December 31, 2008
Tributary creeks dried up faster than anyone can remember this year due to the driest spring since rainfall records began in Marin in 1879. With assistance from the Marin Municipal Water District, Salmon Protection And Watershed Network (SPAWN) rescued and relocated 15 coho smolts trapped in drying pools as well as over 3,000 juvenile salmonids (mostly steelhead) from tributaries across the San Geronimo Valley. For the first time in over 20 years, San Geronimo Creek also dried, prompting emergency NMFS permits to rescue fish from the mainstem.
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Each spring little bands of one-and-a-half year-old coho smolts migrate from their home streams in the San Geronimo Valley out to Tomales Bay and on to the Pacific Ocean. For the third consecutive year, SPAWN biologists, interns, and volunteers monitored three stations every day for three straight months in the San Geronimo Valley in order to gather valuable data on this migration. We identified, measured, and marked a total of 413 steelhead and coho smolts on three tributaries. An estimated 1,609 coho smolts, and 1,112 steelhead smolts outmigrated from the Valley, where they were originally born and spent almost their entire lives in freshwater.
San Geronimo Valley--a Priority Conservation Area
The San Geronimo Headwaters of Lagunitas Creek and the Shore of Tomales Bay have officially been listed as "Priority Conservation Areas" by the Association of Bay Area Governments. The listing comes as a result of a recent nomination submitted by SPAWN in partnership with the Point Reyes National Seashore. "Priority Conservation Areas" are areas of regional significance that have broad community support and an urgent need for protection. These areas provide important natural resources, as well as historical, scenic, cultural, recreational, and/or ecological values and ecosystem functions. The listing will support and accelerate protection and restoration of key lands in the Valley through purchases and easements.
Also, this February we secured a historic agreement to protect the San Geronimo Valley and its coho. A two-year moratorium on any new development along streams, a new riparian tree ordinance, and a cumulative impact study (called the "San Geronimo Valley Enhancement Plan") were implemented after a long and hard battle with the County of Marin. We are eight months into the moratorium and study and we hope to report back with good news for the Watershed!
Growing and Planting Habitat for the Coho
Our Summer Restoration and Native Plant Nursery activities focused on creek-side invasive species removal, transplanting in our nursery, and seed collection. We tended over 2,000 plants in our volunteer-run nursery, cleared over half an acre of French broom from along San Geronimo Creek, collected seeds of over two dozen different species, and trained new and returning volunteers in plant propagation skills. With the rains just around the corner, we are now looking forward to getting out and planting thousands of trees for salmon!
Harvesting Rainwater to Restore Watersheds
Building on our past successes with the Lagunitas School Roofwater Catchment project, SPAWN launched a new community-based program called the Marin County Stormwater Catchment & Water Conservation Initiative.
Timing for the initiative could not be more critical. This past spring was the driest on record for Marin County since rainfall records began in 1879. In early June, drought was officially declared across the state of California. Our program involves strategic partnerships with organizations across the Bay Area which are working on water conservation issues and also serves to provide technical support, cost-share support, and incentives to landowners who install rooftop rainwater catchment systems that integrate cisterns and roof gardens. These systems reduce stormwater runoff and turn a winter surplus of water into a summer irrigation resource.
For more information: www.spawnusa.org
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Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN)
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TOC for Forest & River News, Winter 2008