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

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 …

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 …

Field Update June 2018: Eelgrass

July 6, 2018 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program eelgrass estuary field updates MBNEP monitoring morro bay morro bay national estuary program restoration Blog Posts

One new location is across from State Park Marina.

Fulfilling our mission to protect and restore the Morro Bay estuary for people and animals requires a lot of field work. At the Estuary Program, that often means spending time doing research and monitoring on the water. Read on to see what we’ve been up to during June 2018. In 2017, we collaborated with researchers at CalPoly on two small-scale, experimental eelgrass restoration projects. Based on what we learned from that effort, we conducted another round in February and March of 2018. In 2018, we planted eelgrass in five locations—our original location in the forebay near channel marker …

Field Updates March 2018: Eelgrass Transplanting and Sediment Sampling

April 6, 2018 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program california conservation creek eelgrass estuary field fieldwork los osos MBNEP morro bay redd restoration salmon spawn steelhead transplant trout volunteer Blog Posts

No, that’s not a grass skirt. That is 25 eelgrass rhizomes tied onto rebar, ready to be planted.

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 the progress that our staff and volunteers have made in our eelgrass work during March of 2018. Eelgrass In the last few months, you might have seen our staff and volunteers in waders at Coleman Beach or trudging through the mud in the back bay during the last few months. They have been busy …

Field Updates February 2018: Eelgrass Transplant Videos

March 9, 2018 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program CalPoly conservation eelgrass environment estuary MBNEP morro bay morro bay national estuary program morro bay oyster company restoration seagrass Watershed Stewards Program wsp Blog Posts

One of our longtime volunteers works on harvesting eelgrass blades near Target Rock. Thanks, Marc!

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 the progress that our staff and volunteers have made in our eelgrass work during February of 2018. Our field highlight for February was preparing for and executing our third, small-scale eelgrass restoration. We completed two in 2017—one in March and one in July. Eelgrass was harvested from the healthy bed at Coleman …

Director’s Desk Year-End Reflections 2017: Collaborating for Morro Bay

December 29, 2017 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program conservation eelgrass estuary lexie bell monitoring morro bay Of Marshes and Morros partner partnership research restoration volunteers Blog Posts

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. Previously, …

Field Updates November 2017

December 8, 2017 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program eelgrass estuary MBNEP monitoring morro bay restoration seagrass Blog Posts

Our Field Technician, Kelley, and two CalPoly student volunteers work on measuring blade length and taking photos.

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 November. For some people, the big November negative tides provide a great opportunity for going tide pooling or to surf a low tide break. For the Estuary Program, these low tides are the start of our busy fall and winter eelgrass monitoring season. Eelgrass Bed Condition Monitoring This is our third year of conducting an eelgrass survey …

Field Updates July 2017

August 4, 2017 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program cal poly CalPoly conservation eel grass eelgrass estuary morro bay morro bay national estuary program restoration sea grass seagrass volunteer in slo Volunteer opportunity Blog Posts

George and Estuary Program volunteer, Nick, finish planting eelgrass shoots within a one-meter squared plot.

Estuary Program staff and volunteers were hard at work in the field this past month. Fieldwork in July focused on preparing for a second round of eelgrass restoration. As you may recall, we collaborated with CalPoly on a similar effort in March, 2017. This effort was conducted earlier in the year than in past efforts in hopes that the eelgrass would become established before large macroalgae blooms, which typically occur during the summer here in Morro Bay. After four months, we were seeing growth and expansion of eelgrass at our forebay plot (or, eelgrass had expanded outside of …

State of the Bay 2017: Habitat Protection, Steelhead, and Birds

March 31, 2017 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program birds conservation easement estuary habitat habitat protection land conservancy pacific flyway restoration state of the bay steelhead Blog Posts

Our State of the Bay 2017 report contains data that the Estuary Program and our partners have collected over the years. We release this report every three years to answer common questions about the health of Morro Bay and its watershed. Last week’s blog discussed eelgrass, sedimentation, and climate change. In this week’s blog, we address the indicator questions related to habitat protection, steelhead, and birds. Protecting Habitat for People and Wildlife Habitats are the natural environments where animals, plants, and other organisms live. The Estuary Program and its partners work to protect, enhance, and restore habitats to …

March Field Updates

April 8, 2016 Posted by Morro Bay National Estuary Program conservation eelgrass estuary field update morro bay restoration restore seagrass volunteer Blog Posts

A surfboard works as the perfect desk for a day of eelgrass monitoring

Fulfilling our mission to protect and restore the Morro Bay estuary for people and animals requires a lot of hard work in the field. Today, we’re bringing you our first set of monthly field updates to show you what our staff and volunteers are doing on the ground. Monitoring Updates With the help of NOAA/CCC Veterans Corps members, we reinstalled one staff plate (a long ruler that can be used to measure water depth) that was knocked out during winter storms. We monitored for sediment during the big rain at the beginning of March. We completed …