Resilience & Restoration at the Elkhorn Slough Reserve
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McGowan MG102McGowan Building
411 Pacific St
Monterey, CA 93940 View in Campus Map
Free
Open to the Public
Resilience & Restoration at the Elkhorn Slough Reserve
Speaker: Monique Fountain, Director of the Tidal Wetland Program, Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve
Monday, November 18, 2024
6:00pm to 7:30pm
In-person event
McGowan Building, Room 102
411 Pacific Street, Monterey, CA 93940
About the Topic
Over the past 150 years, human actions have altered the tidal, freshwater, and sediment processes that are essential to support and sustain Elkhorn Slough. Large areas of tidal marshes were diked and drained in the 20th century. This caused subsidence and when dikes failed, the areas were too low to support healthy marsh. In these previously diked areas, the salt marsh habitat is almost entirely gone with just sparse fringing marsh in narrow bands along the shoreline and on dikes still high enough to have infrequent tidal inundation. In addition to this habitat degradation, modeling suggests most of Elkhorn Slough’s remaining marshes will be lost within 50 years due to sea-level rise.
The 150-acre Hester marsh restoration project is the first large scale restoration of its type in this estuary. Over 500,000 cubic yards of soil were needed to bring the marsh up to a sustainable elevation, high in the tidal frame. Restoring this degraded habitat took many hands from planning to planting and highlights the importance of a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to restoring sustainable habitat for the future. In this talk, Monique will share an update with us about this project including the hurdles still ahead.
About the Speaker
Ms. Fountain is the Director of the Tidal Wetland Program (TWP) at the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, located along the edge of Monterey Bay, CA. TWP brings science to coastal decision makers using a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach that has regularly engaged over 100 stakeholders since 2004. Over the last ten years TWP’s focus has included fundraising, designing, permitting, and implementing several large-scale restoration projects in Elkhorn Slough.
Monique Fountain joined the Reserve staff in February 2009. She oversees the two elements of the Tidal Wetland Program 1) estuary-wide strategic planning with a large (100+) stakeholder group and 2) implementation of large-scale restoration projects. Her background includes training and experience in a wide array of fields, including marine ecology, molecular biology, and psychometrics. She is PMP certified, with twelve years of project management experience. Monique received her master’s in Marine Science from San Francisco State University (with a minor in computer science), and her work experience includes mapping the population genetics of salmon and trout at Hopkins Marine Station, Pacific Grove; starting a small biotech company focused on reducing the amount of recycled paper sludge going into landfills; managing research projects associated with large K-12 state assessment programs at CTB/ McGraw-Hill, and in her spare time she works as a psychometric consultant. Monique lives in Elkhorn and outside of work at the slough, she can often be found volunteering at the Monterey Aquarium, kayaking in the slough, or photographing wildlife.
Recommended Reading
Event Location: McGowan Building, Room 102
The McGowan Building is located at 411 Pacific Street, Monterey, CA, 93940, on the campus of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Attendees should enter through the glass doors from Pacific Street, and the MG102 is located inside to the right. View the campus map.
No Zoom this fall, but most lectures recorded
This fall, all classes are back 100% in-person, and our lecture series has followed suit. Zoom will not be an option for public participation, but in-person attendees are certainly welcome. Can’t make it in person? No problem! Most lectures will be recorded (as permitted by our speakers) and the videos uploaded to the CBE YouTube, with a link added to each event announcement as it becomes available.
Parking
Parking is available in any Middlebury Institute campus lot after 5 p.m., no parking permit required, no fee. View the campus map. (be sure to not confuse city lots with campus lots—city lots do charge a fee). Free parking is also available on the street (time limits on surrounding streets end at 6 p.m.).
Questions
Contact Rachel Christopherson at the Center for the Blue Economy at cbe@miis.edu or (831) 647-4183.
Gratitude to Our Sponsors
We thank the Loker Hicks Foundation and the Nancy Eccles and Homer M. Hayward Family Foundation our sponsors.
About the Host
The Center for the Blue Economy is a research center at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, that provides economic and policy analysis to support the development of a robust and equitable blue economy for the 21st century. The Center uses the World Bank’s definition of the Blue Economy: the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs, and ocean ecosystem health. We must maintain ocean health to maintain human health, economic health, and the health of the planet. Climate change is linked, inextricably, to a healthy ocean. We are co-leading a movement for Ocean Climate Action Now. Consider joining our Center for the Blue Economy Newsletter List (3-4x per year by email).