California Clapper Rail

Action Alert

Write a Letter of Support to Restore McInnis Marsh!

In early June 2013 Elise Holland, Chief of Planning and Resources for Marin County Parks and Open Space, will be requesting grant funding from the State Coastal Conservancy for McInnis Marsh Habitat Restoration Project.

This grant would greatly increase the size of the Gallinas Creek marsh area, home to endangered Clapper Rail and Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse AND add much needed sea level rise protection to upstream areas.

You can download a sample letter as a Word Doc or PDF file. Feel free to modify it or send as is, but please send in your letter of support!

Please contribute to the Gallinas Watershed Council music CD

Attention MUSICIANS!

The Gallinas Watershed Council invites you to contribute to a Watershed Music CD.

We are looking for songs inspired by water in the natural environment.

For more information click here.

Here’s a video of a watershed song:

King Tide at the Santa Venetia Open Space – Levy at the end of Vendola

On Saturday May 11, 2013 from 3-5 PM GWC led another WATERSHED HIKE in the Santa Venetia Open Space.

Thank you to all those who attended!

Purpose:

• To gather and have fun!
• To learn about the Gallinas Headwaters, and the role of headwaters in watershed health. ( there will NOT be a test, points given for interesting questions)
• To share Gallinas Watershed facts, information and stories about Gallinas Headwaters and the watershed

Logistics:

• Meet at East end of Vendola St. near Pump Station (take North San Pedro to La Brea to Vendola, turn right)
• Parking is available on street

Path:

• Leave pump station at 3:15 and walk around the Santa Venetia Open Space.

Hike Leader: Hydrologist Rachel Kamman
Total hike distance: < 2 miles
Total time:  2.0 hrs
Difficulty:  Easy and Flat

Everyone is welcome:

Kids  – Great!  I’m bringing 3
Dogs – sure, well behaved and on leash please since we are walking as a group.  Be ready to pick up after rover!

Raindate:  None!
Rain does not cancel
Dress appropriately and be prepared for mud.
Bring binoculars – you might spot an unusual bird, maybe even a CLAPPER RAIL!

Healthy Marin Watersheds and Creeks Lecture at San Rafael City Hall
May 1, 2013

GWC sponsored the “Healthy Marin Watersheds and Creeks” Lectures at the San Rafael City Hall

Gallinas Watershed Council held a lecture event on Wednesday, May 1 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm to explore “Healthy Marin Watersheds and Creeks” at San Rafael City Hall. GWC thanks San Rafael City Councilmember Damon Connolly for hosting the event.

Across our nation, a watershed approach to protecting our creeks is occurring, bringing back to life the riparian ecosystem and the iconic and keystone species that live there. When we restore our watersheds we give clean water, biodiversity, recreation, beauty, food and enjoyment to future generations.

Dozens of guests heard Guest Speakers Laura Chariton, Gordon Bennett, and Isaiah Thalmayer as they discussed ways to be part of the solution to restoring watersheds and creeks. Laura treated the audience to an empowering lecture about the necessity for watershed restoration. A special presentation covering 20 years of successful restorations by the STRAW project (Students and Teachers Restoring a Watershed, a project of PRBO) was given by Isaiah. Gordon talked about Marin County’s draft Stream Conservation Ordinance and we even have enough time for audience Q&A.

• Laura Chariton holds a Master’s Degree in Riparian Policy, is a watershed specialist and a founder of Watershed Alliance of Marin. She will speak on what makes a healthy creek and what homeowners can do in their backyards while saving salmon, preventing flooding and stopping water pollution. She is a past Board member of Mill Valley StreamKeepers.

• Gordon Bennett, Salmon Protection and Watershed Network, will address the draft Marin County Streamside Conservation Area Ordinance. Gordon is President of Marin Green Leadership and Save Our Seashore and on the Board of Directors of Audubon Canyon Ranch. Past experiences are as Chair of the Clean Energy Committee, Marin Group at Sierra Club; Chair of the Parks & Wildlife; and Board of Directors for Environmental Action Committee of West Marin.

• Isaiah Thalmayer, STRAW Project Manager, PRBO Conservation Science. PRBO conserves birds, other wildlife, and their ecosystems through innovative scientific research and outreach.

The Gallinas Watershed Council is a 501c3 non profit group under MarinLink. We support watershed wise planning, restoration and education, in the 94903 area. Contact Judy at 415-578-2580

GWC Earth Day Hike and Cleanup 2013

On the 2013 Earth Day the Gallinas Watershed Council sponsors a WATERSHED HIKE.

