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I have roughly 400 Facebook “friends”From the first Sunday in June to the second Saturday in August at least one of those family, friends, and acquaintances was on a beach vacation every week.Here in the state of Arkansas the preferred destination is the coast of the Gulf of Mexico in Alabama or Florida. Driving to work through a city of 60,000 starting in late winter early spring two different professional photographers have signs setting out the period they will be at gulf coast location so you can book beach photography sessions.The week my family went this year (wife and two single adult children) my sister-in-law, her husband and their three adult children and their spouses were at the same complex about a 10 minute walk away. On Facebook I saw that a friend from college was on beach vacation 20 miles to the east, another friend was 5 miles to the east, and a third friend 15 miles to the west. A fourth friend was at the outer banks of North Carolina. I received some good tips about local restaurants from another college friend who was in the area the week before. One of my wife’s friends was at a beach resort in Mexico the week we were at the beach.Now this is the US where people generally do not receive much vacation time (my son had the week off and wasn't paid despite being with his employer for four years, the business doesn't offer paid leave) so everyone was at the beach for only a week but beach vacations are very popular.

America's EstuariesBy: Sarah BlountEstuaries are found around the world, offering productive habitat to thousands of species of birds, mammals, fish, and other wildlife, including more than two thirds of the fish and shellfish consumed in the US. A source of important economic and ecologic resources, these areas are home to 22 of the largest 32 cities in the world, and have been prime locations for human communities dating back to at least 3800 BCE. There are more than 100 of these water bodies along the coast of the United States—is there an estuary near you? Read on to learn about some of America's estuaries.Kachemak Bay, AlaskaOld Woman Creek, OhioHudson River, New York and New JerseyMission-Aransas Estuary, TexasJobos Bay, Puerto RicoJacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve, New JerseyGuana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve, FloridaGreat Bay Estuary, New Hampshire and MaineGrand Bay Estuary, Mississippi and AlabamaElkhorn Slough, CaliforniaApalachicola Bay System, FloridaKachemak Bay, AlaskaLocated on the southern end of the Kenai Peninsula in south central Alaska, Kachemak Bay is the largest unit in the National Estuarine Research Reserve system, covering 366,100 acres. Kachemak is a fjord-type estuary, where retreating glaciers carved a deep channel in the land reaching out into the Gulf of Alaska. As the glaciers scraped across the land, they chiseled out a large mass of dirt and rock, which formed a pile that the glaciers pushed across the continental crust. When the glaciers finally reached the end of their path and melted away, they left behind this pile of rubble, otherwise known as a moraine. As sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age with the influx of water from melting across the planet, this new valley was filled with seawater, drowning the moraine. The moraine rests at what is now the mouth of Kachemak Bay, acting as a barrier to the water body and restricting saltwater input, giving the bay its distinction as a fjord-type estuary. Typically with these types of estuaries a layer of fresh water coming off of the coast will flow above the near-stagnant salt water below, but Kachemak is located at such a high latitude that during the six-month winter the mainland watershed freezes, cutting off the supply of fresh water to the estuary, rendering the bay almost completely marine.Thinking of visiting Kachemak Bay for some hiking, fishing, camping, or kayaking? Check out this helpful advice from the Alaskan Department of Natural Resources to keep yourself and the bay safe during your trip!Sources: Alaska Department of National Resources Division of Parks & Outdoor Recreation “Kachemak Bay State Park and State Wilderness Park” Kachemak Bay State Wilderness Park; EPA “Basic Information about Estuaries” National Estuary Program (NEP) | US EPA; EPA, Narragansett Bay Commission & University of Rhode Island Office of Marine Programs “Estuarine Science: All About Estuaries” http://omp.gso.uri.edu/ompweb/doee/science/descript/whats.htm; Kachemak Bay Research Reserve “A Site Profile of the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve: A Unit of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/Doc/PDF/Reserve/KBA_SiteProfile.pdf; National Estuarine Research Reserve System “Kachemak Bay, AK” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/Reserve.aspx?ResID=KBA; National Geographic “Encyclopedic Entry: Estuary” estuary; National Geographic “Encyclopedic Entry: Fjord” fjord; NOAA “National Estuarine Research Reserve System: Quick Facts About Estuaries” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/ECDefault.aspx?ID=414; NOAA Ocean Service Education “Fjords” NOAA's National Ocean Service Education: EstuariesOld Woman Creek, OhioYou won’t find Old Woman Creek on the West Coast feeding into the Pacific, nor will you find it on the East Coast spilling out into the Atlantic. In fact, this estuary has no access to salt water at all! Old Woman Creek is a freshwater estuary located in Huron, Ohio where the fresh water of the creek mixes with the chemically distinct fresh water of Lake Erie, creating a highly productive wildlife habitat, including freshwater marshes, swamp forests, a barrier beach, upland forests, and a riparian stream, all scattered across the estuary’s watershed.The estuary and its surrounding landscape help to remove pollutants and sediment from water flowing off of the landscape before it hits Lake Erie, which supplies water to millions of Ohio residents every day. In addition to helping provide potable water to the people of Ohio, Old Woman Creek estuary also serves as a giant protective sponge, soaking up potentially dangerous floodwaters and slowly releasing the excess moisture back to the open lake.Interested in visiting Old Woman Creek? The visitor center is open Tuesday through Friday, from 9 am to 4 pm, and on Saturday and Sunday from 1-5 pm during the April through October months. Check out the reserve’s calendar of events to plan your visit!Sources: Charles E. Herdendorf, David M. Klarer, and Ricki C. Herdendorf. 2006. The Ecology of Old Woman Creek, Ohio: An Estuarine and Watershed Profile (2nd Ed.). Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, Columbus, Ohio. 452 pp. Retrieved from http://www.coast.noaa.gov/data/docs/nerrs/Reserves_OWC_SiteProfile.pdf; EPA “Basic Information about Estuaries” National Estuary Program (NEP) | US EPA; EPA, Narragansett Bay Commission & University of Rhode Island Office of Marine Programs “Estuarine Science: All About Estuaries” http://omp.gso.uri.edu/ompweb/doee/science/descript/whats.htm; National Estuarine Research Reserve System “Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve” http://nerrs.noaa.gov/reserves/old-woman-creek.html; National Geographic “Encyclopedic Entry: Estuary” estuary; NOAA “Ocean Service Education: Freshwater Estuaries” NOAA's National Ocean Service Education: Estuaries; NOAA “National Estuarine Research Reserve System: Quick Facts About Estuaries” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/ECDefault.aspx?ID=414; NOAA and Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife “2015 Estuary Explorations Community Calendar” http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/Portals/wildlife/pdfs/public%20areas/estuaryexplorations.pdf; NOAA and Ohio Division of Wildlife “Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve Management Plan 2011-2016” http://coast.noaa.gov/data/docs/nerrs/Reserves_OWC_MgmtPlan.pdfThe Hudson River, New York and New JerseyFor those who aren’t native to New York or New Jersey, hearing that the Hudson River is actually an estuary may come as a surprise! The river begins 315 miles away from the coast as fresh water from Lake Tear of the Clouds in the Adirondack Mountains, and flows south towards Upper New York Bay, also called New York Harbor. Of this extent, only the southern 153 miles (from Troy, New York to the Harbor) make up the estuary. This designation comes from the unusual trait the Hudson acquires in its final stretch—it will flow two different ways, depending on the time of day.The waters of the Hudson are affected by the Atlantic’s tides, meaning that when the New York coast is experiencing a flood tide (when the tide is rising) the tidal force is so strong that it rushes in through the bay and pushes the Hudson’s waters back upstream. The tides are forceful enough that they impact the flow of the Hudson’s waters all the way through the Albany area, finally losing their influence at the city of Troy. During an ebb tide (when the tide is receding), the Hudson’s waters flow south once again. The Hudson sees two high tides and two low tides each day, constantly shifting the water’s flow.Not only does the Atlantic change the Hudson’s direction of flow, but it also affects the water’s salinity. Depending on the season, the “salt front,” or the leading edge of the salt water flowing in from the bay, shifts along the Hudson’s track. In the high-river flow of spring, the freshwater of the river pushes the salt front south to the Tappan Zee, but as the flow decreases in the summer, the salt front encroaches north to Newburgh Bay, sometimes even reaching Poughkeepsie in times of drought.This unusual water body and its tributaries are home to more than 200 species of fish, as well as blue crab, bald eagles, herons, and other waterfowl, which can be found in the estuary’s tidal marshes and mudflats.You can help safeguard the estuary! The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has a guide on ways to contribute to the health of the estuary from inside of your home, in your community, on the riverbanks, and from your boat. Check out their advice here.Sources: EPA “Basic Information about Estuaries” National Estuary Program (NEP) | US EPA; EPA, Narragansett Bay Commission & University of Rhode Island Office of Marine Programs “Estuarine Science: All About Estuaries” http://omp.gso.uri.edu/ompweb/doee/science/descript/whats.htm; National Geographic “Encyclopedic Entry: Estuary” estuary; New York State Department of Environmental Conservation “The Hudson Estuary: A River That Flows Two Ways” The Hudson Estuary: A River That Flows Two Ways; New York State Department of Environmental Conservation “What You Can Do to Protect the Hudson River Estuary” What You Can Do to Protect the Hudson River Estuary; NOAA “National Estuarine Research Reserve System: Quick Facts About Estuaries” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/ECDefault.aspx?ID=414; Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc. and Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve “Ecological Profile of the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve” http://coast.noaa.gov/data/docs/nerrs/Reserves_HUD_SiteProfile.pdfMission-Aransas Estuary, TexasThe Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve on the Gulf Coast of Texas contains 185,708 acres of wetland, water, and terrestrial habitats, including oak motte habitats, saltwater marshes, wind tidal flats, mangroves, oyster reefs, and coastal prairie. Protected by Matagorda Island, a barrier island created during the melting of the last ice age, this estuary is shielded from some of the winds and waves coming in off of the Gulf of Mexico, making it an ideal home for ecologically, commercially, and recreationally important species such as blue crabs, alligators, juvenile flounder, and herons. Migratory birds also make up a large part of the community here, as the reserve is ideally located as a place to rest and refuel for Neotropical birds migrating between North and Central America.Perhaps you’ve heard about the stars of the estuary, although it’s unlikely that you’ve seen them in the wild—the whooping crane, the rarest crane species and one of the rarest birds in North America (and also the tallest). This flock travels 2,500 miles from their home in Canada’s Wood Buffalo National Park down to the Mission-Aransas Estuary every year, the progeny of the 15 cranes found wintering at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in 1941. Want a chance to spot these beautiful birds? Visit the estuary between October and March, when the flock is in town for the winter. Aransas National Wildlife Refuge or one of the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve facilities are both great places to go learn more!Sources: EPA “Basic Information about Estuaries” National Estuary Program (NEP) | US EPA; EPA, Narragansett Bay Commission & University of Rhode Island Office of Marine Programs “Estuarine Science: All About Estuaries” http://omp.gso.uri.edu/ompweb/doee/science/descript/whats.htm; Evans, A; Madden, K & Palmer, S. M. “The Ecology and Sociology of the Mission-Aransas Estuary: An Estuarine and Watershed Profile” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/Doc/PDF/Reserve/MAR_SiteProfile.pdf; Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve “About: Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve” http://www.missionaransas.org/about.html; National Estuarine Research Reserve System “Mission-Aransas, TX” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/Reserve.aspx?ResID=MAR; National Geographic “Encyclopedic Entry: Estuary” estuary; NOAA “National Estuarine Research Reserve System: Quick Facts About Estuaries” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/ECDefault.aspx?ID=414; USFWS “Aransas NWR” U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceJobos Bay, Puerto RicoJobos Bay is Puerto Rico’s second-largest estuarine area, and it is home to some of the most extensive networks of mangrove forests on the island. Located on the arid southeastern coast between Guayama and Salinas, this tropical estuarine system was formed 18,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age as rising seas drowned coastal lowlands. What’s unusual about this estuary is its hydrology—rather than being fed by a mighty river, the main source of fresh water for Jobos Bay is groundwater from the South Coastal Alluvial Plain aquifer. Water from the higher-rainfall area of the Cordillera Central mountain slopes is absorbed into the earth and enters the aquifer, where it travels underground across the island before resurfacing in the estuary to the south. With this system, Jobos Bay supports mangroves, coral reefs, lagoons, salt flats, dry forests, and sea grass beds, which are important for a wide array of plants and animals, including large migrating bird populations and many endangered species.The Jobos Bay estuary has natural water filtration occurring in its mangrove forests. Mangroves are found all around this estuary, including Mar Negro, the mangrove forest wetlands complex found on the land side of the mouth of the Jobos Bay, and Cayos Caribe, the linear chain of 15 reef-fringed mangrove islands that reach west from the southern tip of the mouth of the Bay. These trees help to mitigate the impacts of coastal storms, both for human populations on the land and for aquatic communities on the other side of the forests in the sea. The energy of harsh winds and strong waves from the storm are attenuated as they pass through the mangroves, lessening the impact of these forces by the time they reach buildings and houses further inland. On the other side of the trees, stormwater runoff and sediment that fill the streams during these heavy rain events are taken up by the wetlands vegetation and knocked out of the water column by the knot of mangrove roots, so that when the water reaches the sensitive coral community further out in the ocean, the impact on these delicate animals is reduced.Sources: EPA “Basic Information about Estuaries” National Estuary Program (NEP) | US EPA; EPA, Narragansett Bay Commission & University of Rhode Island Office of Marine Programs “Estuarine Science: All About Estuaries” http://omp.gso.uri.edu/ompweb/doee/science/descript/whats.htm; Labos, E. N. et al. “Jobos Bay Estuarine Profile: A National Estuarine Research Reserve” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/Doc/PDF/Reserve/JOB_SiteProfile.pdf; National Estuarine Research Reserve System “Jobos Bay, PR” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/Reserve.aspx?ResID=JOB; National Geographic “Encyclopedic Entry: Estuary” estuary; NOAA “National Estuarine Research Reserve System: Quick