08/2021

Robin Meadows, Coexisting with Coho During Drought, Bay Area Monitor. Oakland, CA.

“Conservation can decrease pressure on agencies to keep water in reservoirs, freeing up more for environmental flows, Every little bit helps. Collectively, our actions will determine whether the Bay Area’s coho disappear or return in abundance to our coastal creeks.” – Sarah Phillips, MRCD Urban Streams Program Manager

Will Houston, Marin creek gets rare visit from endangered salmon, Mercury News. San Jose, CA.

“For more than a decade, biologists dutifully returned each winter in search of endangered coho salmon at a once-thriving stronghold flowing through Point Reyes National Seashore — only to come up empty-handed. That changed this year.”

09/2017

Ariel Rubissow Okamoto, Snorkel Surveys Reveal the Fish World of Mount Tam’s Creeks, Bay Nature

07/2017

Steve Milne, Feds OK New Mercury Protections In California Waters, capradio

05/2017

Zen Menahem, Ocean Acidification Makes Salmons Lose Ability To Sense Predators, According To Researchers From The University Of Washington, The Science Times

Effects of Ocean Acidification on Salmon and Sablefish Neurobehavioral Function – Evan Gallagher

Mark Prado, Kent Lake water flow study to look at fish impact, Marin Independent Journal

Barry Eberling, Follwing a wet winter, Napa River fish trap yields high salmon count, Napa Valley Register

Monica Heger, Dams Be Damned: California Rebuilds the Salmon Habitat It Destroyed, yes! Magazine

04/2017

Wendy Culverwell, Learning to love the (Pacific) lamprey, Tri-City Herald

CalFish Lamprey Information

01/2017

Kristin Hanes, California’s recent storms are devastating endangered salmon, SF Gate

The following is an update from Eric Ettlinger, Aquatic Ecologist with Marin Water on January 13, 2017: “The current state of affairs in Lagunitas Creek can be described as a glass-half-full/glass-half-empty situation. Or more accurately, a reservoir-full, streambed-empty situation. By the end of December the coho salmon run was on track to be larger than the parent generation of three years ago and continue the generational improvements we’ve seen for each of the last five years. But then came the unrelenting storms of the last two weeks. On the positive side those storms filled MMWD’s reservoirs and produced the high flows that can create and improve salmon habitats in Lagunitas Creek. On the negative side those flows destroyed many coho redds, washed away some of our salmon habitat structures, and severely hampered our survey work. We’ve heard rumors of fresh coho out there (and steelhead should be starting to spawn too), but we haven’t been able to see them ourselves. The most recent storm raised Lagunitas Creek flows to 4,300 cubic feet per second, which was the third-highest flow in 35 years. In the coming months we’ll see if this flood had significant impacts on incubating salmon eggs and/or last year’s fry. Previous major floods in 1998 and 2006 resulted in very poor egg survival, and we expect to see relatively few fry again this summer. One-year-old juvenile coho have survived recent large floods successfully, likely by seeking out slow water areas on floodplains.  Ironically, it may be moderate storm events that are most deadly, because flows stay confined in the stream channel and slow water habitats may be hard to find. This summer we’ll be enhancing a number of areas on Lagunitas Creek to provide exactly those kinds of slow water habitats. On an optimistic note, the floods this season have risen and receded rapidly, hopefully subjecting coho fry to fast, confined flows only briefly. In late March we’ll start counting the surviving smolts as they migrate to the ocean and, one way or the other, that data will contribute to our understanding of how salmon survive floods and what we can do to help.”

Mark Prado, Expected Friday rains will boost Marin’s coho, Marin Indepedent Journal

Charlotte Ambrose, Species in the Spotlight: Central California Coast Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), NOAA Fisheries

02/2016

Sandi Doughton, Toxic road runoff kills adult coho salmon in hours, study finds, The Seattle Times

10/2015

Peter Moyle, An update on California fishes of ‘special concern’, UC Davic Center for Watershed Sciences

California Fish Species of Special Concern, 3rd Edition (2015) published

Tomales Roach (Lavinia symmetricus ssp.) has recently changed its status to a Species of Moderate Concern

2014/02/13

Clyde, G. 2014. Marin RCD obtains large grant for ag. Marin Citizen. Marin, CA.

Mark Prado, Chinook salmon return to Marin, coho shouldn’t be too far behind, Marin Independent Journal

2014/02/08

Watts, J. 2014.  Marin Voice: ‘Carbon farming’ and Marin’s drought. Marin Independent Journal. San Rafael, CA.

