Fitzgerald Marine Reserve - Natural Features

Natural Features

The tidepool habitat has long been prized as one of the best such habitats in northern California. It has been identified by the State of California as one of 34 such coastal habitats having "Special Biological Significance". Sea urchins, anemone, hermit crabs and many other intertidal species are prominent.

At the north of the reserve San Vicente Creek empties into the Pacific Ocean and has a diverse habitat supporting Red Willow and other riparian species. From a footbridge across San Vicente Creek, one climbs atop the bluff trail, which rises about 30 meters (98 ft) above the beach. From there one has rewarding views down upon Frenchmans Reef, a rich marine ecological area. Seaward the reserve extends to a depth of over 300 meters (980 ft) downward into the Pacific Ocean. The reef is composed of the rock granodiorite.

An occurrence of the rare plant Hickman's potentilla, Potentilla hickmanii, was observed by E.C. Suttliffe in 1933 in the vicinity of the mouth of San Vicente Creek within Moss Beach. This colony was not further documented for decades, but another colony was discovered toward the end of the 20th century north of Moss Beach. The plant was listed as an endangered species by the United States government in 1998, and had previously been listed as California endangered in 1973.

Sightings of the San Bruno elfin butterfly have been made adjacent to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Montara. This endangered species has very limited range and habitat.

The active Seal Cove Fault (first mapped and named by Dr. William Glen in a 1959 publication of the University of California series in the geological sciences) forms much of the eastern boundary of the site. Glen first suggested that the Seal Cove fault was a northward extension of the San Gregorio fault. Submarine surveys later found that the fault extends northward under the Pacific Ocean and presumably joins the San Andreas Fault near Bolinas. The fault's trace was formerly clearly exposed in a sea cliff at the northern portion of the reserve, but is now obscured by cultural changes.