Native Plant Series #5: Riparian

This series of native plant blog posts has explored the different plants found throughout the Morro Bay watershed. A watershed is an area where freshwater creeks and streams flow from higher ground down towards the ocean. Riparian zone plants reach deep when streams run dry In the Morro Bay Watershed, some creeks and streams flow year round, and some don’t. Even though they’re not full of water, dry creek beds are still bordered by vegetation. This is due to the presence of groundwater, which is water that exists beneath Earth’s surface in soil pore spaces (the space between …

Photograph Friday: The Little Things

August 24, 2018 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program close-up closeup estuary estuary program exoskeleton macroinvertebrate MBNEP morro bay photograph friday pickleweed stonefly Blog Posts Photograph Friday

There is a whole world in a few drops of water from the bay. This photograph shows plankton from a water sample under a microscope.

In her recent blog post, Executive Director Lexie Bell discussed the detail-oriented nature of our work at the Estuary Program. “We deal in parts per million of analytes in water, concentrations of bacteria, and blades of eelgrass,” she said. “But in the end, we want this bay to remain a beautiful place of light and inspiration, a place to connect with the Earth and each other. We are preserving the opportunity for countless future experiences of awe.” Sometimes, it is those details—the curve of a blade of eelgrass, the shape of plankton under a microscope, or the abundance of …

From the Director’s Desk: Finding Inspiration on Morro Bay

August 10, 2018 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program central coast estuary program inspiration kayak lexie bell MBNEP morro bay paddle paddleboard Blog Posts Directors Desk

Lexie Bell, Executive Director of the Morro Bay National Estuary Program.

From the Director’s Desk is a twice-yearly blog series, written by Executive Director Lexie Bell. Lexie plans and directs the program’s work, and collaborates with the Estuary Program’s many partners to expand our collective success in the watershed. Lexie first began working in Morro Bay as a graduate student at the UC Santa Barbara Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. Her graduate work analyzed the economic impact of visitors’ perceptions of environmental quality in Morro Bay. In addition to her Master’s degree, Lexie graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Science in Marine Science and Biology. …

Shark Week 2018: Help Scientists Track these Essential Predators

July 20, 2018 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program estuary program great white shark MBNEP morro bay shark conservation shark population shark recovery shark week Blog Posts

When you think about sharks, what comes to mind? Chances are, you’ll picture a tall, angular fin cutting through the waves and rows upon rows of sharp teeth. You might even picture a shark attack from the movies, with people fleeing up the beach and away from the waterline. It’s less likely that you’ll picture one of the three sharks that thrive in Morro Bay’s protected waters, the swell shark, leopard shark, and horn shark. These diminutive sharks are not the stuff of horror movies, unless you’re a small fish, clam, innkeeper worm, crab, or any of the other mollusks …

Field Updates April and May 2018: Bioassessment Monitoring and New Team Members

June 1, 2018 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program bioassessment bugs caddisfly estuary program macros mayfly MBNEP Miossi Charitable Trust morro bay stonefly stream survey water quality Blog Posts Field Updates

Monitoring team works in the middle of the creek.

Bioassessment Monitoring Each spring, the Estuary Program conducts bioassessment monitoring throughout the Morro Bay Watershed. Bioassessment monitoring is an important tool that allows us to assess the health of local streams to determine their value as fish habitat. This monitoring involves collecting macroinvertebrates, insects visible to the naked eye, and taking measurements of things like water depth and canopy cover that tell us about the health of the creek. Check out this blog post to learn more about what bioassessment monitoring tells us about the health of our local creeks. Our bioassessment season kicked off on Saturday, April …

The Morro Bay Watershed Native Plant Series

February 23, 2018 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program conservation education estuary estuary program local plants MBNEP morro bay native plants plant community plant diversity stewardship watershed Blog Posts

The Morro Bay watershed is one of the most botanically diverse regions in California. This diversity can be traced back to the ice ages as California’s coastline receded and advanced over thousands of years, and the tectonic plates settled into their current position. Many communities and species of plants have evolved here as a result of such active geologic change. These plant communities have continued to exist and thrive because San Luis Obispo County still resembles its natural state, despite increasing human habitation and land use development. Because the natural areas of Morro Bay have been so well …

Field Updates January 2018

February 9, 2018 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program drought eelgrass estuary estuary program field MBNEP monitoring morro bay rainfall sediment Blog Posts

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 and monitoring work out on the water. Read on to see what our staff and volunteers have been up to during the first month of 2018! Eelgrass Monitoring We started the new year by monitoring the eelgrass we transplanted in March and July of 2017. With the help of Cal Poly, including graduate student Erin Aiello, we have been monitoring these plots regularly …

2017 Accomplishments: Community Projects Funded

January 12, 2018 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program 2017 community project estuary estuary program funding MBNEP morro bay Of Marshes and Morros sealife stewards snowy plover Blog Posts

Western snowy plover. Photograph by Pacific Southwest Region Fish and Wildlife Service, via Flickr.

Our 2017 Accomplishments blog series highlights some of the Estuary Program’s work during the past calendar year. Community Projects for 2017 Twice per year, the Estuary Program reviews proposals for community projects that benefit the Morro Bay estuary and watershed. Each successful application must address at least one of the goals of our management plan. Past community projects have addressed a wide range of issues, including bay-friendly and fire-safe gardening, rainwater harvesting, and estuarine-science education. All incoming applications must first pass a staff review before moving on to our advisory work groups, committees, and the Bay Foundation Board …

Field Updates December 2017

January 5, 2018 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program eelgrass egg case estuary estuary program field work ground truthing MBNEP monitoring moon snail morro bay multispectral imaging Blog Posts

We also spotted this crab in the eelgrass.

Fulfilling our mission to protect and restore the Morro Bay estuary for people and animals requires a lot of hard work in the field. Read on to see what our staff and volunteers have been up to during the month of December. We’re looking forward to another productive year of field work in 2018! Permanent Transects In 2005, with help from the Battelle Marine Sciences staff, we established four permanent transects for annual eelgrass monitoring in Morro Bay. These transects were chosen to represent different zones of the bay and capture differences between these zones. We added an additional …

Photo Friday: Changing Light Around Morro Bay

October 13, 2017 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program estuary program MBNEP Morro Bay Embarcadero morro bay estuary morro bay natural history museum Morro Bay sunset sweet springs windy cove Blog Posts

Sweet Springs, looking out at Morro Rock during the day.

We’re well into autumn, and the days are growing shorter. In Morro Bay, the sun will set at 6:30 p.m. this evening, a full 52 minutes earlier than it did at this year’s summer solstice. While many of us will miss those long summer and early-autumn days, there are many things to look forward to as the days grow shorter. One of them is the way the light changes around our bay. The golden gloaming comes sooner, and the colorful sunsets, too. Below, you will find three pairs of photographs taken at different locations in the bay. For each …