MALT Executive Director, Jamison Watts, wrote that practices implemented through the Marin Carbon Project, specifically compost application on rangeland, can help ranchers manage for drought by increasing soil water holding capacity.  Marin RCD is one of the many partners working on the Marin Carbon Project.

John Whitfield, Fish fertilize trees: Wild salmon and trees have a mutually beneficial relationship, nature

12/2021

Will Houston, Marin lands $1M state grant for carbon farming projects, Marin Independant Journal. San Rafael, CA.

08/2021

Robin Meadows, Coexisting with Coho During Drought, Bay Area Monitor. Oakland, CA.

“When Bolinas farmer Peter Martinelli decided to help coho salmon by boosting summer water levels in Pine Gulch Creek, which runs through his land, he had no idea that the project would take two decades to complete. Now he’s happy he saw it through. Coho are endangered in most of their California range, and droughts like the one we’re experiencing now are among the biggest threats to these coastal salmon.”

“My grandpa used to say that salmon in the creeks were so thick, you could walk across the top of them,” – Jody Brazil (speaking of Walker Creek)

“Conservation can decrease pressure on agencies to keep water in reservoirs, freeing up more for environmental flows, Every little bit helps. Collectively, our actions will determine whether the Bay Area’s coho disappear or return in abundance to our coastal creeks.” – Sarah Phillips, MRCD Urban Streams Program Manager

Will Houston, Marin creek gets rare visit from endangered salmon, Mercury News. San Jose, CA.

“For more than a decade, biologists dutifully returned each winter in search of endangered coho salmon at a once-thriving stronghold flowing through Point Reyes National Seashore — only to come up empty-handed. That changed this year.”

Although nesting sites were not found at Pine Gulch Creek, one nesting site was found in Pine Gulch Creek, which follows Highway 1 and flows into Bolinas Lagoon. A potential reason why: 

“For [National Park Service biologist Michael]Reichmuth the most likely explanation for why a salmon nest was found in Pine Gulch Creek after more than a decade is that some coho were unable to access Redwood Creek because of the drought conditions this winter. A sand berm at the mouth of Redwood Creek at Muir Beach can prevent fish from entering if winter rainfall isn’t enough to generate flows that can break through it…Pine Gulch Creek typically has more water than Redwood Creek, in part because of a program enacted by the Marin Resource Conservation District in 2016. Under the program, three Bolinas farms agreed to forgo their summer water diversions from the creek and instead were given permission to store water in four ponds during the more flush winter months. The intention was to provide fish, especially young rearing coho, more water during the summer months when flows can drop to dangerously low levels in dry years.”

10/2017

Richard Halstead, Marin supervisors tee up for purchase of San Geronimo Golf Course, Marin Independent Journal

Nona Dennis, Many creeks run through it, Marin Conservation League

08/2017

Mark Prado, West Marin creek project aims to help endangered fish, Marin Independent Journal

James Herrera, Carmel River Lagoon project to enhance steelhead trout habitat with debris drop, Monterey Herald

Sarah Phillips: Marin RCD Urban Streams Program Manager, Report to Marin County BOS regarding USC Program to date (22 months), start at 1 hr 48 min mark

12/2015

Beau Evans, Creek restorations sequester tons of bad gas, study finds, Point Reyes Light

10/2015

Mark Prado, Trout Unlimited fish protection work comes at perfect time, Marin Indepedent Journal

Stephanie Weldy, Bio-filtering islands launched into Civic Center Lagoon at Bioneers Conference, Marin Indepedent Journal

06/2015

Sarah Phillips: Marin RCD Urban Streams Program Manager, Report to Marin County BOS regarding USC Program to date (9 months), start at 2 hr 10 min mark

10/2014

Megen Hansen, Movers & Shakers: Marin Conservation District hires urban streams coordinator, Marin Independent Journal

RCD launches new program, Point Reyes Light

Shelly Ingram, Ranching in jeopardy says former National Park Service superintendent, West Marin Citizen

George Clyde, Marin RCD Launches New Program to Improve Local Creeks, MRCD Press Release

2014/02/08

Watts, J. 2014.  Marin Voice: ‘Carbon farming’ and Marin’s drought. Marin Independent Journal. San Rafael, CA.

MALT Executive Director, Jamison Watts, wrote that practices implemented through the Marin Carbon Project, specifically compost application on rangeland, can help ranchers manage for drought by increasing soil water holding capacity.  Marin RCD is one of the many partners working on the Marin Carbon Project.