Orange County Coastkeeper is looking for volunteers to help with a one-day native oyster restoration project at the Jack Dunster Marine Reserve in Alamitos Bay on June 28 from 6:30am to 9am! It is a bit early, but we have an ideal low tide to get the work done.
The Olympia oyster (Ostrea lurida) is the only native oyster species on the West Coast of the United States and Canada. Once widely distributed from Sitka Alaska to Baja, California, Mexico, this estuarine species historically covered large expanses of intertidal areas and was an important food source for native tribes. Today, over 85% of the world’s oyster reefs have been lost since the 1900′s and are one of the most severely impacted marine habitats on the planet. The restoration and long-term preservation of this vital habitat has become a global priority.
Oysters serve as indicators of overall health of the environment and, in the form of oyster beds, provide habitat that attracts fish, crustaceans and other marine life. Restored native Olympia oyster beds will not only provide valuable habitat for estuarine organisms, they may also contribute to cleansing the waters of Alamitos Bay.
In early 2012, Coastkeeper teamed up with Dr. Danielle Zacherl, Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at CSU Fullerton to implement a native oyster restoration project in Alamitos Bay in Long Beach, CA. The project, funded by the NOAA Restoration Center, California State Coastal Conservancy, and the CSU Special Fund, will restore the native Olympia oyster (Ostrea lurida), which forms an ecologically and culturally important habitat, in the Jack Dunster Marine Reserve over the course of two years with the participation of numerous volunteers and Alamitos Bay homeowners. Other project partners include Dr. Christine Whitcraft, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at CSU Long Beach, and KZO Education.
For more information on the project, visit the Coastkeeper Native Oyster Restoration. To find up-to-date details on the event, visit the Coastkeeper events page and contact us at volunteer@coastkeeper.org to sign up!
