By Julian Durante, Coastal Advocate Intern
As the days of summer come to a close here in Northern California, EAC’s Marin MPA Watch program continues full steam ahead. Since its inception in 2013, the program has worked with partners and local community members to collect human-usage data within six Marin County MPAs. This Sunday, August 14th, was no different! Seven volunteers—hailing from West Marin to San Francisco—gathered at a fogged-in Limantour Beach, clipboards in hand and binoculars at the ready. After some brief introductions and background presentations by EAC Coastal Advocate interns Rachel Mueller, Eli Hanft, and Julian Durante, the group was eager to dive into their first MPA Watch Training.
The volunteers, ranging from high school students to life-long locals, were instructed to begin by standing at the mean high-tide line and record a five-minute “binocular snapshot” of the human activity to the southern end of Limantour Beach. They noted recreators, dog-walkers, and carefully examined the horizon for offshore activity, recording each instance on their datasheets.
With the first portion of transect LIM_01 under their belts, the volunteers continued north along the beach, scanning seaward in addition to tallying any land-based human activity that they happened to pass by.
While indulging in an appreciation of the local flora and fauna, fading fog, and newfound community, the volunteers concluded the last transect of the day near the end of Limantour Spit. Data sheets filled with tally marks and side notes were corroborated and finalized—and would soon be entered into the MPA Watch database for use by natural resource managers across California.
By now, the fog had completely burned off and been replaced by a bright blue sky, rewarding the newly-trained MPA volunteers with a picturesque walk back down the beach. Now certified at the Limantour Beach MPA Watch location, each volunteer is expected to carry out a minimum of 1-2 surveys per month for the following three months. And we hope many of the volunteers will choose to continue to participate in the program beyond three months!
To sign up for an upcoming MPA Watch training session, please click here!
