GNN has reported before that conservation works, almost wherever, and with whatever method it’s undertaken—though to be honest, hammers aren’t usually involved.

They are, however, very much the tool of choice for the Bay Foundation , an extraordinary, dedicated outfit that has brought about the resurrection of the Santa Monica area’s kelp forests, an ecosystem described as an underwater cathedral or a grove of underwater sequoias.

They were decimated by the endemic purple spiny sea urchin, and for the last 13 years, an all-volunteer squad of divers have spent thousands of hours below the waves smashing them.

Smashing, smashing, and smashing.

Then smashing some more.

Mass extermination of non-invasive species surely is one of the strangest conservation methods you’ll read about, bu

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