Saturday April 20, 2013 from 3-5 PM

Purpose:

•     To gather and have fun!
•     To learn about the Gallinas Headwaters, and the role of headwaters in watershed health. ( there will NOT be a test, points given for interesting questions)
•     To share Gallinas Watershed facts, information and stories about Gallinas Headwaters and the watershed

Logistics:

•     Meet at car shuttle, Northwest corner, Embassy Suites Hotel parking lot.
•     Parking is available

Path:

•     Leave parking lot at 3:15 and walk around Gallinas Creek Urban Corridor

Entering Gallinas Creek Ditch in Terra Linda for Earth Day Hike and Cleanup

Hike Leader: Hydrologist Rachel Kamman
Total hike distance: ~ 3 miles
Total time:  2.0 hrs
Difficulty:  Easy to Moderate

Everyone is welcome:
Kids  – Great!

Dogs – sure, well behaved and on leash please since we are walking as a group.  Be ready to pick up after rover!

Raindate:  None!
Rain does not cancel

Dress appropriately and be prepared for mud.

Mcinnis Floating Dock

Join the Gallinas Watershed Council on Saturday March 9, 2013 from 3-5 PM for a WATERSHED HIKE.

Purpose:

•     To gather and have fun!
•     To learn about the Gallinas Headwaters, and the role of headwaters in watershed health. ( there will NOT be a test, points given for interesting questions)
•     To share Gallinas Watershed facts, information and stories about Gallinas Headwaters and the watershed

Logistics:

•     Meet at floating dock, Gallinas North Fork, near McInnis Park entrance and the picnic grounds.map
•     Parking is available

Path:

•     Leave Dock at 3:15 and walk around baylands on levy trails.

Hike Leader: Hydrologist Rachel Kamman
Total hike distance: approx 3 miles
Total time:  2.0 hrs
Difficulty:  Easy and flat.

Everyone is welcome:
Kids  – Great!  I’m bringing 3
Dogs – sure, well behaved and on leash please since we are walking as a group.  Be ready to pick up after rover!

Raindate:  None!
Rain does not cancel
Dress appropriately and be prepared for mud.

The folks who attended the GWC monthly meeting on March 7 were eager to hear from Marin County representatives Liz Lewis (Marin County Dept of Public Works) and Elise Holland (Marin County Parks) who gave us an update on the Marin County Watershed Program.

Members of the Gallinas Watershed Council (GWC) are volunteers who are working to achieve and maintain a healthy and vital watershed.

Our goal is to unite with all stakeholders to ste­ward our watershed community.  

We invite you to join us!

Gallinas Watershed Council’s Mission

• Connect the people who live and work and play in Las Gallinas Valley with their creek and watershed
• Advance local conservation action
• Promote watershed restoration, protection and education

Watershed Definitions

• A watershed is a place in the landscape, a unit of earth through which water travels from hilltop to ocean.   Threads of water move over, on and through a watershed, connecting all things within – human, natural and man-made.
• A watershed is also a turning point that drives new ways of thinking or acting. Passage through a watershed moment changes perspective and perception – typically an altered course of action results.
• Watershed Stewardship:  Choosing to manage our actions or lands in watershed units, to better align our human influences with the natural processes at work in the landscape.

Our Watershed Vision

(This is an idealized description of the Gallinas Watershed that, through our actions, we strive to achieve and maintain.) 

Our community is comprised of a diverse population of residents and businesses who treasure and are actively involved in the stewardship of the watershed.

Contiguous public open spaces, from headwaters to bay, are ecologically linked by a greenway park and promenade that is used by people and wildlife.

Gallinas Creek’s historic bay lands, South and North forks are restored, clean and accessible.  A robust population of clapper rail, steelhead trout and birds flourish in the restored creek.

The greenway park promenade becomes the preferred route to schools and shopping.  Gallinas Watershed communities from Santa Venetia to Terra Linda are connected and strengthened by this thriving neighborhood and ecological corridor.  Children play and people gather beside its tree-shaded waters.  Headwaters (the source of our streams, supporting native plant communities) are protected and accessible in the open space hills.

Source waters are untapped, preserving seasonal seeps and springs that feed clean, cool flowing streams.  Oak savannah and wooded hills remain, speckled with spring wildflowers and carpeted with native grasses that ripple in the breeze like ocean waves.

Communities embrace the headlands, greenway and bay lands as assets for both commercial and residential elements of the urban landscape.  In bay land and streamside communities, flood protection needs are identified and addressed.  With historic bay lands restored, tidal creeks are naturally sustained by daily tidal exchange so that dredging is no longer required.  Captured rainwater soaks into gardens so that runoff is clean and minimal.   Green streets and sidewalks treat runoff before it reaches Gallinas Creek and San Pablo Bay.

