Title
Nature Conservancy Presentation
Summary
It is now estimated that 96% of bull kelp forests have been lost in northern California impacting the ecological, economic, and cultural viability in the region and leading to the devastating loss of biodiversity and abundance, federal fisheries disasters (e.g. red sea urchin, salmon), legacy dive shop closures, and the loss of an ecosystem highly valued by a coastal community deeply rooted in kelp. In response, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and a suite of local partners have been leading a variety of experimental approaches to kelp recovery. One component of this work is reducing the threat to kelp forests through the harvest of an overabundant population of native purple urchins at two targeted locations with commercial sea urchin harvesters. Our goal is to reduce the purple urchin population and facilitate the recovery of vegetation to ultimately create a refugia for the hundreds of species that rely on kelp ecosystems. With this proposal, we are respectfully requesting a letter of support from the City of Fort Bragg to pursue Environmental Enrichment Funds from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to continue this work that supports our local community and is connects to kelp recovery initiatives being pursued throughout the state, region and globally. In addition, we hope to increase visibility by our local community as we experimentally approach kelp recovery. Presentation by: Tristin Anoush McHugh, Kelp Project Director, tristin.mchugh@tnc.org.