In this section we highlight the Cereus Fund, Trees Foundation's largest and longest-running donor-advised grantor. Over the past thirteen years the Cereus Fund has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to grassroots environmental efforts throughout the redwood region. One person making a significant difference!
The Cereus Fund donor has empowered a wide range of strategies and tactics as part of a vision of recovery for our globally unique north coast. Dozens of groups and individual activists, and hundreds of projects have benefited from the vision and commitment of the Cereus Fund.
Many of the projects you read about in every issue of Forest and River News, including this issue, have benefited from this individual donor's dedication and generosity. The following section describes some of the projects supported by Cereus in 2011.
On behalf of the many recipients, and the wildlife, forests, and rivers that benefit from their work, Trees Foundation once again extends our heartfelt gratitude to the Cereus Fund.
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Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
Toward our goal of increasing capacity and amplifying the voice of the rural grassroots groups working for our planet, our Roots of Change Media Education Project brought its grassroots media workshop, and PowerPoint presentation to the north coast. We arranged and conducted workshops with the Salmonid Restoration Federation, the Mattole Restoration Council, the Coalition to Protect Richardson Grove, programmers from KMUD radio, the Yurok Justice Coalition, People's Action for Resources and Community, and other individuals affiliated with north coast groups. We conducted workshops at the national Earth First! gathering in Idaho in July, and participated in a panel covering developing media strategy in difficult situations for activists under pressure from government curtailment of civil liberties at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in Oregon in March, and the Info Dept. and Climate Project staff at the Ecology Center in September. We presented at the 2011 Grassroots Convening, a one-day conference put on by the Northern California Grassroots Fund (Rose Foundation) and the California Wildlands Grassroots Fund (Tides Foundation). About 60 organizations were in attendance, including many forest advocacy groups from the north coast and all over California. By design, all the organizations present and that participated in our media workshop are small, low-budget grassroots environmental groups.
Bach has been very active with our colleagues in the Campaign to Protect Richardson Grove. Our rally in Sacramento on June 22, timed to take place before the summer legislative break and prior to expiration of the legal stipulation holding off Caltrans work in Richardson Grove was a big success. Through BACH, I coordinated the extensive media outreach and also organized participation from the Bay Area. BACH's public outreach and organizing on Richardson Grove included information and letter-writing booths at such events as the 3-day EarthDance Festival in Vallejo in September, the Indigenous Peoples' Day Berkeley Pow Wow in October, a Jackson Browne concert in San Rafael in November and the Earth At Risk Conference on the UC Berkeley campus in November.
We do a lot with few resources and support from the Cereus Fund means so much to our work.
Mattole Restoration Council
In 2011 Cereus granted funding to the Forest Practices Program of the Mattole Restoration Program to support their continued involvement in Humboldt Redwood Company's Mattole Watershed Analysis and to seek protection for the older forest stands in the Mattole.
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The presentation presented the findings in six subject areas: stream channel, riparian forest, amphibians, landslides, surface erosion, and fisheries. The Prescription package detailed the type and timing of harvest and restoration projects along with the extent of protections afforded streams and geologic instabilities. The Forest Practices Program fought for extra protections, many of which were incorporated in the harvest prescriptions. Now that the Watershed Analysis is complete, harvesting will resume. HRC plans to log 1.5-2 Million Board Feet of timber from the Mattole properties in the coming year.
In the Lower North Fork area of HRC's property exist some amazing older stands. The Forest Practices Program wanted them to set a higher standard for protections of these older trees than their policy allowed. They did not bend on their old-growth policy. However, they did agree to protect more than 200 acres of old growth and later seral forest off the north side of Long Ridge as a High conservation Value Forest. This area will be maintained for late seral forest habitat as long as HRC remains Forest Stewardship Council certified, which is their intent. Environmentalists and Forest Defenders have applauded this move as a small victory for the Mattole.
Mattole Salmon Group
The Cereus Fund provided support in 2011 for MSG's 16h Annual Summer Steelhead Dive, the only basin-wide dive survey conducted each year in the Mattole.
