This means near constant observation and manipulation of the former waterworks. We stood under a low evening sky at one of the water gates that cdfg installed in the dikes separating tide channels from old ponds. The agency s goal was to extend the life of the system, this time for wildlife instead of salt production. Gesturing out across a broad, flat pan, Doug explained how he portions out the water supplied by high tides. It s a tricky business, what with the late spring rainfall and the possibility that one of these conduits might leak in an ultra-high tide.
Preliminary results are impressive.
Again in 1998, when a total of 133 chicks were known to fledge from all the beaches and river flats of greater Monterey Bay, fully 76 of these fledged from the salt ponds. With so many variables throughout their nesting cycle, Snowy Plovers tend to defy prediction. At Moss Landing, though, Doug George will be the first to know the results of their 1999 efforts. Return to Observer 117 contents.