Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary superintendent Maria Brown assumed leadership of the neighboring Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary in December, after former superintendent Dan Howard retired following a 19-year tenure. Mr. Howard established long-term marine life and habitat monitoring programs and maximized resource protection efforts, according to a press release. The merger of the two sanctuaries, which share a border, will create operations efficiencies. Each sanctuary will maintain its own advisory council and name, but resources and staff will be combined. Together, the sanctuaries encompass 4,581 square miles of marine waters and California coast; the Cordell Bank lies entirely offshore, while the Greater Farallones encompasses the coastline from Point Arena south to the Marin Headlands. Ms. Brown will keep a focus on climate change mitigation, adaptation of marine protected habitats, and restoration of estuarine habitats, kelp forests and seabird colonies. In her newly expanded role, she has responded to the American Challenger oil spill and worked with the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary to reduce whale strikes by ships. The sanctuaries are also engaged in a large bull kelp restoration effort off the Sonoma and Mendocino coasts, where kelp forests have seen a massive decline. The population of purple sea urchins, which chew through kelp stalks, has exploded in recent years after their key predator, a sea star, died off; kelp predation by urchins, and warmer marine temperatures have contributed to the devastation of kelp forests. Restoring those forests goes hand in hand with capturing the sanctuaries’ “blue carbon” potential, said Sara Hutto, a climate program coordinator for the Greater Farallones. Algae, seagrass, mangroves, salt marshes and coastal wetlands all remove atmospheric carbon dioxide; normally, kelp hangs on the water’s surface or sticks to rocks, absorbing carbon from the water and air for up to a year. Following winter storms, some kelp washes up on beaches, dries out and rereleases the carbon into the air. Other kelp that becomes dislodged by big wave action is taken offshore and eventually sinks, burying carbon for the long term. Through the sanctuaries’ kelp program, which Ms. Hutto said is in its infancy, divers have been removing sea urchins and replanting baby kelps, a slow process. Luckily for kelp, this year the West Coast is experiencing a La Niña weather event, which will deliver cold, nutrient-rich water to the surface.