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Frankly, I’d never heard it called “Scorpion Rock.” It’s usually Bird S**t Rock, but, I suppose in polite company Scorpion Rock is a better term. And, being the holidays, there will be a few polite people hanging around forcing us sailors to clean things up a bit.
Turns out there’s more than guano on the big rock. I haven’t seen this, but an alert reader spotted big drums, probably of the 55 gallon type, up on the rock. And our good friend and sometime shipmate Betsy Crowfoot learned that they were hauled up there to water about 1500 plants that were stuck in the ground last September.
Who’s running a garden on Scorpion Rock and why? We know why – the plants have been put there to support Cassin’s Auklet, a burrowing seabird that needs plant matter to burrow in. They have planted some 15 varieties of vegetation and have also removed some of the exotic species that have pushed out native plants. They figure the 15 drums of water will last until the rains come.
So that’s the what, the who is more interesting. The who is NOAA’s DARRP- Damage Assessment, Remediation and Restoration Program. Born shortly after the Exxon Valdez disaster, they’ve been hard at work doing exactly what their title says.
Click here or more info on the restoration project at Santa Cruz Island.
