Kachemak Bay Reserve, Alaska

Intertidal Monitoring [Grades 4 - 12]

An intertidal study of Baltic macoma (Macoma balthica), a small pink clam inhabiting Kachemak Bay’s mudflats, was initiated in April 2002. This clam species is very important to migrating and wintering shorebirds and waterfowl in Mud Bay. By monitoring macoma populations, we should be able to detect fluctuations in their numbers over time.

Education staff will work with local students and volunteers each month to collect mud samples from random plots along a transect in Mud Bay, sift through the muddy substrate to isolate all clams, and record total numbers for each plot and the entire transect.