Ranger Lautamo – Mobile Ranger

Elkhorn Slough: From Salt Ponds to Bird Sanctuary

Ranger Lautamo — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 13:30:16 +0000

Present day salt pond at the wildlife viewing area. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

The mouth of the Elkhorn Slough has long been known for its natural salt ponds. In the late 1800s these areas were developed to produce salt for local use. In 1916, the Monterey Bay Salt Company diked parts of the slough to create commercial salt ponds – a series of ponds where saltwater evaporates in the sun, leaving salt for harvest.

View of the slough just a short distance from the parking lot at the Moss Landing Wildlife Area. The wood posts were for docks for the salt ponds dating back to the 1800’s. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

From 1902 until the local fish cannery business collapsed in the mid-1950s, the salt was used to preserve the fish. Later, the salt was used for water softening, refrigeration, and making ice cream. The company continued salt production until 1973. For a short time, the ponds were used to produce brine shrimp.

Today, the Moss Landing Wildlife Area comprises 872 acres that help protect the brown pelican, which was previously listed as an endangered species. Both brown and white pelicans use the ponds along with thousands of small shorebirds. The area is managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Brown pelicans. Photo: Paul Babb 2013

The salt ponds are home to many birds, including American avocets and black-necked stilts. The threatened snowy plover also uses the salt ponds as nesting grounds and has recently become the focus of management for this area.

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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.

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, 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. 2002 Elkhorn Slough Foundation.
- What is a Salt Marsh? National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Website.

The Lighthouse at Año Nuevo Island: Shipwrecks and Sea Lions

Ranger Lautamo — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 16:00:20 +0000

Abandoned lighthouse-keeper’s house on Año Nuevo Island in San Mateo County, California, November, 2005. Photo: Jef Poskanzer

It’s usually a fair bet that where there is a lighthouse, there is a history of shipwrecks. The area around Point Año Nuevo along California’s Highway 1 between San Francisco and Santa Cruz is no exception. The wreck of the Coya in 1866 claimed the lives of all but three of the 30-member crew and led to the installation of a steam fog whistle on Año Nuevo Island six years later (it is visible from the beach covered in elephant seals). That same year, the first light went on at the new Pigeon Point Lighthouse.

Ano Nuevo Light Station when in operation, sometime before 1948. Photo: Unknown federal employee

A High Price for an Ocean View

The first settlers on the island, who were to operate and maintain the whistle, paid a heavy price for their waterfront vista. In 1883, the lighthouse keeper, Henry Colburn, along with his assistant and two neighbor boys, drowned in the large surf while rowing out to the island. Even with keepers like Colburn risking their lives to lead captains and their crews to safe passage, large ships continued to crash between Pigeon Point and Point Año Nuevo. Finally, in 1890, a light was installed on the island.

Año Nuevo Island tank house with light at top, unknown date (prior to the construction of the light tower in 1913). Photo: Unknown federal employee

The keepers had to monitor the new light 24 hours a day and constantly scan the horizon in search of approaching fog. Perhaps the most difficult part of life on the island, though, was dealing with the sea lions that regularly overran the gardens and occasionally even the house.

Make Way for Pinnipeds

In 1948, the last keeper and his family moved off the island and was replaced by a marker buoy with an automatic light, sound, and radar reflector. Ten years later, the California Department of Parks and Recreation acquired the Año Nuevo State Reserve, including the island, which was classified as a scientific preserve. In the early ‘60s, after visitors to the island damaged the existing structures and deterred sea lions and elephant seals from returning to the island, the preserve was closed to the public.

The lighthouse and surrounding buildings on Año Nuevo Island in 2009. All of the dots and textured areas that you might think are seaweed are sea lions. Photo: Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman, California Coastal Records Project

Today, only researchers and designated personnel are allowed on the island, and just the three structures remain: The keeper’s dwelling (built in 1906), the fog signal building (front section built in 1881, back section in 1899), and the fuel storage building (built in 1908). Researchers use the fog signal building to store their equipment and as a respite from the howling winds. Not surprisingly, the dilapidated keeper’s house is still overrun by sea lions, the rightful owners of this rugged island.

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Sources
- Año Nuevo Island Light Station: Documentation of the Light Station Complex, Año Nuevo Island, Año Nuevo State Reserve, San Mateo County, California, by Matt C. Bischoff, June 2005.
- Pigeon Point History. California Department of Parks and Recreation website.

Updated: October 12, 2016

Updated October 10, 2016

When Money Washed up on the Shores of Greyhound Rock

Ranger Lautamo — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 20:00:34 +0000

Greyhound Rock. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Teeming with more than 300 species of invertebrates, fish, seabirds, and marine mammals, the Greyhound Rock State Marine Conservation Area on California’s central coast is a biodiversity hotspot. Giant kelp forests harbor abalone, juvenile rockfish, and a multitude of other marine invertebrates. Whales and dolphins feed offshore. Brown pelicans and Caspian terns dive for fish. And the bold red beak of the black oystercatcher flashes in the sun as it hunts for mussels and limpets in the rocky shallows.

Shells from the purple olive snail, Olivella biplicata, could buy you a tasty meal 500 years ago. Photo: Ed Bierman

When Snail Shells Were Currency

Around 300 to 500 years ago, purple olive snail shells (Olivella biplicata) could buy you nutritious seeds or a big hunk of tasty game meat. The shells were recognized by indigenous peoples throughout California as currency. This gave the Cotoni, who lived in the area around Greyhound Rock, a big trading advantage.

If you’re visiting the beach at Greyhound Rock, see if you can spot one of the smooth, oblong purple shells and try trading it with a fellow beachcomber for, say, a watch or smartphone. You probably won’t get more than a concerned look of confusion in return.

Olivella biplicata from the beaches of 1825. Photo: Soweby, 1825-Naturalis

That transaction would have failed for the Cotoni, too, because for the snail shells to have any economic value, they had to be made into beads. The Cotoni dried the shells to remove the organic remains (snail guts), ground off the tips so they could be strung onto a cord, smashed the shells into smaller parts, and then reshaped the shell fragments by using a pump drill. They used the beads for trading but also as jewelry and as ornaments on clothing and weapons.

The beach next to Greyhound Rock. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Money may not grow on trees, but for a time, it did wash up on shore for easy collecting at Greyhound Rock.

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

Sources
- About MPAs: State of the Oceans. California MPAs website.
- Personal communication with Martin Rizzo, PhD Candidate, Santa Cruz County, February 2016.
- Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources, by M. Kat Anderson, University of California Press, 2005.
- The Role of Olivella Shell Currency in a Burgeoning Prehistoric California Economy, by A. Rowan Gard. Prized Writing 2005-2006, UC Davis website.
- Maps: The Move to the Missions. Amah Mutsun Tribal Band website.
- A History of American Indians in California, by Dwight Dutschke. Office of Historic Presentation, California State Parks website.
- Greyhound Rock, Santa Cruz. California State Beaches, See California website.

Elkhorn Slough Sea Otters Offset Agricultural Runoff

Ranger Lautamo — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 20:00:53 +0000

Today, much of the land surrounding Elkhorn Slough near Monterey, California, is managed to reduce nitrogen input. Nevertheless, there is still 150 times more nitrogen in the slough than a century ago. Because of those levels, Elkhorn Slough mudflats are often covered in a thick, green sludge of nitrogen-loving algae. Algae could also be growing on eelgrass, blocking its access to light. Instead, the slough harbors beds of healthy, dark green eelgrass. So what’s the secret? It turns out to be everyone’s favorite keystone predator, the California sea otter.

Otters help keep kelp forests healthy and also contribute to healthy eelgrass habitat. Photo: Bart Selby

Brent Hughes from the University of California, Santa Cruz was first to make the connection between a charismatic carnivore and an unassuming perennial marine plant. He looked at 50 years of historical data that compared areas with and without otters and discovered that areas with larger populations of sea otters had healthier beds of eelgrass (Zostera marina).

Everyone’s favorite keystone predator, the California sea otter. Photo: Bart Selby

The reason: Otters love to eat crabs, which love to eat grazing invertebrates such as sea slugs, which love to eat the algae that grow on eelgrass.

This pup will learn to eat crabs from its mom, indirectly protecting eelgrass habitat. Photo: Bart Selby

This top-down management of species is known as a trophic cascade. A top predator alters the abundance of its prey, which in turn reduces predation on the next trophic level down the food chain.

