Field Updates February 2019: Wet weather, eelgrass restoration, and creek monitoring

A picture from the bridge at our monitoring site on Canet Road, overlooking Chorro Creek. What a difference a week and some good rain storms will do!

Fulfilling our mission to protect and restore the Morro Bay estuary for people and wildlife requires a lot of hard work in the field. At the Estuary Program, that often entails doing research, restoration, and monitoring work out on the estuary and along the creeks that feed into it. Read on to see what we’ve been up to during the past month during this wet weather. Eelgrass February eelgrass restoration details This past month, we have been busy taking advantage of some of the year’s lowest tides to replant eelgrass throughout the estuary. The weather didn’t want to …

Field Updates January 2019: Eelgrass, Stormy Monitoring, Wildlife

February 1, 2019 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program ca central coast california central coast eelgrass estuary estuary art field notes field updates MBNEP morro bay national estuary program S.L.O.P.E.storm water storms stormwater weather Field Updates

Once the water levels dropped to safe wading levels, we went out to check on equipment and measure stream flow on Pennington Creek. This is at the site that previously had a fish passage barrier. The barrier was removed over the fall, opening up miles of Pennington Creek for migrating steelhead trout. Partners at other organizations have seen returning adult steelhead in a few other creeks in the county, so we are keeping our eyes open for ones in our watershed as well.

Fulfilling our mission to protect and restore the Morro Bay estuary for people and wildlife requires a lot of hard work in the field. At the Estuary Program, that often entails doing research, restoration, and monitoring work out on the estuary and along the creeks that feed into it. Read on to see what we’ve been up to during the past month. (Don’t miss the pictures of the creeks during our recent stormy weather!) Eelgrass January was a busy month for field staff. We started by completing our eelgrass permanent transect monitoring. We were excited to see a …

Factors That Affect Eelgrass Growth in Morro Bay #4: Sediment and Light Part 2

January 18, 2019 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program eelgrass factors that affect eelgrass growth guest post light levels MBNEP morro bay national estuary program restoration sediment soil chemistry soil composition Blog Posts

Erin Aiello, guest author. Photograph courtesy of Kyle Nessen. Light and soil chemistry study

In the first two blog posts of the Factors that Affect Eelgrass Growth in Morro Bay series, we learned that there are many factors that influence eelgrass growth in estuaries. In this two-part post, PhD candidate Erin Aiello explores the importance of light levels and sediment properties and how they change across the bay. This is the second half of the post; read the first half here. Erin Aiello, Guest Author Erin Aiello is a native of the central coast, having grown up in Cambria. She spent most of her childhood running barefoot through pine forests, which instilled in her an undying …

Factors that Affect Eelgrass Growth in Morro Bay #3: Sediment & Light Differences Part 1

January 11, 2019 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program cal poly cuesta college eelgrass Erin Aiello estuary factors that affect eelgrass growth MBNEP morro bay mycorrhizae sediment sediment chemistry sediment classification sediment sampling Blog Posts Factors That Affect Eelgrass Growth

The illustration above shows hands holding sand on the left and clay on the right.

In the first two blog posts of the Factors that Affect Eelgrass Growth in Morro Bay series, we learned that there are many factors that influence eelgrass growth in estuaries. In this two-part post, PhD candidate Erin Aiello explores the importance of light and sediment properties and how they change across the bay. Erin Aiello, Guest Author Erin Aiello is a native of the central coast, having grown up in Cambria. She spent most of her childhood running barefoot through pine forests, which instilled in her an undying love of nature. Erin received her BS and MS degrees in …

Field Updates December 2018: Eelgrass, Wildlife Sightings, Creeks, and Rainfall Totals

January 4, 2019 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program bivalve chorro creek creeks eelgrass los osos creek monitoring rainfall total restoration seagrass transect monitoring wildlife Blog Posts Field Updates

Watershed Stewards Program members Melia and Doug work on counting the number of eelgrass shoots within a 0.5m by 0.5m area.

