Carpinteria Salt Marsh is a world defined by mud, floods, and salt. Ocean brine inundates its twisting channels twice a day, fostering plants that can tolerate salty leaves and perpetually wet feet. The long-legged birds that nest and forage here dine on snails and fishes living within its twisting channels. Seawater is the lifeblood of […]
Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve
Ancient storm flooding evidence reveals future vulnerabilities
by Julie Cohen, UC Santa Barbara Flooding isn’t new to the Santa Barbara coastline. However, the inundation doesn’t always come from the mountains as it did last month in Montecito. Back in 1861-2, a series of large storms washed beach sand more than a quarter mile inland into what is known today as Carpinteria Salt […]
Mudflows make Carpinteria Salt Marsh a study in recovery
by Shelly Leachman, UC Santa Barbara On a normal winter day, at high tide, the water in the channels that wend from the Pacific Ocean through Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve is about four to six feet deep. But after the massive Thomas Fire and subsequent mudslide, the marsh has experienced few “normal” days this season. In several […]
UC Santa Barbara celebrates 50 years of the UC Natural Reserve System
Celebrating the UCSB Natural Reserves from UC Santa Barbara on Vimeo. Additional footage and aerials by Alexander Mark Romanov and NOAA Fisheries. Founders foresight “The founders of the reserve system wanted these places to have historical significance because they knew the state would change rapidly,” said Alagona, who is the faculty advisor for Kenneth S. […]
No Fukushima radiation found in California kelp
Scientists working to measure radiation released after the April 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan have seen no signs of nuclear contamination along the West Coast of the United States. Researchers participating in the Kelp Watch 2014 project announced the news after analyzing the first batch of samples collected earlier this spring. Kelp Watch 2014 […]
NRS Day at UC Santa Barbara
Shorelines, woodlands, streams, and deserts were the stars of Natural Reserve System Day, celebrated at UC Santa Barbara on Friday, Feb. 8. The full day of presentations and poster sessions was sponsored by the UCSB Natural Reserve System. Held at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, the event featured speakers intimate with the […]
Study of the Seasons: Phenology at the NRS
Nature celebrates the seasons with unmistakable changes. In California, rhododendrons add bursts of pink to coastal forests, bare buckeye branches grow leaf buds, and great egrets gather to nest in tall trees. In autumn, quaking aspens turn from green to gold, toyon produce bundles of berrylike fruits, and snow geese collect by the hundreds of […]