PMEP Hosts Virtual Data Tools Training – November 4 & 5

PMEP and the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve Coastal Training Program are hosting a virtual data tools training on Tuesday, November 4 & Wednesday, November 5 from 10am-12pm PST. The training will be available for 20 participants.

The training is designed for restoration practitioners, resource managers, and researchers and will cover the use and utility of PMEP’s online spatial data and web-based mapping tools: Estuary Nearshore Habitat Viewer and Estuary Explorer. Training participants will receive background information on PMEP’s spatial data framework and learn how to navigate and answer conservation planning queries through hands-on exercises. Participants will learn how to download data from the tools and how to upload datasets to the tool for customized mapping needs. REGISTER HERE!

PMEP Funds Assessment of Seagrass Restoration Effectiveness

PMEP has awarded FY25 funds from the National Fish Habitat Partnership to Oregion State University to assess the response of fish communities of seagrass restoration in Coos Bay and Yaquina Bay, Oregon. Researchers will evaluate diversity, abundance, and performance metrics of species at restoration sites in these estuaries and compare those metrics to natural seagrass and nearshore nursery habitats to assess restoration effectiveness. This project also includes a dynamic hands on education and outreach component with local partners.

PMEP Funds Catalina Island Eelgrass Restoration, California

PMEP has awarded FY25 funds from the National Fish Habitat Partnership to the Santa Monica Bay Foundation to continue its work restoring eelgrass around Catalina Island. The Bay Foundation will restore critical fish habitat connectivity on Catalina Island by transplanting 60,000 square feet of native Pacific eelgrass (Zostera pacifica) to a cove that historically supported a robust seagrass bed. The project team will transplant over 4,000 vegetative (asexual) buds, or turions, constituting the first transplant of this species on Catalina Island and the largest Zostera pacifica transplant to date. The project also includes robust monitoring with time lapse cameras deployments to document conditions.