Facts About Estuaries” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/ECDefault.aspx?ID=414;Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve, New JerseyThe Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) in southern New Jersey covers several estuarine areas, including the Mullica River-Great Bay estuary, the lower Barnegat Bat, Little Bay, Reeds Bay, and Absecon Bay. Encompassed in these lands and waters are pine-oak forests, hardwood swamps, tidal marshes, barrier islands, and emergent wetlands, which provide nursery and reproductive habitat to wildlife populations including more than 270 species of macroinvertebrates, 90 species of fish, 350 species of algae, and many more avian, reptilian, amphibian, and mammalian species. In addition to the plants and animals that live in the estuary all year long, the Jacques Cousteau NERR also serves migrating bird populations, providing winter habitat to more than 70,000 individual waterfowl.In addition to making the land habitable for plants and animals, the estuary also helps to keep human coastal communities safe and livable. The sponge-like quality of the wetlands surrounding the estuary waters helps to absorb incoming floodwaters and storm surge, and the emergent plants and submerged aquatic vegetation of the estuary filter out sediment, excess nutrients, and pollution from the waters before they flow out to the ocean.To visit the area and see the estuary in action, check out these public lands:Wharton State ForestEdwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife RefugeSources: EPA “Basic Information about Estuaries” National Estuary Program (NEP) | US EPA; EPA, Narragansett Bay Commission & University of Rhode Island Office of Marine Programs “Estuarine Science: All About Estuaries” http://omp.gso.uri.edu/ompweb/doee/science/descript/whats.htm; Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve “Characterization of the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve: A Profile Report” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/Doc/PDF/Reserve/JCQ_SiteProfile.pdf; National Geographic “Encyclopedic Entry: Estuary” estuary; NOAA “National Estuarine Research Reserve System: Quick Facts About Estuaries” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/ECDefault.aspx?ID=414; Rutgers Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences “Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve: General Description of the Reserve” http://jcnerr.org/description.htmGuana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve, FloridaThe Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve in northeast Florida is home to three different estuaries: the Tolomato and Guana River estuaries in the northern section, and the Matanzas River estuary in the southern portion. Together, these estuaries and their surrounding lands contain pinelands, salt marsh, oyster bars, estuarine lagoons, and the northernmost extent of mangrove habitat on the East Coast. As these different types of habitat contain both tropical and subtropical plants and animals, this reserve is a key area for scientists to study how these populations will react to the impacts of climate change.The Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve is a great place to go to look for wildlife! This area is an important place to rest and feed for migrating populations such as shorebirds and calving North Atlantic right whales, and other wildlife like manatees, bald eagles, and peregrine falcons can be found here all year long. The public lands below are all part of the reserve—check them out to plan your visit!Northern component:Guana River Marsh Aquatic PreserveGuana River Wildlife Management AreaSouthern component:Faver-Dykes State ParkFort Mantanzas National MonumentPrincess Place PreserveSources: D. Frazel. 2009. Site Profile of the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve. Ponte Vedra, FL. 151 pp. Retrieved from http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/Doc/PDF/Reserve/GTM_SiteProfile.pdf; EPA “Basic Information about Estuaries” National Estuary Program (NEP) | US EPA; EPA, Narragansett Bay Commission & University of Rhode Island Office of Marine Programs “Estuarine Science: All About Estuaries” http://omp.gso.uri.edu/ompweb/doee/science/descript/whats.htm; National Geographic “Encyclopedic Entry: Estuary” estuary; NOAA “National Estuarine Research Reserve System: Quick Facts About Estuaries” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/ECDefault.aspx?ID=414Great Bay Estuary, New Hampshire and MaineThe Great Bay estuary is unusual, and can even be a little hard to find. This is because New Hampshire’s largest estuarine system, located on the border between New Hampshire and Maine, does not open directly into the ocean! Instead, this estuary is fed salt water that travels from the Gulf of Maine 15 miles inland through the Piscataqua River, where it then mixes in Great Bay with fresh water from the Salmon Falls, Cocheco, Bellamy, Oyster, Lamprey, Squamscott, and Winnicut rivers. The bay’s placement so far away from the coast makes it one of the most recessed estuaries in the nation. Formed by sea level rise at the end of the last ice age 14,000 years ago, the estuary and its surrounding lands today contain mudflats, salt marshes, swamps, ponds, eelgrass beds, oyster habitat, and more, offering food, shelter, and breeding ground to fish, birds, mammals, and invertebrates alike. Located on the Atlantic Flyway, Great Bay hosts the largest wintering population of bald eagles in New England, and the largest concentration of black ducks in the state.Come visit the estuary! Hike, bike and try your hand at nature photography at the Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge, or head out to the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve for more recreational opportunities. Bring some sunscreen, a water bottle and a sense of adventure!Sources: EPA “Basic Information about Estuaries” National Estuary Program (NEP) | US EPA; EPA, Narragansett Bay Commission & University of Rhode Island Office of Marine Programs “Estuarine Science: All About Estuaries” http://omp.gso.uri.edu/ompweb/doee/science/descript/whats.htm; National Geographic “Encyclopedic Entry: Estuary” estuary; NOAA “National Estuarine Research Reserve System: Quick Facts About Estuaries” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/ECDefault.aspx?ID=414; NOAA “NERRS Reserves: Great Bay, NH; Animals and Rare Species” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/NERRSReserve.aspx?ID=127&ResID=GRB; NOAA, New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game, Great Bay Stewards “Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve” http://greatbay.org/; USFWS “Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge” http://www.fws.gov/refuge/Great_Bay/Grand Bay, Mississippi and AlabamaThe Grand Bay estuary, straddling the state line between Mississippi and Alabama, is a major estuarine system contributing to the Gulf of Mexico. Encompassing Mississippi’s Middle Bay, Point Aux Chenes Bay, Bayou Cumbest, Crooked Bayou, and Bayou Heron, this area contains a diverse array of habitats, including some of the most extensive, un-vegetated salt flats found in Mississippi, as well as wet pine savanna, salt marshes, bays, maritime forests, oyster reefs, and areas of submerged aquatic vegetation.While the Grand Bay estuary is home to some of the most biodiverse habitats in North America, housing many species of mammals, birds, insects, and commercially and recreationally important species of finfish and shellfish, it isn’t an ideal habitat for everyone! This estuary is a study in extremes, both on land and in water. Low freshwater input to the Bay means that this estuary is one of the saltiest on the Mississippi coast, making it unsuitable for some species while allowing others to flourish. Things don’t get much easier on land—to remain healthy, the wet pine savanna is maintained with periodic wildfires, which help to clear out invasive species and are a necessary component of the reproduction of many species of plants in the area. Frequently burned wet pine savannas are often home to specialized plants, such as orchids and carnivorous pitcher plants—at least four different kinds of carnivorous plants can be found in Grand Bay National Wildlife Refuge alone.Don’t let the carnivorous plants keep you at bay! There are many great ways to get out and enjoy recreating on the estuary:Grand Bay National Wildlife Refuge: Visitors can enjoy hiking, fishing, hunting, and wildlife observation and take in environmental education and interpretive events at the refuge, managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve: Managed by NOAA and the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, the reserve is dedicated to research, but it can also be enjoyed by visitors looking to do some birding, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, hunting, and more.Grand Bay Savanna Preserve: Managed by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, this area offers educational resources, as well as opportunities to boat and fish.Sources: EPA “Basic Information about Estuaries” National Estuary Program (NEP) | US EPA; EPA, Narragansett Bay Commission & University of Rhode Island Office of Marine Programs “Estuarine Science: All About Estuaries” http://omp.gso.uri.edu/ompweb/doee/science/descript/whats.htm; Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. 