 Council to Meet
December 15, 3:30-5:30 pm Red Barn Classroom
(Point Reyes Seashore Headquarters)
- Update on Vessel Management Plan for Tomales Bay
- Infomational Presentation by the Regional Water Qualtiy Control Board on their Authorities and Programs in our Watershed
See Full Agenda below
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Tuesday Dec. 15, 2009
3:30-5:30 p.m.
Red Barn Classroom,
Point Reyes National Seashore Headquarters
I. Introduction and Council business
3:30-3:40
· Announcements
· Review agenda and meeting summaries
II. Informational Presentation on the TomalesBay Vessel Management Plan
3:40-4:40
Brad Damitz, Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and Dominique Richard, Chair of the Working Group on the Tomales Bay Vessel Management Plan will give an informational presentation on the Vessel Management Plan that is being developed for boating and related activities on TomalesBay. Time for questions and discussion to follow.
III. Informational presentation by the Regional Water Quality Control Board
4:40-5:00
Dale Hopkins, Council member and S.F.Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board representative, will give a presentation on the programs, projects and authorities that the RWQCB has pertaining to TomalesBay and its watershed. Time for questions and discussion to follow.
IV. Committee Reports
5:00-5:30
A. ChickenRanchBeach Committee: Mairi Pileggi
B. Water Quality Committee: Rob Carson
C. Habitat Committee/ SOLI: Tom Gardali
D. Outreach Committee: Carlos Porrata
E. Agriculture Committee: Richard Plant
F. Science Committee: David Lewis
G. Executive Committee: Jerry Abbott
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November 17 Council Meeting Summary
Last Month's Highlights:
- Presentation by Nick's Cove and Cottages
Michele O'Hara presented their proposal to Marin County Community Development Agency for limited live music, upgraded waste management treatment, catering on the public deck and pier, use of the boat shack for gatherings and meetings, boat charters and rides for their customers. They have purchased a 42' boat, a 22' transfer boat and a 38' trawler. They propose to provide 18' to 22' boats for customers who are experienced boaters and facilitate kayak rentals through a local kayak business. They have agreed to build a pump-out station at their location. Michele, Pat Kuleto and Will Dunbar answered questions from the TBWC members and members of the public. Many questions were raised about the ongoing operations and issues Nick's has struggled with over the last two years and potential impacts of their proposed plans both at the restaurant and on the Bay.
- Tomales Bay Watershed Council Water Quality Monitoring Program Update
Rob Carson gave an update of the water quality Monitoring program, detailing the results of the long term water quality trend, source area and Giacomini restoration project monitoring. See more in the article below.
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 Water Quality Program Update
The Tomales Bay Watershed Council (TBWC) water quality monitoring program has been underway for nearly two years. Initial data from the first two water-years of the program was summarized in a presentation to the Council at the November meeting. The presentation will be available on our website at:www.tomalesbaywatershed.org/waterquality.html . A detailed analysis will be available with the upcoming release of the second annual water quality report (currently in review). Our next newsletter will have more details...Stay Tuned!!
All bacteria results collected as part of this program are currently available on our website at: www.tomalesbaywatershed.org/trendmonitoring.html . These data are posted as results become available from our laboratory analyses.
One element of the program is Trends monitoring which seeks to compile and analyze long-term water quality trends in the Tomales Bay Watershed. The Trends program is the only long-term water quality program that is collectingdata from the watershed as a whole. We are monitoring tributary sites that capture nearly 92% of the freshwater input to Tomales Bay and four bay sites along the length of the bay. This data will be combined with other existing data sets from agencies and groups that have collected or continue to collect water quality data in the watershed. This last effort will enable our organization to leverage direct program data with data collected by others to increase the time period available from which to analyze long-term water quality trends in the watershed. Next year's annual report will include analysis of all data compiled through our efforts.
Early-Season Soaking
An unseasonably wet storm soaked the Tomales Bay Watershed in October. With reported rainfall topping out at nearly five inches, the storm that arrived on October 13th caused many of the drainages in the watershed to experience a "first-flush event". This term means that pollution accumulated during the dry season is mobilized and flushed through the drainage and into lower drainages or into the bay. As would be expected, we documented elevated fecal coliform bacteria levels throughout the watershed (many tributary sites registering levels over 16,000 MPN/100mL). We also documented elevated levels of nutrients in many sub watersheds, most notably in San Geronimo Creek, First Valley Creek, Keyes Creek and Millerton Gulch. Results from the day of the storm and the following week demonstrate pollution loading under early-seasons storm conditions, and provided important data for understanding early-season pollution dynamics in our watershed. For more information about results from this event, please see our water quality page: www.tomalesbaywatershed.org/waterquality.html .
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