LiMPETS Coastal Community Science

Project Overview

Project Partners: yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini (ytt) Tribe, Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History
Project Funder: National Marine Sanctuary Foundation

Designated in 2024, the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary (CHNMS) is a new tribally co-managed protected area with tremendous opportunities for hands-on learning and community engagement. Creek Lands Conservation is partnering with the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History and yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini (ytt) Tribe to expand LiMPETS (Long-term Monitoring and Experiential Training for Students) into the CHNMS region. LiMPETS is a community science program that engages students and educators in long-term coastal monitoring, with more than 60 operating monitoring sites across California.

Under a 2026 grant from the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, we are establishing five rocky intertidal and five sandy beach monitoring sites within San Luis Obispo County and the CHNMS, while building a network of teachers and community partners to support ongoing monitoring. Students from middle school through college will participate in authentic field research, collecting standardized data on 28 intertidal species, including species of conservation concern such as black abalone, owl limpets, and sea stars. Students can then analyze publicly available LiMPETS datasets to explore changes in species abundance and distribution and create data visualizations, posters, StoryMaps, zines, and other storytelling projects.

The project also connects science with the ecological and cultural stories of the sanctuary. Working with ytt Tribe, we are developing CHNMS-specific class lessons exploring Chumash heritage, intertidal ecology, biodiversity, climate resilience, and species conservation. By bringing students directly onto the sanctuary’s shores, LiMPETS creates meaningful connections to living ecosystems while building environmental literacy, stewardship, and awareness of careers in marine science and conservation. At the same time, students contribute valuable long-term monitoring data that support sanctuary management and statewide research.

Interested teachers and community partners can contact Education Director Danielle at Danielle@creeklands.org.