Posted on Categories Agriculture/Food System, Climate Change & Energy, Sonoma CoastTags , , Leave a comment on Oyster company balances demand, climate change impact

Oyster company balances demand, climate change impact

Guy Kovner, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

With consumers wolfing down millions of its shellfish every year and clamoring for more, Hog Island Oyster Co. should be sitting pretty on the east shore of scenic Tomales Bay, a bountiful estuary abutting Point Reyes National Seashore.

Co-founder John Finger, a surfer-entrepreneur with a degree in marine biology, decided to farm the mile-wide and 15-mile-long bay due to its productivity and proximity to the Bay Area’s food-savvy multitudes.

Seeded by a $500 family loan in 1983, the oyster farm has prospered — propelled by a nationwide yen for raw oysters on the half shell — into a business that sells about $10 million worth of bivalves a year, employing about 120 workers who feel a bit like family themselves.

via Ground zero for future of oyster farming | The Press Democrat.

Posted on Categories Sonoma Coast, TransportationTags Leave a comment on Caltrans prepares to shift Highway 1 at Gleason Beach

Caltrans prepares to shift Highway 1 at Gleason Beach

Mary Callahan, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Spurred by the rapidly retreating coastline north of Bodega Bay, Caltrans is laying plans to reconstruct a nearly mile-long stretch of Highway 1, moving the roadway safely inland from the crumbling edge of the continent and raising it beyond the reach of the rising sea.

Environmental review of the estimated $20 million realignment project is just beginning, so work crews aren’t expected to break ground until at least 2017, project manager Lilian Acorda said.

Caltrans hasn’t even negotiated the purchase of needed property yet, including a large portion of an historic ranch across the road from Gleason Beach. The ranchland will be irrevocably altered by a concrete bridge about 400 feet east of the existing road and spanning as much as 900 feet across the parcel.

via Caltrans prepares to shift Highway 1 at Gleason Beach | The Press Democrat.

Posted on Categories Sonoma CoastTags Leave a comment on Feds propose doubling size of protected areas off North Coast

Feds propose doubling size of protected areas off North Coast

Guy Kovner, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Permanent protection from oil drilling off the Sonoma and southern Mendocino County coast appears imminent, anti-drilling advocates and local officials said Monday, as a federal agency unveiled a plan to expand two protected areas along the scenic shoreline.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a plan to more than double the size of two marine sanctuaries, extending their northern boundary from Bodega Bay more than 60 miles north to Point Arena.

Offshore oil or gas exploration, development and production would be prohibited throughout the expanded sanctuaries, a holy grail sought by environmentalists since the late 1970s.

“This particular victory for the ocean was 35 years in the making,” said Richard Charter of Bodega Bay, a veteran coastal protection advocate.

via Feds propose doubling size of protected areas off North Coast | The Press Democrat.

Posted on Categories Forests, Land Use, Sonoma CoastTags , Leave a comment on Supervisors give Buddhist printer, retreat OK to expand

Supervisors give Buddhist printer, retreat OK to expand

EU: For more information on opposition to the Ratna Ling expansion, see Coastal Hills Rural Preservation.
Jeremy Hay, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Ratna-Ling
A Buddhist retreat on the Sonoma Coast will be allowed to expand its bitterly contested printing operation after the Board of Supervisors, following a 6 1/2-hour hearing in a packed chamber, denied an appeal challenging its use permit.
The Ratna Ling Retreat Center has run a printing press — staffed by retreat attendees — to create Buddhist texts since 2005. The printing takes place in a plant half the size of a football field above Salt Point State Park, and is allowed only because it is considered a religious practice ancillary to the retreat.
via Supervisors give Buddhist printer, retreat OK to expand | The Press Democrat.

Posted on Categories Sonoma Coast, Water, WildlifeTags , , , Leave a comment on Storm runoff to aid salmon migration

Storm runoff to aid salmon migration

Matt Weiser, SACRAMENTO BEE

There’s at least one immediate benefit from the most recent storms that swept through California: Wildlife officials will temporarily stop transporting hatchery salmon by truck, and instead release those fish at the hatcheries following usual practice.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday that Coleman National Hatchery near Red Bluff will pause its trucking operation to take advantage of storm runoff in Battle Creek, which flows through the hatchery, and the Sacramento River. They will release the next batch of about 4.5 million young fall-run Chinook salmon at the hatchery instead, starting Friday.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife will also release about 1 million endangered spring-run Chinook salmon into the Feather River from its hatchery near Oroville. It had planned to haul these fish by truck.

Releasing salmon at their hatcheries is the preferred practice because it allows the fish to “imprint” on that location so they can find their way back from the ocean in three to four years to breed as adults.

via Storm runoff to aid salmon migration – Environment – The Sacramento Bee.

