Five years of hand-culling urchins pulled Mendocino’s kelp back at a handful of sites, but the real wager is on a returning sea star.
Tag: Purple Urchin
Posted inEnvironment & Natural Resources
UrchinFest returns to Mendocino coast with celebration of uni, ecosystem education
Events the weekend of June 16 include tide pooling, sake tasting, and the chance to try your hand at diving for urchin.
Posted inEnvironment & Natural Resources
Urchin-smashing off to strong start this year with 30 recreational divers at Caspar Cove
Divers taking a hammer to purple urchin is just one piece of the goal to bring back the bull kelp: “We’re still struggling to acquire multi-year funding for restoration work at large.”
Posted inEnvironment & Natural Resources
Urchin diver spots another sunflower sea star north of Noyo Harbor
The pycnopodia sighting brought “a bit of hope to a gloomy situation,” as diver Grant Downie said he’s been discouraged by low kelp numbers and not many viable red urchins.
Posted inEnvironment & Natural Resources
Hope for kelp on the Mendocino Coast: landmark restoration report shows regrowth after urchin removal
Despite a long road ahead and a purple seafloor, nearly two years of hard work and grant money have shown that clearing purple urchin by hand could help bring back Northern California’s bull kelp forests.