The trophic cascade at Elkhorn Slough. The top predator is the sea otter (E. lutris), the mesopredators are crabs (Cancer spp. and Pugettia producta), the epiphyte mesograzers are primarily an isopod (I. resecata) and a sea slug (P. taylori), and algal epiphyte competitors of eelgrass primarily consist of chain-forming diatoms, and the red alga Smithora naiadum. Solid arrows indicate direct effects, dashed arrows indicate indirect effects, and the plus and minus symbols indicate positive and/or negative effects on trophic guilds and eelgrass condition. C, competitive interaction; T, trophic interaction. Image: Original artwork by A. C. Hughes and used with permission of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 2013 (see full citation below)

You can see the difference between an area with otters and one without when you look at Elkhorn Slough compared to Tomales Bay. Even though Tomales Bay has lower levels of nutrients (such as nitrogen from fertilizer), it has significantly fewer otters. The result is brown eelgrass covered in algae. Without as many otters preying on the crabs, the crustaceans are four times as abundant and 30% bigger than the crabs in Elkhorn Slough. This leaves very few sea slugs to keep the eelgrass grazed clean of algae.

Otters hard at work, keeping Elkhorn Slough’s ecosystem balanced. Photo: Bart Selby

Where to See the Sea Otters

For the best view of sea otters, visit the Moss Landing Wildlife Area (on the east side of Highway 1) or Moss Landing State Beach (on the west side of Highway 1, just off Jetty Road). At the beach on the same side as the harbor, you can often see a raft of male otters floating together out on the open water.

Keep any eye out for otters when you visit the slough. Photo: Bart Selby

Elkhorn Slough – A Protected Place for Otters and More

Elkhorn Slough is one of the few coastal wetlands remaining in the state, second in size to San Francisco Bay. At nearly 7 miles long, this estuarine waterway shelters an abundance of marine life, providing essential habitat for over 700 species, including aquatic mammals, birds, fish, invertebrates, algae, and plants. It is also part of California’s statewide program to establish Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). MPAs are a lot like our landlocked state parks except that they extend many miles off our coastline. These “underwater parks” are established in areas that are biologically diverse (lots of different marine species), culturally rich (think sunken ships like the S.S. Palo Alto and buried anthropological treasure), and economically important (fishing and tourism are a big deal to these coastal communities).

The MPAs in Santa Cruz County. Image: California Marine Sanctuary Foundation

Elkhorn Slough is home to three marine protected areas—Elkhorn Slough State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA), Elkhorn Slough State Marine Reserve (SMR), and the Moro Cojo Slough SMR. There are several different types of MPAs, and each one has its own set of rules. See the California Department of Fish and Wildlife website for details.

Image: Courtesy the Ocean Conservancy via the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

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Sources
- Sea Otters: Your Defence Against the Algal Apocalypse. Ed Young. National Geographic. August 26, 2013.
- Sea otters promote recovery of seagrass beds. Tim Stephens. August 26, 2013. University of California Santa Cruz Newscenter Website.
- Recovery of a top predator mediates negative eutrophic effects on seagrass Brent B. Hughes, Ron Eby, Eric Van Dyke, M. Tim Tinker, Corina I. Marks, Kenneth S. Johnson, and Kerstin WassonProc Natl Acad Sci, September 17, 2013. Issue 38:15313–15318.

Why There Is No Beachfront Resort at Seacliff State Beach

Ranger Lautamo — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 20:00:45 +0000

The seawall that was meant to protect a grand ocean-front resort. It survived only a year. Photo: Courtesy John Hibble and the Aptos History Museum

Almost a century ago, there were big plans for the northern California coastline along Seacliff State Beach. But sometimes, even the grandest of plans can’t hold up to the power of the ocean.

In the 1920s, a group of ambitious businessmen purchased the land at Seacliff and made plans to build an esplanade, pleasure pier, 2000-foot seawall, bathing pavilion, dining hall and dance pavilion, parking lot, and modern beach bungalettes (a type of small mobile home) right on the wave-washed sand. The only part of their plan that worked out long-term is the parking lot.

Seawall Scores Two, Developers Zero

We now know what a futile plan it is to build right on the beach. This volatile landscape can be a wide open stretch of sand in the morning and be entirely underwater by sunset. Waves from just one storm have the power to crumble cliffs that have stood for millennia. Still, the new owners of Seacliff believed their seawall could withstand the relentless force of the ocean. This was perhaps understandable, because Santa Cruz had only mild winters from 1916 to 1923.

The first seawall was built in 1925. Photo: Courtesy of John Hibble and the Aptos History Museum

Unfortunately, in 1926, almost as soon as construction began on the seawall, a storm caused serious damage. After investing in repairs and reinforcement, another storm the following year wiped out the remainder of the wall.

Another view of the damaged seawall. Photo: Courtesy of John Hibble and the Aptos History Museum

The rebuilt seawall in 1927 showing signs of erosion before being totally wiped out. Photo: Courtesy of John Hibble and the Aptos History Museum

The seawall was not working, but perhaps there was a different solution?

Sailing to the Rescue (Temporarily)

The developers decided to abandon the seawall idea, because they were quickly running out of funds. Instead, they purchased a surplus concrete oil tanker, the S.S. Palo Alto, to use as an amusement center.

Before the S.S. Palo Alto was anchored at Seacliff, it was part of a fleet of concrete ships built for WWI. Concrete seems an odd choice for a mode of transport that needed to potentially withstand multiple submarine attacks, but steel was scarce and very expensive during the war, so the U.S. decided to experiment with concrete. The U.S. Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation invested in a total of 38 concrete ships. Only eight were ever built, and the S.S. Palo Alto wasn’t completed until after the war ended. She made two independent voyages (no towing required) until she was sold to the Seacliff Amusement Corporation in 1929.

The S.S. Palo Alto when it sailed in 1921. Photo: Courtesy of John Hibble and the Aptos History Museum

The concrete ship was towed to its place just offshore on January 25, 1930. A 630-foot pier was built out to her massive decks, and she was opened to a waiting crowd of 3,000 people on June 21 of that year. That’s not a bad reception for a WWI ship that didn’t even sail until after the war.

As an amusement center, the S.S. Palo Alto had a dance floor, cafe, a 54-foot heated swimming pool, and a casino. She lasted only two summers against the ocean’s powerful waves. A winter storm cracked the brittle hull in 1932.

The S.S. Palo Alto lasted as an amusement center for just two years. Photo: Courtesy of John Hibble and the Aptos History Museum

That same year, the Seacliff Amusement Corporation went bankrupt. The state bought the ship in 1936 for only a dollar but had to invest in multiple costly repairs as the ship battled the elements for the next 42 years. The ship was finally closed to the public in 1978.

The S.S. Palo Alto in 1972. Photo: © Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman, California Coastal Records Project, http://www.Californiacoastline.org

The S.S. Palo Alto in 2002. Photo: © Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman, California Coastal Records Project, http://www.Californiacoastline.org

The S.S. Palo Alto in in 2004. Photo: © Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman, California Coastal Records Project, http://www.Californiacoastline.org

Today, the ship is still battered by the surf. Most recently, a storm in mid-January of 2016 caused a new break in the back half of the ship. That pushed the bow skyward as the stern sunk into the waves.

Abandon ship, and abandon plans to develop this beach. The S.S. Palo Alto in 2016. Photo: Lauren McEvoy/Mobile Ranger

Envisioning how this sinking artifact could have hosted hundreds of beach-goers for a day or evening of entertainment now requires a large stretch of the imagination.

Protect the Oceans

Sea Cliff State Beach is part of California’s statewide program to establish Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). MPAs are a lot like our landlocked state parks except that they extend many miles off our coastline. These “underwater parks” are established in areas that are biologically diverse (lots of different marine species), culturally rich (think sunken ships like the S.S. Palo Alto and buried anthropological treasure), and economically important (fishing and tourism are a big deal to these coastal communities).

However, these special places are threatened by things such as overexploitation, climate change, pollution, and habitat destruction, so they now require management to recover. Like state parks, MPAs allow the public to enjoy these natural treasures but with a few ground rules about fishing, boating, and other recreational and commercial activities. There are several different types of MPAs, and each one has its own set of rules. See the California Department of Fish and Wildlife website for details.

The MPAs in Santa Cruz County. Image: California Marine Sanctuary Foundation

Soquel Canyon SMCA captures an entire side-branch of the Monterey Submarine Canyon – from relatively shallow waters at the canyon’s head to very deep waters. The rocky canyon walls and mud-and-sand canyon floor offer ideal habitat for rockfishes including depleted species. It contains communities of fragile deepwater corals and sponges. The area is also an important seabird forage grounds and whale feeding area. Portuguese Ledge State Marine Conservation Area protects important refuge habitat for several overfished deepwater rockfish species and is expected to contribute to the recovery of these species.

