February 11 , 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Mark Silberstein or Stephen Slade, (831) 728-5939

Moro Cojo Slough Protected
(photos, map)

Elkhorn Slough Foundation to create 390-acre wetland once slated for industry

The Elkhorn Slough Foundation announced today that it has acquired 183 acres from one of the area's largest farming operations and plans to restore the land to its natural wetland state. ESF Executive Director Mark Silberstein called it a "winning deal" both for the environmental group and the farmer. "It was not productive farm land, but it will make a great wetland," Silberstein said. Hugo Tottino, Director of Sea Mist Farms, who, with his partners, sold the land, agrees. "The land was difficult to farm," Tottino said, "Bringing back wetlands makes sense here."

Moro Cojo Slough runs south of Elkhorn Slough from Moss Landing to Castroville. Until the 1930s, Silberstein says, the area was a natural wetland. Since then it was diked, drained, and cultivated, but it remained too wet to be productive farmland. In the 1970s the area was slated for industrial development.

The Elkhorn Slough Foundation will restore the newly acquired land to a wetland, providing habitat for birds and other animals and reducing sediment and agricultural chemical runoff into the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Silberstein says that by restoring the land to its natural wetland state, the Foundation will also be helping trap fresh water, reducing groundwater depletion in the area.

The Elkhorn Slough Foundation owns an adjoining 207 acre property which was once the proposed site for an oil refinery. ESF has cooperated with the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in restoring that wetland for five years. Silberstein says the results have been dramatic. "Already we're seeing the birds coming back," he says, noting that more than 100 species of birds now use the area.

One reason the Foundation was able to buy the new property is the working relationship they built over the past five years with their farm neighbors. "We've worked with them," Hugo Tottino says, "they understand our needs. They're practical people." The foundation's restoration work on the adjoining land has incorporated features to reduce farm pests.

The entire Moro Cojo wetland system encompasses 1,000 acres and is possibly the largest restorable tract remaining in California, outside of San Francisco Bay. The Foundation will use irrigation runoff to help restore the wetland. Silberstein says the restored wetland will filter sediment and chemicals, preventing their entry into Moro Cojo, Elkhorn Slough, and the bay.

The 183 acres cost $887,000, plus $26,000 in transaction costs, and $30,000 for restoration planning. The Elkhorn Slough Foundation obtained funding for the project from the Regional Water Quality Control Board ($590,000); the California Coastal Conservancy, which committed grant funds from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, ($273,000); and the Packard Foundation ($80,000). The Regional Water Quality Control Board funding comes from a $7 million mitigation fund established when the Moss Landing Power Plant was expanded in 2001.

Restoration of the property will be carried out by the Elkhorn Slough Foundation in partnership with the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, and the Watershed Institute at California State University Monterey Bay. A committee of distinguished scientists, farmers, and landowners is being formed to advise ESF on the restoration and management of the property.

The Moro Cojo Slough purchase is the latest acquisition in the Elkhorn Slough Foundation's drive to double the amount of land it protects. This plan was announced in June 2001 when the foundation protected 2,000 acres. Since then the Foundation has acquired 1,300 acres, bringing the amount of land under its care to more than 3,400 acres.

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