Long’s Drugs chain, to honor his substantial contributions to the University of California.

The Erosion Story

The coastline at Long Marine Lab features undulating patterns made by a resistant layer in the Santa Cruz Mudstone. These are called shore platforms, and they are quite common along the north coast of Santa Cruz County.

Santa Cruz Mudstone in front of Long Marine Lab. This is a great example of pocket beaches. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Shore platforms are responsible for the many pocket beaches that you see in Santa Cruz and elsewhere along the north coast. The undulating pattern occurs where Santa Cruz Mudstone is flat-lying (horizontal) and there are joints running roughly perpendicular to the cliffs. The joints are points of weakness, so the waves erode along the joints much faster than the rest of the layer. The presence of Santa Cruz Mudstone and shore platforms helps to keep erosion rates along the north coast quite low. Within California, erosion rates can range from a few inches up to several feet per year. Here, with the Santa Cruz Mudstone, they average a mere three to six inches per year.

Erosion is so slow here that the mast of La Feliz, which went aground in 1924, is still visible from the cliff top. The crew of 13 was rescued by people onshore, and all of the cargo was recovered. Now, 88 years later, the mast is still standing where rescuers left it then.

The La Feliz went aground off the coast in front of what is now Long Marine Lab in 1924. Photo: Courtesy of Frank Perry

The mast of La Feliz (pole on left), a ship that ran aground in 1924. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Along West Cliff Drive near Almar Street, where the bedrock changes to the Purisima Formation, which is a much less resistant sandstone. There, average erosion rates are roughly double.

An example of the Purisima Formation along West Cliff Drive. The top part of the cliffs where most of the ice plant is growing is composed of Quaternary deposits. The bottom section is the Purisima Formation. The contact between them can be seen clearly in the middle of the photo. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

One of the highest natural erosion rates in California is at Point Año Nuevo in southern San Mateo County. There, the cliffs are low, nearly at sea level, and made of layers of Monterey Shale, which erodes easily. Average erosion rates have been nine feet per year for the last 300 years.

Native Plant Restoration

The coastal plants surrounding the Seymour Center and Younger Lagoon are gradually being restored to the native plant mix of coastal sage scrub. The native plants that would likely have lived on the sea cliffs and bluffs prior to European settlement would be a mix of low lying shrubs (generally under six feet) and herbaceous perennials and annuals including buckwheat, sagebrush, yarrow, lupine, and coyote bush.

Restored coastal bluff vegetation in front of the Seymour Center at Long Marine Lab. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

This is a much more diverse ecosystem than what you see if you are passing along West Cliff Drive, where ice plant has largely displaced native plants. However, native plant restoration projects are starting along West Cliff Drive, too.

What is the best thing to do with ice plant in California? Either pull it out to make way for native plants or pickle it! Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

De Anza Mobile Home Park: Rent Control Ruckus

Along the cliff edge to the east of the lab is the De Anza Mobile Home Park. It is one of the nicer mobile home locations in Santa Cruz County. Residents must be over 55 years old, so they are mostly retired people who own their manufactured homes but pay rent on the lots.

De Anza Mobile Home Park (notice the bluff covered with ice plant). Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

De Anza was the hotbed of a rent control controversy here for many years, ending in 2003 when the city was no longer able to defend the legal challenges to its rent control ordinance from the park’s owner, Equity Lifestyle, Inc. Previously, rents for the manufactured home lots (not including the mortgages) were $400 to $700 monthly. Now, they run $1500 to $4100. Residents who lived there before rent control was abolished were allowed to continue with regulated rent, but that ends when they sell the manufactured home. Because of the new lot rental rates, resale values of the homes that they owned dropped from about $200,000 – 400,000 to less than $20,000.

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the North Coast Tour. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

1. Sources

   • De Anza Mobile Home Park in Santa Cruz. Greg Camp. Property in Santa Cruz website.
   • Joseph M. Long, 78; Philanthropist Led Chain of Drug Stores. Obituaries, New York Times  December 31, 1990.
   • Location, Location, Location. Metro Santa Cruz, December 12-19 issue, 2001.
   • Living with the Changing California Coast, by Gary B. Griggs, Kiki Patsch, Lauret E. Savoy, et al. University of California Press, 2005.
   • Institute of Marine Sciences, Long Marine Laboratory, University of California Santa Cruz.
   • Personal communication with Gary Griggs, Distinguished Professor of Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, February 2012.
   • Salvaging the wreck of the small coastal freighter La Feliz. SCM105, Santa Cruz Public Library website.
   • The Santa Cruz Rent Control Story, by Frank Wodley. Coalition of Mobilehome Owners – California website, November 2007.
   • Seymour Science Center > About Us > Our Past. University of California, Santa Cruz.
   • UCSC breaks ground on biology building, by Kara Guzman. Santa Cruz Sentinel, September 24, 2014.

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