• The Point Reyes Beach as viewed from the Point Reyes Headlands

    Point Reyes

    National Seashore California

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  • Operational Changes Took Effect on May 1

    The Lighthouse Visitor Center is now only open Fridays through Mondays. The Kenneth C. Patrick Visitor Center will be closed through late December 2013. More »

  • 2013 Harbor Seal Pupping Season Closures

    From March 1 through June 30, the park implements closures of certain Tomales Bay beaches and Drakes Estero to water-based recreation to protect harbor seals during the pupping season. Please avoid disturbing seals to ensure a successful pupping season. More »

Fire Management Units: Estero

Bolinas Ridge | Estero | Headlands | Highway One | Inverness Ridge
Limantour Road | Minimum Management Unit | Non-NPS Land
Palomarin | Tomales Point | Wilderness North | Wilderness South
 
Drakes Estero and Douglas Iris by Sue Van Der Wal

Drakes Estero and Douglas Iris

ESTERO (1,638 acres) - The Estero FMU is located at the northern end of Drake's Estero, along the edges of Schooner and Home bays. This area supports primarily grassland and mixed coyote brush and poison-oak scrub habitats, with patches of wax-myrtle (Myrica californica) in seasonal drainages. A stand of Monterey pine occurs in the southeast corner of the FMU. The Seashore has been using prescribed fire and mowing treatments to control the non-native plant Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius) in this FMU since 1993, and plans to continue with these treatments. Populations of Point Reyes mountain beaver occur in shrubby drainages within this unit. This species, although not federally listed, is of concern to Seashore managers as it is a rare species whose populations were significantly reduced by the Vision Fire in 1995. This FMU also supports nine plant species of management concern, five of these are federal Species of Concern.

Vegetation Map of Estero Fire Management Unit (Low-res HTML or High-res 560 KB PDF)

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Did You Know?

Climate scientists warn that the safe upper limit for atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations is 350 parts per million.

Climate scientists warn that the safe upper limit for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations is 350 parts per million (ppm). For most of human history, atmospheric CO2 rarely exceeded 275 ppm--until the industrial revolution. As of 2013, atmospheric CO2 was ~396 ppm–-and rising 2 ppm/year. More...