Image: Courtesy the Ocean Conservancy via the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

Sources
- The SS Palo Alto and the Surprising History of Concrete Ships, by Julia Gaudinski. MobileRanger.com website.
- "And Then There Were None: The Seawalls of Seacliff Beach," by John Hibble. Aptos Life, February 2015.
- "Seacliff History. Seacliff Beach General Plan, May 1990." Among documents available at the Aptos History Museum.
- "The Old Concrete Ship of Seacliff Beach," by John Hibble. Among documents available at the Aptos History Museum.

Where Have All the Bridges Gone at Natural Bridges State Beach?

Ranger Lautamo — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 20:00:26 +0000

The lone remaining arch at Natural Bridges State Beach in April 2012. Photo © Mobile Ranger.

The name Natural Bridges may seem deceiving when you first visit the state beach at the end of West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz, California. Just one picturesque rock arch stands offshore in the crashing waves. You can’t even call it a bridge because it doesn’t connect to anything.

The three natural bridges circa 1900. At this time they were connected to land so technically are considered arches as well as bridges. Photo courtesy of Frank Perry and UCSC Special Collections

So why does the name imply multiple bridges? Perhaps Alexander Weiss, one of the local park rangers back in the ’70s and ’80s, said it best in his poem, “Ode to the Natural Bridges Arch” (see the end of this post for the complete poem):

Once three arches stood in this park
As if windows to the sea,
But wind-blown sand and storms like sharks
Attacked them constantly

The two remaining natural bridges circa 1950. Photo: Courtesy Frank Perry

Time Takes Its Toll

Before 1905, two additional stone arches connected today’s remaining arch to the cliffs where the parking lot sits today, forming three natural bridges. This cliff was once a long, narrow peninsula before the ocean eroded away everything but the middle section, which is now the last arch. Bridges typically form in peninsulas like this one as the waves are bent around the headland, focusing energy on both flanks. The waves sometimes erode caves on either side of the rock that eventually meet, or the bridge can originate from a small hole that grows bigger over many years and eventually erodes through to the other side.

Waves both created and destroyed the three bridges that once stood at Natural Bridges State Beach. Photo: Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History

At Natural Bridges, the rock is Santa Cruz Mudstone, which is fairly resistant to erosion. This means that after a bridge is formed, it will last for decades. Eventually as the base of the rock erodes, the opening enlarges until the entire formation collapses, as did the outermost bridge sometime after autumn of 1905. Some believe that the 1906 earthquake caused the collapse, but there’s no evidence to prove this theory. It was probably just time taking its toll.

The second-to-last arch came close to collapsing in winter 1979. Photo: Courtesy of Frank Perry

In 1974, a couple was married atop one of the two remaining bridges. Their wedding day marked the last time visitors were legally allowed onto the eroding mudstone formation. Six years later, on the dark and stormy night of January 10, 1980, the bridge closest to shore gave way. The park rangers were so saddened when the second bridge fell that they held a wake to commemorate its passing. Alexander Weiss, a park ranger, recited this poem that he wrote for the occasion:

Ode to the Natural Bridges Arch
By Alexander Weiss
January 13, 1980

Once three arches stood in this park
As if windows to the sea,
But wind-blown sand and storms like sharks
Attacked them constantly

This force made one disappear
Sometime ’round 1900;
The other two, like some stone brassiere
Would not be split asunder

But time and storms, they do not care,
And the near arch slowly shed
Bits and pieces here and there
Til it looked quite underfed

In February ’79
That shed quite a chunk,
And again in October, into the brine
Went some more kerplink! Kerplunk!

The arch now was thin and weak,
But gave not up and stayed;
As if it had some goal to seek,
It saw the new decade!

But as the seventies passed on
And the eighties had begun,
It knew it could not last for long
For it was erosion’s son:

For through erosion it was born
And through erosion it would die
And such a death one does not mourn
One merely says goodbye.

The night of January 10th
It gave up the ghost,
And we are here not to lament,
But to offer it a toast:

Here’s to arches that are gone
And to new ones on the way,
For just as sure as there’s a dawn
There’ll be some more some day!

And to our last remaining arch
That now stands like some island fort,
We pledge that we will always march
To give our arch support

Visitors walk through the remaining arch during an unusually low tide. Photo: Jim Whitehead/Mobile Ranger

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

Sources
- From Three Bridges to an Arch, by Julia Gaudinski. Mobile Ranger website.
- The Rocks of Santa Cruz’s North Coast: The Mighty Mudstone, by Julia Gaudinski. Mobile Ranger website.

Surfing over Kelp Forests at Cove Beach

Ranger Lautamo — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 00:00:41 +0000

Surfing with the kelp. Photo: Steven Tyler PJs

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) run along the coastline of California. They were created to maintain the precarious balance between keeping places wild and allowing people to interact with the landscape. In the Año Nuevo MPA, 55 miles south of San Francisco and 20 miles north of Santa Cruz, lies Cove Beach. This is a popular spot for seasoned surfers who fear the loss of this rugged coastline more than the great white sharks cruising the waters in search of fat seals. Gary Strachan, a park ranger and wildlife biologist, is often one of these surfers. He has seen firsthand how the waters have changed over the decades.

Surfer at Cove Beach, April 2015. Photo: Mike Merritt

A typical central California kelp forest community at 40 foot depth, Pebble Beach, California, June 2010. Photo: Chad King/NOAA BMNS

The Loss of Kelp Forests and a Killer Surf Break at Cove Beach

In the summer of 1967, large kelp harvesting boats anchored in the bay and started harvesting kelp. By the end of the summer, the surfers noticed that the waves were choppy or “blown out” on windy days and could be hard, even dangerous, to surf. It seemed that the removal of the kelp patches was affecting the surf. Who knew what implications this massive harvesting could have on the marine ecosystem? Anecdotal evidence from fishermen says that the fishing was much better before the harvest, but scientific data on kelp forests goes back only to 1984. Even recent data does little to clear up the mystery.

Giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) draped over the ocean surface, August 2011. The R/V Fulmar, a research vessel, is in the background. Photo: Chad King/NOAA MBNMS

A 2008 baseline data collection study surveyed the species found in kelp forests at 14 central coast MPAs. Surprisingly, their data showed that the density of a kelp canopy was not related to the number of species found within the canopy. In fact, sometimes more species are found in areas of sparse kelp canopy cover than in areas with dense canopy cover.

Image: Courtesy the Ocean Conservancy via the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

Harvesting of kelp at Año Nuevo Bay, by hand, was allowed until early 2016, when it’s status changed from a State Marine Conservation Area to a State Marine Reserve. As a Reserve, it has the highest level of protections and the take of all living, geologic, or cultural marine resources is prohibited. Blown-out waves or not, plenty of surfers still flock to this section of coastline in addition to hundreds of elephant seals.

Image: Courtesy California Marine Sanctuary Foundation

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. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

Sources
- Personal communication from Gary Strachan, December 27, 2015.
- "The Warden," by Christian Beamish. The Surfer’s Journal, Volume 15, Issue 3.
- Giant kelp. Monterey Bay Aquarium website.
- Año Nuevo SMCA. California Marine Protected Areas website.

Why Chinese Fishermen Were Chased Away from the Monterey Bay

Ranger Lautamo — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 20:00:06 +0000

Chinese fishing village in Monterey, 1875. Photo: Dressler, Albert, California Historical Society, Public Domain

Santa Cruz was not always the open-minded, progressive community that it is today. In the mid 1800s, the Northern California beach town was known as the national epicenter of anti-Chinese laws and regulations, even though the Monterey Bay regional economy depended on Chinese as laborers in agriculture and for building railroads.

The Chinese were also very skilled fishermen, and in the 1870s, they caught most of the fish around the Monterey Peninsula. By 1878, they were catching half of all fish caught in Santa Cruz County. Chinese fish peddlers were a common sight walking along the streets of Santa Cruz, Capitola, Soquel, and Watsonville, their shoulders hunched with the weight of bamboo poles hung with fish baskets.

Their success in the fishing industry angered the other local fishermen, who were mostly Italians and Portuguese at the time. They urged political leaders to push the Chinese off the beaches with local ordinances that were rigorously enforced in Santa Cruz County. By the 1880s, Chinese fishermen had been pushed completely out of the Monterey Bay area.

Fishermen of European descent felt they were in direct competition with Chinese fishermen in the 1870s. Photo: Courtesy of John Hibble and the Aptos History Museum

The Chinese Exclusion Law

The Chinese Exclusion Law of 1882 was the first immigration law in the U.S. that restricted a particular race from entering the country. The Geary Act of 1892 extended this law for another 10 years and required Chinese immigrants to carry ID cards at all times. Other laws forbid the use of carrying poles on public streets (the same poles they used to peddle their fish), as well as “Chinese activities” such as flying kites. Those of Chinese descent were also commonly the target of acts of violence.

