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Hello Friends of the Coastal Watershed Council, For starters, we'd like to wish everyone a happy new year. Whatever your philosophy or religion, most folks this time of year have just completed a period of celebration and are looking ahead to a period of renewal - a fresh start. Have you made resolutions, or intentions, for the new year? As always, CWC would like to encourage everyone to consider how our daily activities are affecting the health of local creeks and rivers, and ultimately, our beautiful bay. If you're wondering "what can I do?" check out our Stewardship Toolkit for watershed-minded citizens. We're hoping 2011 will be a year of renewed stewardship efforts on everyone's part. As we look back and reflect on the year behind us, it's important to share how thankful we are - to individuals and organizations who have donated valuable time and money in support of CWC's work. We especially want to thank our volunteers for a great year, and promise for an even better 2011. Read on for more about CWC's stewardship, monitoring and education projects, the three program areas we always pursue to preserve and protect coastal watersheds! Happy New Year to you and yours!
Greg Pepping
Executive Director
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Accentuating the Positive:
Fostering Stewardship in Urban Watersheds
by Armand Ruby, CWC Technical Director
Stormwater runoff has been cited by USEPA as a major contributor to water quality degradation in our nation's waterways. Local stormwater management agencies are required to implement public education and outreach as part of the overall effort to reduce pollutants in urban runoff to the maximum extent practicable. Often these public ed/outreach efforts have messages that are geared towards preventing harmful behaviors: "don't pour used oil in the storm drain"; "don't wash out paint containers or yard sprayers in the gutter"; "don't wash your car in your driveway".
But for every potential bad actor, there are perhaps many other conscientious citizens who are willing to serve voluntarily as watershed stewards. Such folks would be glad to pitch in and do something to make a positive impact, if only they knew what to do! Coastal Watershed Council has developed tools to provide citizens with the means to create positive change on an individual basis.
CWC has developed a Watershed Stewardship ToolKit to help inspire and motivate individuals to take positive action. Starting from the standpoint of the individual home or business as a micro-watershed, the ToolKit provides citizens with information on options for various "Citizen Best Management Practices" (Citizen BMPs) designed to:
- Reduce Runoff Quantity, and
- Improve Runoff Quality.
Individually the changes may be small, but collectively if many individuals take positive action we can make a difference in local water quality.
To help identify the collective impacts of many small actions, CWC also has partnered with EcoLayers, Inc. to develop a web-based Data & Stewardship Portal. In addition to displaying CWC's water quality monitoring data, this web portal also allows citizens to upload information on their stewardship activities, including photographs. These activities are shown on the on-line map as stewardship sites. Other interested members of the public can then click on these stewardship sites to be inspired by what their neighbors are doing.
CWC also can then compile information on the collective impacts of Citizen BMPs, for use by local stormwater agencies as evidence of the effectiveness of public stewardship efforts. We encourage you to join with CWC in pro-actively taking steps to reduce the quantity of runoff or improve the quality of runoff from your property. Check out the Stewardship ToolKit and the Data & Stewardship Portal on-line today.
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 ALBA/Carneros Creek Monitoring Launches!
Fall rains have created enough flow in Carneros Creek and CWC staff and volunteers are now monitoring this Northern Monterey County creek on a weekly basis. Monitoring began on December 22 and will continue as long as the creek has sufficient flow.
As of the January 3rd monitoring event, 13.16 inches of rain have fallen at Triple M Ranch, creating high creek flow and flooding adjacent wetlands. During the early January event, hawks, falcons and a great blue heron were sited under clear blue skies by CWC staff and volunteers. During each event we perform numeorus field measurements and monitor flow; water samples are collected for laboratory analysis on a monthly basis. This is the second monitoring season of a four-year grant from the U.S.EPA. CWC is part of a collaboration with CSUMB, Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Reseach Reserve and Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association ( ALBA) to evaluate the effectiveness of organic farming practices and wetland restoration in improving habitat and sediment and water quality in the slough. We still need volunteers for this program. You'll learn about the slough and water quality monitoring, and likely see some beautiful nature. Contact Debie Chirco-Macdonald at djchirco@coastalws.org or (831) 464-9200 to get on board! |
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UCSC Interns Learn About Watersheds and Help CWC
Bill Rice has joined CWC as an intern for the winter quarter. Bill is an Environmental Geology student at UCSC and is interested in issues of land and resource use, and their historical context. His professional background includes information technology and mentoring. Bill hopes to use his background with computers and geology as he assists with CWC's Data & Stewardship Portal.
Megan Gehrke also returns to CWC as an intern for the winter quarter. Megan is an Environmental Studies student at UCSC and interned with CWC during the Fall quarter as well. Megan is excited to get more involved with the ALBA project monitoring on Carneros Creek after spending much of the last quarter managing and analyzing data for CWC's monitoring programs, such as First Flush and Urban Watch. |
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City of Santa Cruz Supports Watershed Education in Felton
 Through hands on lessons about erosion, sedimentation, benthic macro invertebrates and more, all Kindergarten through 5th grade students at San Lorenzo Valley Elementary School in Felton have now participated in some of CWC's watershed education activities. These students now have the knowledge to influence their family and friends to keep their watershed healthy and thriving for years to come! They also have a practical foundation upon which their ongoing science lessons will build. They will also hopefully make connections between what they learn in the classroom and what they observe in their daily lives.
The 4th and 5th grade students at San Lorenzo Valley Elementary have been having a ball learning about the San Lorenzo River watershed through a series of lessons presented by CWC's Education Coordinator, Bridget Posson. Students have been engaged in learning about specific water quality and quantity issues specific to their watershed and have committed themselves to conserve water in the future. They're also making the connections between drinking water, the water cycle and healthy rivers. The City of Santa Cruz Water Resources Department supports this valuable investment in the voters, citizens and leaders of tomorrow.
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CWC's Get Outdoors (GO!) Program Continues
Alianza Elementary's 4th, 5th and 6th graders are now looking forward to winter and spring visits from CWC. Lessons and activities have now been planned throughout this school year. Students will get an up close and personal look at the 3-D watershed model, learn the basics of water quality monitoring and learn how they can care for their community and take care of the creek that runs behind their school.
Also through the Get Outdoors (GO!) Program, 6th graders from New Brighton Middle School will continue to monitor nearby Noble Gulch and participate in selecting a best management practice (BMP) to be installed on their school's campus. CWC's GO! Program is supported by a grant from NOAA's Bay-Watershed Education & Training (B-WET) Program.
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Interesting Watershed Links
A few articles, seminars and magazines we thought you might be interested in:
Stormwater Magazine: An excellent magazine for surface water quality professionals and anyone who is interested in the most up to date information on water quality issues. The Salmonid Restoration Federation promotes the restoration, stewardship, and recovery of California Native Salmon. They hold annual conferences that are inspiring and educational. MS4 for Dummies: Folks who pay  attention to water quality and stormwater issues will know that MS4 stands for Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System. Now there's a short guide for anyone unfamiliar with this term. Nonpoint source pollution is critical to the health of our beautiful bay, and learning more about this topic is a few clicks away.
The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports that pesticide advocates will look to Governor Brown to reverse the state's recent methyl iodide ruling.
Participate in Watershed Day at the capitol in Sacramento on January 26.
CWC's Data & Stewardship Portal is ready for you to upload your stories and photos. Show your friends and neighbors how you're caring for your watershed!
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