Though we haven’t seen much rain yet this season, the 2006 winter rains started early and continued heavily though the spring. Seemingly endless downpours wreaked havoc with our region’s oversaturated soil. Our diligent erosion-control proved truly effective as we escaped relatively unscathed.
However, one unpredictable area took us by complete surprise, disappearing downhill overnight. We were left with a gaping hole in a hillside and a dried-out river of mud. Landslides like this only get worse over time, so this past December, we hired a local contractor to do a repair job. The landslide scar was smoothed out and the soil softened to help receive replacement soil.
Then began the painstaking task of collecting the soil from the bottom of the slope and moving it back uphill from whence it came. Each successive layer of fill was compacted, ensuring good contact and integrity for the future. A sizable amount of garbage was unearthed in this process, some of which we think contributed to the slide in the first place.
Once the soil was back where it belonged and the trash taken away, ESF staff covered the area with grass seed and a thick layer of straw (see photo below). Like a band aid on a fresh wound, this will protect the hillside while it heals itself. Over time, natives like Coyote Bush and Oak trees will fill the area in and one will have to look very closely to see that there was a disturbance here.
These photos feature two biology classes from California State University Monterey Bay who have taken field trips to our Moro Cojo Slough property recently. Land Manager Kim Hayes, Farmland Manager John Kenney, and some of our colleagues at the Moss Landing Marine Labs gave the classes a tour. ESF and the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve host thousands of students from grade school to graduate school each year.
