The seeds for SPAWN, the Salmon Protection And Watershed Network, sprouted in the winter of 1997. That winter, Coho salmon trying to reach one of their remaining prime spawning habitats on San Geronimo Creek within West Marin's Lagunitas Creek Watershed were blocked by the broken concrete apron of an old degraded dam located on the San Geronimo Golf Course. Director Todd Steiner relates the story of forming SPAWN below.
I watched in horror as, instead of passing beyond ?Roy?s Dam? by jumping the adjacent fish ladder, the fish smashed into the broken dam itself and fell back onto the apron. They repeated their attempts to jump this impossible barrier, until exhaustion overcame them. Their opportunity to spawn, the very reason for their long migration, was at stake.
We contacted the media and appealed to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for an emergency permit to net the recently listed ?threatened? fish and move them over the dam by hand. We began collecting signatures to demand action.
That night, the dilemma of the stranded fish, complete with dramatic video footage, was shown on four Bay Area television stations and internationally on CNN. Within a day, we had hundreds of signatures that we faxed to NMFS. By the next rainfall (which triggers the spawning migration), NMFS biologists were moving the fish beyond the dam.
The media coverage of the fish?s plight attracted all kinds of help. Our local Supervisor organized meetings attended by fishery biologists, environmental and community groups, engineers, government agencies, contractors, and others. Together, we developed a three-year plan to remove the dam without harming the stream.
Engineers, teachers, students, contractors, carpenters, skilled and unskilled laborers, heavy equipment and materials companies all donated services and thousands of hours of their time. Even Department of Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt joined one of the work parties.
Together, we transformed Roy's Dam into Roy?s Pools -- three tiered jump pools. Each winter, Coho and steelhead trout now jump through the pools, over the lowered-dam, and continue to their natal/spawning sites upstream. (Next, we hope to turn Roy?s Pools into a salmon viewing area with a covered salmon-viewing bridge and interpretive exhibits.)
As we worked to complete Roy?s Pools, we recognized the need for a citizen-based organization to save the salmon and preserve their Lagunitas Creek Watershed (LCW) habitat. The Coho population has decreased 90% from historic numbers. Impacts include elimination of habitat due to dams, taking of their water, excessive sedimentation and over-development of creekside habitat. Today, this watershed supports approximately 10 percent of the state?s remaining wild population. But even this significant percentage of the state?s population totals only 600 spawning fish each year.
By the time the pools were finished, SPAWN had formalized its mission, goals and objectives for the future: to protect and restore endangered salmonid populations and watershed ecosystem functions in the Lagunitas Creek watershed, using a multi-faceted approach that includes public and landowner education, grassroots action, conservation-based research, and hands-on restoration projects.
Today, through SPAWN?s public education campaigns, the importance of this watershed to the salmon?s survival is widely understood. The protection and recovery of Coho in the LCW is now acknowledged as critical to the recovery of the species throughout the state. SPAWN is committed to restoring the Coho and countless other species and their vital habitat.
Founded just 4 years ago, SPAWN is proud of its growing list of accomplishments:
n SPAWN has conducted spawning surveys in previously unmonitored tributaries in the LCW, increased the spawning survey range and determined that the number of spawners is increased by 10 percent or more greater.
n For the past three summers, SPAWN volunteers have rescued more than 5,000 juvenile steelhead and Coho from certain death in drying tributaries.
n SPAWN developed a report recommending fish and habitat-friendly practices for Park managers, at the request of the Superintendent of Samuel P. Taylor State Park. Based on our recommendations, the park closed trails that cross spawning habitat. Recently, park staff and SPAWN volunteers removed small rock dams constructed by visitors to provide more spawning habitat. SPAWN continues to help implement salmon-friendly park practices.
n Through our naturalist training program, SPAWN has trained 40 naturalists who have led spawning salmon creek walks for over 1,000 people.
n A SPAWN proposal that a technical and community-based Advisory Committee be formed to monitor Marin Municipal Water District activities, as part of a mitigation plan requiring watershed habitat improvements was approved by the Regional Water Quality Control Board. A SPAWN staff member was appointed to the committee. SPAWN also participates as a member of the Tomales Bay Watershed Council.
n SPAWN staff revealed the de-watering of Coho redds in February 2001, due to cutbacks in water releases from Peter's Dam on Kent Lake. NMFS has commenced an investigation.
n SPAWN built and led a coalition of more than 20 organizations to compel the Marin Municipal Water District to seek alternatives to a proposed pipeline from the Russian River to Marin. The district has begun to look at alternatives. SPAWN will continue to work to ensure a positive outcome.
n After SPAWN discovered non-native predatory fish in a LCW tributary, we held a "fish derby" (permitted by the proper agencies) to remove additional non-natives and to educate fishers about exotics. We then screened the pond from which they had escaped to protect the creek.
n SPAWN has succeeded in promoting stories on the plight of the LCW Coho to the San Francisco Chronicle, Sunset Magazine, Marin Independent Journal, Pacific Sun, Point Reyes Light, California Wild (Cal Academy of Sciences magazine, KQED Radio, six local television stations and CNN. SPAWN has also written numerous opinion-editorials on issues impacting threatened salmonids and also hosts a seminar series.
n SPAWN?s work has been recognized by a number of awards including a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition presented to SPAWN director by Representative Lynn Woolsey, and the Marin American Indian Association's (MAIA) ?Focus on Turtle Island Award? awarded to SPAWN in October 2000 and others.
SPAWN is staffed by full-time watershed biologist Reuven Walder and myself. SPAWN?s accomplishments have been made possible by its active growing volunteer membership base which have provided pro bono services including architectural work, legal analysis, hydrological and biological services, carpentry, and much more. Our funding comes from the membership, a few companies such as Patagonia, Oracle, foundations such as the Goldman Fund, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and Compton Foundation as well as some governmental agencies.
In the coming year, in addition to continuing our creek naturalist program, fish rescue and relocation program and spawning surveys, we will survey fish migration barriers and hope to repair or remove at least one structure this year. We plan to initiate a citizen water quality-monitoring program and assess roads that dump sediment into streams. Our work is far from done. The beauty of the salmon and the urgency of the need for their protection and recovery drives all that we do.
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Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN)
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TOC for Forest & River News, Spring 2002