2013. Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Management Plan 2013-2018: Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, Moss Point, Mississippi. 104pp. Retrieved from http://grandbaynerr.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/GBNEER-Plan-Final-8-13-13.pdf; Mississippi Department of Natural Resources “Mississippi GEMS: Grand Bay Savanna Preserve” http://www.dmr.ms.gov/mississippi-gems/213-grand-bay-savanna; Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, NOAA “Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve” http://grandbaynerr.org/; National Geographic “Encyclopedic Entry: Estuary” estuary; NOAA “National Estuarine Research Reserve System: Quick Facts About Estuaries” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/ECDefault.aspx?ID=414; Peterson, M.S., G.L. Waggy and M.S. Woodrey (editors). (2007). Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve: An Ecological Characterization. Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Moss Point, Mississippi. 268 pp. Retrieved from http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/Doc/PDF/Reserve/GRD_SiteProfile.pdf ; USFWS “Grand Bay National WildlifeElkhorn Slough, CaliforniaEstuaries may be a bit tricky to find along the Pacific—only 10-20% of the western coastline is composed of estuaries, compared to the 80-90% of the eastern coastline. This stark contrast is due to the difference in tectonic activity on the two coasts; craggy cliffs formed by uplift and mountain-building in the west versus relative calm in the east, where the land slopes gently into the ocean.Elkhorn Slough (pronounced “slew”) is a small, shallow estuary that feeds into Monterey Bay at Moss Landing. Found about 20 miles north of Monterey, this water body and its surrounding lands offer a wide variety of habitat including mudflats, eelgrass beds, salt marsh, coastal dunes, open beaches, grasslands, and woodlands. Together, this ecosystem supports more than 50 species of terrestrial mammals and hundreds of species of fish both recreationally and commercially important, but it is best known for its bird population. A critical habitat for resident and migratory bird populations, Elkhorn Slough is one of the few remaining saltwater wetlands on the Pacific Flyway, offering respite to tens of thousands of birds, including rare and endangered species.The slough and the lands surrounding it are managed by several different organizations, offering different opportunities to learn about and interact with the estuary.Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve: Co-managed by NOAA and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, this area is a field laboratory for research and education. Come check out the award-winning exhibits of the Visitor Center, or take a stroll along the five miles of trails that span the reserve.Elkhorn Slough: Managed by the Elkhorn Slough Foundation, this site covers recreational activities which are offered around the slough, including some not available on the reserve.Sources: Elkhorn Slough Foundation, Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve “Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve” http://www.elkhornslough.org/esnerr/index.htm; Elkhorn Slough Foundation, Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve “Recreation at Elkhorn Slough” http://www.elkhornslough.org/recreation/index.htm; Elkhorn Slough Foundation, NOAA, California Department of Fish and Game “Changes in a California Estuary” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/Doc/PDF/Reserve/ELK_SiteProfile.pdf; EPA “Basic Information about Estuaries” National Estuary Program (NEP) | US EPA; EPA, Narragansett Bay Commission & University of Rhode Island Office of Marine Programs “Estuarine Science: All About Estuaries” http://omp.gso.uri.edu/ompweb/doee/science/descript/whats.htm; National Geographic “Encyclopedic Entry: Estuary” estuary; NOAA “National Estuarine Research Reserve System: Quick Facts About Estuaries” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/ECDefault.aspx?ID=414;Apalachicola Bay System, FloridaThe Apalachicola Bay system is located in the Florida panhandle, where the Apalachicola River meets the Gulf of Mexico. This bay system can be broken up into four parts: East Bay, St. Vincent Sound, St. George Sound, and Apalachicola Bay. Guarded by a chain of barrier islands, this 210 square-mile estuary receives water from stream systems that reach beyond state borders into Alabama and Georgia. These waters feed the Apalachicola River, contributing to the estuary’s standing as one of the most productive estuarine systems in North America. About 90% of Florida’s oyster harvest and 10% of the country’s oyster harvest come from these waters, which also serve as a nursery for other commercially and ecologically important species of fish and shellfish. Surrounding the waters of the estuary is a richly diverse landscape, including pine forests, dune fields, barrier islands, floodplain forests, and various types of wetlands. Together, this patchwork landscape provides habitat for over 1,000 species of plants and many different amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, including rare and endangered species, such as West Indian manatee and the Indiana bat. The proximity of the estuary to the Mississippi Flyway, an important track for migratory birds, makes this area an important stopover point for many bird species.This estuary is managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Florida Park Service, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the Northwest Florida Water Management District, so depending on where you go, there are different opportunities to learn about and interact with the estuary.St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge: This undeveloped barrier island is managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and is an important migratory bird stopover, as well as habitat for bald eagles, loggerhead sea turtles, and red wolves. Visitors here can hike, fish and photograph wildlife.Apalachicola Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve: This 246,000 acre reserve is managed by NOAA and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and is a prime forage area for trans-gulf migratory bird species. The refuge offers a guest lecture series, educational exhibits at the nature center, and field trip programs to the site.Other parks and natural resources surrounding the estuary: The Apalachicola Chamber of Commerce has collected information on the many state and local public lands surrounding the estuary.(Sources: Apalachicola Chamber of Commerce “Apalachicola” http://www.apalachicolabay.org/index.cfm/m/20/locationSectionId/0/Museum,_Parks,_Theater; Edmiston, H. L. (2008). A river meets the bay: The Apalachicola estuarine system. Apalachicola, FL: NOAA & Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Retreived from: http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/Doc/PDF/Reserve/APA_SiteProfile.pdf; EPA “Basic Information about Estuaries” National Estuary Program (NEP) | US EPA; EPA, Narragansett Bay Commission & University of Rhode Island Office of Marine Programs “Estuarine Science: All About Estuaries” http://omp.gso.uri.edu/ompweb/doee/science/descript/whats.htm; National Geographic “Encyclopedic Entry: Estuary” estuary; NOAA “National Estuarine Research Reserve; A River Meets the Bay: The Apalachicola Estuarine System” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/Doc/PDF/Reserve/APA_SiteProfile.pdf; NOAA “National Estuarine Research Reserve System: Quick Facts About Estuaries” http://www.nerrs.noaa.gov/ECDefault.aspx?ID=414; NOAA “NERRS Reserves: Apalachicola, FL” http://nerrs.noaa.gov/Reserve.aspx?ResID=APA; NOAA “NERRS Reserves: Apalchicola, FL; Endangered Species” http://nerrs.noaa.gov/NERRSReserve.aspx?ID=88&ResID=APA; USFWS “St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge” http://www.fws.gov/saintvincent/)

