LIMPETS: Long-term Monitoring Program and Experiential Training for Students

About Us

The LiMPETS network was created in 2002 when the National Marine Sanctuaries of the West Coast worked together to streamline their intertidal student monitoring programs. Student-friendly protocols for monitoring rocky intertidal and sandy beach ecosystems were developed with the expertise of Dr. John Pearse, Dr. Jennifer Salzman, and many others. The LiMPETS network is a collaborative effort among California’s National Marine Sanctuaries, Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association, Marine Science Institute at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History. Meet the LiMPETS team:

Jessie Alstatt helps to coordinate Limpets for the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and is the Coordinator for the Torch Oil Spill Rocky Intertidal Education and Outreach Project. She has also worked with the MARINe network conducting monitoring of intertidal sites throughout southern California since 1992.

Julie Bursek coordinates LiMPETS for the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary region, which includes Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties. She is the Education Coordinator for the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and works with southern California educators in the LiMPETS network.

Amy Dean manages and facilitates the LiMPETS programs for the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and works with teachers and students in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is also the Education Manager for the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association.

Laura Francis is Education Coordinator for the Santa Barbara office of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and has helped to support the LiMPETS network since its inception.

Claire Johnson Fackler supports the LiMPETS network as the overall coordinator of the program. Based in Santa Barbara, California, she supports regional and national education programs for the NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program to inspire environmental stewardship and bring oceans into America’s classrooms.

Abby Nickels is theLiMPETS Coordinator for the Gulf of the Farallones region. She works for the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association and teaches middle, high school, college students and local citizen groups how to participate in the LiMPETS program.  Abby earned her B.S. in Marine Biology from the University of California Santa Cruz and her M.S. in Marine Resource Management from Oregon State University.

John Pearse is a retired biology professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He taught courses and did research in kelp forest and intertidal ecology in central California at the University for 26 years before devoting his time to help develop the LiMPETS program. He is also the president of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology.

Ann Wasser is the LiMPETS Coordinator for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary region. She works for the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, a key LiMPETS partner in the Central Coast region. She trains teachers and supports existing LiMPETS teachers and students in their monitoring efforts.

“Teaching and communicating science is not just about providing facts. It is asking questions and developing creative approaches to answering them in a hands-on setting. LiMPETS is a wonderful example of how to do this.”

– Dr. Jenifer Dugan, Research Biologist, Univ. of California at Santa Barbara