San Francisco Bay Area Network Coastal Biophysical Inventory Project
Kinyon J. San Francisco Bay Area Network Coastal Biophysical Inventory Project
Over a two-year period (October 2002-September 2004), UC Davis scientists working in cooperation with staff scientists from Point Reyes National Seashore (PORE) and Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GOGA) inventoried the intertidal zone, and marine resources of these two national parks. Approximately 29% of the combined total coastline was inventoried for PORE and GGNRA. This coastline consisted mostly of the outer coast, with small stretches of steep outer shorelines (e.g., Double Point, Abalone Point) and well as a few interior bays not reached during the time period of the project. For GGNRA, where the park staff identified high, medium and low priority sites, all high priority sites were inventoried. The coastal environment is extremely variable along the shorelines of both of these parks, with a complex spatial distribution of marine resources due to the diverse lithologies, active tectonic and geomorphic processes, topographic relief, and dynamic nearshore currents. In addition, the distribution of organisms is equally as complex amid the various marine habitats along the parks’ coastlines. This inventory provides a baseline for future research, for monitoring impacts to the coastal zone of these two national parks, and for examining biogeographic patterns in the marine intertidal.