The objective of the Summer Steelhead Dive is to enumerate adult steelhead and "half-pounders" holding in the Mattole River over the summer months and identify their preferred holding habitat in the mainstem and lower sections of three major tributaries. The Dive provides the only long-term monitoring of the at-risk summer run, informing restorationists, agencies, and the community about their current population size and distribution. Data is also collected on other species of wildlife--aquatic and terrestrial--present in the watershed. Another objective is locating "cold-water" areas and identifying the distribution of three species of juvenile salmonids.
The Dive also allows the MSG to train young adults in salmonid population monitoring and thus encourage and inspire future community stewards. Interns are trained in dive monitoring methods and fish identification, and partnered with trained personnel on survey reaches.
The Dive also serves the purpose of fostering environmental stewardship within the watershed and greater community. It provides the opportunity for community members to become an active part of the long tradition of grassroots salmon restoration efforts in the Mattole Valley.
Mid Klamath Watershed Council
Since 2001, the Mid Klamath Watershed Council (MKWC) has been working to restore the threatened Klamath River in Northern California, and the upslope habitats upon which the river depends. The Klamath River and its tributaries have some of the largest remaining wild salmon runs in the lower 48 States and hold the promise of significant ecological improvement through restoration programs. The Cereus Fund provided support to MKWC's fisheries and watershed education programs by funding equipment to conduct accurate field work and to involve the community and youth as stewards of the watershed.
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Cereus funds were also used for the Klamath Youth Stewardship Project. This program allows students to explore and learn about mountains, forests, streams, as well as local job opportunities in the Mid Klamath region. The goal of this project is to inspire the next generation of local resource professionals by involving underserved youth in hands-on restoration, monitoring, and community development projects. During project activities, youth implement Klamath River restoration projects associated with local anadromous fish, invasive weeds, native plants, and cultural uses and management of resources. Cereus funds were used for field equipment as well as supplies, such as gardening gloves and tools.
Mill Valley StreamKeepers
The Mill Valley StreamKeepers is a community action group formed by volunteers in 1998 who are working to restore and protect Mill Valley's watersheds. Their goal is to protect the ecological health and the well-being of the wildlife inhabitants, and to keep the streams and watersheds healthy and as natural as possible.
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Human activities that are conducted in a wise manner can produce positive effects or at least minimize adverse effects on stream inhabitants, while activities done with disregard of the watershed ecology can have significant detrimental effects on water quality. The Mill Valley StreamKeepers are working to minimize these activities that have adverse effects by supporting community members in becoming active stewards of their watershed through volunteer opportunities, educational stream walks, and public meetings and events.
Cereus Fund provided support in 2011 for revising and updating the StreamKeepers educational brochure for a mailing to several thousand residents.
Restoration Leadership Project
The Leadership project worked hard and long to help ensure support for a conservation easement on the Usal Redwood Forest which was finally approved. This easement will prevent development of close to 50,000 acres of forestland with invaluable fisheries habitat and other natural, cultural, educational, and recreational public and community values. As a part of that transaction, with help from the State Coastal Conservancy, the Save-the-Redwoods League purchased about 900 acres of coast and coastal watershed land which will eventually become part of the Sinkyone State Wilderness and Sinkyone Wilderness State Park.
Now the `real' work is beginning: planning and implementing sustainable forestry and watershed restoration with integration of communities in that effort. The easement requires certification and a management plan approved by the Forest Stewardship Council within three years. The Leadership Project is fully committed to seeing that the mission and goals of the Redwood Forest Foundation are attained in the Usal Redwood Forest, key parts of which are long-term selection community-based forestry. An aspect of this has been educational field tours for key interested parties and the Leadership Project has significantly helped through knowledge of the land, its history, and potential to educate field tour participants.
The first focused work took place to correct some of the most serious adverse impacts of a Mendocino County road, the Usal Road (CR 431). A partnership including the Five Counties Salmon Conservation Program (with Mendocino and Trinity Counties participating), Pacific Watershed Associates, RFFI, Campbell Timber Management, California Geological Survey, Usal Redwood Forest, and InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, instigated by the Leadership Project, started to take on long-ignored problems with Usal Road. The Five Counties Program got $12,000 from the State Coastal Conservancy, matching funds were added from Mendocino County, and various in-kind contributions from various parties enabled the first round of work. Significant improvements were made to over a mile of road. This is the beginning of a long-term effort.