Before the laws were passed, there were several Chinese fishing villages throughout Monterey Bay. One was located just north of Seacliff at a beach that was then called China Beach. The village consisted of 29 Chinese fishermen (no women or children) living in a ramshackle structure of driftwood and shakes at the base of the high bluffs. Atop those same bluffs now sits one of the most popular campgrounds in California: New Brighton State Beach.

The fishing village at New Brighton State Beach was where the public restrooms are today, just behind the eucalyptus tree in this 2012 photo. Photo: Richard Masoner

Chinese Fishing Villages Trumped by Tourism

When the railroad finally connected Santa Cruz to the San Francisco Bay Area via Los Gatos in 1875, it opened a gateway to tourism but closed the door of opportunity for the Chinese fishermen in Monterey. Thanks to the railroads, more fishermen and visitors of European descent came to Santa Cruz and the Monterey Bay region, and the Chinese were viewed as unwanted competition. The Chinese peddlers and fishing villages began to disappear just three years later.

New Brighton State Beach looking north from the restrooms. Photo: Lauren Salazar/Mobile Ranger

In 1878, Camp San Jose opened on the bluffs above what is now New Brighton State Beach to accommodate the many tourists arriving on the new train. Shortly thereafter, the Chinese were forced to move their fishing villages there and told to move farther down the coast.

As the railroad moved south, the Chinese fishermen were continually pushed farther south also. The last fishing camp was set up near the mouth of the Pajaro River at Camp Goodall. By 1888, this camp closed too, and fisherman of Chinese descent had moved away from the Monterey Bay completely.

The restrooms at New Brighton State Beach mark the site of the fishing village. Photo: Lauren Salazar/Mobile Ranger

The site of the fishing village at New Brighton State Beach is now marked only by restrooms built for the many tourists who flock to this sunny stretch of sand. There is only one known photograph of the village that shows the precarious driftwood structure that the fishermen called home.

China Beach Plaque at New Brighton State Beach. Photo: Lauren Salazar/Mobile Ranger

China Beach plaque at New Brighton State Beach. Photo: Lauren Salazar/Mobile Ranger

A plaque at the south end of the parking lot commemorates the Chinese fishermen. It was the first plaque in the Monterey Bay region dedicated to the memory of these Chinese pioneers.

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

Sources
- Chinese Gold: The Chinese in the Monterey Bay Region, by Sandy Lydon. Capitola Book Company, 1985.
- The Japanese in the Monterey Bay Region: A Brief History, by Sandy Lydon. Capitola Book Company, 1997.
- Chinatown Dreams: The Life and Photographs of George Lee, by Geoffrey Dunn, Lisa Liu Grady, Tony Hill, James D. Houston, Sandy Lydon, Morton Marcus, and George Ow, Jr. Capitola Book Company, 2002.

Multitudes of Monarchs at Natural Bridges State Beach

Ranger Lautamo — Wed, 10 Aug 2016 20:00:43 +0000

A monarch butterfly. Photo: Courtesy of Elise Wormuth

For decades, tens of thousands of West Coast monarch butterflies (Danus plixippus) have overwintered at Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz, California. From October through March, in the park’s wind-protected grove of eucalyptus trees, the monarchs rest from their long migration. Thick clusters of monarchs intertwine their legs and hang from the branches like orange leaves, except that these leaves take flight when the temperature rises above 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

A monarch cluster in Lighthouse Field, December 2005. Although they are next to a eucalyptus tree, the monarchs are on a branch of Monterey cypress. Monarchs cluster together on branches to stay warm. Photo: Courtesy of Vicki and Chuck Rogers

Monarchs are the only butterfly species that takes multiple generations to complete one round-trip migration. They travel 50–100 miles a day to escape the cold, and the round trip requires 4–5 generations to complete. A single generation can make the ~3,000 mile trip south, but the journey back north takes 3–4 generations to complete.

Monarchs that live east of the Northern Rockies overwinter in the Sierra Madre mountain range of Mexico, and those west of the Northern Rockies overwinter along the California coast. The butterflies return to the same groves each year for much-needed rest and to lay their eggs on nearby milkweed, which is the only plant that their larvae can eat.

Close-up of a monarch larvae on African milkweed (Asclepias fruticosa) in the milkweed nursery at Natural Bridges State Beach. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Silky gold milkweed (Asclepias curassavica). You can buy these plants in the visitor center and plant them in your yard to provide food for monarch larvae. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Monarch populations everywhere have significantly decreased. In Santa Cruz, the population has dropped from a high of 150,000 to just a few thousand butterflies. Both Roundup and deforestation are to blame. Illegal logging has shrunk the eastern butterflies’ winter habitat in Mexico, and the introduction of Roundup-ready corn and soybeans in the US has almost eliminated milkweed from much of their habitat. Fortunately, parks such as Natural Bridges are being actively managed to keep some monarch habitat intact.

Two monarch chrysalises on African milkweed inside the visitor center at Natural Bridges State Beach. You can see the butterfly inside each chrysalis. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

A Monarch Refuge

Natural Bridges State Beach park rangers tend a milkweed garden for their winged visitors so the butterflies have a place to lay their eggs. They also maintain adequate shelter for the adult monarchs. Since a fungal disease called pitch canker killed some of the Monterey pines that protected the monarch’s eucalyptus grove from the wind, they have been planting cypress trees in the park as a replacement wind break.

A row of cypress trees planted on the east side of the eucalyptus trees. The monarchs cluster on the leaves of the eucalyptus, but the cypress trees provide important shelter from the wind. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Docents lead tours of the Monarch Grove at Natural Bridges from mid-October through January at 11 AM and 2 PM on weekends. Tours start at the Visitor Center. The park also holds a Welcome Back Monarchs Day on the second Sunday in October and a Migration Festival on the second Saturday in February for the beloved butterflies.

The entrance to the trail that leads to the Monarch Grove. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Even with lower numbers than in the past, it is still spellbinding to stand in the quiet eucalyptus grove at Natural Bridges and see the orange clusters of monarchs weighing down the branches. As the temperature warms and the butterflies begin to gently flit around the grove in search of food, their delicate wings glow in the sun like stained glass. The only sound is the creaking of eucalyptus branches, the click of cameras, and hushed murmurs of awe as visitors witness one of nature’s most beautiful phenomena.

The delicate wings of the monarch butterfly are nature’s tiny stained glass artworks. Photo: Crystal Birns Photography

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

Sources
- Natural Bridges State Beach. California State Parks website.
- Migration and Overwintering. USDA Forest Service website.
- Personal communication with Martha Nitzberg, California State Park Interpretive Ranger, Natural Bridges State Beach, April 2016.
- Tracking the Causes of Sharp Decline of the Monarch Butterfly, by Richard Conniff. Yale Environment 360 website, April 1, 2013.

Waddell’s Wharf: Ordeals of Shipping Lumber from Año Nuevo Bay

Ranger Lautamo — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 20:00:26 +0000

Cove Beach at Año Nuevo State Park. Waddell’s Wharf went out to the sea in the center left of the photo where you see a large clump of trees and the waves are at the highest point on the beach. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/ Mobile Ranger

Over 150 years ago, the coastline at Año Nuevo State Park, between San Francisco and Santa Cruz, California, was home to a bustling lumber industry. Even though the wharf at Cove Beach in Año Nuevo Bay once shipped over two million feet of lumber in just one year, it’s hard to find signs of its existence today. The story of this wharf begins about two miles south of Cove Beach at Waddell Beach, now a popular spot for kite surfers and the coastal entrance to Big Basin State Park. In the 1860s, William Waddell, a failed businessman from Kentucky, built his home, a steam-powered lumber mill, the first of two shipping wharves, and a five-mile tramway here in the canyon that now bears his name.

Waddell Beach, the site of the unsuccessful first Waddell’s Wharf, unknown date. Photo: Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History

The millworkers cut an impressive 20,000 feet of lumber a day at the mill’s peak operation. Waddell had one major problem, though: He didn’t have a way to ship his lumber to the market.

A Tale of Two Wharves

To solve this problem, he began construction of a 1000-foot wharf in 1864. He built it at the mouth of what is now called Waddell Creek. Unfortunately, he hit a layer of bedrock after spending $30,000 ($686,000 in today’s money) and had to abandon construction.

