Younger Lagoon Reserve is a 72-acre (28-hectare)

University of California Natural Reserve System The University of California Natural Reserve System (UCNRS) is a system of protected areas throughout California. The reserves support UC's mission of teaching, research, and public service. Unlike national and state parks, they are not availab ...

reserve on the northern shore of

Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by about 75 miles (120 km), accessible via California S ...

Santa Cruz County, California Santa Cruz County (), officially the County of Santa Cruz, is a county on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 270,861. The county seat is Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz County comprises the Sa ...

. The site is owned by the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

and managed for teaching and research. It is adjacent to

Long Marine Laboratory The Coastal Science Campus of the University of California, Santa Cruz consists of five main institutions: UC Santa Cruz's Long Marine Laboratory, UC Santa Cruz's Coastal Biology Building, the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, the Seymour M ...

. The reserve encompasses a pocket beach, seasonal

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

, wetlands, and coastal prairie on the western edge of the city of Santa Cruz. Other features include a

sea stack A stack or sea stack is a geological landform consisting of a steep and often vertical column or columns of rock in the sea near a coast, formed by wave erosion. Stacks are formed over time by wind and water, processes of coastal geomorphology. ...

, sea caves, and tidepools.

History

Donald and Marion Younger, whose family had owned a ranch in the area for over a century, donated the reserve to the University of California in 1972 to enable development of Long Marine Laboratory and protect the lagoon. The reserve was made part of the UC Natural Reserve System in 1987. The university added 47 acres of adjacent farm fields, an area known as Terrace Point, to the 25-acre reserve in 2008 as part of the establishment of its Coastal Science Campus.

Geography

The reserve sits on the lowest and southernmost of the series of marine terraces that make up the Santa Cruz coastline. The lagoon was formed by a coastal stream when ocean waves eroded the sea caves beneath the coastal bluffs. The Y-shaped lagoon is seasonal, filling with winter and spring rains until winter storms erode the sandy berm at its mouth. At this point, the entire lagoon drains over the course of a few hours. Ocean waters fill the lagoon until waves reform the berm, enabling rain and runoff to freshen the waters again.

Ecology

The federally endangered tidewater goby (''

Eucyclogobius newberryi ''Eucyclogobius newberryi'', the northern tidewater goby, is a species of goby native to lagoons of streams, marshes, and creeks along the coast of California, United States. The northern tidewater goby is one of six native goby species of Califo ...

'') is the most abundant fish species in the lagoon. Surrounding terrestrial habitats feature willow thickets, dune plants, and

pickleweed Pickleweed is a common name used for two unrelated genera of flowering plants: *'' Batis'', family Bataceae *''Salicornia ''Salicornia'' is a genus of succulent, halophytic (salt tolerant) flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae that grow i ...

marsh. Common animals range from

brush rabbit The brush rabbit (''Sylvilagus bachmani''), or western brush rabbit, or Californian brush rabbit, is a species of cottontail rabbit found in western coastal regions of North America, from the Columbia River in Oregon to the southern tip of the ...

s and

striped skunk The striped skunk (''Mephitis mephitis'') is a skunk of the genus ''Mephitis (genus), Mephitis'' that occurs across much of North America, including southern Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico. It is currently listed as least concern ...

s to

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...

and

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the wildcat, bay lynx, or red lynx, is one of the four extant species within the medium-sized wild cat genus '' Lynx''. Native to North America, it ranges from southern Canada through most of the c ...

. Shorebirds such as

willet The willet (''Tringa semipalmata'') is a large shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It is a relatively large and robust sandpiper and is the largest of the species called "shanks" in the genus ''Tringa''. Its closest relative is the lesser yell ...

s and

sanderling The sanderling (''Calidris alba'') is a small wading bird. The name derives from Old English ''sand-yrðling'', "sand-ploughman". The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-colour ...

s forage on the beach.

Restoration efforts

Younger Lagoon deploys interns and students to restore native vegetation around the lagoon and along the coastal prairie. Their experiments revegetating bluffs covered with non-native iceplant and remnants of

brussels sprout The Brussels sprout is a member of the Gemmifera cultivar group of cabbages (''Brassica oleracea''), grown for its edible buds. Etymology Though native to the Mediterranean region with other cabbage species, Brussels sprouts first appeared i ...

fields inform research on habitat restoration.

Cape Ivy Cape ivy or German ivy or parlor ivy or Italian ivy is probably: *''Delairea odorata'' also known as ''Senecio mikanioides'' but might also be: *''Senecio macroglossus'' also known as Natal ivy or waxvine *''Senecio angulatus ''Senecio angulatus ...

has spread throughout some areas. Other experiments include understanding the effects of extreme drought on coastal prairie restoration across time. These studies were set up in collaboration with a global network of drought researchers called the International Drought Experiment. Published work from the reserve indicates that certain traits such as slow growth rates and high leaf lobedness can decrease mortality risk when plants experience drought. Studies at the International Drought Experiment plots also indicate that nonperiodic restoration activities, such as one-off planting or weeding events, can facilitate coyote bush invasion in restored coastal grasslands.

References

External links

UC Santa Cruz Natural Reserve System: Younger Lagoon Reserve

{{Protected areas of California, UCNRS University of California Natural Reserve System Protected areas of Santa Cruz County, California Lagoons of California Bodies of water of Santa Cruz County, California University of California, Santa Cruz