Conservation & Restoration
From Barren Seafloor to Living Forest: The Long Road Back for California's Kelp
California's iconic kelp forests have experienced one of the most dramatic ecological collapses in recent US coastal history, with sea urchin barrens now dominating stretches of seafloor that once supported towering canopies of bull kelp. Restoration scientists and conservationists are debating whether active intervention or natural recovery offers the better path forward. The answer may depend on how honestly the field confronts the compounding pressures that made collapse possible in the first