FORT BRAGG, CA., 10/4/26 — North Coast KelpFest is a festival about one thing: the bull kelp forests off this coast, and the work to bring them back. The third annual fest runs Thursday, Oct. 8, through Monday, Oct. 12, in Fort Bragg and Mendocino. There are science talks and restoration tours. There are beach walks, a parade, art, food and films.
Bull kelp is a brown seaweed. It grows from the rocky sea floor to the surface, up to 60 feet in a single season, according to festival organizers. Where it grows thick, it makes a forest, and much of the coast’s sea life depends on it. Herring spawn in it. Rockfish live in it. Seals hunt in it. Young salmon make the move to salt water in it, organizers say. Red sea urchins and abalone eat it.
Most of that forest is gone. Bull kelp in Mendocino and Sonoma counties began a dramatic decline in 2014, according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Festival organizers, citing canopy mapping, put the loss at more than 96% by 2023.
A disease killed the sunflower sea stars that ate purple urchins. With nothing to stop them, the urchins mowed the kelp down.
Warm water also drove much of the loss, said John Largier, a UC Davis oceanographer and former director of the Bodega Marine Laboratory who works with restoration teams on the Sonoma Coast.
“The warmth itself, but also the warm water means low nutrients,” Largier said in a phone interview Sept. 30. “That’s probably one of the biggest impacts that happened to the kelp and why we lost it.”
Restoration at Fort Ross and Timber Cove is “having some success, but it’s like a little patch,” he said. Patches seed other sites, which makes them valuable. But “it’s very different to having a kelp forest.”
Richard Millis II runs the Noyo Center for Marine Science’s field station in Fort Bragg. The center has pulled purple urchins off the Mendocino Coast since the 2014 heat wave.
“There’s hope because there’s a lot of work going on,” Millis said in a phone interview Sept. 28. “Deep down, it’s kind of grim.”
The festival shows that work to people who don’t see it, he said. “It’s something that should really be celebrated.”
Highlights by day follow. The full schedule is at northcoastkelpfest.org.
Thursday, Oct. 8, Fort Bragg
Sue Magoo leads a beach wrack walk, a kid-friendly hunt through what the ocean throws on shore, at 4 p.m. at Virgin Creek Beach, 1291 Shoreline Highway. A pizza party follows from 6 to 8 p.m. at Larry Spring Commons, 225 E. Redwood Ave. Both are free.
Friday, Oct. 9, Fort Bragg
Eight groups working to restore the ocean give short talks from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Fort Bragg Town Hall, 363 N. Main St. It’s free.
Saturday, Oct. 10, Mendocino
The Seaweed Spectacle Parade leaves Portuguese Beach at noon and ends at the Mendocino Art Center, with family activities after. A free Ocean Keepers Pledge comes first, at 11:15 a.m.
From 3:30 to 5 p.m., on the bluffs above Portuguese Beach, the Big River Kelp Recovery team shows how it pulls purple urchins and plants kelp.
Grant money pays commercial urchin divers to clear purple urchins off the worst sites so kelp can take hold, Millis said. The same divers traditionally harvest red urchins for their roe, sold as uni.
Sunday, Oct. 11, Caspar and Fort Bragg
From 9 to 11 a.m., Caspar Cove Project divers pull purple urchins at Caspar Cove. You can watch from shore.
At 1:30 p.m. at the Noyo Center Marine Field Station, 32430 N. Harbor Drive, the Department of Fish and Wildlife is scheduled to give an update on its Kelp Restoration and Management Plan. The statewide plan isn’t finalized. The listing names no presenter. A Fish and Game Commission committee on July 16 put the plan’s timeline as peer review, regulatory process and implementation in 2027 and 2028.
At 2:30 p.m., the Noyo Center hosts a panel on red abalone. A $10 donation is asked at the door. The center is also “in the permitting process” to grow bull kelp for restoration sites, Millis said.
The day ends with a low-tide walk and urchin cookout at Van Damme Beach from 5 to 7 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 12, Fort Bragg
A 10 a.m. walk on the Coastal Trail at Noyo Headlands Park looks out on a kelp restoration site. It belongs to the Pacific Coast Ocean Restoration Initiative, which runs on a NOAA award of just under $18 million to the Nature Conservancy through Sept. 30, 2028, according to the federal award record.
The fest closes with three short films about kelp from noon to 2 p.m. at Coast Cinemas, 135 S. Franklin St. Tickets are $15.