"There's hope because there's a lot of work going on," Richard Millis II told the Mendocino Voice in late September. "Deep down, it's kind of grim." Millis runs the Noyo Center for Marine Science's field station in Fort Bragg. The center has been pulling purple urchins off the Mendocino Coast since the 2014 heat wave.
That mix of effort and doubt explains the third North Coast KelpFest, which runs Thursday, Oct. 8, through Monday, Oct. 12, in Fort Bragg and Mendocino. The festival started in spring. Last year organizers moved it to fall, closer to the end of bull kelp's annual life cycle. So the festival now meets the forest as it is dying back for the season, and before anyone can say whether this year's restoration numbers are good.
A Festival Scheduled for the Decline
The organizers knew the trade-off. "It's an interesting thing to have a festival at the end of the bull kelp's life cycle. We debated about it," co-coordinator Lia Morsell told the Fort Bragg Advocate-News. "Is this going to be a hopeful, feel-good event with good data, or is this going to be a rough year for kelp? Either way, it means as a community, we continue to recommit to this effort going forward."
The calendar is built around that point in the cycle. On Saturday, Oct. 10, the Senescence Ceremony takes place at Portuguese Beach from 5 to 5:30 p.m. Co-coordinator Nathan Maxwell Cann describes senescence as "the moment where the kelp spores start to age and decline," and calls it "a good moment for us to take stock."
Bull kelp grows from the rocky sea floor to the surface, up to 60 feet in a single season, according to festival organizers. Herring spawn in it, rockfish live in it, seals hunt in it, and red sea urchins and abalone eat it. A crop that regrows every year needs a yearly check, and the festival now falls at the time of year when that check makes sense.
What the Numbers Can Say Right Now
The baseline is bleak. Bull kelp in Mendocino and Sonoma counties began a sharp decline in 2014, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Citing canopy mapping, festival organizers put the loss at more than 96% by 2023. Disease killed the sunflower sea stars that ate purple urchins, and the urchins then mowed the kelp down. UC Davis oceanographer John Largier adds warm water to the causes: "The warmth itself, but also the warm water means low nutrients."
Against that baseline, the restoration sites show a sharp local gain. Marianna Leuschel, co-director of Above/Below and one of the event coordinators, says the kelp canopy at the Portuguese Beach Headlands restoration site grew 900% last year. That figure covers one site, not the coast. The 2026 update is not finished either. "Drone mapping was just completed, and the restoration team are mapping the results," Leuschel said.
Largier has watched similar work at Fort Ross and Timber Cove on the Sonoma Coast. He says it is "having some success, but it's like a little patch." Patches can seed other sites, which makes them valuable, but "it's very different to having a kelp forest." Leuschel also notes that with El Niño arriving, more research is needed on how the sites hold up as ocean temperatures rise.
This year's festival therefore opens with last year's site-level gain on record and this year's results still being processed. The people running it have said so publicly.
The Work Is the Main Event
Because the public can't see a recovered forest yet, most of the program shows people the work itself. Each restoration method is tied to a place, and most of those places host an event this week.
| Site | What crews are doing | Where to see it this week |
|---|---|---|
| Portuguese Beach Headlands, Mendocino | Urchin suppression to a target of two per square meter | Big River Kelp Recovery demo on the bluffs, Sat. Oct. 10, 3:30–5 p.m. |
| Big River | Floating units planted with lab-grown kelp, suspended above the sea floor and out of urchins' reach | Covered in the same Saturday demo |
| Caspar Cove | Divers pulling purple urchins | Caspar Cove Project dive, Sun. Oct. 11, 9–11 a.m., visible from shore |
| Noyo Headlands Park, Fort Bragg | Pacific Coast Ocean Restoration Initiative site | Coastal Trail walk, Mon. Oct. 12, 10 a.m. |
| Noyo Harbor | Grazer suppression | Picnic and dock walk, Sun. Oct. 11, 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. |
Grant money pays commercial urchin divers to clear purple urchins from the worst sites so kelp can take hold, Millis said. The same divers traditionally harvest red urchins for their roe, which is sold as uni. The Noyo Headlands site is funded by a NOAA award of just under $18 million to The Nature Conservancy that runs through Sept. 30, 2028, according to the federal award record. Morsell says the South Trail at the Noyo Headlands has installed binoculars that give a good view of the kelp.