Not to be deterred, Waddell built a second, 700-foot wharf at Cove Beach. Less than a year later, the wharf was washed away in a storm. Waddell replaced it, only to have a large portion washed away again in 1870. It took four men and a horse to retrieve that section.

The Waddell Wharf, circa 1868 at Cove Beach. It shows a newer platform built on top of an older wharf likely damaged in a storm. Photo: Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History

In the center of the photo just past the wooden step, is where Waddell’s Wharf went out to the sea. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/ Mobile Ranger

Cribs built by William Waddell for the rail line that took his lumber to Waddell’s Wharf at Cove Beach. This area later became the foundation of a Santa Cruz County road. Unknown date. Photo: Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History

It Ends with a Bear

On an autumn day in 1875, Waddell went hunting with his dog and the local blacksmith. Near the entrance to a ravine, a grizzly bear attacked him, but his faithful dog jumped into the fray and lured the bear back into the woods.

A rough and tumble with a grizzly by H. Bullock Webster, ca. 1874 – 1880. Image: University of British Columbia

He made it home, but he died five days later from blood poisoning and was buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Santa Cruz. Waddell was one of the last grizzly bear victim fatalities recorded in California before the species went extinct statewide, from hunting, in 1922.

Where to Look for Remnants of the Wharf

A few remnants of the mill and Waddell’s Wharf remain, but you have to know where to look and the last pier has been eroded away from the beach for decades.

The last remaining piling of William Waddell’s Wharf at Cove Beach, January 16, 1977. Photo: Courtesy of Gerald Weber

Many of the wharf timbers were reused to build the dairy and horse barn at Año Nuevo State Preserve, which are now the visitor center. Boilers from the mill now function as culverts at May Creek and an unnamed stream. And about two-thirds of the way up Waddell Canyon, you can still find four posts from the five-mile tramway.

Timbers from Waddell’s Wharf were salvaged and reused by Edwin Dickerman to build a dairy and horse barn in 1881. These buildings and their supporting wharf-derived beams are now part of the visitor center at Año Nuevo State Preserve. Photo: Mike Merritt

These leftover pieces are reminders that Highway 1 was once a wild place where pioneers tried to stake their claims on the land, only to be knocked back again and again by the forces of nature. Today, we try harder to coexist with these wild places, study them, explore them, and protect them for many generations to come.

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

Sources
- The Story of William Waddell & The Waddell Mill, by Mike Merritt.

Managing a Strawberry Farm and Protecting the Elkhorn Slough

Ranger Lautamo — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 20:00:13 +0000

The crops at Azevedo Strawberry Ranch used to run right up to the water’s edge. Photo: Elkhorn Slough Foundation

Row crops were introduced to the areas around Elkhorn Slough in the late 1800s. The majority of these crops were strawberries because the slough’s perimeter has ideal growing conditions with a moderate climate and well-drained soils.

Strawberries are farmed in abundance around Elkhorn Slough due to the ideal growing conditions. Photo: Sharon Mollerus

The Azevedo Ranch, just about one mile up the slough from the Wildlife Viewing Area, was one such strawberry farm. They grew their berries next to the Azevedo Marshes, a series of pocket wetlands that were cut off from the slough in the 1870s with the construction of a railroad embankment. The strawberries were grown right to the edge of the slough, and like all berry farmers of the day, they applied chemical fertilizers containing high levels of nitrogen to the crops.

Sediments and chemicals from strawberry fields used to run off directly into the marshes. Photo: Elkhorn Slough Foundation

If runoff goes unchecked, the addition of nitrogen can lead to massive algal blooms that deplete the oxygen in the water, making it impossible for almost any other species to survive.

Today, there is a buffer zone of native vegetation that traps agricultural runoff before it reaches the Azevedo Marshes. Photo: Elkhorn Slough Foundation

In 1991, the Nature Conservancy acquired the ranch with funding from the Coastal Conservancy. Soon after, they took the strawberry fields adjacent to the slough out of strawberry production. Instead, they planted a native vegetation buffer. Today, the ranch has 24 acres of native plants between its strawberry producing crops and the marshes. This creates a natural buffer zone that traps nutrients and sediments and decreases nitrogen input into the slough. Azevedo Ranch is still owned by the Nature Conservancy, but it is managed by the Elkhorn Slough Foundation. This is a working example of how agriculture can co-exist next to a natural ecosystem without too much negative impact.

The view from the overlook at the research reserve. Photo: Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve

A Great Side Trip

We recommend a visit to the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve at 1700 Elkhorn Road. They have a visitor center and a wonderful overlook where you can view much of the Elkhorn Slough. There are also five miles of trails to enjoy the grasslands, oak woodland, and wetlands of the Elkhorn Slough. There is a small admission fee for people over the age of 16. If you have a hunting or fishing license, you’ve already paid.

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

Sources
- Elkhorn Slough Foundation Property: Azevedo Ranch. Elkhorn Slough Website.

The Evolution of a Monterey Bay Fisherman

Ranger Lautamo — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 20:00:29 +0000

Photo: Becky Stamski/NOAA MBNMS

What habitat is deeper than the Grand Canyon, requires a submarine to properly explore, and is home to bioluminescent invertebrates? None other than the Monterey Submarine Canyon, an incredibly diverse habitat that extends 50 miles offshore. It provides unique opportunities for deep sea research, as well as recreational and commercial activities, such as diving and fishing.

This massive canyon is an underwater state park that protects marine life and habitat, known as a marine protected area, or MPAs. Within it, there are two areas that you’ve probably never heard of: Soquel Canyon and Portuguese Ledge. Both are valuable habitats for fish species that used to provide the livelihoods of Tim Maricich and other commercial fishermen.

This photo of a colorful blackgill rockfish (Sebastes melanostomus) was taken 1000 feet below the surface in the Sur Canyon. It was taken as a part of a research expedition conducted by National Marine Fisheries Service in December 2010. Photo: Kevin L. Stierhoff/NOAA SWFSC

From Fisherman to Captain for Hire

Maricich represents many fishermen in the Monterey Bay to whom fishing is more than a job. For them, it’s a way of life. He’s been fishing in the Monterey Bay for more than 47 years, and his roots reach back generations to a long line of fishermen in Croatia.

The MPAs in Santa Cruz County. Image: California Marine Sanctuary Foundation

In 2007 when 29 offshore areas in California were designated as MPAs, Maricich’s way of life changed. Even though recreational and commercial fishing for some species are allowed in the Soquel Canyon and Portuguese Ledge (including salmon, mackerel, and sardines), rockfish, the mainstay of many fishermen, are off limits. Rockfish-free fishing zones have helped to rebuild the dwindling populations of a valuable commercial species, but that restriction also cut into the income of fishermen like Maricich.

Fishing boats in the Monterey Bay. Photo: Courtesy of David Merrett

Fishing regulations along the California coast began several years before the designation of MPAs and have caused a huge shift in the fishing industry. Between 1981 and 2011, the number of registered fishing vessels decreased by nearly 70%. Fishermen were being pushed out of waters that they’d been fishing for decades. The good long-term intention of rebuilding fish populations resulted in the short-term consequence of putting men and women out of work.

Giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) draped over the ocean surface, August 2011. The R/V Fulmar is in the background. Photo: Chad King/NOAA MBNMS

Today, Maricich still works on his boat in the Monterey Bay, but he’s letting cowcods and yelloweye rockfish (aka red snappers) swim by unscathed. He now captains a boat full of conservation biologists from the Nature Conservancy, and he’s helping them count fish.

This photo of cowcod (Sebastes levis) was taken in 2007 in the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Photo: Dave Murfin/ NOAA

The unlikely partnership between a fisherman and marine scientists helps other fishermen trust data from studies within the MPAs. It also provides an economic opportunity for those like Maricich who have an intimate knowledge of navigating the Monterey Bay in search of fish.

A tagged black and yellow rock fish. Photo: Courtesy of Noëlle yochum

There’s another, less obvious reason for this partnership, though. As journalist Paul Greenberg puts it in an article titled “The Fisherman’s Dilemma,” it also stems from one truth that unites fishermen and conservationists: “After all the closures and commissions, all the surveys and reappraisals, the ocean is still deeply mysterious.”

The Rockfish Return

The ocean is indeed a mysterious place, so scientists and fishermen are continually discovering new species and gaining a better understanding of familiar ones. A 2008 baseline study of the Soquel Canyon and the Portuguese Ledge revealed that the Portuguese Ledge has a high diversity of fish species, and Soquel Canyon is home to high numbers of commercial species threatened by overfishing, including the yelloweye rockfish, bocaccio, and cowcod.

