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Oyster Aquaculture and Morro Bay Estuary Wildlife Field Tour
With George Trevelyn, PhD, owner of the Grassy Bar Oyster Company
and a docent from the Morro Bay Museum of Natural History.

Join us on the Lost Isle Adventure “Tiki Boat” for a cruise through one of the most significant wetland systems on California’s south-central coast which provides habitat for a number of endangered or threatened species.  The Morro Bay Estuary is a place where fresh water from creeks and rivers mixes with salty ocean water.  Estuaries are among the richest habitats known, where the confluence of creeks, wetlands, salt marshes, mudflats, sand dunes and open water attracts a tremendous variety of wildlife.  Lagoons and wetlands were once common along the southern California coast, but almost all were filled and developed before their ecological importance was understood. Morro Bay has largely survived - a rare example of a bygone environment.  A docent from the Morro Bay Museum of Natural History will identify for us the birds and animals we will encounter.

The cruise will also include a stop at Grassy Bar Oyster Company, where tended beds of oysters grow in the tidal currents.  The beds filter the waters of the estuary while producing locally-grown shellfish.  Oyster farms like Grassy Bar get high environmental ratings from seafood watch groups, since no feeds, medicines or pesticides are used, and the farms’ viability depends on pristine water quality.

Location/Time/Itinerary/Cost
The field tour will start promptly Friday at 2:00 p.m.  Meet and depart by van from the SLO Vet’s Hall parking lot.  Cost $30 per person, including transportation and boat ride (free for holders of Total Immersion Pass, 3-day pass or Friday 1-day pass).  Return to Vet’s Hall by 4:30.
Limited to 20 people