We have a number of dates for volunteering including: January 3 and 5, February 7 and 9, March 7 and 9. Join Save The Bay and San Jose State graduate student Sumudu Welaratna, and help monitor oyster populations and set-up equipment that will be used in our Native Oyster Monitoring Study at multiple sites in San Francisco Bay. Learn about native Olympia oysters (Ostrea conchaphila), their history of abundance and reasons for decline in San Francisco Bay, how oysters are connected to many Bay species from sponges to fish to migratory birds, and how you and others can get involved in oyster monitoring and restoration! This project is a collaboration between Save The Bay, San Jose State University, the NOAA Restoration Center, Restore America's Estuaries, the Smithsonian Invasives Research Center, and other community partners.

Since 2000, the NOAA Fisheries Restoration Center has been working with many state and local government and non-profit partners in the San Francisco Bay Area to monitor existing native oyster populations and build support for large scale restoration projects in the estuary.

Currently Save the Bay and San Jose State University are leading an effort to monitor oyster populations and compare different surfaces that they like to settle on at six different sites in the South and Central Bay.

The sites for our 2006-07 study include

* Permanente Creek (Mountain View)
* Palo Alto Baylands Preserve (Palo Alto)
* Ravenswood Pier (East Palo Alto)
* Oyster Point Marina (South San Francisco)
* Berkeley Marina (Berkeley)
* San Rafael Canal (San Rafael)

The objectives of this research are to answer questions about the rate of oyster recruitment per month by site, and the difference in recruitment rates between four different surfaces that oysters may settle on: oyster shell suspended in the water column, bagged oyster shell in a simulated reef structure suspended in the water column, pvc settling plates suspended in the water column, and cleared existing substrate. By monitoring these sites and different surfaces, we are gaining new information about oyster populations and what techniques would be best used for restoration projects in the future.

• All equipment and instruction is provided. RSVP is requested, please sign up bt contacting Marilyn Latta at 510-452-9261 x110.