What ways did civil rights and freedom change today vs 1950s and 1960s? I have read and studied a lot about how society has changed, One of the more curious aspects is how motorcycles and perceptions of the public have changed. Music, film, TV, Radio………..But freedom, travel and motorcycles is largely a white America story. Or is it?? I have followed a number of interesting tangents about this over the years. Look up Sugar Bear and his frames and forks and the impacts he had.Black motorcycle clubs. I have some stories about that, But this is by far much better than any of my stories. Read about some of this in the chopper magazine“The Horse, backstreet choppers” See: [email protected] broke open the story of the real guy behind the “Easy Rider” movie and how he built the Capt America bike & the Billy Bike. That led into stories about the Black biker clubs in various cities.But this story, about MLK and a chopper guy is by far the best version out there, Sign up for the Vintagent to read some of his other stories…But how many people knew a chopper guy was so influential and has not gotten hardly any recognition???Cliff 'Soney' Vaughs and Easy Rider' | The VintagentAdapted from Paul d’Orléans’ book ‘The Chopper: the Real Story’It’s the most famous motorcycle in the world, period. Show someone a photograph of the ‘Captain America’ bike from ‘Easy Rider’, and everyone knows what they’re looking at. Show them Rollie Free stretched out in a bathing suit over his Vincent at Bonneville in 1948, and they’ll laugh, but won’t know a thing about the bike or the man. Show them TE Lawrence on his Brough Superior, and they’ll recognize neither the quizzical WW1 hero, nor his Brough Superior. The Captain America chopper transcends its own story; nobody needs to have seen the film, nor recognize Peter Fonda, to understand they’re looking at an icon, a magical talisman of Freedom. Such is the power of the machine’s image, and its place in the cultural history of motorcycling around the world. Far more people idolized that motorcycle than ever saw the film; all they needed was a photograph of Dennis Hopper (on the ‘Billy’ bike) and Peter Fonda, riding through the anonymous landscape of the American West, modern day cowboys roaming the land; free, just free.The Easy Rider choppers: ‘Billy’ and ‘Captain America’, ridden by Dennis Hopper and Peter FondaIf anyone thought to ask ‘who built that?’ (and few did), they might have assumed Peter Fonda built it, but most admirers of Captain America were simply glad it existed, as if it had been delivered from the gods. Its lines and proportions are perfect, as is the American flag paint job, which slip under one’s skin and electrify subconscious associations: the cowboy, the outlaw, America, freedom, power, speed, sex, drugs and rock music. Those admiring the Easy Rider choppers didn’t want to be Peter Fonda, they wanted to be Captain America. They wanted to own that bike and ride it and eat it and absorb everything the bike stood for into their very beings, to become the gods that bike promised we could become. It is a powerful work of art, a coveted, elusive object, copied a thousand times all over the globe, but it cannot be truly captured, as it exists only in the realm of dreams.Cliff ‘Soney’ Vaughs on his white chopper on Malibu Beach, 1971 [Elliot Gold photo]The Captain America and Billy bikes were a collaboration of several men, built by several hands, and were an outgrowth of an established legacy of Afro-American chopper builders in South Central Los Angeles, in 1968. That Cliff ‘Soney’ Vaughs and Ben Hardy have never been properly acknowledged as the men behind the world’s most famous motorcycle is a complicated story; a result of racism, their personal disinterest in fame, and a contractual settlement with the film’s financiers, Columbia pictures, to delete Cliff from the film’s credits.Who Is Soney Vaughs?Clifford A. ‘Soney’ (the spelling is his mother’s) Vaughs was born in Boston on April 16th, 1937, to a single mother who was 16 at the time; she’d been kicked out of the family compound in Gibbsboro, New Jersey, for her unwed status, so moved to Massachusetts to be near a more sympathetic aunt. As a boy, Cliff attended the Boston Latin School, from whence he derived a particular pattern of speech, and a facility with language – Cliff was specific about his words, and at times prickly in their usage. In 1953 he joined the Marines, and tested so highly he was scheduled for flight training, and sent to a base Pensacola, Florida. He was immediately rebuffed by the CO of the base, who turned him right back to Boston, refusing the possibility of a black pilot on his watch, and an integrated flight training school. “Things were different in Florida than Boston”, noted Cliff. Instead, he was transferred to Electronics Technician School at Great Lakes NTC. After 3 years of active duty, he worked at the Boston Navy yard on the cruiser ‘Boston’ as a technician on its radar installations for guided missiles. After the USMC he took a job with Raytheon, working on the guidance systems of Sparrow and Hawk missiles. He decided to further his education at Boston University for his BA, then trekked to the University of Mexico in Mexico City for his Masters, driving his Triumph TR3 all the way from Boston. “At the time they offered a progressive Latin American Studies graduate Program. Plus I liked driving my TR3 from Boston to Mexico City. I had family friends living in Cuernavaca; buddies from the ‘Village’. Acapulco on weekends.” He hung out, of course, with future F1 racing legends the Rodriguez brothers (Pedro and Ricardo), who seemed immune from the law’s attention while driving unregistered Formula racing cars on the streets of the District Federal.1961: First ChopperBy 1961 he “went from Mexico to Santa Monica where, I had a sort of ‘drawing room.’ [An] art, literary cocktail scene just as I had on a regular basis in Boston. Several friends came to visit. In those days we were called Bohemians.” In Santa Monica, living very close the beach, he had purchased an AJS Model 18S enduro for $300 from Motorcycles Unlimited on Pico Blvd, for plonking around town. His 5 uncles all rode Harley-Davidsons back in New Jersey, so motorcycling was in his blood. The Ajay had ‘knobbies’, which led to a slide-out on Dead Man’s Curve on Sunset Blvd; luckily he’d worn a helmet, for he could hear it clonking on the ground as he slid. The AJS took him and his then wife Wendy down to Tijuana for the Tecate Enduro races, and encountered about 2000 other riders, most of whom had ridden from SoCal. “As I rode home two-up on the Ajay, it seemed like all 2000 riders went roaring past us on Hwy 1. So I sold my AJS, and bought a Knucklehead chopper from a friend who needed some money. When I got the Knuck, I knew nothing about motorcycles really. Nobody in Santa Monica knew anything about them, but I’d heard of Ben Hardy in South Central, and another guy named Wes who had a shop too, but was less popular. When I needed parts, Ben Hardy would send me to Jim Magnera of MC Supply; it turned out Jim had subsidized Ben to open his shop. Black shops at the time couldn’t buy parts directly through the Harley-Davidson dealer, so Magnera became the small shops’ conduit for Harley parts.” He met the Chosen Few MC while sleeping by his chopper on the side of Highway 99 en route north; they invited Cliff to join them on a run to Oakland to visit the East Bay Dragons MC, and after they returned, Cliff was presented with his CFMC ‘club cut’, “I didn’t have to prospect, they just made me a member.”The lost 1966 Civil Rights documentary made by Cliff Vaughs: ‘What Will the Harvest Be?’ [TV Guide]“1961 was a real period of transition. When I bought that first chopper, it was running an 18” back and 21” front wheel. I wanted to build up a new chopper for radio station KRLA’s custom show, which would be smaller and lighter. So I took a ride out to Ben Hardy’s shop in Watts. We sourced a brand new Panhead engine through MC Supply, with no numbers on it. Ben knew everybody, and when I explained how I wanted to modify my frame; he sent me to Buchanan’s, who did at least 5 frames for me. When I wanted a special paint job, he introduced me to Dean Lanza. Thus, he was my mentor, in terms of teaching me how to work on bikes, and making contacts. Benny and Jim Magnera worked in tandem on the development of choppers in South Central LA, and both went out of their way to help me.”Ben Hardy, member of the Choppers MC, and mentor to Cliff Vaughs [Internet]“My design philosophy was ‘wrap your arms around the engine and ride’. Slim it down, lower everything using 16” wheels. 21” front wheels were the rage when I started, but I moved on from there. I asked Benny how to eliminate the rear fender struts, and he used curved spring steel inside the fender to clean up the rear end – he was a real craftsman. I provided him with the resources (money) to develop ideas he’d always wanted to try. How many people would think of doing a fender like that?”Recruited to the CauseVaughs admits that when Dr Martin Luther King Jr led the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, “I was building a chopper in my backyard. I knew it was happening, but I hadn’t been politicized. Boston had nothing going on in terms of race at the time, it was all mixed race among my friends. We were all the American refugees; Italians, Jews, blacks, etc. I’d heard about the Freedom Rides, but, being from Boston, I thought, ‘What could happen?’ Cliff met Civil Rights legend Bob Zelner, the first white field coordinator for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), when he passed through LA in 1963 on a fundraising tour. Vaughs was recruited to the SNCC cause, and drove his 1953 Chevy half-ton pickup to Mississippi. Of course, being Cliff, he laid stainless steel in the truck’s bed, with teak runners, and a white fiberglass tailgate with ‘SNCC’ in big black letters. Outrageous, and an instant target, “In the window I had an ‘Ole Miss’ [University of Mississippi] sticker; I’ve been shot at many times.”“They took a shot at us from behind and missed.”Even more outrageous was riding his blue Knucklehead chopper to Arkansas in 1964, with a white girl on the back. “The fiery ending of ‘Easy Rider’ is an example of art imitating life. I was riding my chopper on the highway between Pine Bluff and Little Rock, pursuing an assignment for SNCC to initiate a school boycott there. I had with me a staff member of the Arkansas Project, a Miss Iris Greenburg. A pickup truck passed us going in the opposite direction, stopped and turned around. They took a shot at us from behind and missed. They didn’t pursue us any further…so I lived to tell this tale.” Of all the crazy motorcycle tales one hears about the 1960s, this is perhaps the hairiest story of all, and a sign that Soney was both a civil rights volunteer and a bit of a provocateur. “I may have been naïve thinking I could be an example to the black folks who were living in the South, but that’s why I rode my chopper in Alabama. I’d visit people in their dirt-floor shacks, living like slavery had never ended, and it was very tense; I was never sure if the white landowners would chase me off with a shotgun. But I wanted to be a visible example to them; a free black man on my motorcycle.”in 1964, Cliff Vaughs was a staff photographer for the SNCC, as was Danny Lyon. This photograph of Cliff being lifted by National Guardsman in Maryland is among Danny Lyons’ most famous photos from his Civil Rights photography [Danny Lyon – SF Chronicle]Casey Hayden (activist/politician Tom Hayden’s first wife) remembers Cliff at this time as “a West Coast motorcyclist, a lot of leather and no shirts. Hip before anyone else was hip. A little scary, and reckless.” Cliff’s ex-wife Wendy Vance added “I think that’s what attracted me to him. Finding this wild man in the South, a true adventurer. … There was just some sort of fearlessness in all situations. It did not occur to him that he was a moving target on this motorcycle. At a march in Selma, the civil rights leader John Lewis refused to stand next to him. ‘You are crazy,’ Lewis said, ‘I will not march next to you.’ The fear was that, somehow, Cliff would make himself a target.”“You are crazy,” John Lewis said, “I will not march next to you.”He carried on with SNCC through 1964, which is when he met photographer Danny Lyon (of ‘The Bikeriders’ fame), who snapped the infamous photo of Vaughs being bodily lifted, shirtless and shoeless, by no less than 6 helmeted National Guardsmen in Cambridge, Maryland, on May 2nd, 1964. “Stokely Carmichael is holding my other leg in that photo”, says Cliff. “Later on, Danny Lyon lived next to me in Malibu.”Cliff Vaughs featured in Ed Roth’s ‘Choppers Magazine’ in 1967. Roth was the first to publish a magazine solely about custom motorcycles, and featured builders of all races, unlike post-Easy Rider chopper magazines, which often featured White Power ads and swastikas regalia, and didn’t include non-white chopper riders or builders.[Roth Family Archive]Perhaps it shouldn’t be amazing that Danny Lyon, the first photo-journalist documenter of a ‘1% club’ (the Chicago Outlaws) in his book ‘The BikeRiders’ (1968), should have met Cliff Vaughs, the creator of the most famous chopper in the world, at a Civil Rights demonstration in 1964, while both worked for the SNCC. It was the bloodiest year of the civil rights movement, as black and white, men, women and children were beaten or killed in the South, for daring to stand up for their convictions. Vaughs and Lyons came together in a moment and place of tremendous cultural tension, and then exited that cauldron; while they went their separate ways, each would soon produce art related to the chopper which would stand as the finest in their respective fields – Lyons with his photography, and Vaughs with his motorcycles and films. And they’d met doing civil rights work in the South…which should explode a few myths about ‘who rides choppers.’The Origin of ‘Easy Rider’Vaughs began making documentary films with “What Will the Harvest Be?”, narrated by Julian Bond, about the rise of Black Power (a term Stokeley Camichael popularized) in the South, which included interviews with Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Carmichael, and Julian Bond, which was aired on ABC-TV in the mid-60s. He was also working at Los Angeles radio station KRLA, which is how he met Peter Fonda. “Peter was arrested for possession of marijuana. I was mildly amused that so much interest was engendered by the incident, considering the number of citizens detained and incarcerated for smoking ‘pot’. We chatted for a while at the courthouse and I called in my story. He was interested in my hobby: designing and building motorcycles. It turned out that we lived in the same neighborhood, West Hollywood. I told him I was usually found in my back yard enjoying my hobby.”Cliff Vaughs (and friend) on one of his early choppers in Death Valley, 1968 [Roth Family Archive]Fonda stopped by Vaughs’ house with Dennis Hopper, and the three of them discussed a new film project they wanted to develop, which would center on motorcycles. “I agreed that the themes of the ‘Western’ were careworn but an American adventure with the protagonists riding motorcycles instead of horses was apt. We ad-libbed a story line: two friends (not quite ‘bikers’), traveling across America seeking adventure. I offered the name ‘Easy Rider’, taken from the Mae West performance of the song ‘I Wonder Where My Easy Rider’s Gone’ from the film She Done Him Wrong”. A tapestry of Mae West with the song title hung on a wall in Cliff’s house, given to him as a gift by his friend Suzanne Mansour.