In winter months, ball fields, parks and floodplains pond with storm water, easing flood hazards and reducing erosion.

Residents rebuild community by getting out of their cars and meeting their neighbors as they safely travel to work and school. Embraced in the restored watershed, they are at home.

All residents are caretakers in a watershed.  Called stewards, we are guardians of the landscapes we inhabit.

Our lives are a passing moment in geologic time.  With care, we remove seemingly indelible impacts on our watersheds.  These actions, embraced by future generations, improve the health of our watershed and, in turn, our health and that of our children.

We hope this inspires your watershed vision and a positive stewardship of the habitat that is your home.

King Tide, Mouth of Gallinas Creek, Santa Venetia

A Vision for Marin County Watersheds

Marin watersheds share common features that unify our communities.  Because of their small and intimate size, we can know the folds of our hills, drink from their sources, and traverse from headwaters to bay or ocean on an afternoon jaunt.

The beauty is spectacular, and the landscape rich with habitat which, elsewhere, is now largely lost to the overbuilt world that surrounds most cities.

To preserve and protect these values, Marin County adopts a watershed management approach integrating community maintenance, land use planning and climate adaption.  To support this effort, watershed stewardship groups throughout Marin County join together to empower watershed change.

A new economic model is devised in which existing communities provide revenue needed for their management, maintenance and watershed stewardship.   The ecological impacts of our communities are mitigated within our watersheds, and our natural resources are sustained.

Over time, the efficiency in our built environment increases, and our watersheds become ecologically and economically self-sustaining.

We invite you to locate yourselves in Marin watersheds

·        Focus your mental lens on the landscape, at a micro and a macro scale.

·        Consider your location in the watershed (hills, valley, bay land, creekside, beach) while driving, sleeping, working, or playing.

·        Envision the natural resources, plants and animals that share your landscape (past, present, and future).

·        Soak in the beauty; be aware and choose the impacts of your stewardship.

Clean Boating literature

Marin County Boaters and Sailors!

Clean Boating Workshop POSTPONED

Ahoy!

California has one of the highest levels of recreational boating activity in the nation. With more than four million motorized and non-motorized recreational boats in California, every effort to implement clean boating practices is a significant step towards preserving the waterways in our beautiful state.

You are invited to attend a unique free CLEAN BOATING WORKSHOP

February 21, 2013 POSTPONED

RSVP

Topics will include:

Clean and Green Boating Practices:

The DBW and California Coastal Commission’s Boating Clean and Green Program will review some simple environmentally-sound boating practices you can implement related to oil, fuel, trash and marine debris.

Seminar participants will receive a FREE BOATER KIT including:

• oil absorbent pillow,
• information about environmental boating laws,
• oil related disposal site information,
• ABCs of Boating laws,
• MORE GOODIES!

Sewage Solutions:

The Department of Boating and Waterways (DBW) Clean Vessel Act Program and the San Francisco Estuary Partnership will be providing information on how to discharge your sewage properly.

Seminar participants will also receive for FREE:

• Copies of the San Francisco Bay and Delta pumpout maps
• Voucher good for one free mobile sewage pumpout.

Please let us know if you are interested.
RSVP here (mention “Clean Boating”)

Thanks for being good stewards of the environment!
Sponsored by the Gallinas Watershed Council.

Reflections on Water Photo Exhibit

The Photography Exhibit ENDS ON February 23, 2013

A solo exhibit of Creekwalker photographs celebrating the life and beauty of Marin creeks.

Free photographic exhibition at the Bay Model in Sausalito. Brought to you by the Gallinas Watershed Council. Proceeds from photography sales shall benefit GWC.

Thank you to all the volunteers who made our Gala Reception on Saturday, January 26th a huge success! We had over 300 people in attendance.

Reflections on Water from carla on Vimeo.

Direction to the Bay Model

View Larger Map

Invitation to 2013 Creekwalker Photography Exhibit at Bay Model Sausalito

BUY PHOTOS

Interested in purchasing some of these photos? Visit www.creekwalker.netCreekwalker.net

SPONSORS

GWC would like to thank all our wonderful sponsors!

The Reflections on Water Reception was made possible through generous donations from:

Santa Venetia Market
Ponsford’s Place Bakery
Lagunitas Brewing Company
Guayaki Yerba Mate Organic Tea
Hull, Eisenbarth & Associates

and through the generous donations of the following vendors at the Marin Farmer’s Market located in the Gallinas Watershed:

Affi’s Marin Gourmet
Avi’s Gourmet 2 Go… and Avi-ously Delicious Catering
Full Belly Farm
OctoberFeast Bakery
Olsen Organic Farm
Panorama Baking Company
Star Route Farms
Tomatero Farm