Lesser-Known Stories of the Long Marine Lab Neighborhood

The gray whale at the Seymour Center surrounded by restored native plants: Erigeron glaucusseaside(seaside daisy) and Dudlea caespitosa (sea lettuce). Photo: Courtesy of and © Jackie Pascoe
The gray whale at the Seymour Center surrounded by restored native plants: Erigeron glaucusseaside (seaside daisy) and Dudlea caespitosa (sea lettuce). Photo:  Jackie Pascoe

Lots of great things happen at Long Marine Laboratory, including marine research, marine education, and lagoon and bluff habitat restoration. The lab sits atop a beautiful bluff on the west side of Santa Cruz, California, where it opened in 1978. It is named after Joseph M. Long, founder of the now-defunct Long’s Drugs chain, to honor his substantial contributions to the University of California.

The Erosion Story

The coastline at Long Marine Lab features undulating patterns made by a resistant layer in the Santa Cruz Mudstone. These are called shore platforms, and they are quite common along the north coast of Santa Cruz County.

Santa Cruz Mudstone in front of Long Marine lab. A great example of "pocket beaches". Photo: Mobile Ranger
Santa Cruz Mudstone in front of Long Marine Lab. This is a great example of pocket beaches. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Shore platforms are responsible for the many pocket beaches that you see in Santa Cruz and elsewhere along the north coast. The undulating pattern occurs where Santa Cruz Mudstone is flat-lying (horizontal) and there are joints running roughly perpendicular to the cliffs. The joints are points of weakness, so the waves erode along the joints much faster than the rest of the layer. The presence of Santa Cruz Mudstone and shore platforms helps to keep erosion rates along the north coast quite low. Within California, erosion rates can range from a few inches up to several feet per year. Here, with the Santa Cruz Mudstone, they average a mere three to six inches per year.

Erosion is so slow here that the mast of La Feliz, which went aground in 1924, is still visible from the cliff top. The crew of 13 was rescued by people onshore, and all of the cargo was recovered. Now, 88 years later, the mast is still standing where rescuers left it then.

The La Feliz caught off the coast in front of what is now Long Marine Lab in 1924. Photo: Courtesy of Frank Perry
The La Feliz went aground off the coast in front of what is now Long Marine Lab in 1924. Photo: Courtesy of Frank Perry
The mast of La Feliz (pole on left), a ship that ran aground in 1924.
The mast of La Feliz (pole on left), a ship that ran aground in 1924. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Along West Cliff Drive near Almar Street, where the bedrock changes to the Purisima Formation, which is a much less resistant sandstone. There, average erosion rates are roughly double.

An example of the Purisima Formation along West Cliff Drive. The top part of the cliffs where most of the ice plant is growing are composed of Quaternary deposits. The bottom section is the Purisima Formation. The contact between them can be seen clearly in the middle of the photo.
An example of the Purisima Formation along West Cliff Drive. The top part of the cliffs where most of the ice plant is growing is composed of Quaternary deposits. The bottom section is the Purisima Formation. The contact between them can be seen clearly in the middle of the photo. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

One of the highest natural erosion rates in California is at Point Año Nuevo in southern San Mateo County. There, the cliffs are low, nearly at sea level, and made of layers of Monterey Shale, which erodes easily. Average erosion rates have been nine feet per year for the last 300 years.

Native Plant Restoration

The coastal plants surrounding the Seymour Center and Younger Lagoon are gradually being restored to the native plant mix of coastal sage scrub. The native plants that would likely have lived on the sea cliffs and bluffs prior to European settlement would be a mix of low lying shrubs (generally under six feet) and herbaceous perennials and annuals including buckwheat, sagebrush, yarrow, lupine, and coyote bush.

Restored coastal bluff vegetation in front of the Seymour Center at Long Marine Lab.
Restored coastal bluff vegetation in front of the Seymour Center at Long Marine Lab. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

This is a much more diverse ecosystem than what you see if you are passing along West Cliff Drive, where ice plant has largely displaced native plants. However, native plant restoration projects are starting along West Cliff Drive, too.

The Best Thing To Do with Ice Plant in California? Pickle it!
What is the best thing to do with ice plant in California? Either pull it out to make way for native plants or pickle it! Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

De Anza Mobile Home Park: Rent Control Ruckus

Along the cliff edge to the east of the lab is the De Anza Mobile Home Park. It is one of the nicer mobile home locations in Santa Cruz County. Residents must be over 55 years old, so they are mostly retired people who own their manufactured homes but pay rent on the lots.

De Anza Mobile Home Park.
De Anza Mobile Home Park (notice the bluff covered with ice plant). Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

De Anza was the hotbed of a rent control controversy here for many years, ending in 2003 when the city was no longer able to defend the legal challenges to its rent control ordinance from the park’s owner, Equity Lifestyle, Inc. Previously, rents for the manufactured home lots (not including the mortgages) were $400 to $700 monthly. Now, they run $1500 to $4100. Residents who lived there before rent control was abolished were allowed to continue with regulated rent, but that ends when they sell the manufactured home. Because of the new lot rental rates, resale values of the homes that they owned dropped from about $200,000 – 400,000 to less than $20,000.

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  1. Sources



About The Author

I really enjoy field trips. I love being in a cool place and having someone tell me about it. The problem is, you can’t always find a professor or park ranger-type to tell you all they know about the local rocks, plants, and history. So I decided to combine my love of things natural with mobile technology.

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6 Comments

  1. Mobile Ranger

    Thanks for commenting Mike Angell. Can you elaborate? Not sure I understand why that might be – are you referring to lack of erosion or that it is such a great story the mast helped rally support for the lab to be built there?

    Reply
    1. Mike Angell

      The mast proved the cliff was not eroding. The powers that be that grant the building permits wanted the lab built much further away from cliff.

      Reply
  2. David

    Before the approval of Long Marine Lab, the coastal commission wanted evidence to show why they wouldn’t need to build a seawall 20-30 years later. Dr. Gary Griggs assured them that the still-standing mast is a testament to how those resistant mudstone platforms mark a change in erosion susceptibility from the less resistant rock types just to the south.

    You can read about the story here:
    http://seymourcenter.ucsc.edu/OOB/092_Our%20Coastline%20will%20Change-%20Thats%20for%20certain.pdf

    Reply

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