ACS Monterey Bay Program for January 2009

Characterization of rocky intertidal and kelp forest habitats along the Big Sur coast

The Big Sur coastline is a scenic edge of the continent accessed by California's State Highway One. President Franklin Roosevelt was at the Grand Opening of the 139-mile section of the highway from Morro Bay to Carmel and the Big Sur coastline is a large part of that stretch of road. In 1966, at Bixby Bridge, Lady Bird Johnson dedicated Highway One as California's first Scenic Highway.

People from all over the world come to California to drive this road, frequently stopping to enjoy the breathtaking views which are often from locations 200 to 300 feet above sea level with a vertical drop to the ocean below. In the summer the highway is a tourist attraction but in the winter, during the rainy season, the highway can be treacherous because of landslides from the mountains above. The dangers of the highway are never more risky than after wild fires strip the hills and mountain faces of stabilizing plants and trees like those which occurred last summer.

On the other side of the highway are the Pacific Ocean and a significant portion of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary ("Sanctuary"). While tourists are looking at Point Sur or for whale spouts the scientists of the Sanctuary Integrated Monitoring Network ("SIMoN") are watching the denizens of the Rocky Intertidal and Kelp Forest habitats. Debris coming from natural slides or Cal Trans, as part of a road clearing operation, can drop many tons of material into the ocean with significant effects on these habitats.

As a SIMoN scientist our speaker is responsible for developing research and monitoring programs within this section of the Sanctuary and for getting that information out to resource managers, researchers, educators and the general public.

Please join us for what promises to be a very interesting program about the Big Sur coast and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

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