Morsell also gives the most hopeful firsthand account of the season. After a recent beach cleanup at Noyo Harbor, she said, "There was a ton of kelp there. It reminded me of the way it looked when I first moved to Fort Bragg." Harbormaster Anna Neumann leads the Oct. 11 dock walk after lunch at South Noyo Harbor and Grader Park. According to the Advocate-News, she plans to point out fishing vessels and talk about how fisheries management affects fishermen and the community, both economically and culturally.
Eating the Problem at Van Damme
The urchin low-tide walk and cookout at Van Damme Beach on Sunday, 5 to 7 p.m., brings the restoration work to the dinner table. Maxwell Cann says participants will head to the tidepools, harvest purple urchins, open them up and eat them. Chef Maria Finn, author of Forage. Gather. Feast., will prepare urchin butter and seaweed salad, with bread from Caspar Bread and Wine and a campfire.
Last year Maxwell Cann expected himself and four or five friends. More than 40 people showed up. The festival page says space is limited and food is first-come, first-served.
"Restoration without education is temporary."
Leuschel heard that line from someone in New York and repeated it to the Advocate-News as the reason the festival exists. Maxwell Cann says that over three years he has noticed more of a general "kelp-i-ness" in Fort Bragg and Mendocino, with kelp "becoming more of our cultural mascot."
The State's Timeline Runs Slower Than the Festival's
The hour most closely tied to the stock-taking idea comes Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at the Noyo Center Marine Field Station, 32430 N. Harbor Drive. There, the Department of Fish and Wildlife is scheduled to give an update on its Kelp Restoration and Management Plan. The statewide plan is not finalized. At a July 16 committee meeting, the Fish and Game Commission set out the remaining steps as peer review, then the regulatory process, then implementation in 2027 and 2028.
At 2:30 p.m. the Noyo Center hosts a panel on red abalone, with a recommended $10 donation at the door. Millis said the center is also "in the permitting process" to grow bull kelp for restoration sites. So the local groups are reviewing their results every fall, while the state framework that will govern this work is still at least a year from implementation.
The Rest of the Week, by Day
- Thursday, Oct. 8, Locals Night. A beach wrack walk runs 4 to 5:30 p.m., led by Sue Magoo, followed by a free pizza party from 6 to 8 p.m. at Larry Spring Commons, 225 E. Redwood Ave. The festival's own materials list the walk at both Virgin Creek Beach and MacKerricher State Beach, so check northcoastkelpfest.org before you go.
- Friday, Oct. 9, Fort Bragg. Eight ocean-restoration groups give short, free talks from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Fort Bragg Town Hall. The festival's materials give two different street addresses for Town Hall, so confirm the address on the schedule. The Fish Taco Crawl kicks off from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Participants carry a rating card, collect stickers at participating restaurants, vote on tacos, and can take food to Tall Guys Brewing, which hosts a surf-rock dance party.
- Saturday, Oct. 10, Mendocino. The free Ocean Keepers Pledge is at 11:15 a.m. at Portuguese Beach. Parade participants gather at 11:30 a.m. at the Portuguese Beach entrance. The Seaweed Spectacle Parade steps off at noon through downtown Mendocino and ends at the Mendocino Art Center around 12:30 p.m. FlockWorks is a partner on the parade. The bluff-top demo and the Senescence Ceremony follow later in the afternoon.
- Monday, Oct. 12, Fort Bragg. After the 10 a.m. Coastal Trail walk, the festival closes with three short kelp films from noon to 2 p.m. at Coast Cinemas, 135 S. Franklin St. Tickets are $15.
The full program has 22 events. Morsell says, "We might have gone a little off the rails." As of the Advocate-News report on Oct. 1, the restoration team was still mapping the 2026 drone results for Portuguese Beach.
Randy Waller works across the North Bay, from Santa Rosa to the Mendocino Coast, and pays attention to how efforts like Portuguese Beach and Noyo Headlands change these places over time. If the coast is part of your plans, Let's Connect.
