By: Julie McNamara

On Friday October 25, the final quarterly beach seine was deployed for the Colorado Lagoon’s first year of
environmental monitoring. A beach seine is a method of fishing that uses a net
hung vertical in the water with the bottom edged weighted and the top buoyed by
floats. Seines have been used widely though out history and today scientists use
this method to help identify spatial and temporal changes in fish assemblages.
There are possible causes of observed changes in the assemblages with include
natural phenomena (climate), pollution, habitat degradation and restoration!

 The Friday beach seine was deployed in three areas, two outside the
reserve and one with in the reserve. The first seine we caught tons of baby
California Killifish (Fundulus parvipinnis). This species is a coastal fish that occurs in shallow bays, estuaries
and marshes. They can tolerate a wide range of salinities, oxygen levels and pollution. 

The second seine was inside the reserve, where we caught over 500 adult and baby
California Killifish! We also caught several Topsmelt (Atherinops affinis), this species is also common in estuaries and can tolerate drastic swings in water salinity! The most exciting surprise of this seine was the Two-spotted Octopus (Octopus
bimaculoides).  This was the first octopus ever caught in one of Colorado Lagoon’s beach seines! Two-spotted
Octopus is named for its obvious blue spots located behind its eyes. They can grow up to a two foot arm span and the female can lay up to 150,000 eggs. They female will brood continuously for 2-4 months, she does not feed during this
time and then dies around hatching time. The young remain on the bottom after hatching and have a life span of 2-3 years!
Amazing!

 The third beach seine deployed was across the bridge and we found a Striped Kelpfish (Gibbonsia metzi)!  This species can be found in tide pools and kelp beds down to a depth of 9 meters. 
 
Fridays beach seines and the previous seines in the Colorado Lagoon have laid the base line survey for future seines to be
compared to!

By: Julie McNamara

Hidden behind chain link fences and scattered with oil rigs, the last remaining TRUE saltwater wetlands of the Los Cerritos Wetlands Complex continues to be a refuge for many wildlife species. Passed by daily by many residents and tourists, the wetlands are located adjacent to Los Cerritos Channel and Studebaker road.

The daily influx and outflow of the ocean water brings nutrients that are keeping the slough thriving! The tidal influence is the blood of this saltwater marsh, which extends 650 meters.

Steam Shovel Slough is home to many species of shore birds, migratory birds, plants, and marine organisms. It is also home to the California Least Tern and Belding’s Savannah Sparrow, both are endangered species.

Tidal Influence, LLC has just concluded the deployment and survey of Steam Shovel Slough for vegetation, soil, and invertebrate samples. This information will help scientists learn how to preserve saltmarsh wetlands and it serves as a foundation for future research!

Join Tidal Influence, LLC in the fight for the saltwater wetlands! Join us at our restoration events by emailing [email protected] or [email protected] for information on how you can make an impact!

By Jade Dean

By Jade Dean

If you've had the chance to look at the event calendar for Friends of Colorado Lagoon, you've seen an event called Lagoon Afternoons that has an assortment of dates from October to December. Today, coincidentally, was the first one of the year! Lagoon Afternoons started in 2012 to provide an additional weekday opportunity for members of the community to assist our staff. Volunteers engage in a diverse amount of tasks that include: seed collection, watering, weeding, planting, and so much more.


Our event today was a huge success! We had 35 students from Wilson High School join us to water plants and collect seeds from Giant Wild Rye (Eleymus condensatus), Bladder Pod (Isomeris arborea), Purple Sage (Salvia luecophylla), White Sage (Salvia apiana), Mock Heather (Ericameria ericoides), and California Buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum). In exchange for their service, their teacher, Mr. Wille, awarded them extra credit. Don't worry, this event is not solely for students! We've also hosted businesses, like Wells Fargo, and had general members of the community join us for the afternoon.


Here are the remaining events for 2013: Thursdays from 3-5pm on 10/24, 11/7, 11/21, 12/5, 12/12. If you would like more details, click on the event calendar above, leave us a comment, or email [email protected].

By Jade Dean

Over the past two weeks, several of our staff have observed a population of Pseudoceros in the Colorado Lagoon. Pseudoceros is a genus of flatworm. According to the Southern California Association of Marine Invertebrate Taxonomists (SCAMIT), there are two species of Pseudoceros that are found in the Southern California Bight: Pseudoceros mexicanus and Pseudoceros montereyensis.

Update: Thanks to SCAMIT, it has been positively identified as Pseudoceros bajae!

By Jade Dean

For California Coastal Cleanup Day, we had 45 volunteers at the Colorado Lagoon participate in several activities ranging from propagating salt marsh species to picking up trash along with removing non-native species from the median and participating in a beach seine.

Since Coastal Cleanup Day started in 1985, it has been reported that almost 15 million pieces of trash have been removed from the coastline and is considered the world's largest organized cleanup. Thanks to the ongoing restoration of the Colorado Lagoon, we did not have a lot of trash to pick up! The event was also attended by several community groups, such as the Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust, the CSULB Surfrider Chapter, the Long Beach Democrats, and several Long Beach Mayoral Candidates. We were also joined by a photographer from Long Beach's newest newspaper, the Long Beach Register. Check out our slideshow below to see the Register's photos of the event!

By Jade Dean

This past Saturday, we hosted a group of 15 students and teachers from the Phoenix Country Day School in Phoenix, Arizona at Los Cerritos Wetlands. Yes, you read that right! They drove out from Arizona to learn about wetland conservation and land use in California. We were one of their stops during their three day excursion and they did a fantastic job propagating 250 Shore Grass (Distichilis littoralis) plants, removing invasive plants from a previously planted area, and spotting Pacific Green Sea Turtles in the San Gabriel River. Check out more photos on our Facebook page!

Would you like us to host your class/club/business/community group at the wetlands? Email us at [email protected] for more details.

By Megan Roy
Below you will find detailed instructions and photographs to help you install plants properly. Using this method will give your plants the best chance of survival. To practice this method, join us at Los Cerritos Wetlands on October 5th for our monthly habitat restoration! See flyer for details.

By Jade Dean

After perusing the Long Beach Public Library's Photo Archive, I discovered photos of both Los Cerritos Wetlands and the Colorado Lagoon I had never seen before. Let us know which one is your favorite in the comments!

By Megan Roy