From Pacific to Prairie and Pole to Pole

This past week brought a new adventure for the Sea Ranch team! We (Jeffrey, Kyle, Nicole, and I) volunteered along with several other individuals to help with an intertidal survey conducted by  UC Santa Cruz’s Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department. Maya, Melissa, Karah, and Molly were our mentors throughout the project as the grad students in charge of conducting the survey.

Kyle scanning species into an electronic database as Karah goes through a typical plot. Each plot was divided into a 10×10 grid and belonged to one of five different species plots. Each individual rectangle was classified by the predominant covering species (if no species present, just rock or sand) and then scanned using pre-made barcodes and a PalmPilot (essentially a PDA with a scanning machine like in a grocery store). A bit tedious, but the plots were only exposed during low tide and we were racing the clock to get all the plots done before the tides rose again. (Thankfully we won the race)

Jeffrey and Nicole setting up the rig for an overhead photo of a plot.

Nicole carrying the camera rig. Climbing over wet, algae-covered rocks was hard enough without the rig, but she did it!

Me using the Palm Pilot to scan species into a preset database as Maya identifies the predominant species per area. The heavy jacket was crucial in the cold morning wind, and the gloves (almost) kept my hands from freezing solid.

After the survey, we all went to Trinks cafe in Gualala to warm up and talk without the impending threat of the rising tide. From Left to Right: Doug Forsell, Lynn Suer, Karah, Kyle, Nicole, Amy and Bob van Soyk, Jeffrey, Me, Molly, Melissa, and Maya.

Overall this was an amazing adventure and an incredibly fun morning.