Studies that scientists are conducting with Maricich and other fishermen will continue to shed light on the effectiveness of MPAs. For now, It looks like there’s hope that these fisheries can recover, and fishermen like Maricich can look forward to a stronger industry in years to come, thanks to MPAs.

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

Sources
- "The Fisherman’s Dilemma," by Paul Greenberg. The California Sunday Magazine, March 2015.
- "How many cowcod rockfish populations are out there?" by Ed Quimby. Northwest Fisheries Science Center website, January 2014.
  January 2014.
- Central California Marine Protected Areas. California Department of Fish and Wildlife website.
- Soquel Canyon State Marine Conservation Area and Portuguese Ledge State Marine Conservation Area: Factsheet 3. California MPAs website.
- Submarine Canyons. Sanctuary Integrated Monitoring Network (SIMoN) website.
- Destructive Fishing. Marine Conservation Institute website.
- California’s Central Coast Marine Protected Areas: Baseline Data Collection Summary Report, December 2008. California Sea Grant College Program.
- "A Little Fish in Big Trouble," by Elizabeth Grossman. Food & Environment Reporting Network website, June 18, 2015.
- Monterey Sardine Story, by Richard H. Parrish. Pacific Fisheries Environmental Group, National Marine Service. NOAA Fisheries website: Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

Natural Bridges State Beach and Fred Swanton’s Development Dreams

Ranger Lautamo — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 21:00:18 +0000

Natural Bridges State Beach in 1972. This could have been the grounds for Fred Swanton’s hotel. Photo: © Kenneth and Gabrielle Adelman, California Coastal Records Project

In the early 1900s, Natural Bridges was briefly at risk of becoming the site of a grand hotel in line with the vision of Fred W. Swanton. He was fortunate enough to acquire the land that now makes up the state beach through his wife, Emma Stanley Pope Hall.

“Fabulous Fred” Invests in the Wrong Neighborhood

Because he was instrumental in the development of the Casa Del Rey Hotel, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, two competing electric railroads, and a telephone company, Fred Swanton was a well-known Santa Cruz entrepreneur. He had big ideas and the ability to bring them to fruition. He was also the main person responsible for making tourism the foundation of the city’s economy. “Fabulous Fred” actively promoted Santa Cruz to neighboring areas, even traveling throughout California and Nevada with a marching band to spread the word. However, his plan for a development at Natural Bridges never came to be.

Swanton renamed Hall’s Beach (today’s Natural Bridges State Beach) as Swanton Beach Park and developed streets with the names of bigger cities, including Sacramento, Auburn, and Merced, hoping to attract buyers from the hot Central Valley. He also had plans for a large hotel with modern conveniences to cater to wealthy guests. But the cold winds and damp fog that linger in these neighborhoods, so the story goes, deterred Swanton’s prospective buyers and led him to financial ruin and bankruptcy in 1912.

Swanton Beach Park in 1905. Today, the area in the upper-middle of the postcard is Natural Bridges State Beach. Image: From the collection of Mike Patanaude

Perhaps he was just a bit ahead of his time and there were simply not enough people interested in living year-round in Santa Cruz yet. Swanton Beach Park was, in fact, one of many unsuccessful developments in the early 1900s along the Santa Cruz coast.

Swanton recovered financially and went on to do many other projects, including establishing a landing field at Swanton Beach Park in 1924. Known as Swanton Airport, it was used periodically until about 1931 when the Santa Cruz Airport opened in Capitola.

Unfortunately for Swanton, his financial recovery was only temporary. He filed for bankruptcy again in 1930 and deeded the 27-acre Swanton Beach Park to the state in 1933. He died almost penniless 10 years later. It seems Swanton’s entrepreneurial instincts and management skills waxed and waned over the years, and perhaps this is the real reason that the Swanton Beach Park development failed.

Natural Bridges State Beach in 2016. In the late 1800s, it was called Hall’s Beach, and in the early 1900s it was Swanton Beach Park. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Construction of beach facilities did not begin until 1954, and the area around the park was not developed for housing until the 1970s. Swanton might roll in his grave if he could see the multimillion-dollar homes that now line Swanton Avenue and his city-named streets.

If you’re looking for a resort today, head to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. But thousands of visitors prefer the tide pools, dune habitat, cool geology, and monarch butterfly refuge that are protected by what is now Natural Bridges State Beach.

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

Sources
- Natural Bridges State Beach General Plan. State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation, October 7, 1988.
- Resort and Recreation Development: Waterfront, beach, and boardwalk, by Susan Lehmann. Santa Cruz Public Libraries website.
- Our Ocean Backyard: Our coastline will change, and that’s for certain, by Gary Griggs. The Mercury News website, October 22, 2011.
- Natural Bridges State Beach. California Department of Parks and Recreation website.
- Personal communication with Frank Perry, Historian, Santa Cruz County, May 2016.
- Surf, Sand and Streetcars. A Mobile History of Santa Cruz, California, by Charles S. McCaleb. Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, 2005.

Bulls, Harems, and Pups at Año Nuevo

Ranger Lautamo — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 13:30:49 +0000

Female elephant seals and their pups rest at Año Nuevo beach. Photo: Mike Merrit

South of San Francisco, about 20 miles north of Santa Cruz along Highway 1, lies a beach hidden behind sand dunes covered in an undulating meadow of native grasses. From December through March, if you visit, you’ll hear what sounds like a fleet of diesel-powered tractors echoing off the dunes, because this stretch of sand is the breeding ground for northern elephant seals.

This beach is part of a Marine Protected Area called Año Nuevo State Reserve. These marine mammals, which weigh more than 1000 pounds each, migrate thousands of miles to reach this beach every year, where they mate and then give birth.

Male elephant seals can weigh up to 5,000 pounds. Photo: Dan Costa

For a real-life encounter with these marine mammals, you must reserve or join an Año Nuevo guided tour during breeding season, December 15 through March 31. During these months, visitors to Año Nuevo State Park must be on a guided walk to see the seals, and that’s for good reason.

Male elephant seals, called bulls, are extremely protective of their females and will fight other males to ensure exclusive rights to their harems. Weighing in at 3000-5000 pounds during breeding season, these roughly 15-foot behemoths come barreling toward one another on the beach in surprisingly fast undulations.

A bull elephant seal guards one of the females in his harem. Photo: Dan Costa

What’s That Sound?

As the bull rears up, with his two-foot trunk-like proboscis flapping, he lets out a series of deep, guttural bellows in rhythmic bursts. They sound somewhat like a series of loud farts and burps in an echo chamber or a diesel engine from the early 1900s.

Wildlife biologists once thought that the louder the bellow, the larger and stronger the bull, so the encroaching male could determine by sound alone whether he was a match for his opponent. Although this theory isn’t far off, recent research by Caroline Casey and Colleen Reichmuth at the University of California Santa Cruz has revealed that each male has a distinct “clap-threat call.” If two males have fought before, they recognize each other by this call. This gives the challenger a chance to back down from starting a fight with an opponent he knows he can’t beat.

Females lose 16.5 pounds per day while nursing their pups. Photo: Dan Costa

Mom of the Year

After the females give birth, the pups must be nursed for three weeks straight. During this time, the mothers lose 30-40% of their body weight. That works out to 16.5 pounds per day! As soon as her pup stops suckling, the emaciated female becomes sexually receptive, so males try to mate with her as she makes her way to the ocean for a feast of fish after a nearly month-long fast.

This map shows the diving pattern of an individual female elephant seal foraging at Pratt Seamount in the northeast Pacific. Image: From the collection of Dan Costa, adapted from his article in Marine Mammal Science, 2011

Deep Divers and Long-Distance Swimmers

Out in the ocean, both the females and males dive to depths of 1500 feet, on average, and can stay submerged for up to two hours in search of bottom-dwelling fish. The deepest dive recorded was 5778 feet, which is more than a mile.

A female northern elephant seal in the ocean where she spends 10 months of the year foraging. Photo: Dan Costa

When the northern elephant seals aren’t overrunning the beach at Año Nuevo, they spend most of the year in the open ocean foraging for food. For one month, they rest on a sandy beach during a catastrophic molt. They shed all of their fur at once and grow a new coat. Females and males travel thousands of miles apart on their semiannual migrations. They frequent different feeding areas but return to the same beaches to mate and molt. In one year, females travel approximately 11,000 miles and males travel about 13,000 miles.