“We ad-libbed a story line: two friends (not quite ‘bikers’), traveling across America seeking adventure”Elder Pattison de Turk III (henceforth Pat de Turk) remembers,“I moved into Cliff’s house in West Hollywood in the fall of ’67. I was working full time, and preparing to begin a career in computer programming…I met Cliff in 1961 while I was studying at UCLA and riding Harley 45”, and Cliff had an AJS scrambler. I soon had a lime green Knucklehead chopper that I bought for $300 on Venice Blvd. I was in the living room when Peter [Fonda] and Dennis [Hopper] were visiting. Dennis was slightly mad and a motormouth, he was incessant, so he pretty well dominated the conversation, and I was completely intimidated by the situation, I was just Sonny’s friend and all of the sudden here were these movie stars in the room. They came over several times…and of course, there was the ever-present small tapestry on the wall – “Where has my Easy Rider gone?”Cliff and Wendy Vaughs outside their Santa Monica apartment [Cliff Vaughs]Cliff continues: “We had several discussions about the project at my home in West Hollywood and agreed that we would have to develop interest in the movie outside my parlor. We were not particularly known well enough to raise interest or financing. Peter and Dennis had a long background in the industry; they would raise the money. I would design and build the motorcycles and develop the visual themes. Captain America and Bucky [Captain America’s sidekick], costumes, colors: red-white-blue. I was accorded the title of Associate Producer. We named our production company Pando. Through Pando, I was instrumental in hiring Baird Bryant as Director of Photography and agreed to have Paul Lewis as Production Manager. Subsequently, Les Blank, Virgil Frye, Karen Black, Seymour Cassel, Francine Reid, and Larry Marcus were included. Jack Nicholson was hired after the New Orleans “shoot”. I never met Raphaelson and Snyder (?) who backed the film. Neither did I formally meet Terry Southern, credited with the screenplay.”Larry Marcus; the MechanicLarry Marcus, mentioned above, was a mechanic, who Vaughs said “knows more about tools than anyone”, and who was also living at Cliff’s house at the time the Easy Rider project began in 1967. “The first time I recall meeting Soney was while I was working as a mechanic at Motorcars by Sutton on Western Ave, the Fiat / Rover/ Jaguar/ Triumph/ Renault dealer, it just a little tiny shop. I used to drive up to Griffith park for lunch. Soney walked in one day to get his Fiat 500 fixed, he was working for KRLA at the time, wearing a hippie shirt and flowered tie. KRLA did a lot of avant garde stuff on TV, things that had never tried before, like Ernie Kovaks. At the shop, he pulled me aside, and said he knew who I was, but didn’t want to acknowledge me as we were both on our jobs; he said we’d met at Goddard College back East, we had mutual friends there. I had been living in Europe in ‘62/’63, but applied to Goddard to stay out of the draft, as I’d been told I’d be drafted immediately if I showed up at a European draft office. After college I moved to Cali in 1966. Anyway, I offered to work after hours on Soney’s Fiat, so he didn’t have to pay the shop rate.”Larry Marcus in 1971, in the midst of building a white Panhead chopper [Larry Marcus]Marcus continued, “I got into choppers through Soney. At the time I got involved in ‘Easy Rider’, I was working with Herschel doing ‘nudie cuties’ [soft porn films], one of which was shot at the Spahn ranch, where I met Charlie Manson, who commissioned me to build him a bike. When Charlie paid me an advance, he had Squeaky Fromme and other Manson girls fetch $1600 in cash, in singles and fives. At that time a lot of 1% bikers like the Satan’s Slaves, the Straight Satans, and the Galloping Gooses were hanging around Manson, and they were pretty racist, like skinheads. Manson was building dune buggies out on the ranch, in preparation for his ‘Helter Skelter’ plan, and there were a lot of VW bodies lying in the canyon near Spahn ranch… but I didn’t know there were so many human bodies buried there too. I’ll never forget one yellow VW that was down in the gulley…all of it was stolen, even the Sportster I was commissioned to build. Manson gave some guy a couple of bags of heroin, and he went out and stole the Sportster in exchange; that was the bike I was building. I didn’t finish the bike as quickly as they wanted, so I was called out to Spahn ranch for a ‘family’ tribunal; the jury was composed of some of those bike club guys – Satan’s Slaves and the others, I can only assume they were racist too, given Charie’s well-published racist tendencies, and I was considered a ‘race traitor’ for riding with the [mixed-race] Chosen Few MC. I brought all the parts of the Sportster out there in boxes, and they cut me loose. Luckily the girl I was dating for 8 years was out in the car with her 18 month old kid, and Charlie had taken a liking to her. If it hadn’t been for the girl and her very young son, who knows what would have happened? I might have been another body in the canyon. Despite that, I still call the 1960s the glory days.”Making ‘Captain America’ and ‘Billy’Larry Marcus was living with Cliff Vaughs by 1967, when discussion for Easy Rider began. “The title ‘Easy Rider’ was Soney’s idea, taken from a Bessie Smith song from 1928. There was a thing on the wall … a little tapestry hanging, which said ‘Where Has My Easy Rider Gone’ with no question mark, the letters were sewn on, in paper, I’d never seen that kind of art before. A girlfriend of Soney’s made it, long before the film.”Cliff Vaughs and his ‘Super Hog’ chopper in LA, 1972 [Easyriders Archive]Regarding the infamous ‘Easy Rider’ motorcycles, Marcus explains, “I would call Soney the designer of the bikes, and Benny the head mechanic and assembly man. We were all involved, Soney was the true designer as far as I was concerned, of the style and design. Soney gave Ben Hardy the money to buy the first two police bikes at auction for $400 each. The LAPD would stamp their engines and gearboxes every year when they were rebuilt, so you knew they were good. Ben Hardy build the first two bikes [‘Captain America’ and ‘Billy’] without raked frames, and we told Peter the Captain America bike would look like shit [without a stretched frame], and be nothing special, and when we showed it to Peter, he thought it looked like shit too, and agreed it needed to be raked. So we disassembled the Captain America bike, and took the frame to Buchanan’s; they were the only ones who seemed to know you had to jig the frame and keep it rigid when it was welded, to keep it from warping. They had a 5” thick steel table with holes all over it to clamp down the frame. It took a while to find a chrome shop that could fit the frame after it was stretched. We used Van Nuys plating, who I think is still in business. I put the Captain America bike back together after we did the rake. I was getting $75/week while we built the bikes; I made a lot more money as a mechanic, but this was more fun.”Ben Hardy (center) aboard one of his creations in a Choppers MC poster [Choppers Magazine]“To clear up the mystery; Ben Hardy built the first two Easy Rider bikes. He was probably 10-15 years older than Soney. He didn’t drink or carouse or anything I ever saw. Benny did work for me too, I’d go occasionally without Cliff, and Ben actually put together the engine and gearbox for my next chopper, a white Panhead. I bought it as a basket case, and Benny put the engine and gearbox together; I paid him $165. He was a neat guy, not a prejudiced bone in his body. I loved the guy, he was really talented, and he built all that cool bracketry on the ‘Easy Rider’ bikes, and he did it for pennies, I don’t know how he survived on what he charged. A guy named Emmett was Ben Hardy’s helper, he did a lot of Ben’s work. They used to hone cylinders with a really long hone, the bar was like 10’ long, and Emmett was a big guy who could handle that thing. He worked as hard as anybody on those bikes. Ben built a lot of dressers as well as choppers, as a lot of the older black customers had dressers. We called them garbage wagons; I couldn’t imagine riding one of those down the street because of the sheer weight, but of course today they’re all the rage.”