Your monthly update from SPAWN

February Newsletter

As we swim through Cupid’s month of love, we here at SPAWN want to extend a little extra appreciation and gratitude to our devoted volunteers and members that help us protect our planet. Thanks to you, SPAWN is thoughtfully and deliberately addressing some of the biggest challenges in the environmental crisis, from our naturalist training course to our upcoming project to clear an integral fish passage. With Mother Nature as our forever Valentine, we promise to continue to do everything in our power to protect and heal the planet so that you and future generations can continue to love and enjoy nature for years to come.

SPAWN to Remove Central California’s Top-Priority Fish Barrier This Summer

Starting in July, SPAWN will begin construction at the former San Geronimo golf course to remove the highest priority fish passage obstacle in Central California. Known as Roy's Pools Fish Passage and Floodplain Restoration Project, this large obstruction currently limits upstream and downstream migration, and creates deadly habitat conditions for endangered coho salmon and threatened steelhead trout as they try to navigate it. This project is necessary to allow migrating salmon unimpeded passage above and below the barrier throughout the year. 

TIRN Advocates for Marin County Coho at Board of Supervisors Meeting

Turtle Island Restoration Network attended a Marin County Board of Supervisors Meeting this week to advocate for endangered coho salmon in Marin County, California. After decades of inaction or failures, the Marin County Board of Supervisors has once again put forth a proposal that may ensure protections for the remaining coho salmon that depend on Marin’s streams for their continued existence. However, such environmental protections are far from guaranteed, as the Board has historically been swayed away from such protections.

Why We're NO on Measure D in Marin County

Voters in Marin County, California have the chance to protect critical wildlife habitat and restore the last great coho salmon run in the Bay Area this March—by voting NO on Measure D. To prevent the former San Geronimo golf course from becoming a public park and wildlife open space, Measure D would restrict any use of the property other than golf. The measure explicitly states that the property "does not need to be 'restored,'" inherently blocking and defeating important habitat restoration work SPAWN and other local groups have worked on for many years. 

Internship Opportunity: Habitat Restoration

SPAWN is currently seeking a Habitat Restoration Intern to join our team in Olema, California! The Habitat Restoration Intern assists with the planning, implementation, monitoring and maintenance of habitat restoration projects in the Lagunitas Creek Watershed, home to the largest remaining wild run of endangered coho salmon in Central California. This internship will help you gain hands-on experience in field biology and restoration, plant identification, native plant propagation, restoration techniques, project management, event organization, volunteer management, and more.

Protections Slashed for Bay Area Streams

On Jan. 23 the Trump administration finalized a plan to slash Clean Water Act protections for streams, rivers, and millions of acres of wetlands, allowing those waters to be destroyed and polluted with impunity. The loss of protections triggered by the Trump rule will ultimately accelerate the extinction of more than 75 endangered species in the San Francisco Bay Area, including red legged frogs, freshwater shrimp, and coho salmon. In Marin and Sonoma counties, as well as the South Bay and East Bay, ephemeral drainages will lose protection and negatively affect streams that support anadromous salmonids.

Scholarships Awarded for Calif. Naturalist Course

Thanks to the West Marin Fund, a limited number of scholarships were awarded to members serving underrepresented communities in West Marin County to cover the cost of our UC California Naturalist certification course! We will be holding our course over six weeks beginning in February at our headquarters in Olema. During the course, ten different guest lecturers will share knowledge from their area of expertise with the class. Participants will explore the redwood forests, oak woodlands, and marine tidal zones of Marin County, California.

SPAWN Joins Rally to Defend Dugongs

SPAWN joined more than 70 activists, including members of the local Okinawan community, students, and lawyers in San Francisco to stand for the Okinawa dugong, a critically endangered relative of the manatee that holds a central place in the culture of Okinawa, Japan. The last remaining population of these marine mammals are facing a grave threat from the U.S. Department of Defense, which is planning to construct and operate a Marine Corps base that will fill in and pave over hundreds of acres of rich coral and seagrass habitat critical to the survival of dugongs. Please add your name to our petition, asking the U.S. Department of Defense to halt this environmentally, politically, and socially disastrous project.

Photo of the Month: New Redwood Tree Growth!

Valentine's Day came early at SPAWN after our Native Plant Nursery Manager Audrey Fusco noticed a few of the coastal redwood trees we seeded this winter were sprouting with new love! Although a single redwood tree cone can produce up to 100 seeds, only one in 14 germinate, or sprout. The signs of new life in the nursery bring warm fuzzy feelings to us and we can't wait to plant these babies in the ground when they establish a strong root system in three years! To give this redwood and other redwood trees a home, please Adopt a Redwood today to support our carbon-sequestering program in Northern California.

Volunteer Days & Events

SPAWN offers many opportunities for individuals and groups to help with protecting endangered coho salmon in the San Francisco Bay Area. Please join us!

  • Fridays for Future: Grow Native Plants for Coho Salmon. Help tend to native plants and seeds used for local stream restoration projects in SPAWN's Native Plant Nursery every Friday from 10am to 1pm. Activities include preparing seeds, sowing and tending native plants ranging from ferns to redwoods. View upcoming Nursery Volunteer Days by clicking here.

Join Our Network

    

Salmon Protection And Watershed Network
A program of Turtle Island Restoration Network
PO Box 370, Forest Knolls, CA 94933

415.663.8590
[email protected] .  

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