Tracks of male (red) and female (yellow) northern elephant seals on their foraging trips to the North Pacific and Gulf of Alaska. Animals were followed by the Tagging of Pacific Pelagics (TOPP) research group at Año Nuevo. Image. Courtesy of Dan Costa/University of California, Santa Cruz

Although they were nearly hunted to extinction in the 19th century for the oil in their blubber, their population is now an estimated 150,000. In California, their population continues to grow each year by 20-30%. There are multiple factors involved in that increase, but one is protection under the Marine Mammal Act since 1972 and another is the grizzly bear’s disappearance from the entire state because they were hunted to extinction. With no more bear attacks to threaten them while they are breeding, nursing, and molting on the beach, the seals have thrived.

Females and their pups in the water just offshore at Año Nuevo State Reserve. Photo: Dan Costa

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

Sources
- "Benthic foraging on seamounts: A specialized foraging behavior in a deep-diving pinniped," S. M. Maxwell, J. J. Frank, G. A. Breed, P. W. Robinson, S. E. Simmons, D. E. Crocker, and J. P. Gallo-Reynoso. Department of Ocean Sciences and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Ocean Health, University of California Santa Cruz, 2011.
- Año Nuevo State Park. California Department of Parks and Recreation website.
- Guided Walks: Explore Año Nuevo with a Docent Naturalist. California Department of Parks and Recreation website.
- “Call of the Beach Master.” Año Nuevo Blog, UC Santa Cruz Natural Reserves, September 1, 2015.
- "Male elephant seals use ‘voice recognition’ to identify rivals, study finds,” by Tim Stephens. University of California Santa Cruz website, August 12, 2015.
- "Elephant seal tracking reveals hidden lives of deep-diving animals.” May 15, 2012; Tim Stephens. University of California Santa Cruz Website.
- Northern Elephant Seals: Bioacoustics. Research: Seals and Sea Lions, The Costa Lab website.
- Northern Elephant Seal (Mirounga angustirostris). Seal Conservation Society website.
- Northern Elephant Seal. The Marine Mammal Center website.
- The Northern Elephant Seal: A Life of Singular Extremes. Point Reyes National Seashore. National Park Service, US Department of the Interior.
- "Benthic foraging on seamounts: A specialized foraging behavior in a deep-diving pinniped," by Jessica J. Frank, Greg A. Breed, Patrick W. Robinson, Samantha E. Simmons, Daniel E. Crocker, Juan Pablo Gallo-Reynoso, and Daniel P. Costa. Marine Mammal Science, Vol. 28, Issue 3, Society for Marine Mammalogy, September 2011.

Community Volunteers Help Native Plants Thrive Again

Ranger Lautamo — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 14:30:27 +0000

Pilkington Creek is small, but it is an important part of the Monterey Bay watershed system. Photo: Courtesy of Vivienne Orgel

Ancient peoples might have managed the landscape around Santa Cruz, California through fire, but we can also see current small-scale land management practices along Pilkington Creek and at the entrance to Seabright Beach where the creek spills onto the sand. Over the years, community members have come together to remove non-native species, such as mattress vine, nasturtium, and periwinkle, that had begun to envelope the creek and crowd out native plants used by pollinators, such as bees and hummingbirds.

This work continues in several ways now. The Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History garden volunteers gather monthly to plant and tend to native species along the creek’s edge, as they continue to care for this riparian habitat.

Restored native plants at the entrance of Seabright beach. Photo: Courtesy of Bill Henry of Oikonos

Across the street at the beach entrance, a native plant garden mimics the ecosystem that once thrived here. A diverse and colorful palette of native plant species, such as yarrow, coastal sage, sticky monkey-flower, lizard tail, and buckwheat, have replaced the monocrop of non-native ice plant that recently covered this sandy slope. The Oikonos community group are collaborating with students from nearby Gault Elementary School to remove the invasive ice plant and replant the area with native species that attract pollinators and help prevent erosion.

Constant Change at Seabright Beach

Pilkington Creek flowing onto Seabright Beach after a storm in December 2014. Photo: Courtesy of Molly Lautamo

This beach has gone through a drastic transformation since the Awaswas* walked its shores, and it still changes every few months because of the flow of Pilkington Creek. During the dry season, the creek ranges from bone dry to a small trickle and doesn’t reach the beach above ground. During the rainy season, especially right after a storm, the creek rushes through the culvert that runs beneath East Cliff Drive and spills out onto Seabright Beach, sometimes flowing all the way to the ocean.

Volunteer to Help Restore Native Plants

You can help in the ongoing work of restoring native plants at Seabright Beach or volunteer for other opportunities. Contact the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History to get started.

*The native peoples of the Santa Cruz area of California, refer to the region as Cotoni and call themselves the Awaswas. Most folks today think of them as the “Ohlone” people but this is a misnomer and not how they identify themselves. Today the descendants of the area’s indigenous forbears who were “missionized” at Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista, are organized as the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. The Cotoni-Awaswas nourished themselves from the sea and tidal zone as well as harvesting, gathering and taking game from the coastal uplands. Although not “agricultural” as we tend to think of it, California native peoples thrived by actively managing the environment for productivity.

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the Pilkington Creek Walking Tour made possible by the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

Sources Used

Trash Middens: From Shells to Plastic

Ranger Lautamo — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 14:30:34 +0000

Half of an abandoned kayak collected during a Seabright Beach clean-up event. Photo: Courtesy of Chris Sulots

What will people hundreds of years from now think of American culture when they rummage through our trash? Especially in the absence of written records, a culture’s trash piles can shed much-needed light on a way of life that was mostly lost over the centuries. Anthropologists have sorted through the “trash” piles or middens of the Awaswas* people, who are native to Santa Cruz, California, to learn more about how they lived.

We Have Landfills, the Awaswas had Middens

Middens are the piles of discarded shells and bones left behind by the Awaswas (and other native peoples). From these piles, we know the ocean was an important source of food for the Awaswas, providing tasty fish, mollusks, marine mammals, and sea birds. We also know the types of tools used by Native American cultures and have a better understanding of their ways of life.

Present Day “Middens” of Plastic

Summer visitors on a holiday weekend can leave their marks on Santa Cruz beaches, such as this view of Panther Beach after Memorial Day weekend. Photo: Courtesy of Save Our Shores

You can no longer find middens on beaches in Santa Cruz, but you can certainly find trash from present day humans. Pieces of plastic, glass, paper bags, forgotten beach toys, and other remnants of human life are usually scattered across the beach. Unlike shells and bones, our trash can be detrimental to sea life, entangling birds and marine mammals or filling their bellies with indigestible plastics. Over the past seven years of beach clean-up events, volunteers with Save Our Shores have collected an average of 739 pounds of trash from Seabright Beach per year!

Two young participants in a clean-up event at Seabright Beach. Photo: Courtesy of Save Our Shores

The Awaswas people had great respect for the ocean and relied on marine creatures for survival. We, too, rely heavily on the ocean, not only as a food source but also as a place of peace and tranquility where we can recharge after a long, stressful day. It is our responsibility to keep our beaches clean and to protect the marine ecosystem that residents have relied on for centuries.

If you plan on spending time on a beach this summer, pick up a piece of trash before you leave and deposit it in the garbage so it goes in our present-day middens (landfills), where it belongs.

Changing Landscapes

So much has changed just in the past 100 years. How do you think this beach and creek will change in the next century? Will the creek still flood the beach? Will ocean levels rise? Will more native plant restoration take place, restoring the beach to a closer semblance of the ecosystem that existed here when the Awaswas walked these shores?

Photo: Courtesy of Molly Lautamo

Land management practices over the past 500 years, beginning with the Awaswas and continuing with Santa Cruz residents today, have drastically changed this landscape. We’ve learned a lot from the people before us, but how this place looks and changes over the next century or more will depend on us and how we choose to interact with this landscape and actively manage it or not.

Interested in learning more about Pilkington Creek, Seabright Beach, and the other native habitats right here in Santa Cruz? Check out the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History.

*The native peoples of the Santa Cruz area of California refer to the region as Cotoni and call themselves the Awaswas. Most folks today think of them as the “Ohlone” people, but this is a misnomer and not how they identify themselves. Today, the descendants of the area’s indigenous forebears who were “missionized” at Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista are organized as the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. The Cotoni-Awaswas nourished themselves from the sea and tidal zone, as well as harvesting, gathering, and taking game from the coastal uplands. Although not “agricultural” as we tend to think of it, California Indians thrived by actively managing the environment for productivity.

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the Pilkington Creek Walking Tour made possible by the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

Sources
- 3.10 Ohlone History. Coastside State Parks Association website
- Save Our Shores

Wildlife of Pilkington Creek: Past and Present

Ranger Lautamo — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 14:30:46 +0000

Coyotes are often sighted in well-used open space areas in Santa Cruz. Photo: Courtesy of Jitze CC BY 2.0

Although it is easy to spot many different plants growing along Pilkington Creek in Santa Cruz, California, it’s harder to spot animals, especially large ones. When the native Awaswas* native people lived here, there were many large game animals in the area, such as black bears, grizzly bears, black tail deer, tule elk, and pronghorn antelope.