Fulfilling our mission to protect and restore the Morro Bay estuary for people and wildlife requires a lot of hard work in the field. At the Estuary Program, that often entails doing research, restoration, and monitoring work out on the estuary and along the creeks that feed into it. Read on to see what we’ve been up to during the past month. Eelgrass monitoring Each fall, we monitor eelgrass on our permanent transects. These transects are sample areas across the bay where eelgrass has grown historically. We chose the specific locations of the transects to represent different zones in the …

Factors That Affect Eelgrass Growth in Morro Bay #2: Biological Conditions and Human Factors

December 28, 2018 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program black brant crabs dredge dredging eelgrass eelgrass mitigation estuary factors that affect eelgrass growth morro bay seagrass zostera marina Blog Posts Factors That Affect Eelgrass Growth

There are a variety of physical, biological, and direct human factors that affect eelgrass growth in estuaries. We have partnered with researchers at Cal Poly and Cuesta College to better understand these conditions in Morro Bay. This blog series, Factors that Affect Eelgrass Growth in Morro Bay, highlights our partners’ research. This second post will introduce you to the biological conditions and human factors that can impact eelgrass in our estuary. You can find the first post on physical conditions that affect eelgrass here. Biological conditions Disturbance caused by crabs Crabs can disturb eelgrass blades by clipping them. However, …

Factors That Affect Eelgrass Growth in Morro Bay #1: Physical Conditions

December 21, 2018 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program anoxic soil central coast california eelgrass estuary factors that affect eelgrass growth low oxygen level macroalgae morro bay physical factors seaweed turbidity water quality Blog Posts

There are a variety of physical, biological, and direct human factors that affect eelgrass growth in estuaries. We have partnered with researchers at Cal Poly and Cuesta College to better understand these conditions in Morro Bay. This blog series, Factors that Affect Eelgrass Growth in Morro Bay, highlights our partners’ research. This first post will introduce you to the physical conditions that can impact eelgrass in our estuary. Physical conditions that affect eelgrass growth Turbidity Eelgrass needs sufficient light to grow. Turbidity (a measurement of the cloudiness of water) can reduce the amount of light that is able …

Field Updates November 2018: Eelgrass Monitoring and Rainfall Totals

December 7, 2018 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program eelgrass eelgrass loss eelgrass restoration estuary field updates field work fieldwork MBNEP monitoring morro bay natural recruitment precipitation rainfall rainfall totals citizen science Field Updates

Fulfilling our mission to protect and restore the Morro Bay estuary for people and wildlife requires a lot of hard work in the field. At the Estuary Program, that often entails doing research, restoration, and monitoring work out on the estuary and along the creeks that feed into it. Read on to see what we’ve been up to during the past month. Eelgrass Monitoring In November, we went out and checked on all of our 2018 eelgrass restoration plots, as well as some planted in 2017. While we were out monitoring, we noticed lots of new patches of …

2018 Volunteers of the Year

October 19, 2018 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program eelgrass estuary estuary program los osos MBNEP morro bay volunteer volunteering water quality Blog Posts Volunteering

The Morro Bay National Estuary Program, like many nonprofits, relies on volunteers who generously donate their time and expertise. Volunteers make up our governing board and committees, reach out to students at events and in classrooms, collect and analyze water samples, transplant eelgrass, and keep our Mutts for the Bay dog waste bag dispensers stocked and ready. Estuary Program volunteerism by the numbers During the past year: Volunteers spent 156 hours working to restore eelgrass to Morro Bay and another 27 hours on other restoration work in the watershed. 55 people volunteered through our Monitoring Program, spending 805 …

Field Updates August 2018: Monitoring Eelgrass Restoration Plots in Morro Bay

September 7, 2018 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program california conservation eelgrass estuary field update field work fieldwork MBNEP morro bay restoration seagrass transplant Blog Posts Field Updates

This eelgrass plot, transplanted in March of 2017, is thriving.

Fulfilling our mission to protect and restore the Morro Bay estuary for people and animals requires a lot of hard work in the field. At the Estuary Program, that often means spending time doing research, restoration, and monitoring work out on the water. Read on to see what we’ve been up to during the past month. This past spring, we were busy planting eelgrass. We planted just over 3,000 eelgrass shoots throughout the estuary. We chose transplant sites where naturally occurring eelgrass was found nearby. The five transplant locations in 2018 represented a range of conditions throughout the …