Duxbury Reef continues to amaze and inspire visitors and locals alike. This winter, lucky observers were excited to see beautiful yet highly vulnerable soft-bodied mollusks, including a variety of nudibranchs and the red octopus, which come to the shallow reef to brood their young and have not been seen there for several years. As a go-to destination for school groups and weekend visitors, reports of amazing sightings bring even more people to Duxbury Reef. We are so lucky to have such dedicated volunteers on our docent team to help educate visitors about the fascinating marine species, reef habitat, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), and protective tidepooling practices that all visitors can take to protect the reef’s biodiversity for future generations. This is especially important as climate and ocean changes will continue to stress marine life in addition to the stress that high visitation causes.
This winter, we trained and welcomed five new docents to our team! They hail from the East Bay, San Francisco, and Sonoma and Marin Counties, and are eager to help educate the visiting public while they continue, like all the docents, to build their knowledge of Duxbury Reef’s species and habitat. Spending time and serving at the reef is a lifelong learning adventure! Thank you to all of the instructors and guest speakers who helped train the docents, including Kent Khtikian (community volunteer and Duxbury Docents co-founder), Kathy Ann Miller (UC Berkeley), Terry Gosliner (California Academy of Science), Max Delaney (NOAA Greater Farallones), Dave Press (Point Reyes National Seashore), Nova Hairston (Marin County Parks and Open Space), Nathan Kemp (California Department of Fish and Wildlife), and Dean Hoaglin (Coast Miwok Tribal Council).
Another piece of positive news to share, we are incredibly thankful to our partner, Marin County Parks, for installing a storage shed that houses docent supplies and a series of temporary educational signs which docents set up and store away at each shift. Former Coastal Advocate Intern, Cate Olrich, designed the signs! Research shows that a combination of docents and effective signage is the best way to educate visitors. If you plan on visiting Duxbury Reef, keep an eye out for one of our docents (wearing a green docent vest). Or better yet, reach out in advance to schedule a docent tour for groups of 10 or more people.
