Moss Landing Wildlife Area is a

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

State wildlife preserve on the shore of

Elkhorn Slough Elkhorn Slough is a tidal slough and estuary on Monterey Bay in Monterey County, California. It is California's second largest estuary and the United States' first estuarine sanctuary. The community of Moss Landing and the Moss Landing Power Pl ...

Description

The Moss Landing Wildlife Area protects of

Monterey County, California Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county located on the Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 439,035. The county's largest city and county seat is Salinas. Monte ...

, just north of the town of

Moss Landing, California Moss Landing, formerly Moss, is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Monterey County, California, United States. It is located north-northeast of Monterey, at an elevation of . It is on the shore of Monterey Bay, at the ...

. It includes part of the largest unaltered

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...

on the California coast. Access is allowed only by foot on trails, and all plants and animals are protected. It is a popular spot for

birding Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, ...

and viewing sea otters. Some limited hunting is allowed during certain limited seasons, but rifles or pistols are not allowed. It is administered through the

California Department of Fish and Game The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), formerly known as the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), is a state agency under the California Natural Resources Agency. The Department of Fish and Wildlife manages and protec ...

. A small strip of the reserve (the easiest to access) lies just east of Highway 1 (called the Cabrillo Highway) at opposite the Moss Landing Yacht Harbor. Other sections lie north of

, and west of the slough after it turns to the north, at . To access the north shore section, a trailhead is off Highway 1 between the two intersections of Struve Road, at . A level Marsh Trail runs from this area to a small picnic area, and then the main channel of Elkhorn Slough. The eastern shore of Elkhorn Slough is protected as part of the

Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve The Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve is a nature reserve that is located at 1700 Elkhorn Road in Watsonville, California. The reserve encompasses the central shore of Monterey Bay and is approximately south of San Francisco, Cal ...

. Moss Landing State Beach and Zmudowski State Beach provide access to the

Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area and its major city at the south of the bay, San Jose. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by ...

directly west of the wildlife area.

History

In the late 1800s about 200 acres of what is now the wildlife area were

salt evaporation pond A salt evaporation pond is a shallow artificial salt pan designed to extract salts from sea water or other brines. The Salt pans are shallow and large of size because it will be easier for sunlight to travel and reach the sea water. Natural sal ...

s used to commercially produce

sea salt Sea salt is salt that is produced by the evaporation of seawater. It is used as a seasoning in foods, cooking, cosmetics and for preserving food. It is also called bay salt, solar salt, or simply salt. Like mined rock salt, production of sea sa ...

for use in local fish canneries. Owned by the Moss Landing Salt Works, the ponds were abandoned in 1974. The wildlife area was established by the state of California in 1984, and was managed in cooperation with the

Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) is a federally protected marine area offshore of California's Big Sur and central coast in the United States. It is the largest US national marine sanctuary and has a shoreline length of ...

when it was established in 1992. The former salt ponds provide habitat for several shorebird species. The number of

western snowy plover The western snowy plover (''Charadrius nivosus nivosus'') is a small wader in the plover bird family. It breeds in the southern and western United States and the Caribbean. On March 5, 1993, the western snowy plover was listed as a threatened s ...

s (''Charadrius nivosus'') nesting in the ponds in spring improved after active management began in 1995 by the Point Reyes Bird Observatory Conservation Science group. In 1999 the ponds were identified as the most critical breeding habitat in the Monterey Bay region for the plovers. In 2006 a managed tidal flow was improved, funded by

Ducks Unlimited Ducks Unlimited (DU) is an American nonprofit organization 501(c) dedicated to the conservation of wetlands and associated upland habitats for waterfowl, other wildlife, and people. It has had a membership of around 700,000 since January 2013. ...

, the California Wildlife Conservation Board and the

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is an American foundation that was chartered by Congress in 1984 to increase the resources available for the conservation of the nation's fish, wildlife, plants and habitats. Authority The Natio ...

. In late fall water levels are raised to encourage roosting

brown pelican The brown pelican (''Pelecanus occidentalis'') is a bird of the pelican family, Pelecanidae, one of three species found in the Americas and one of two that feed by diving into water. It is found on the Atlantic Coast from New Jersey to the mout ...

s. In early spring (March or April) the ponds are drained and before the mud dries, volunteers are organized into a "mudstomp" to create shallow impressions as nesting sites. Binoculars, telescopes, or cameras with telephoto lenses are best used for viewing since observers are restricted from getting too close. Herons,

sandpiper Sandpipers are a large family, Scolopacidae, of waders. They include many species called sandpipers, as well as those called by names such as curlew and snipe. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil ...

egret Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build ...

s and other

waterbird A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

s also are seen in season. The northern entrance and trails can often be closed to public access.

References

External links

* * {{Protected Areas of California, SWA Nature reserves in California California Department of Fish and Wildlife areas Monterey Bay Protected areas of Monterey County, California