Surveying the harbor seal population at Point Reyes National Seashore.
NPS Photo / Jessica Weinberg McClosky
Scientific research is key to protecting the natural and cultural wonders of our national parks. To make sound decisions, park managers need accurate information about the resources in their care. They also need to know how park ecosystems change over time, and what amount of change is normal. But park staff can't do it alone.
Studying park vital signs is only part of the picture. Park staff also conduct research, with support from the nine other divisions and programs of the NPS Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate, other state and federal agencies, university professors and students, and independent researchers.
Because many parks prohibit activities that occur elsewhere, scientists can use the parks as areas for determining the effects of these activities where they do occur. National park lands often serve as the best model for what a relatively undisturbed landscape looks like. From the study of endangered species to investigating the effects of climate change, the data collected from these projects supports park management and academia. Learn about some of the science and research occurring at Point Reyes in the articles below. You can also generate a park species list below.
From 2006 to 2018, Point Reyes National Seashore and PCSLC staff and communication interns assisted scientists conducting research through the PCSLC and the SFAN to produce a series of Resource Project Summaries. These one- to eight-page summaries provide information about the questions that the researchers hoped to answer, details about the project and methods, and the results of the research projects in a way that is easy to understand.
Locations:Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Muir Woods National Monument, Point Reyes National Seashore
Offices:San Francisco Bay Area Inventory & Monitoring Network
As the San Francisco Bay Area Network coho and steelhead monitoring crew wraps up the 2024-2025 spawner season, we are looking back at one of the busiest winters since the beginning of this monitoring program! We observed increased coho spawning in all three creeks we monitor—Olema, Pine Gulch, and Redwood Creeks. Olema took the cake with the strongest cohort of all.
Offices:San Francisco Bay Area Inventory & Monitoring Network
This elephant seal breeding season, the single-day cow count peaked at 1,159 on 1/27, which is similar to last year’s peak count of 1,165. Pup counts were higher than the five-year average this season. This is likely due to the lack of strong storms this winter and thus high pup survival.
Locations:Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Muir Woods National Monument, Point Reyes National Seashore
Working within the structure of the One Tamalpais Collaborative, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy received $400,000 in funding through the California Wildlife Conservation Board’s pollinator rescue program to invest in protection of monarch butterflies in Marin County.
Offices:San Francisco Bay Area Inventory & Monitoring Network
In early October, biologists with the San Francisco Bay Area Network Coho & Steelhead Monitoring Program assisted the California Department of Fish & Wildlife in collecting 40 juvenile coho salmon from Olema Creek. Now, these fish are living in the Don Clausen Fish Hatchery located at Lake Sonoma in Sonoma County.
The Point Reyes mountain beaver—a primitive rodent that isn’t a beaver—is a sort of mythical creature at Point Reyes National Seashore. Almost no one has seen one in-person with their own eyes. Not even National Park Service Wildlife Biologists Taylor Ellis and Matt Lau, who just completed their first season of surveys as a part of a 2-year mountain beaver habitat modeling project in collaboration with UC Berkeley. Still, the survey season was a great success.
Offices:San Francisco Bay Area Inventory & Monitoring Network
Only 16 cows and 14 nursing pups remain at the Seashore! There are still 112 males scattered around, looking for their last chance to mate. This year’s weaned pup counts are higher than average. A total of 1063 weanlings were counted on 3/6.
Locations:Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Muir Woods National Monument, Point Reyes National Seashore
Offices:San Francisco Bay Area Inventory & Monitoring Network
Federally endangered coho salmon and threatened steelhead trout are large, charismatic fish that play crucial roles in both stream and ocean ecosystems. The National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program and its partners began monitoring coho and steelhead in Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Point Reyes National Seashore in 1998.
Locations:Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Point Reyes National Seashore
Offices:San Francisco Bay Area Inventory & Monitoring Network
Limantour Beach is wide. Bookended by ocean on one side and grassy dunes on the other, its sandy expanse provides a habitat for many organisms that rely on the rich ecosystem between land and sea. The western snowy plover, a small brown and white shorebird, is one species that finds refuge in the sand. Over time, human activity and development have degraded many beaches like Limantour, and biologists have seen those impacts through the eyes of the snowy plovers.
Locations:Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Muir Woods National Monument, Point Reyes National Seashore
Offices:San Francisco Bay Area Inventory & Monitoring Network
Meet Justin Jang and Val Kostelnik, Watershed Stewards Program corpsmembers who recently began 10.5-month terms with the salmonids monitoring team based at Point Reyes National Seashore.
Locations:Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Muir Woods National Monument, Point Reyes National Seashore
Offices:San Francisco Bay Area Inventory & Monitoring Network
Each summer, the San Francisco Bay Area Network fisheries crew spends a majority of its time in three Marin County, CA streams, Olema Creek, Pine Gulch Creek, and Redwood Creek, monitoring juvenile coho and steelhead populations. After completing this season's surveys, we found that 2024 was a decent year for juvenile coho!
Occurrence values are defined below. One or more Occurrence Tags may be associated with each Occurrence value.
Present: Species occurs in park; current, reliable evidence available.
Probably Present: High confidence species occurs in park but current, verified evidence needed.
Unconfirmed: Species is attributed to park but evidence is weak or absent.
Not In Park: Species is not known to occur in park.
Occurrence Tags
Adjacent: Species is known to occur in areas near to or contiguous with park boundaries.
False Report: Species was reported to occur within the park, but current evidence indicates the report was based on misidentification, a taxonomic concept no longer accepted, or other similar problem of error or interpretation.
Historical: Species' historical occurrence in park is documented. Assigned based on judgment as opposed to determination based on age of the most recent evidence.
Abundance
Abundant:
Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, and counted in relatively large numbers.
Plants: Large number of individuals; wide ecological amplitude or occurring in habitats covering a large portion of the park.
Common:
Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, but not in large numbers.
Plants: Large numbers of individuals predictably occurring in commonly encountered habitats but not those covering a large portion of the park.
Uncommon:
Animals: Likely to be seen monthly in appropriate habitat and season. May be locally common.
Plants: Few to moderate numbers of individuals; occurring either sporadically in commonly encountered habitats or in uncommon habitats.
Rare:
Animals: Present, but usually seen only a few times each year.
Plants: Few individuals, usually restricted to small areas of rare habitat.
Occasional:
Animals: Occurs in the park at least once every few years, varying in numbers, but not necessarily every year.
Plants: Abundance variable from year to year (e.g., desert plants).
Unknown: Abundance unknown
Nativeness
Native: Species naturally occurs in park or region.
Non-native: Species occurs on park lands as a result of deliberate or accidental human activities.
Unknown: Nativeness status is unknown or ambiguous.
List Differences
The Checklist contains only those species that are designated as "present" or "probably present" in the park.
The Full List includes all the checklist species in addition to species that are unconfirmed, historically detected, or incorrectly reported as being found in the park. The full list also contains species that are "in review" because their status in the park hasn't been fully determined. Additional details about the status of each species is included in the full list.
The checklist will almost always contain fewer species than the full list.
415-464-5100
This number will initially be answered by an automated attendant, from which one can opt to access a name directory, listen to recorded information about the park (e.g., directions to the park; visitor center hours of operation; fire danger information; wildlife updates; ranger-led programs; seasonal events; etc.), or speak with a ranger. Please note that if you are calling between 4:30 pm and 10 am, park staff may not be available to answer your call.
