Elkhorn Slough faces sea level rise challenges

The Elkhorn Slough is essentially drowning. Like many marshes on both coasts it is losing the race against sea level change.

A first-time study by the National Estuarine Research Reserve evaluated 28 marshes across the nation. It focused on five categories impacted by sea level rise. The Elkhorn Slough was one of the 28 participating reserves and the results of the study are not so good.

Researchers say the slough cannot keep pace with rapidly rising sea levels. They’re working hard to protect it.

“So knowing what we know about marsh resilience, we can focus on areas where we can restore marshes that we know have a better chance of surviving,” said Dr. Rikke Jeppesen, and Estuarine Ecologist with the Elkhorn Slough Reserve.

Not only do marshes play an important role in the environment, they protect coastal areas from storm surges, floods and keep water clean.

“California has already lost over 90% of it’s wetlands and marshes,” said Jeppesen, “so it’s imperative that we try to protect the ones we have left.”

That’s where the Tidal Wetlands Project comes in. It will use recycled clean soil from the Pajaro River to rebuild the marshes.

“These marshes, in addition to providing habitat and helping stabilize land and clean water, will capture CO2 and will help shift the atmospheric balance that is really causing climate to change so dramatically,” said Mark Silberstein, Executive Director of the Elkhorn Slough.

Replacing sediment is just one small solution to a problem that many scientists fear has gotten too big.

“If we don’t protect all these sites, we’re going to have lost even more than the 90 percent of our marshes very soon,” said Jeppesen.

The Tidal Wetlands Project is set to begin sometime in January or February of 2017.