Fri May 11, 2012 Saving California's Native Oyster About halfway
between Santa Cruz and Monterey is Elkhorn Slough. This estuary,
with its meandering waterways and abundant wildlife, is a
destination for kayakers, bird watchers and researchers. About a
third of the slough is a National Estuarine Research Reserve.
“So you’re seeing a little sample of the classic estuarine
habitat types here. We are standing on a salt marsh beneath our
feet. You see channels with permanently standing water and
creeks. And then the third major habitat type of estuaries is
mud flats. And that’s what we are about to venture out on is the
mud,” said Kerstin Wasson, Research Coordinator for the Elkhorn
Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve. Wearing wader
overalls, Wasson and UC Davis Biologist Dr. Chela Zabin walk
into the thick, sticky mud. They’re headed toward a cluster of
five different man-made oyster reefs that rest on top of the
mud. “What you see are a number of different reef designs that
we’ve tried over the years, bi