| Elkhorn Slough | |
|---|---|
 Aerial view of the mouth of Elkhorn Slough on Monterey Bay | |
  Location of Elkhorn Slough in California, United States | |
| Location | Moss Landing, Monterey County, California, United States |
| Coordinates | 36°49′00″N 121°46′00″W / 36.81667°N 121.76667°W |
| Operator | Elkhorn Slough Foundation |
| Official name | Elkhorn Slough |
| Designated | 25 June 2018 |
| Reference no. | 2345[1] |
Elkhorn Slough is a 7-mile-long (11 km)[2][3] tidal slough and estuary on Monterey Bay in Monterey County, California. It is California's second largest estuary and the United States' first estuarine sanctuary.[4] The community of Moss Landing and the Moss Landing Power Plant are located at the mouth of the slough on the bay.
Elkhorn Slough harbors the largest tract of tidal salt marsh in California outside the San Francisco Bay and provides much-needed habitat for hundreds of species of plants and animals, including more than 340 species of birds. It has been designated as a protected Ramsar site since 2018.[1]
- ^ a b "Elkhorn Slough". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Archived from the original on November 20, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
- ^ "U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data". Archived from the original on March 29, 2012. Retrieved March 15, 2011.
- ^ "Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve (ESNERR) Final Management Plan". Archived from the original on June 11, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2012.
- ^ David L. Schwartz; Henry T. Mullins; Daniel F. Belknap (1986). "Holocene Geologic History of a Transform Margin Estuary: Elkhorn Slough, Central California". Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. 22 (3): 285–302. Bibcode:1986ECSS...22..285S. doi:10.1016/0272-7714(86)90044-2.