Restoring the tide pools

If you head down to the tide pools at Corona del Mar’s Little Corona, don’t worry if you’re confused about what marine creatures you’re looking at.

On most days, high or low tide, the tide pools are staffed with friendly and helpful tide pool rangers who work to educate visitors and protect the marine environment.

“The tide pools are a very delicate environment and delicate ecosystem,” said Marine Life Refuge Supervisor Amy Stine.

Newport’s tide pool ranger program is unusual. Unlike neighboring Laguna Beach, Newport’s tide pool rangers aren’t there to enforce laws and write citations to those who abuse the tide pools, Newport Beach Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said.

Year round, the tide pool rangers host school field trips and teach thousands of children how to observe the tide pools without leaving a damaging footprint behind, Stine said.

No matter what the tides, the rangers try to be a presence at the tide pools during busy times, Stine said.

“Even if it’s no low tide and it’s a holiday ? [people will] be out here playing ? the animals are here regardless,” tide pool Ranger Crystal Singleton said.

The tide pool rangers are paid city employees who work year-round. Stine said she hires people who are good with children, have a passion for the ocean and are generally outgoing and interested in talking with people.

Most tide pool rangers have a background in marine science.

When they’re not teaching school children, the rangers are just walking around the tide pools, helping anyone who may be interested in learning more about Newport’s tide pool ecosystem, Stine said.

The tide pool ranger program was started more than five years ago after Orange Coast College professor Dennis Kelly studied the tide pools and discovered the habitat was deteriorating, Kiff said.

Before the tide pool rangers, entire classrooms of children would show up unannounced, and the city could have hundreds of children running through the tide pools on any given day, Stine said.

“They were just getting loved to death,” Stine said.

If a tide pool ranger witnesses an illegal act, they can call police, code enforcement or the Department of Fish and Game, Kiff said.

The tide pool ranger program is working, and the tide pools are slowly being restored, officials said. But, they say, it’s not a complete solution.

“They’re not back to what they’ve been in the past, but they’re getting better,” Stine said.

Despite the successful tide pool ranger program, it’s likely that people will continue to pillage the tide pools at Little Corona, Kiff said.

“We’re trying to put a dent in that,” Kiff said. “I don’t know if we’re ever going to shut it off entirely.”dpt.23-water-CPhotoInfoQU1S8O5G20060623j1ab7xncDON LEACH / DAILY PILOT(LA)Marine Life Refuge supervisor Amy Stine, left, and tide pool ranger Crystal Singleton walk along the tide pools at Little Corona beach.