Fighting the Tide at Elkhorn Slough, Monterey Bay

Sea lions chilling out in the marsh. In the background are the cooling towers from the Moss Landing Power Plant, a natural gas-driven electricity generation plant. The plant takes cool water from the slough or ocean and uses it to cool the gas turbines. Warm water gets dumped back in the ocean.

[blog post interrupted by random clippings from Marika's trip summary!]

In June. Marika, Julia, Whitney, and I decided to go for a paddle in Elkhorn Slough. This was shortly after I found out my company was applying to work on a restoration project in the slough. In 1947, a harbor was built at the mouth of the slough to provide a safe haven for boats coming in and out. Unfortunately, constructing a permanent structure like a harbor limits the slough's ability to naturally manage itself by opening, closing, and moving north to south, depending on factors like inflows and sediment supply. 

Since 1947, the slough has experienced massive erosion - even when we were there we could see big chunks of the marsh falling into the channel. Keeping the mouth of the slough wide open makes it so that the water moves in and out with the tide more quickly than it otherwise would. This makes sand and mud move back and forth more quickly. On the ocean side of the slough is a huge submarine canyon (right). This canyon is like a big sink - much of the sediment that comes out of Elkhorn Slough falls into the canyon and doesn't come back. I found out recently that my company will be working on the restoration project (that I'll be helping to manage!), which will look at different options to try to fix this problem. Getting rid of the harbor isn't really an option, so the main focus will be on importing sediment from other sources (to be determined) and placing it upstream in the slough to try and counteract erosion. The project is just starting, so more info on that later! 

Seagull hanging out above the pickleweed. Everyone in CA hates seagulls because they're invasive, but they're still fun to take pictures of because they're not very scared of people... :)

Source: NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries

Guy-with-cool-moustache telling us the rules. He later showed us pictures of a baby otter that had jumped into his kayak... There were some very cute kayakers working at this shop... "Also, the cute kayak shop guy lent us his watch because we forgot ours. He was cute I remember that part." - Marika

Pickleweed! One of the main marsh plants native to California. It turns bright red in the fall, so it almost makes it feel like there are seasons here. I tried chewing on it... it tastes like grass, which was a huge relief considering my disagreements with pickles.

Marika trying to pick up a jelly fish

The slough is full of jelly fish. We tried to pick them up with our paddles and toss them at each, but gravity is not their friend, so they ended up being 2D instead of 3D. It was a little gross, so we stopped. "We passed by a cow farm with manure sliding down a hill into the water...nasty smell." - Marika

Cormorants and sea lions hanging out on the mud flat.

Channel bank erosion at its finest

Happy Julia!

While the slough is known for it's excellent sea kayaking, it's also known for intense winds and fast moving tides, that can combine in the afternoons to make for tricky returns to the harbor. The wind was pretty strong on this day, so it took us at least two times longer on the way back to the kayak shop.

Date: Saturday, June 30, 2012
Time: 2 hours
Distance: ~5 miles