AUGUST 2014

Enter the Scenic California Coastal Trail Snapshot Contest

There are tons of great prizes and plenty of ways to win! Go to the California Coastal Trail, take a snapshot and submit your photo here. 

The photo with the most votes will win a stay at SeaVenture Resort and a Guided Kayak Tour for Two with Central Coast Outdoors. Judges will select their favorite photo and the winner will receive a stay at North Cliff Hotel and a guided sunset paddle with Liquid Fusion Kayaking. Runner up awards for ocean adventures will be given out as well with Sub Sea Tour, Condor Express Whale Watch and Newport Whales!

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San Geronimo Golf Course Streamside Restoration Project Kicks Off 

The San Geronimo Golf Course Bank Stabilization Project kicked off this month with the help of contractors, 15 volunteers, and SPAWN interns and staff. First, contractors widened the steep banks that lined the incised creek channel to promote a more natural floodplain environment and better transport sediment including important spawning gravel for native endangered coho salmon. Then, several large woody debris structures (tree logs and root balls) were set into the creek to act as "speed bumps" that will deflect the flow of water away from eroding banks while creating cool, shady hiding spots for the endangered fish.

Next, the volunteer crew removed over a dozen invasive Himalayan blackberry plants, installed 600 square feet of erosion control fabric, planted over 60 individual riparian plants, installed 50 feet of a straw log at the base of the slope for erosion control, and installed a drip irrigation system to all the plants on Saturday August 9th. This impressive progress could only have been accomplished with the help of hardworking volunteers and interns. To those who came out this past weekend, thank you for your incredible work ethic and energy that helped transform this landscape into a more salmon-friendly habitat.

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Roy's Pools to Get a Makeover 

The Lagunitas Creek Watershed in Northern California is arguably one of the most important habitats for endangered California coastal coho salmon, so when Turtle Island’s Executive Director Todd Steiner learned that an aging dam was blocking their natural migration route he took action and SPAWN, Salmon Protection And Watershed Network, was born. SPAWN working with a large collaboration of community members and local environmental groups, was able to successfully remove Roy’s Dam in 1999, creating Roy’s Pools. But now, our flagship project is in need of updates to continue to support healthy fish migrations.

SPAWN plans to build a new, natural channel at the site of Roy’s Pools that will allow young juvenile fish to swim downstream to the ocean, and adult coho salmon can swim upstream to spawn. This new channel will support salmon during all of their life stages and hopefully increase the number of spawning salmon seen in our watershed each year.

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Meet SPAWN's Watershed Biologist Preston Brown

In case you haven’t already bumped into Turtle Island’s Watershed Biologist Preston Brown on Friday’s at the native plant nursery or seen him driving the newly donated truck to a restoration site or wondered ‘who is that guy in the creek?’ read on to learn about him and his role at SPAWN.

Preston is a Colorado native. He graduated from Colorado State University (CSU) in 2012 with a Bachelor’s in Natural Resource Management. During his time at CSU he gained field experience working as a Fisheries Research Specialist for the Natural Resources Ecology Lab and an Ecological Research Assistant and Field Technician for the Restoration Ecology Laboratory. He also had the opportunity to oversee and manage an array of streamside restoration projects and experiments as Environmental Stewardship Manager at the Environmental Learning Center at CSU.

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Obama Administration Finalizes Stronger Stream Buffers to Protect Imperiled Salmon from Pesticides 

The Environmental Protection Agency today finalized an agreement to restore no-spray buffer zones around waterways to protect imperiled salmon and steelhead from five toxic pesticides. Turtle Island Restoration Network and a coalition of conservation organizations, advocates for alternatives to pesticides, and fishing groups cheered the victory. These groups brought a lawsuit to demand reasonable fish protections from the insecticides, some of which are derived from nerve toxins developed during World War II.

"Keeping highly toxic pesticides out of our streams and rivers is a clear victory for families, coastal communities and salmon," said Todd Steiner, executive director of Turtle Island and SPAWN. "It is way more cost effective than trying to clean up the mess after the fact."

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