North Coast KelpFest!

A Weekend of Events to Elevate, Educate, and Entertain

by Sarah Reith

KelpFest! is back, examining the story of kelp through the lens of art, science, food, film, and this year, even a parade. From October 3-6, anything that happens anywhere on the Mendocino Coast will be all about kelp.

Why October, when this annual algae is at the end of its life cycle? “Last year, we held KelpFest! in the spring, at a time of birth and renewal,” explains Tristin Anoush McHugh, Kelp Project Director at The Nature Conservancy. “This year, we wanted to celebrate the senescence of the forest.” That’s when the seaweed ends its annual life cycle and dies, then washes onto the shore and attracts insects, which provide a feast for migrating birds.

In the last ten years, bull kelp forests have been devastated due to warm water and the loss of predators that control the herbivorous purple urchin. An astounding 96% of the underwater canopy along 350 kilometers of California’s north coast has vanished.