A new chapter for Elkhorn Slough

MOSS LANDING — As Congressman Jimmy Panetta stepped up on the podium at a ceremony last week at Hester Marsh, pelicans glided behind him to a landing near bobbing otters. The flurry of wildlife underlined Panetta's message of just how crucial wetland habitat is.

"We want to show the importance of Elkhorn Slough not just to the Central Coast, but to the world," Panetta told the crowd of scientists, activists, and politicians.

Friday's ceremony marked the beginning of a new chapter for the wetland and the community that has worked hard to champion environmental protections here, as Elkhorn Slough was named one of 38 wetlands of international importance.

To Panetta, the designation represents a successful, "convergence of wetlands, wildlife, agriculture, recreation, and transportation" at Elkhorn Slough.

Congressman Jimmy Panetta speaks at a ceremony at the Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing on Friday. The Elkhorn Slough received a designation as a "wetland of international importance" under the Ramsar Convention of Wetlands (Vern Fisher – Monterey Herald)

With the designation comes the opportunity for Elkhorn scientists and policy makers to connect with thousands of wetland experts worldwide.

The wetland met all nine categories of biodiversity and rare habitat set forth by the Ramsar Convention. They only had to meet one.

The ceremony location nodded to the future, and the past; to the west the marsh still thrives naturally, but to the east, Hester Marsh is being carefully engineered and put back together so that it may still stand for years to come. Years of diking, sea level rise, and water pollution degraded the marsh so badly researchers had to use old aerial photographs to reconstruct the estuary channels that once flowed naturally. Monique Fountain, who directs the restoration project on site, explained that to increase elevation relative to rising seas, trucks dumped 200,000 cubic yards of Pajaro River sediment and agricultural soil onto Hester marsh since March.

Pelicans fly over the Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing on Friday. (Vern Fisher – Monterey Herald)

Coming up with strategies to cope with issues like sea level rise, poor water quality, and sinking ground will be crucial to the longevity of Elkhorn Slough in the coming decades.

The global connections that come from being a Wetland of International Importance could help scientists at Elkhorn combat environmental issues, like sea level rise.

"When you create powerful connections from international organizations, to communities doing work on the ground it's conservation magic," Nicole Le Boeuf, Director of NOAA's National Ocean Service, said with enthusiasm.

The Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing on Friday. (Vern Fisher – Monterey Herald)

Her hopeful outlook reverberated at the ceremony. Mark Silberstein, executive director of the Elkhorn Slough Foundation, made clear their approach to address environmental challenges is "Making decisions informed by science."

Elkhorn habitat not only protects threatened species like the Southern Sea Otter but stores carbon dioxide, a harmful greenhouse gas, that would otherwise rise into the atmosphere. Deep below the reconstructed surface layer of Hester Marsh, there is no oxygen. Like an untouched bank vault, carbon dioxide levels remain unchanged over thousands of years, Kerstin Wasson, research coordinator of Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve and professor at UC Santa Cruz explained.

Sea level rise will flood most of Elkhorn Slough marshes in the next 50 years, Wasson notes, but the remediated Hester Marsh will survive at least another 100 years. Wasson is excited for the opportunity to give the marsh a second chance.

"I've spent a lot of these 18 years [researching] understanding what's killing these marshes, but this project is the first major positive story," Wasson said. "Now I get to watch a healthy marsh function, rather than watch a healthy marsh fall apart."

In the future, data collected from the research phase of the marsh restoration could be shared with the global network of 2,200 wetlands of international importance, informing other scientists on methods that could work for them too.

Just as estuaries need an equilibrium of salt and fresh water to survive, the strategy to keep internationally recognized Elkhorn Slough alive is a balance between conservation efforts and economic incentives. Brainstorming with experts from around the globe will no doubt be a breeding ground for the next innovative solution that keeps Elkhorn Slough thriving.