Noyo Center for Marine Science

Like so much of the community's desire for restorative solutions to the reuse of the former mill site, The Noyo Center is still a vision.

The Noyo Center vision is to make our dramatic (and previously inaccessible) coastline available for innovative scientific research, hands-on education and natural resource stewardship. 

The Noyo Center has a three-pronged approach to development, supporting an innovative research program, creating an integrated education program and building a world-class facility for research, education and tourism. Our research and education programs will support activities that engage the community, the visitor, and the scientist in order to inspire connection, communication, collaboration and creativity.

Local school kids lead the way.

.Articulating the Noyo vision, bone by bone. In 2009, a lethal strike from a ship’s propeller off the Mendocino coast tragically killed a 73-foot female blue whale. This ship-strike, a leading threat to these magnificent mammals, has been turned into a story of Fort Bragg’s community coming together around the vision of the Noyo Marine Science Center.

The Noyo Center has been working in local classrooms and in the community of Fort Bragg to increase ocean and coastal literacy.  The Noyo Center believes in a hands-on, project-based approach to learning.  They are developing an innovative and inclusive education program that will target “K to grey,” celebrating the marine environment through art and science while conveying the challenges facing our coast.

Sea lion articulation workshop 
captures curiosity of kids and adults alike .

The Coastal community got up close and personal with our two skeletons as Noyo Center staff helped many amateur helpers puzzle together the bones using small hand tools and sculpting techniques.  Participants learned about anatomical details and discussed habitats and communities, ecosystems and food chains, and human interactions and survival.