By: Jessie Kamman, Coastal Advocate Intern
One of the most important and most exciting sites we get to work with this summer is Duxbury Reef and Agate Beach in Bolinas. It is a State Marine Conservation Area, where “take” is limited. And it's the perfect place to learn about advocacy, marine protected areas, and impacts of human uses as its visitation rates have increased since the before and throughout the pandemic. The community science that helps protect Duxbury Reef is conducted by friendly locals and the new Duxbury Docent Program which was established and is managed by EAC and local partners.
On July 8th, the two other Coastal Advocate Interns and I, as well as EAC’s Communications Associate Grace Milstein, guided an MPA Watch training with a group of six enthusiastic and friendly volunteers. I was a little more nervous as this was our first training without our Program Manager Leslie Adler-Ivanbrook, and this MPA is the busiest in Marin County. Yet, with a few other trainings under our belts and Grace to show us the transect boundaries for surveying, the training went off without a hitch. This training was actually my favorite so far, despite being anxious about giving the presentation, the volunteers were kind and outgoing, easy to talk to and excited to be on the reef with us.
The energy of a low tide at Duxbury Reef is felt through the people smiling as they climbed up and down the path, with the anticipation of seeing something unique in any of the sparkling tidepools. That Saturday was especially peppy with the sun shining, three docents on duty greeting beach goers and even a cameo by one of our favorite locals Kent Khtikian, who we call the human encyclopedia on everything Agate Beach related. He shared interesting stories about the geology and beach history with our volunteers throughout the training.
Our first transect, AG 01 began with a snapshot observation and was filled with explanations of what to consider “tidepooling”. As we tread lightly over small patches of bare rock, we surveyed southwards down the reef and then climbed atop a rocky berm. We passed Laura Lee Miller, a local and a Duxbury Docent who was conducting research as a continuation of Gordon L. Chan's post-oil spill biodiversity research from the 70’s. On the way we stopped as she explained the impacts of this winters’ heavy storms and let me peer through her super magnifying barnacle binoculars.
As we started our northbound beach walk to survey the second transect AG 02, I talked with one of our volunteers about her hobby to forage seaweed, as we paused to admire large swaths of red algae along the pebbly coastline. We investigated tidepools and a gray whale skeleton as we tallied human activity towards the point at the north end of the beach. After concluding the survey at the far point, and sneaking in a few photos and investigations into the lifestyle of rock crabs, we headed back.
I am always impressed by the crowd that is attracted to community science, as every volunteer has a unique engagement and perspective on the coast and the environment. They often have niche hobbies and great stories, and the most empathetic demeanor that makes it hard not to enjoy your time even though you’ve been friends for only the past hour. We waved goodbye to the Duxbury Docents, our low tide reef educators, and headed back to the parking lot to compare numbers with the great volunteers we had. We said goodbye, and invited a few volunteers back to see our Saturday open office exhibit. The MPA Watch Program makes community science really feel community-like, and for that reason it was an extra sunny day at Duxbury.
To join the community, sign up for our upcoming MPA Watch training session, click here!
