This project will be conducted by Sonoma State University to support restoration of kelp forests by the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. Specifically, we will build on existing grants to develop a kelp culturing program for the GFNMS, this award will allow us to add kelp restoration via transplanting of our laboratory-reared kelp to field sites within the Sanctuary targeted for restoration.

This project will be conducted by Sonoma State University to support restoration of kelp forests by the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. Building on our decades of experience in kelp forest ecology, aquaculture and restoration with our partners at Moss Landing Marine Labs, we will help GFNMS to build scientific and restoration capacity for kelp forests in the northern California region.

This continued funding for estuarine Marine Protected Area (MPA) monitoring will allow for further refinement of pilot protocols and support critically important long-term monitoring of an understudied suite of MPAs in California's Network. Data collected during the 2023 season will inform the development of the MPA Monitoring Action Plan and provide insight into climate impacts and resiliency of the MPA Network to climactic perturbations within estuarine systems.

Kelp forests in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary (GFNMS), specifically Sonoma and Marin Counties have declined dramatically over the last decade due to climate change and the cascading legacy effects of overhunting of sea otters in the 19th century. We and our partners at GFNMS and Moss Landing Marine Labs have developed techniques to successfully restore lost kelp forests.

Recent, massive loss of kelp forests along the coast of northern California has sparked intense concern and strong impetus to restore this crucial ecosystem. This grant will support the integrated research program focused on solutions. In particular, target approaches for offsetting consequences of three key correlates of the kelp decline, which include 1) anomalously high seawater temperatures that likely induced stress in the canopy-forming bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana), 2) a widespread outbreak of the purple urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus), the dominant grazer of N.

This work combined with work along the northern California coast in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties will provide a scientific basis for evaluating the efficacy of large-scale purple urchin removal and kelp outplanting as a kelp restoration tool in the Northern California/Southern Oregon marine ecoregion, directly informing future management actions to protect this iconic underwater forests in the face of changing ocean conditions.

Terrestrial restoration has a long tradition of engaging the general public on issues relating to ecosystem decline, to the point where large swaths of the community can participate in restoration, e.g., Arbor Day planting millions of trees worldwide. To date, marine restoration, is primarily carried out through professional scientists and resource managers with very little involvement from the lay community.

The marine sciences is a field that falls behind other fields of science in promoting a diverse workforce. California Sea Grant is addressing this issue by providing support for undergraduate research at Minority and Hispanic Serving Institutions who recently received a Kelp Recovery Research Award, which includes Sonoma State University. Each institution who falls under this criteria are eligible to receive this one-time award, providing a unique opportunity to provide hands-on training to minority students in kelp forest research. Dr.

To date, very little is known as to how coastal processes from land can influence kelp forest dynamics in northern California, presenting a large knowledge gap as to potential drivers of kelp forest resilience and restoration potential. Our goal for this project is to evaluate methods for establishing bull kelp refugia close to Drakes Estero along Point Reyes National Seashore, and characterize the connectivity between the estuary and nearshore reefs to inform restoration efforts.

Climate change has led to big changes in ocean conditions, specifically ocean warming events. These ocean "heat waves" have led to the decimation of our once iconic northern California kelp forests. This project will build on the last three years of kelp restoration research in the Hughes Lab, with the goal of restoring several acres of kelp forest at Albion Cove in Mendocino County.