Tuesday July 7, 2026
Times Standard —
Northern California’s kelp forests have been in steep decline, with an estimated 95% loss of canopy since 2014. NASA and USGS Landsat analysis shows Northern California’s kelp canopies’ rapid decline was driven by a marine heatwave, El Niño conditions, and the loss of sunflower sea stars to wasting disease. With the region’s primary urchin predator gone, purple urchins surged across the seafloor and converted once‑productive kelp forests into persistent urchin barrens.
The disappearance of sunflower sea stars caused the ecosystem’s resilience to plummet, leaving little capacity for kelp to recover under current ocean conditions. Along the Klamath River shoreline, the Yurok Tribe’s marine program is documenting the same pattern NASA identified offshore. Unlike the towering bull kelp farther south, benthic kelp, which grows as a thin, fuzzy layer on rocks, has also been threatened.
“The benthic kelp is in threat of decline because the system’s out of balance with no top‑level predators anymore,” said McKernan. “Sea otters and sunflower sea stars kept purple urchins in check, and without them, urchins have wiped out large kelp forests.”