Fitzgerald Marine Reserve
Fitzgerald Marine Reserve is a marine reserve in California on the Pacific Ocean, located just north of Pillar Point Harbor and Mavericks in the San Mateo County community of Moss Beach. Moss Beach is located approximately 20 miles (32 km) south of San Francisco and 50 miles (80 km) north of Santa Cruz. The reserve is a 32-acre (0.13 km2) holding which extends from Montara light station at the north to Pillar Point on the south. The reserve consists of a three-mile stretch of beach, tidepool habitat, marsh, erosive bluffs, clifftop trail and cypress and eucalyptus forests. The property is owned by the State of California and managed by San Mateo County as a county park and nature preserve. The reserve is administratively assigned to be part of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Adjacent to and possibly within the reserve is an endangered species of butterfly, the San Bruno elfin butterfly.
Tidepool and anemones, Fitzgerald Marine Reserve
Moss Beach shoreline from the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, April 2007. Part of the Franciscan formation is visible near the beach
"Sea grapes" seaweed, Fitzgerald Marine Reserve
View from Bluff Trail Looking down to Frenchmans Reef intertidal Zone
San Mateo County, California
San Mateo County, officially the County of San Mateo, is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City is the county seat, the third-most populated city in the county after Daly City and San Mateo.
Image: Mount Diablo from SF Bay Discovery Site 10 2 2011 4 24 09 PM
Image: San Mateo County government center
Image: Año Nuevo State Reserve
The Santa Cruz Mountains cross through San Mateo County. In comparison to the rest of the county, the area is quite rural and forested.