“Ben Hardy built the first two Easy Rider bikes.”Vaughs’ recalls of the Captain America bike, “When we did the first prototype of the bike it had no front brake, as I never used a front brake, which led to some harrowing experiences, especially with a chromed rear brake drum which would heat up quickly and fade. You’re always working the gearbox to slow down. For the movie, I had to put a hand clutch on the bike, as Peter wasn’t used to a suicide shifter. I could assemble a bike after all the parts were finished in about 6 hours, but it took time for Buchanan’s to build the frames, and Dean to do the painting. But with my resources and contacts through Ben Hardy, we got all our parts finished in 3 weeks. I had the money, and they all knew we were working on a film. In the creation of the bikes we used Buchanan’s for frame fabrication, Dean Lanza for the artwork [painting], Larry Hooper for upholstery, using LAPD junkyard engines, which were rebuilt by Mr. Hardy. Mr. Hardy also designed and constructed one of the fine points on the motorcycles; I had wanted something unique and he built the curved tail light brackets. After I had completed the construction of the machines, the registration (pink slip) was in the name of Pando Company.”Note the similarity in the style of the Captain America and Billy choppers to the Ben Hardy chopper above…[© Bettmann/CORBIS]Marcus adds, “I built the extra bikes [to be destroyed during filming], and remember distinctly rattle-can painting a frame in silver. Peter [Fonda] wasn’t used to a suicide clutch and hand shift, so we rigged a handlebar lever clutch with a ‘mousetrap’ over-center spring assist. In spite of that, Peter still insisted on a neutral indicator light, so the original [Captain America] bike had a green catseye light by the shift lever, as a neutral indicator – it worked! The problem was electrically insulating the wires from the chrome frame. Peter came by the house by himself mostly, Dennis didn’t come around as much, and once he asked if there was anything else he could do to help – he was impatient to see the bikes finished. I handed him a 9/16th” wrench, and he looked at the bike, then the wrench, then the bike, and just walked off. I don’t know why he would go on national TV and tell people he designed or built the bikes; he didn’t have anything to do with them. Peter Fonda was not a particularly great rider, but he never dropped the bike, to his credit”Cliff Vaughs and his ‘Super Hog’ chopper in LA, 1972 [Easyriders Archive]After the bikes were finished, Larry and Cliff took them for an extended road trip; they weren’t props, but had been built to ride. Marcus recalls, “I rode the red, white, and blue duplicate bike down to Tijuana, then up to the Oregon border and back, with Soney and Buddy Miles [the drummer]. Buddy stayed with us for a couple of weeks at our West Hollywood place, and we built a couple of bikes for him too; one was for his backup drummer Fred Adams. On our ride north we had to go up 101, as there weren’t enough gas stops on I-5. My bike had a pair of Mustang tanks Ben Hardy had welded together and narrowed, he’d do whatever you wanted to do with your tanks. With such a small tank, I could only go 37 or 40 miles. At one point in that ride, Soney’s welded brake rod had crystallized at a bend and broken, it was dragging on the ground. We stopped in a gas station in farm country to look for a welder. A guy came out and slowly touched both our bikes all over with his hands – we thought it was pretty weird, but it turned out he was blind! He made all sorts of comments about the bikes, he knew Harleys very well. He was astounded at the amount of rake on the Captain America bike and asked, ‘Is that how you build them now?’ We replied that it was all the rage in LA…we considered ourselves to be on the crest of wave. We weren’t looking for fame and fortune, were hobbyists, doing it for fun. By the time we got back to LA, the back tire was threadbare.” Pat de Turk notes “When Sonny and Larry finished the bikes, they rode them up to San Francisco, and I was really envious!”Ad-libbed and Ad HocThe actual filming of Easy Rider was notoriously chaotic, with an ad hoc film crew and, as Marcus says, “Terry Southern writing the dialogue on the crew bus between takes!” With Vaughs as co-producer and Marcus working as a sound technician, Marcus recalls his pay rose to $150/week during the actual shooting. “I’m proud to have about a minute of sound in the film, I worked with Les Blank, who was on the second crew with me. When one of our bikes wouldn’t start on the set, we were fired.” He adds, “I worshiped the ground Dennis Hopper walked on, he was an extremely talented guy, but I never got along with Peter.” A deleted scene from the film included Hopper and Fonda, broken down with their choppers on the side of the road, when a black chopper club (members of the Chosen Few) approaches and stops. “We have a situation where the two main characters are riding across country. Their bikes break down and they run into about 50 black cyclists. They are very, very up-tight, scared and shaken up. But, it works out very well because the black cats just say, “Can we help you get some gas?” Everything is very groovy. And that to me seems a real situation. I maintain if that situation can happen and it does in real life there is still some hope. There are many, many people that maintain that it can’t happen. But I’ve seen it happen this way.” But, after Vaughs was fired, this scene was deleted from ‘Easy Rider’, and“there were no African Americans in the film as actors or participants in the production.” Interestingly, Vaughs’ own experience as a black chopper rider echoed the deleted scene; “I never experienced issues around race with bikers. There’s a myth of racism around 1% clubs, but I’ve never experienced it. I was always offered the helping hand of fraternity.” Both Vaughs and Marcus lament the cutting of the ‘Chosen Few’ scene, which to them spoke to the reality of chopper riding in LA at the time. Had that scene not been deleted, it might have altered the perception in the years after ‘Easy Rider’ that choppers were solely a white man’s game, and the cloud of racist associations hovering around this ‘folk art’ motorcycle style might have been cleared away.Cliff Vaughs with 2 of his sons, from the ‘Film Maker’ article in Ed Roth’s ‘Choppers Magazine’, 1968 [Roth Family Archive]Vaughs opined, “From my apercus the production proceeded admirably until the New Orleans shoot, when there was a dispute about how much film was being used by the director, Dennis Hopper. I was summarily fired from the production.”After most of the original film crew was fired, Vaughs’ lawyer sued the film studio for severance pay, which resulted in a payment to Cliff and Larry Marcus of $333 each, and the same for their lawyer. Marcus recalls, “As part of the settlement, we had to sign a document agreeing that our names would not appear on the final credits.” This contract undoubtedly contributed to 45 years of misinformation and conjecture regarding ‘who built the Easy Rider bike’, as there remained no official trace of Cliff Vaughs’ involvement in the film. Easy Rider was a huge success, selling $41M in tickets, and was one of the three highest-grossing films of 1969, behind ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ and ‘The Graduate’, and director Dennis Hopper won a First Film Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Still, Vaughs admits, “I had never actually seen ‘Easy Rider’. It represented only a few months out of my 74 years. I had a lot of fun with the bikes and with the talented people I met while working on the film.”Cliff Vaughs with author Paul d’Orléans at the Quail Motorcycle Gathering in May 2016 – it was Cliff’s last public appearance, and he received a large round of applause from the assembled crowd. Cliff died just over a month later. Vale, and rest in peace. [Daniela Sapriel]Suzanne Venestra, née Suzanne Mansour, who hung that fated Mae West tapestry on Cliff’s wall, opines, “Everything Cliff says about Easy Rider is true; I know because we shared behind-the-scenes action and events during Easy Rider’s production. I don’t know why acknowledgement of his rich contribution has not occurred until now, especially as his approach [to film-making] helped bring about the enormously significant shift from studio to indie film production.” Easy Rider cemented the careers of Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda, and Jack Nicholson, but a film is the work of many inspired people, from costumers and prop builders to the final editors, who all deserve credit when the net result is spectacular. There’s little dialogue that’s particularly memorable about the film, but everyone remembers the character’s outfits…and those bikes, man. Those bikes.[There are more terrific stories in ‘The Chopper; the Real Story’ – buy it here!