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This winter, GRRCD completed work on the Alder Creek Ranch Erosion Control Project, an effort to improve water quality and fish habitat in Dutch Bill Creek, outside Occidental. Dutch Bill is a critical habitat stream for coho salmon and steelhead trout: adult fish spawn in the creek, and their offspring spend their first year there before migrating to the ocean. It’s vital that cool, clean water flows down the creek, not just in the winter when adult fish lay their eggs in the gravel, but throughout the summer and fall, when juvenile fish are growing in preparation for migration.

Funded by grants from Sonoma Water and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the project aimed to repair eroding streambanks at three locations along Lancel Creek, a major Dutch Bill tributary stream. Oversteepened and failing banks were excavated at all three sites, and at the upstream-most site (where the most severe erosion was occurring) the bank was armored with large rock to prevent future erosion. Preventing bank erosion improves salmon habitat downstream by reducing the amount of fine sediment that washes into the creek. Too much fine sediment can kill fish eggs in the bed of Dutch Bill Creek by preventing the flow of oxygenated water through the gravel.

To further improve water quality for salmon, we worked with our partners at Point Blue Conservation Science’s Students and Teachers Restoring a Watershed (STRAW) program to restore riparian vegetation at the project site. Over 300 willow sprigs and other native plants were planted by students from Salmon Creek School and Montgomery High School, working with STRAW staff. Reestablishing riparian vegetation at the project site will shade the creek and reduce water temperatures and evaporation during the dry season, which benefits juvenile salmon downstream. Willows also offer additional protection against erosion because they develop dense root systems that stabilize the soil of the streambanks. In addition, numerous bird species will benefit by the improvement of foraging and nesting habitat in the riparian zone, and the diverse riparian vegetation will provide benefits for other wildlife species, including amphibians.

The Sonoma and Gold Ridge RCDs are very excited to announce in-person 3rd and 4th grade field trips coming up in Spring 2022! In partnership with the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District (Ag + Open Space), the TEAM program invites elementary students to experience our diverse agricultural landscapes and ecosystems of Sonoma County. See our TEAM flyer detailing our spring 2022 field trip lineup, learn how to sign-up, and where to submit a request for transportation reimbursement.

For more details visit the TEAM program webpage here. Please contact Christine Kuehn, Education and Communications Manager at ckuehn@sonomarcd.org if you are interested in participating or learning more. There is no charge for these field trips, which is made possible by the voters of Sonoma County who fund the work of Ag + Open Space with a quarter-cent sales tax.

Want to know more about what the RCD is doing? Want to get to know our Board? You can find details on our Board Meetings here

I recently joined the RCD in late February 2022. I am excited to be visiting sites and meeting partners as I get up to speed on how I can contribute to the RCD's impactful work in our community. Previously I was the senior conservation biologist for the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency where I implemented restoration projects and helped manage over 6,000 acres of protected reserve lands while implementing a regional plan to recover threatened and endangered wildlife and plant species. 

I have dedicated my career to conservation and ecological restoration and it is an honor to bring the skills and experience I have gathered home to the community where I grew up. I am inspired by the hands-on opportunities to improve stream and soil health and the range of ways the RCD is engaged on the ground and producing tangible benefits across our landscape. There is so much to learn from the staff and partners at the RCD. 

I enjoy time outdoors spent hiking, cycling, surfing, skiing, and managing the forest on my family's property near Freestone. I collect too many books and I'm always interested to learn more about the land use history of a given place. I volunteer as a board member of the California Society for Ecological Restoration and on the science and land management advisory committee for the Big Sur Land Trust. And I'm always game to talk baseball.

This virtual course teaches agricultural professionals and farmers how to support beneficial birds and manage pest birds on farms. By learning how to assess the farm’s avian needs and opportunities, farms can be designed to provide for a diversity of beneficial birds. If pest birds are a problem, they can be discouraged with specific practices during the shorter periods when they cause damage. The sessions cover the latest research, tools and resources, and are given by experts in avian pest control, entomology, ornithology and conservation.

The Monarch Joint Venture is offering FREE technical assistance, milkweed plugs, and a regionally specialized 'More than Monarchs seed mix' for pollinator plantings on private working lands in central California. The More than Monarchs seed mixes include regionally specific wildflowers, including reseeding annuals and perennials, designed with overlapping bloom periods throughout the growing season. We are excited to engage farmers and ranchers in meaningful habitat establishment to support all pollinators.  

Compost is the finished product that results from aerobic composting. It is a soil amendment containing a wide variety of nutrients, micro-nutrients, and organic matter, all of which benefits the soil. 

The Composting Handbook is an invaluable reference for composting facility managers and operators, prospective managers and operators, regulators, policy makers, environmental advocates, educators, waste generators and managers and generally people interested in composting as a business or a solution to managing organic materials. 

CalRecycle also has some good resources, you can find them here.

This article is a great way to look at how well you know your local environment.

People living here 200 years ago — or even 75-100 years ago — would definitely have known all of these and many currently living in the area, especially those who have lived here much longer that I have, would know most of this. Being mostly an indoorsman, I am only am aware of some of these, and even then only partially. How well do you know your local environment?

The Forestry Technician position offers an exciting opportunity to apply forestry principles and project

management skills to meaningful and impactful conservation work in some of California’s most beautiful landscapes.

Find more information in the job description.

Please submit cover letter, resume, and three references to jwells@sonomarcd.org with the title “Forestry Technician” in the subject line. Applications must be received no later than 11:59 PM PST on April 10, 2022. No phone calls please. 

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