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The Confab is a full weekend of hands-on restoration training workshops, project site tours, and a venue for networking. By stimulating communication between all sectors of the community we can more effectively explore the potential for collaborative restoration and learn the field skills necessary to recover our home watersheds. Trees Foundation believes that community cooperative learning and in-the-field participation helps nurture vibrant watersheds for human and wild residents and "spawn" new and creative ways to bring back the threatened coho salmon.
The 2003 Coho Confab kicked-off on Friday night with visionary restorationist Richard Geinger giving the opening campfire talk. Craig Bell of SRF followed with a talk about the state of coho recovery in northwest California. A slideshow explaining the use of sedges and other native plants for stream-bank stabilization and Native basketry was presented by Chuck Williams from Redwood Valley Rancheria. Attendees especially appreciated learning about the opportunities for achieving mutual restoration goals with Native American practitioners.
Full and half day skills workshops took place on Saturday and Sunday, including, Tools for Understanding Water Quality and Salmonid Health, with fisheries biologist, Patrick Higgins giving attendees a good introduction to ways in which stream water quality can be tested with and without professional tools and devices.
In-stream processes and aquatic wildlife identification were explored further in workshops including fish identification and temperature and sediment monitoring with instructor Maureen Roche of the Mattole River watershed. Using masks, snorkels and wetsuits, participants entered the cold depths of Ten Mile River and learned to distinguish salmon and steelhead fry. Identification of Aquatic Macro Invertebrates with entomologist John Lee, also known as the "bug" workshop, was highly educational, furthering the understanding of these sensitive indicator species. Additional workshops included Underwater Estuary Exploration with Bill Lemos and Robert Jamgoch from SONAR, the School of Natural Resources.
A tour of model sustainable forestry sites at the Parker Ranch on Ten Mile River was a particularly popular workshop where people could see, first-hand, how a forest can be logged sustainably and ask questions of the primary manager. A tour of recent restoration sites with Steve Levesque of Hawthorne Campbell Timber Company provided participants with further examples of watershed protection practices intended to maintain the integrity of the forest as a whole on industrially managed land.
Other workshops addressed hands-on road rehabilitation, reversing a stream diversion gully, an introduction to Geographic Information System mapping and Global Postioning System monitoring, and workshops with native plants specialist, Karen Gaffney of Circuit Riders Productions, and restorationist Teri Barber of Ridge to River. Each activity during the weekend included ample opportunity for attendees and presenters to exchange ideas, ask questions and build personal connections.
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Tremendous gratitude goes to the Helene Chalfin, Amy Shadwell, Traci "Bear" Thiele, Michael and the Americorps, Watershed Stewardship Program gang. Special thanks to Bagels Naturally, Clif Bar!, Chatauqua Natural Foods, Ray's Shop Smart, Sentry Market, Corners of the Mouth, Signature Coffee, Tofu Shop, Bein Parde, Humboldt Creamery, North Coast Bakery, Brio Breadworks, Redway Liquor, Ukiah Brewing Co., Frey Vineyards, North Coast Brewing Co., Casa Lindra, Mrs. Denson's Cookies, Safeway, Harvest Market, as well as local farmers from the Humboldt and Mendocino regions.