BREWING UP SEA STARS: Feeling Hoptimistic About Sunflower Sea Star Recovery
They can grow wider than a bicycle tire, have more than 20 arms, and move surprisingly fast. And not long ago, sunflower sea stars were one of the most important predators along the Pacific Coast.
Then they nearly disappeared.
Beginning in 2013, sea star wasting disease swept through populations from Mexico to Alaska. Sunflower sea stars \(Pycnopodia helianthoides\) were hit especially hard, declining so dramatically that today they are listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN.
If you’ve been joining us for our conversations about kelp forest recovery, you already know this story is bigger than any single species—or any single evening. We’ve talked about marine heat waves, disappearing kelp forests, booming purple urchin populations, restoration, and what it takes to rebuild an ecosystem under extraordinary pressure.
On October 22, we continue that kelp forest recovery story by meeting a predator that once helped keep those urchins in check—and the people working to bring it back. Because this isn’t only a story about what we lost. It’s a recovery story being written right now.
We’re delighted to welcome Ashley Kidd and Andrew Kim, co-founders of Sunflower Star Laboratory, a nonprofit founded in 2021 to help restore this remarkable keystone species.
They’ll take us inside the otherworldly biology and life history of sunflower sea stars—why they matter, why they disappeared, and the remarkable work underway to bring them back.
It’s the next chapter in a story we’ve been following all year: kelp, urchins, predators, and the people figuring out how to put the pieces back together. Recovery is complicated, collaborative, and still unfolding—but people aren’t simply documenting decline. They’re doing something about it.
Sometimes hope has 20 arms, an appetite for sea urchins, and a laboratory full of people determined to give it another chance.
Join us Thursday, October 22, from 7–8 PM at Faction Brewing in Alameda for the next chapter in our kelp forest recovery story.
Bring a friend and bring your curiosity. Come for the sea stars. Leave feeling a little more hoptimistic about what recovery can look like.