December 10, 2007
It can be safely said that without the grassroots action that has characterized Marin County's environmental movement over many decades, salmon would already be long gone from the Lagunitas Creek Watershed.
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Considered to be the largest remaining wild run in Central California, Lagunitas coho are the most abundant spawners seen in the watershed today, although they are nowhere near as abundant as they used to be prior to the construction of Marin's major dams in the late 1940s, which eliminated 50% of historical habitat. The population, once 5,000 fish strong, declined by 90% and is today listed as endangered at both the federal and state levels.
Salmon Activism
Local watershed activists have always been at the forefront of efforts to protect Lagunitas coho from extinction. Consider the following milestones:
* The grueling 1982 and 1992 State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) hearings over the illegal raising of Peter's Dam on Lagunitas Creek and the actions and testimonies of Willis Evans (local resident and CDFG warden), Tomales Bay Association (TBA), Trout Unlimited (TU), Sierra Club Marin Group (SCMG), and the Inverness Association culminating in an Order to protect instream flows and spawning and rearing habitat for coho salmon and steelhead in Lagunitas Creek;
* TBA, SCMG and TU's 2001 settlement agreement with the North Marin Water District establishing a precedent-setting dedication of appropriative water rights for instream habitat purposes; and;
* More recently in 2005, SPAWN and TBA's precedent-setting California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) victory that protects designated Stream Conservation Areas from reckless and illegal development.
These, among many more cases, bear testament to the power of grassroots organizing here, particularly during a period of major dam projects and rapid human settlement, and a time in which coho could have blinked into extinction forever.
Cumulative Impacts and Emerging Threats
While the dams proved almost catastrophic for Lagunitas' salmon, more subtle assaults now threaten the survival of the remaining population. Take the example of the largest remaining, un-dammed headwaters of the Lagunitas Watershed, the San Geronimo Valley.
Not as well known as Lagunitas Creek Watershed, the San Geronimo Valley is located in the upper region of unincorporated west Marin County. If you have ever been to the Leo Cronin Viewing Area on Lagunitas Creek you have likely also seen the confluence at the Inkwells waterfalls on San Geronimo Creek--these falls are the rocky gateway to the San Geronimo Valley, recently nominated by SPAWN and the Point Reyes National Seashore as a "high-priority conservation area." The semi-rural valley, representing less than 10% of the total area of the entire watershed, provides spawning habitat for 25-50% of the remaining Lagunitas coho population and upwards of one-third of the coho juvenile rearing habitat.
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Fighting Back
Coho salmon are an indicator species, our watershed's "canary in the coal mine," and as such their mere presence and viability tells a complex story of the ecology of our communities. Unfortunately, County planners and supervisors, without any idea of either baseline or threshold conditions for the valley, continue to approve new development in the Stream Conservation Areas (the 100-ft buffer zone along coho streams) while ignoring their legal obligation to assess the long-term cumulative impacts of their "death by a thousand cuts" policies. The issue of "cumulative impacts" has fast become one of the major defining issues of the current decade for coho recovery here. SPAWN and a coalition of environmental groups are demanding that the County fulfill their legal obligation to do a cumulative impact analysis before any new development along streams is permitted. Until that time, we are calling for an immediate moratorium on any new construction along streams, as well as the enactment of a Riparian Forest Ordinance that ensures protection of riparian zones, a requirement for any new development in coho watersheds to meet a "zero" net increase in storm-water run-off, and strict enforcement of violations in the Stream Conservation Area.
Clearly, land-use and management policies in the San Geronimo Valley will be a strong determinant of the long-term viability of Lagunitas coho, and ultimately that of the entire Central California Coast Evolutionary Significant Unit of coho salmon. And SPAWN is not alone in calling for science-based, precautionary policies. In September, over 100 scientists, including California's most prominent aquatic experts, Dr. Peter Moyle of UC Davis, and California Academy of Sciences Senior Scientist and Chair of the Department of Aquatic Biology, Dr. John McCosker, signed a letter calling on Marin County Supervisors to enact strong and urgent policies to stem the tide of destruction of coho habitat. A separate letter was also sent to Supervisors from the Executive Committee of the American Fisheries Society, California-Nevada chapter, representing 550 fisheries and aquatic biologists. (See www.spawnUSA.org for copies).
While these legal and political battles continue over the fate of sensitive headwater areas and coho salmon, SPAWN isn't sitting around waiting for government action. Todd Steiner, SPAWN's director, is leading efforts to protect land in the valley by planning a program to purchase undeveloped lots and to implement conservation easements on currently developed streamside parcels. These are two important tools in the conservation "toolbox" that are missing from current strategies to protect the Lagunitas Creek Watershed and one of the State's most important wild coho populations.
SPAWN recently purchased four streamside parcels and, in support of a broader land acquisition plan, brought together a committee that includes California Assembly member Jared Huffman, California Academy of Sciences' John McCosker; Switzer Foundation Board member Mark Switzer; Sandler Family Supporting Foundation
Board member Jim Sandler; Point Reyes National Seashore Superintendent, Don Neubacher, and several other prominent local community members.
Also, starting this year with the support of Proposition 50 funds, SPAWN is moving ahead with an ambitious program to work collaboratively with hundreds of residential landowners living along non-County maintained roads and along sensitive streamside areas to implement non-point source sediment control and riparian and creekbank restoration projects.
For more information www.SpawnUSA.org
SIDEBAR:
SPAWN and Trees Team Up For Salmon
Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN) staff are delighted to announce that this fall, Trees Foundation staff created a new online registration system to help nonprofit partners like ourselves schedule public events.
This is a huge benefit to partner organizations, especially those with a very small staff and a lot of work to accomplish! Take SPAWN for example. Each spawning season our volunteer Creek Naturalists lead creekwalks for the public throughout the beautiful Lagunitas Creek Watershed in Marin County. Twice each weekend day (and during weekday holidays too), from November through January, these Naturalists will lead over 1,000 members of the Bay Area community out to view the magnificent and colorful spawning rituals of Lagunitas coho salmon and steelhead, and to learn about efforts to restore and protect these endangered salmon. Scheduling this many people takes a lot of our attention and work during the busy winter period! So Trees Foundation designed and programmed this online registration website for our Creekwalk program. The new website allows anyone with an internet connection to view an up-to-date schedule of all our creekwalks and to make payments for their reservations using the Trees secure server. It also allows SPAWN staff to easily update calendar information and payment information, and to set up automated responses with all the logistical information that new members may need. The system is very user-friendly and, best of all, frees staff up to be in the field to do spawning surveys and creekside restoration season while not losing the opportunity to reach out to the hundreds of new salmon supporters that join us on creekwalks every winter.
To check out SPAWN's website (which TREES designed and built in 2004) and the new online registration system in action, please visit www.SpawnUSA.org.
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Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN)
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TOC for Forest & River News, Winter 2007