Monday October 28, 2024
Monterey Herald —
Visitors focus on the sloughs and otters and other beautiful things. Then they think about how to preserve them. But we tend to forget what was there in the past, says Moss Landing Marine Laboratories Geographer Charlie Endris, and what has been lost to development.
A recent wetland mapping study is helping us remember. Maps can help push back against what ecologists call the “shifting baseline.”
“Shifting baseline paradigm is where as you lose coverage of an estuary, that becomes your new normal,” says Endris, lead author of the study. “You forget what was there in the past.“
In Elkhorn Slough, the project found that dikes have reduced the area inundated by the ocean by 60%. Officials are now looking at removing some of the dikes to restore marsh habitat.
The study also revealed that sometimes, we do not even realize what is there in the present.