Deer provided food and the resources to make tools and clothing for the Awaswas native people. Photo: Courtesy of Vivienne Orgel

Awaswas hunters disguised themselves in deer skin and creep within 20 feet of the shy creatures, swiftly felling the deer with a bow and arrow. Deer provided more than just meat. The Awaswas used every part of the animal to make tools such as antler wedges, bone awls, and scapular saws. The hide was used for moccasins and other clothing.

Coyotes and Mountain Lions Still Prowl Santa Cruz

Humans and mountain lions still share the hills and open spaces surrounding Santa Cruz, as shown in these two photos of the same trail taken only two hours apart. Photo: Courtesy of Santa Cruz Land Trust

Mountain lions, bobcats, and coyotes also lived in Awaswas times and still roam this area today. Sightings of these animals are rare at Pilkington Creek, but bobcats and coyotes use the nearby Arana Gulch greenbelt behind the Santa Cruz Harbor. Mountain lions (also known as cougars or pumas) are common in Wilder Ranch and on the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) campus and have occasionally been spotted in downtown and westside neighborhoods.

These larger predators are forced to look for food and water closer and closer to civilization as their habitat is developed by humans. The large expanses of forest that once covered Santa Cruz County have been fragmented into smaller and smaller pieces, divided by roads and neighborhoods where these predators can potentially cause harm to domestic animals and people.

Most of the undeveloped land is composed of state parks, agricultural land, and greenbelts within city limits. All of this habitat is heavily used by people, and we are not as accustomed to sharing the land with wildlife as the Awaswas people were.

The Most Common Visitors to Pilkington Creek

Photo: Gary J. Wood CC BY-SA 2.0.

If you visit the creek today, you might see smaller animals using the creek and surrounding habitat, including raccoons, opossums, and squirrels. Stellar’s Jays, European starlings, and California towhees sweep the surrounding park for insects, seeds, and remains of recent family picnics. The Santa Cruz Natural History Museum’s native plant garden attracts native insects that, in turn, attract native birds to the creek. Hopefully, more animals will use Pilkington Creek in the future with ongoing stewardship of the land.

*The native peoples of the Santa Cruz area of California refer to the region as Cotoni and call themselves the Awaswas. Most folks think of them as the “Ohlone” people, but this is a misnomer and not how they identify themselves. Today, the descendants of the area’s indigenous forebears, who were “missionized” at Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista, are organized as the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. The Cotoni-Awaswas nourished themselves from the sea and tidal zone and harvested, gathered, and hunted game from the coastal uplands. Although not “agricultural” as we tend to think of that term, California natives thrived by actively managing the environment for productivity.

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the Pilkington Creek Walking Tour made possible by the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

Sources Used

Bound for the Sea: Pilkington Creek

Ranger Lautamo — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 13:30:44 +0000

Pilkington Creek wends its way to meet the Pacific Ocean at the entrance to Seabright Beach. Photo: Courtesy of Molly Lautamo

Pilkington Creek is behind the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, which is at 1305 E. Cliff Drive. The creek might be a far cry from its wild and scenic past but, if you look closely, this humble creek tells a story of our connection to the land 500 years ago and reminds us of our responsibility to wisely care for the landscape that we call home.

Pilkington Creek is small, but it is an important part of the Monterey Bay watershed system. Photo: Courtesy of Vivienne Orgel

Pilkington Creek’s Journey to the Sea

Pilkington Creek is named for Thomas Pilkington, who owned much of the land around the Seabright neighborhood in the late 1800s. The creek extends northward to Broadway, but almost all of its length runs through underground tunnels. It is revealed at Tyrrell Park, which is named for William Tyrrell, who also lived in the Seabright neighborhood in the 1800s. The creek emerges behind the museum from beneath Forbes Street to finish its journey to the ocean at Seabright Beach.

During the rainy season, Pilkington Creek spills out onto Seabright Beach through a culvert and sometimes flows on the surface all the way to the ocean. After it is on the beach, the channel spreads out to more than 10 feet wide, creating a seasonal lagoon that attracts both water-loving children and wildlife.

Pilkington Creek spilling out onto Seabright Beach after a winter storm. Photo: Courtesy of Molly Lautamo

Pilkington Creek Past and Present

The native people of this area, called the Awaswas,* lived by the seasons, and their diets fluctuated accordingly. You wouldn’t want to refill your water bottle from this creek today, but 300-500 years ago, these native people might have relied on this creek for drinking and cooking water.

The modern-day descendants of the Santa Cruz Awaswas are members of the Amah-Mutsun Tribal Band. Photo: Courtesy of Molly Lautamo

The Awaswas also relied heavily on riparian habitats for food, medicine, and building supplies. Smaller creeks such as Pilkington that have seasonal flows also have seasonal animals. The Awaswas knew that during the rainy season when the water was high, fish might be found in the creek. This attracted omnivores such as raccoons, bobcats, and even bears to feast at the water’s edge. Different plants also produce nuts, seeds, fruits, and new branches at different times of the year, and the Awaswas knew exactly when to harvest specific plants in this area.

The nut of the California hazel (Corylus cornuta) was harvested in late summer and was a staple of the Awaswas’ diet and of tribes throughout the state. Photo: Courtesy of Fir0002

Read Castles in the Moving Sand, the Mobile Ranger article about Seabright Beach’s castle-shaped bathhouse that James Pilkington built in the late 1800s.

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the Pilkington Creek Walking Tour made possible by the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

*The native peoples of the Santa Cruz area of California refer to the region as Cotoni and call themselves the Awaswas. Most folks today think of them as the “Ohlone” people, but this is a misnomer and not how they identify themselves. Today, the descendants of the area’s indigenous forebearers who were “missionized” at Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista, are organized as the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. The Cotoni-Awaswas nourished themselves from the sea and tidal zone, as well as harvesting, gathering, and taking game from the coastal uplands. Although not “agricultural” as we tend to think of it, California Indians thrived by actively managing the environment for productivity.

Sources Used

Ranger Lautamo – Mobile Ranger

Elkhorn Slough: From Salt Ponds to Bird Sanctuary

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Sources

The Lighthouse at Año Nuevo Island: Shipwrecks and Sea Lions

A High Price for an Ocean View

Make Way for Pinnipeds

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Sources

When Money Washed up on the Shores of Greyhound Rock

When Snail Shells Were Currency

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Sources

Elkhorn Slough Sea Otters Offset Agricultural Runoff

Where to See the Sea Otters

Elkhorn Slough – A Protected Place for Otters and More

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Sources

Why There Is No Beachfront Resort at Seacliff State Beach

Seawall Scores Two, Developers Zero

Sailing to the Rescue (Temporarily)

Protect the Oceans

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Sources

Where Have All the Bridges Gone at Natural Bridges State Beach?

Time Takes Its Toll

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Sources

Surfing over Kelp Forests at Cove Beach

The Loss of Kelp Forests and a Killer Surf Break at Cove Beach

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Sources

Why Chinese Fishermen Were Chased Away from the Monterey Bay

The Chinese Exclusion Law

Chinese Fishing Villages Trumped by Tourism

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Sources

Multitudes of Monarchs at Natural Bridges State Beach

A Monarch Refuge

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Sources

Waddell’s Wharf: Ordeals of Shipping Lumber from Año Nuevo Bay

A Tale of Two Wharves

It Ends with a Bear

Where to Look for Remnants of the Wharf

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Sources

Managing a Strawberry Farm and Protecting the Elkhorn Slough

A Great Side Trip

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Sources

The Evolution of a Monterey Bay Fisherman

From Fisherman to Captain for Hire

The Rockfish Return

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Sources

Natural Bridges State Beach and Fred Swanton’s Development Dreams

“Fabulous Fred” Invests in the Wrong Neighborhood

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Sources

Bulls, Harems, and Pups at Año Nuevo

What’s That Sound?

Mom of the Year

Deep Divers and Long-Distance Swimmers

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Sources

Community Volunteers Help Native Plants Thrive Again

Constant Change at Seabright Beach

Volunteer to Help Restore Native Plants

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Sources Used

Trash Middens: From Shells to Plastic

We Have Landfills, the Awaswas had Middens

Present Day “Middens” of Plastic

Changing Landscapes

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Sources

Wildlife of Pilkington Creek: Past and Present

Coyotes and Mountain Lions Still Prowl Santa Cruz

The Most Common Visitors to Pilkington Creek