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December
13, 2005
For Immediate
Release
Contacts:
Mark Silberstein, Executive Director, Elkhorn Slough Foundation
(831) 728-5939
Elkhorn Slough Receives $1.2 Million Grant
Funds to Develop Plans to Protect Slough from Marsh Loss and Tidal
Erosion
A consortium of local organizations has received a three-year
$1.2 million grant to develop plans to protect Elkhorn Slough
from marsh loss and tidal erosion. The grant, from the David and
Lucile Packard Foundation for $900,000 and the Resources Legacy
Fund for $300,000, was announced Friday (December 9). The consortium
is made up of the Elkhorn Slough Foundation, Elkhorn Slough National
Estuarine Research Reserve, California State University Monterey
Bay, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
Elkhorn Slough winds inland seven miles from Monterey Bay and
is one of the major estuaries in California. Over 340 species
of birds and 100 species of fish rely on the Slough, which is
also the state’s second largest tidal salt marsh, after San
Francisco Bay.
This marsh is being lost at an alarming rate, according to scientists.
Marsh vegetation has declined by almost 50 percent during the
past 75 years, with the most significant decline occurring during
the years immediately following the opening of the Moss Landing
Harbor mouth.
The creation of the Moss Landing Harbor in 1947 opened up the
slough to dramatic increases in tidal volume and speed, which
have been exacerbated by a number of other factors, including
the failure and removal of dikes and levees. These powerful tidal
currents are literally widening and deepening the main channel
and the hundreds of tidal creeks that are part of the Slough.
Over the past 75 years, tidal creek width has increased from an
average of eight feet to forty feet wide.
“These marshes represent a rare and precious resource that
have developed over the past 15,000 years,” say Elkhorn Slough
Foundation Executive Director, Mark Silberstein. “We want
to ensure this special place survives.”
In 2004 the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve
convened a panel of scientists and managers to address this threat
to the Slough. The group of scientists concluded this spring that,
if unchecked, the slough’s main channel and creeks would
continue to deepen and widen and that marsh would continue to
disappear over the next 50 years.
The current project funded by the grants is a collaboration between
the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve (ESNERR),
which is owned and managed by the California Department of Fish
and Game with support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, and the Elkhorn Slough Foundation (ESF), a community
non-profit land trust, along with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research
Institute (MBARI) and California State University Monterey Bay
(CSUMB).
ESF will administer the funds, while ESNERR manages the projects.
ESNERR, MBARI, and CSUMB will study ways to solve the problems
of tidal erosion and marsh loss. Researchers will study the chemical,
biological, hydrological, and socioeconomic effects of potential
solutions.
“Our goal is to develop and implement an approach that will
protect Elkhorn Slough for the long-run”, says Barb Peichel,
of the Elkhorn Slough Reserve, who is coordinating the project.
“It needs to be based on sound science, needs to be economically
feasible, and needs to be supported by the community.”
***
A summary and of how
tidal erosion and marsh loss has changed Elkhorn Slough is available
in the Fall 2005 issue of Tidal Exchange, the Elkhorn Slough Foundation
newsletter:
http://elkhornslough.org/newsletter/news0509.htm
More detailed information, including summaries of scientific conclusions,
are available here: http://www.elkhornslough.org/tidalwetlandplan.htm
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