Final technical report - Baseline characterization of sandy beach ecosystems in California's North-Central Coast Region

Sandy beaches are among the most intensely used coastal ecosystems for human recreation and are important to coastal economies, foraging shorebirds and surf zone fishes. Sandy beach habitat composes 51% of the 592 km of shoreline in the
North‐Central Coast (NCC) region but little more than 10% of the available sandy beach habitat in the region was protected in three Marina Protected Areas (MPAs). The goal of this ecological characterization was to provide a quantitative, baseline
description of sandy beach ecosystems in the region from which future ecological changes may be assessed, and to document any differences that may already exist between sandy beaches within and outside of MPAs. We also recommend ecological indicators
for targeted, cost‐effective assessments and developed two citizen‐scientist protocols. This report was originally uploaded to Oceanspaces (http://oceanspaces.org/) in 2013 as part of the North Central Coast baseline monitoring program. In 2020 the baseline data and reports were uploaded to the California Ocean Protection Council
Data Repository by Mike Esgro ([e-mail]) and Rani Gaddam ([e-mail]). Every attempt has been made to include all of the original data, metadata, and reports submitted in 2013, but please contact the Data Set Contacts with
any questions.