Posted on Categories Sonoma Coast, WildlifeTags Leave a comment on Top 5 places to watch whales in Sonoma County

Top 5 places to watch whales in Sonoma County

Andrea Granahan, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Late March and early April are prime viewing months for the 30- to 40-ton California gray whales that migrate between Alaska and Mexico to feed, mate and give birth. They travel in a narrow 20-mile-wide corridor that hugs the coast and use points of land that jut out into the ocean as points of navigation, which makes them easy to spot from the westernmost points along our coast.

In late October, the first whales to leave the Arctic are the pregnant females who have been gestating for almost a year. They are in a hurry to get in the safe lagoons of Baja California to give birth. By December, the other adults follow on their mating run.

This time of year you can see the adults that have mated heading north to the Arctic to fatten up over the summer. At the same time, you can see juvenile whales under 5 heading south just to learn the migration route.

The last of the whales to make their way north are the mothers with calves, who travel in April and early May. Moms nurse their young seven to eight months with milk so rich it is about the consistency of toothpaste. Orcas are a very real danger to the gray whale, so mothers hug the shore, staying between the calves and the open sea. April and May are prime months for spotting them.

Read more for best places to watch.

Posted on Categories Sonoma Coast, WildlifeTags Leave a comment on Bottlenose dolphins visit Bodega Bay

Bottlenose dolphins visit Bodega Bay

Andrea Granahan, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
The waters off Bodega Bay have suddenly become the hang-out location for approximately one tenth of the west coast population of Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus).

Bottlenose dolphins visit Bodega Bay
Golden Gate Cetacean Research

About 60 of the animals have moved into the area, far out of their normal range. Usually they are found near Santa Barbara, off Point Conception between the mainland and the Channel Islands. But suddenly they have decided to check out Sonoma Coast waters, and it has scientists scratching their heads.
Researchers at the nonprofit Golden Gate Cetacean Research are hoping the public will help them by photographing any animals they spot. Send news and photos of sightings to ggcetacean.org.
The dolphins came north before during the 1982 El Niño, when ocean warming drove their food sources north to cooler waters. When the ocean cooled again, they moved south again.
via Bottlenose dolphins visit Bodega Bay.
Bodega Bay dolphin video 2012

Posted on Categories Land Use, Sonoma CoastTags Leave a comment on President Obama designates Point Arena-Stornetta Public Lands a national monument

President Obama designates Point Arena-Stornetta Public Lands a national monument

Mary Callahan, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

With a stroke of his pen — six pens, actually — President Barack Obama turned a remote piece of the Mendocino Coast into a national destination Tuesday in an Oval Office ceremony that locals in attendance described as something right out of a dream.

The Point Arena-Stornetta Public Lands is now officially part of the 1,100-mile California Coastal National Monument, protected under a presidential proclamation long sought by locals.

via President Obama designates Point Arena-Stornetta Public Lands a national monument (w/video) | The Press Democrat.

Posted on Categories Sonoma Coast, WaterTags Leave a comment on Man's effect on Russian River's mouth studied

Man's effect on Russian River's mouth studied

Mary Callahan, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

A crumbling rock and concrete jetty largely buried and forgotten beneath the sand at the mouth of the Russian River has become the focus of renewed interest amid studies to determine its impact on the adjacent estuary.

No one knows, for instance, how deep the remnants of the 84-year-old jetty and adjoining seawall extend below the mutable surface of Goat Rock State Beach, nor how they affect the shifting sands and mingling of salt and fresh water where the river meets the sea.

But that’s expected to change.

A series of geophysical tests that began Wednesday and are scheduled to extend into next week are aimed at resolving some of the mysteries of the historic structures and how they interact with environmental forces at the river’s end in Jenner, the Sonoma County Water Agency said.

via Man's effect on Russian River's mouth studied | The Press Democrat.

Posted on Categories Climate Change & Energy, Sonoma CoastTags , Leave a comment on Feds approve more fracking off California coast

Feds approve more fracking off California coast

Alicia Chang, ASSOCIATED PRESS

The federal government has approved three new fracking jobs off the shores of California as state coastal regulators voiced concerns about potential environmental impacts.

The work in the Santa Barbara Channel, site of a 1969 oil platform blowout, has not yet begun and it was not immediately clear when it would.

The disclosure Wednesday came as the California Coastal Commission attempts to exercise greater oversight of the contested practice known as hydraulic fracturing, which involves pumping huge amounts of water, sand and chemicals deep into rock formations to free oil.

The environmental impacts of fracking and other well stimulation techniques "are not well understood. To date, little data has been collected," said Alison Dettmer, a commission deputy director.

The agency launched an investigation into the extent of offshore fracking after The Associated Press last year documented at least a dozen instances of companies using the technique since the 1990s in federal waters.

via Feds approve more fracking off California coast.