Underwater Eelgrass Gardens

Eelgrass (Zostera) off Refugio Beach

Eelgrass is a flowering plant that has adapted to a life cycle under salt water. Like bamboo above water, it spreads by rhizomes, forming dense networks of genetically-identical individuals. It usually lives in fairly shallow water, where it provides important habitat for young fish and other small creatures. The coast of the Santa Barbara Channel contains quite a few eelgrass beds. They all appear to be genetically identical, and probably formed not long after the end of the last ice age, when ocean levels rose to near their present levels. Eelgrass prefers shallow, sandy areas. A big storm can tear out an eelgrass bed. The plants may find a home elsewhere, and start a new bed, but a bed is hard to replace. As a volunteer, I spent some hours underwater cutting eelgrass (complete with rhizomes) out of beds and transplanting it to locations where it had been wiped out earlier. It's similar to gardening above water, but easier on the back and colder. Some of the new beds have thrived. It's fun to see the small creatures, and a few larger ones, sheltering there amidst the graceful leaves, swaying in the sandy surge.