How to be environmentally friendly during the holidays!

Whether you’ve been counting down the days with your festive sweaters or hiding in a cave under a box, hoping to avoid the hustle and bustle, the holidays have arrived. Since we know you care about the health of Morro Bay and beyond, we’re here to help you avoid the holiday season becoming a season of unintended wastefulness. That’s right, ’tis the season to get environmental! Here are some simple ways to be more eco-friendly this year. Gift giving Want to get something really cool for your loved ones? Try picking up presents locally. Look up local artists and craftspeople, or visit collective art galleries or holiday fairs, to get unique gifts for …

Exploring Abundance and Balance in the Morro Bay Estuary with Sea Otters, Whale Falls, and Bait Balls

November 28, 2019 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program bait ball bait fish California sea lions cycle of life estuary feeding frenzy humpback whale MBNEP morro bay national estuary program Morro Bay sea lions Nautilus discovery Nautilus Live sea otter whale fall Blog Posts Thanksgiving

We are grateful for the many people—volunteers, supporters, partners, lovers of the bay and the wild lands that surround it—who make the health of the Morro Bay estuary a priority. We are grateful for the slopes of the Morros that send freshwater running down the creeks, carrying detritus to feed the bugs, bringing bugs to the fish, and tempering the salty bite of the incoming tide when the waters mix inside the bay. If the video above doesn’t load, click here to watch a timelapse of a twelve-hour tide cycle in Morro Bay. We are grateful for the push …

Photograph Friday: Slow-Motion Summer Sunset Over Morro Bay

July 26, 2019 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program 805 webcams baycam beautiful morro bay estuary live view of Morro Bay MBNEP morro bay morro bay national estuary program Morro Bay sunset ocean sunset sunset Photograph Friday

This Photograph Friday, we are sharing a summer sunset over Morro Bay in slow motion, with one photograph taken every ten minutes during a single evening in July. For more photographs like this, visit our Morro Baycam. Help us protect and restore the Morro Bay estuary! Donate to the Estuary Program today and support our work in the field, the lab, and beyond. The Estuary Program is a 501(c)3 nonprofit. We depend on funding from grants and generous donors to continue our work. Support us by purchasing estuary-themed gear from ESTERO. This locally owned and operated company donates 20% of proceeds from its Estuary …

The truth about sunscreen: its effects on us and the environment

June 11, 2019 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program chemical sunscreen clean water coral reef environment estuary estuary program morro bay morro bay national estuary program Oxybenzone physical sunscreen skin sunburn Sunscreen Titanium oxide white goop Zinc Oxide Blog Posts

Summer is coming in hot! Iced tea, pool days, and movie nights are fast approaching. With all the excitement that comes with summer, you might not be thinking about the invention that allows our skin to survive the brutal rays of the sun—sunscreen. Whether you are a fan of old-school white goop or spray-on, most sunscreens are made out of the same basic ingredients. The main difference lies in how the active ingredients work to keep you from burning. There are two types of sunscreen, chemical sunscreen and mineral sunscreen, which is also known as physical sunscreen. Chemical sunscreen vs. …

Morro Bay Estuary Poetry Contest Winners 2019

May 10, 2019 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program coalesce bookstore estuary haiku contest juliane mcadam lani steele MBNEP morro bay morro bay estuary poetry contest morro bay haiku morro bay poetry poetry contest richard immel ted schade Art and writing Blog Posts

Spring is one of our favorite times of the year at the Estuary Program. The wildflowers are blooming, the days are long, and we get the chance to read a selection of poems crafted by talented writers in honor of the Morro Bay estuary. What more could we ask for in a season? This year, our Morro Bay Estuary Poetry contest asked writers to pen haiku about any aspect of the Morro Bay estuary that called to them as well as free verse poems about the history of Morro Bay. Local writers responded generously, sharing their love of the …

Earth Day in Morro Bay 2019: Biodiversity and Blue Carbon

April 19, 2019 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program Audubon climate report biodiversity blue carbon carbon sequestration earth day 2019 ecoslo estuary MBNEP morro bay morro bay national estuary program seas to trees day Blog Posts

Our choices, both big and small, affect the estuary At the Estuary Program, we work toward the health of the Morro Bay estuary for the benefit of people and wildlife every day. We complete big projects that have a correspondingly large impact, like our rural road restoration project that is projected to keep more than 12,200 tons of sediment from entering the estuary through 2027. We also make small day-to-day decisions, like choosing to stay on established trails when we conduct fieldwork or hike on our own, rather than cutting new ones. We don’t usually announce those small choices, …

Get Ready for Clean Boating on Morro Bay

April 12, 2019 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program clean boating estuary estuary program green boating MBNEP morro bay morro bay national estuary program Blog Posts

With the spring winds whipping along the Embarcadero and whitecaps on the bay, summer might seem far away. But, in just a couple of months, school will let out and prime boating season will begin. Helping boaters keep our bay clean This fall, the Morro Bay Harbor Department distributed kits that included spill prevention, containment, and response materials to all 27 boat-docking stations along Morro Bay’s shoreline. These kits make it easier for boaters to avoid spilling oil and other hazardous materials into the estuary. They also provide instructions, personal protection equipment, and cleanup materials that enable boaters and …

Get Inspired by History: Morro Bay Estuary Poetry Contest 2019

April 5, 2019 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program coalesce bookstore estuary estuary poetry kevin patrick sullivan marnie parker MBNEP morro bay morro bay estuary morro bay estuary poetry contest national treasure in words poetry contest Art and writing

A view of Morro Rock over a long stretch of dunes on the sandspit.

Every year, we hold a poetry contest that asks writers to focus on Morro Bay. Our haiku category theme is always the Morro Bay estuary, but our free verse theme changes each year. This year, we are asking writers to focus on local history. Writers could choose to focus on the geological forces that carved the bay, formed the sandspit, and shaped Morro Rock. Maybe the many thousands of years of annual bird migrations will spark their imaginations. Maybe the 10,000 years or more of human habitation along the estuary’s shores and across watershed will call to them. They might …

The business of recycling: How international policy has changed what you can recycle at the curb in California

March 29, 2019 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program are coffee cups recyclable China recycling estuary morro bay morro bay national estuary program national sword plastic waste recycling recycling pop quiz SLO County IWMA SLO County recycling what can i recycle whats recyclable where does our recycling go Blog Posts

Plastic waste is compacted and bound together for transport.

POP QUIZ! Which of these items are recyclable? Paper coffee cups Styrofoam plates, cups, and bowls Receipts Find the answer at the end of the blog. Did you struggle a little? If you did, that’s okay! It’s really hard to know what is recyclable, especially if you don’t know where to look. The guidelines change from county to county—even neighboring Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties differ in what they accept—and even more so from state to state. Why recycling guidelines aren’t standardized A lot of this variation is due to the fact that there are …

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

March 1, 2019 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program creek stage eelgrass eelgrass restoration eelgrass transplant estuary ISCO sampler MBNEP morro bay morro bay national estuary program Morro Bay rain totals sediment SLO rain totals stage height stream gage stream stage Watershed Stewards Program wet weather SLO Blog Posts Field Updates

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 …