Support from the Cereus Fund has been essential for the Leadership Project's participation in this work.
Salmon Forever
Discharges of sediment from poor land use activities have overwhelmed many of our rivers resulting in the loss of channel capacity necessary for the conveyance of flood waters and reductions of the feeding success, breeding and growth of salmonids. Salmon Forever processes water samples from streams and rivers on the north coast of California to increase our understanding of chronic turbidity and suspended sediment concentrations that impair the health of our fisheries and water supplies.
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In order to better understand the magnitude of channel change impacts, Salmon Forever is collecting the cross sectional channel change information necessary to run the US Army Corp of Engineers' HEC-RAS models to re-map and update the FEMA flood maps.
During Hydrologic Year 2010-11, Salmon Forever maintained 4 continuous turbidity monitoring stations located in Elk River and Freshwater Creek that pump water samples for processing in Salmon Forever's laboratory. Two of the stations are located in the 25 square mile Freshwater Creek watershed, and two in the 45 square mile Elk River watershed.
Salmon Forever maintained and operated a sediment laboratory located in Elk River during 2011 that processed water quality samples. About 1,980 filters were used during 2011 to process samples from the turbidity monitoring stations. We continued to train HSU Work Study students in Lab and Field methods.
Our sincere appreciation to the Cereus Fund for help funding the operations of the sediment laboratory and field monitoring stations, our work-study program, and for supporting our efforts to promote land management which protects and enhances the health of salmon and Humboldt Bay watersheds.
Salmonid Restoration Federation
With Cereus support in 2011, Salmonid Restoration Federation advocated on behalf of new Coastal Commission appointments, provided input on the Water Resources Element of the Humboldt County General Plan Update, tracked state legislation regarding utilizing volunteers on restoration projects, and monitored federal bills that would impact the Delta and long-term funding for large-scale restoration projects on the Klamath and San Joaquin Rivers. SRF also helped to form a North Coast Flows Coalition to address emergency measures to protect Coho salmon and address water conservation on the North Coast.
SRF is part of a restoration working group that has been drafting language, attending public hearings, and providing input to the Humboldt County Planning Commission regarding water resources elements of the Humboldt County General Plan Update which has not been updated for nearly 30 years. Updating the Plan provides an opportunity to instill some sustainable water conservation measures, address development issues, protest water diversions and exports, and incorporate safeguards regarding water quality, stormwater pollution and TMDLs (Total Maximum Daily Loads of sediment).
Additionally, SRF tracked and mobilized support for California AB 587 that extends the sunset clause on the ability to utilize volunteers in restoration projects. This bill extends the exemption from prevailing wage law for volunteers for five years and continues the ability of California's residents to volunteer in conservation activities including beach and river trash cleanups, walking trail brush-trimming, and invasive species removal. Governor Brown signed the bill in September.
Salmon Protection and Watershed Network
In 2011 the Cereus Fund provided funding to sustain SPAWN's grassroots advocacy and habitat restoration programs in the Lagunitas Creek watershed, Marin County, California, which supports the Central CA Coast's largest remaining--although critically endangered--run of wild coho salmon. The National Marine Fisheries Service has declared that this population is in an "extinction vortex" unless drastic action is taken to improve habitat conditions and protect the last of the wild coho salmon, and SPAWN has been at the forefront of those actions over the past year, in both policy change advocacy and hands-on restoration.
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Throughout the year, SPAWN monitored the coho population with the support of the Cereus fund. For the past five years, we have monitored smolt--young fish traveling out of the watershed system--to try to gauge how many coho are surviving to migrate to the ocean. SPAWN performed monitoring just upstream of the confluence of San Geronimo Creek and Lagunitas Creek, which it flows into. We captured 30 Coho smolt and 15 coho fry, and 41 Steelhead smolt and 67 coho fry. These numbers are down drastically from those seen just a few years ago--413 coho were monitored during the same period in 2008, highlighting the need for immediate action and salmon protections.
SPAWN is hopefully awaiting the return of the coho to the watershed for the winter spawning season. The first coho redd (nest) of the season was identified by the Marin Municipal Water District on November 3, the earliest on record, about a half mile from the SPAWN offices. We will work with experienced volunteers to monitor upstream tributaries within the San GeronimoValley sub-watershed beginning after the next rain.
Salmon River Restoration Council
The Salmon River Restoration Council (SRRC) is a community-based non-profit group that works collaboratively to assess, protect, maintain, and restore the ecosystems of California's spectacular Salmon River watershed.
The Salmon River flows from the Marble, Russian, and Trinity Alps Mountains of far Northern California. It joins the Klamath River at Somes Bar, California and is the second largest tributary to the Klamath. In fact, the Salmon River provides 157,080 gallons of clean, cool water to the Klamath River every minute! The watershed is almost entirely public land. There are no dams, diversions, urban areas, or major industry in the watershed and, consequently, the water is of exceptionally high quality. The cool, clean water of the Salmon River is crucial to the overall health of the Klamath River fishery.
The Salmon River provides excellent habitat for fish and other aquatic life yet benefits from continued restoration efforts aimed to help the river recover from past land management practices including extensive mining, logging, wild fires, road-building, and grazing as well as ongoing threats such as noxious weeds and high summertime water temperatures.
SRRC's programs include fisheries restoration and monitoring, noxious weed management, water quality monitoring, riparian restoration, fire and fuels management, watershed education, roads stewardship, and more.
The Cereus Fund provided general support for SRRC's programs including the printing and distribution of their newsletter, maintaining their website at www.srrc.org, and the implementation of their community restoration program workdays which included river clean-up, noxious weed management and watershed education.
Sanctuary Forest
In 2011 Cereus Fund helped to support Sanctuary Forest's involvement in their Coho Collaboration Project that works collaboratively through strategic partnerships to help ensure the survival of Mattole coho salmon.
In close partnership with state and federal agencies (DFG, NOAA Fisheries, and the BLM) and nonprofits (Mattole Salmon Group and Mattole Restoration Council), Sanctuary Forest conducted planning of groundwater recharge projects in strategically selected locations in the Mattole headwaters, thought to be the most effective way to improve summertime streamflows in certain key coho streams. Several field tours and many other meetings with hydrologists, geologists, and engineers have helped us design projects and develop monitoring plans associated with them. We completed the project design for a lower Thompson Creek tributary recharge project and also began designing potential offstream pond projects at three sites in the Thompson Creek headwaters. We're now in the beginning stages of planning a combined groundwater recharge and instream habitat project in Baker Creek, which historically was one of the top three tributaries sustaining Mattole coho salmon. This project is situated on BLM land, and involves an unprecedented degree of close collaboration not only with BLM staff, but also with our Mattole nonprofit partners, due to the distinct technical expertise of each group.
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We look forward to building upon these achievements in the coming year.
Activist Support
Trees Foundation has been a long time supporter of the dedicated and effective environmental activists that work throughout the North coast region. We believe that every citizen activist deserves our support and assistance, and we are dedicated to ensuring that they get the help they need.
In the past year, activists' priorities have included actions to protect Richardson Grove from CalTrans' plans, and spreading the word about Green Diamond Resource Company's degrading logging practices and their intent to clear-cut 41 acres of Redwood forest just outside of Eureka. Green Diamond owns about 450,000-forested acres in northern California.
Working with Cereus Fund in 2011, Trees has been able to provide support to individual activists with the creation and printing of posters, informational brochures and hand-outs, photography equipment, jail-support for non-violent protestors arrested in a Richardson Grove demonstration at CalTrans, cover travel expenses for tabling events, telephone bill reimbursement, printing of photographs, and more.
Trees Foundation
Since 1998, Trees Foundation's most consistent and by far largest supporter has been Cereus Fund.
Because of this donor's generous and continued support, Trees Foundation has been able to offer a full range of professional and technical services to support grassroots environmental groups and activists, primarily on California's North Coast from Big Sur into southern Oregon.
This confidence and commitment to our work has allowed Trees to focus on how best to nurture the environmental movement throughout the redwood region. By providing graphic design, skills trainings, GIS mapping, web design and programming, technical repair and support, financial and administrative consulting, donor-advised grants, and a resource center for activists--free of charge--Trees Foundation and Cereus work together to extend the capabilities and viability of our partners in conservation.
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TOC for Forest & River News, Winter 2011