|
CALENDAR
June 30
Comments due on Chicken Ranch Beach Report
August 18
TBWC Meeting
September 21
TBWC Meeting
October 16
TBWC Annual Meeting
State of the Bay |
|
Featured Photo:
Aerial View of Chicken Ranch Beach and
Third Valley Creek Watershed
Photo courtesy of Kamman Hydology and Engineering |
 Welcome!
Tomales Bay Watershed Council (TBWC) News is published monthly. and includes announcements of Council meetings and other happenings in the watershed.
If you have not joined our mailing list already, please sign up using the link on the side panel. Please feel free to forward this email on to any friends and associates you think may be interested
If you received this email in error, please see unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of this message.
We welcome your comments on our newsletter or on any of the Council's Activities. We also welcome contibuted articles, links to relevant websites, and photograghs Contact us at info@tomalesbaywatershed.org.
You can now make donations to the Tomales Bay Watershed Council Foundation electronically! |
Your donation will be used to:
|
|
State of the Bay
Save the date: October 22-23
It has been ten years since the last State of the Bay conference gathered concerned scientists and citizens to examine the condition of Tomales Bay. What has been gained and what has been lost in that ten years? Plan to join scientists, policy makers, and concerned citizens to learn the latest findings on the condition of the resources the Bay, review the successes in collaborative action to protect the Bay and its watershed, and look ahead at future issues that will impact Tomales Bay, its watershed, and our natural and human communities.
|
|
Chicken Ranch Beach/3rd Valley Creek: Draft Restoration Feasibility and Conceptual Design Report released;
comments accepted through June 30
 The draft report, detailing alternative approaches to restoring Chicken Ranch Beach, has now been released. The full report, prepared by Kamman Hydrology and Engineering, is available for downloading from TBWC ftp site (the full report is 26MB). For instructions on downloading, email to info@tomalesbaywatershed.org. Copies of the report are also avialable at all local libraries. A 2MB pdf document containing exerpted sections of the report including project goals, opportunities and constraints and alternative restoration approaches and costs, can be download or printed here.
Objectives of the proposed project include mproving water quality conditions and enhancing wetland, riparian and aquatic habitats. More specifically, project objectives include: The report includes a review of the history of the area and a thorough assessment of the watershed environmental characteristics. It outlines opportunities for improving water quality and wildlife habitat and reducing channel maintenance, sedimentation and flooding, It notes the constraints, including property ownership, history of litigation, existing public and private infrastructure, and water diversions. Four action alternatives are presented. The first three involve improvements in stormwater drainage, flood plain and habitat resoration on public land and on the Inverness Valley Inn and Whitney properties; the fourth envisions purchase of the Keller property and full restoration of the floodplain and associated riparian and wetlands habitats.
|
|
TBWC Water Quality Monitoring:
Measuring Nitrogen
Last month, we offered an explanation of nitrate in surface waters. Nitrogen can appear in several other forms in our surface waters. The Tomales Bay Watershed Council monitors trends in nutrients by analyzing samples for nitrate, ammonia and total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN). TKN is the sum of organic nitrogen and ammonia in the sample. To appreciate the intricacies of nitrogen loading to coastal waters, some understanding of how nitrogen reacts chemically in the environment is useful.
Ammonia. Many of the transformations of nitrogen are mediated by bacteria that use different forms of nitrogen to fuel some of their metabolic processes. During the processes of decomposition, the nitrogen in proteins is transformed eventually to ammonia, (NH3) or ammonium (NH4+). Some kinds of bacteria change ammonia to nitrite (NO2-). And still other kinds of bacteria can change nitrite to nitrate (NO3-).
Organic nitrogen. Another form of nitrogen in the environment is organic nitrogen. We use the term "organic nitrogen" to describe a nitrogen compound that had its origin in living material. The nitrogen in protein and urea is organic nitrogen. Organic nitrogen can enter septic systems as bodily wastes, discarded food material, or as components of cleaning agents.
Water quality criteria. There are no numeric water quality criteria established for TKN in surface waters. Most ammonia in aquatic systems occurs in its ionized (or charged) form of NH4+, but temperature and pH conditions control the conversion to the more toxic un-ionized form of NH3. A high level of un-ionized ammonia is directly toxic to aquatic organisms; also, as it is converted to nitrate, it consumes dissolved oxygen in the water, adversely affecting aquatic life. The RWQCB's Basin Plan (RWQCB 2007) sets a criteria for un-ionized ammonia in surface waters as an annual median <0.025 mg/L as N, and <0.16 mg/L as N in estuarine waters.
Monitoring results. Monitoring results suggest that ammonia levels are low in most parts of the Tomales Bay watershed, with occasional spikes during storm events. Results suggest that organic nitrogen is the most important source of nitrogen loading in our surface waters.
Back to top
|
|
Walker Creek Salmon Monitoring Program: Report available
In 2003, the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) began a multiple-year effort of planting coho salmon into Walker Creek. The Marin Municipal Water District has been conducting monitoring surveys to help evaluate the success of the program. The district conducted a series of monitoring studies between 2003 and 2010 to assess the coho population of Walker Creek. The surveys also gathered information on steelhead and other fish of the creek, water temperatures and aquatic invertebrates. The Marin County Office of Education's Walker Creek Ranch, Marin County Resource Conservation District and local ranchers also supported the effort. MMWD has posted the monitoring results in a comprehensive report on the salmon populations of Walker Creek.
|
Local Organizations helping rescue birds, sea turtles, and marine mammals in the Gulf
 Here are some sites to check out if you want to follow up on impacts of the Deep Water Horizon spill on birds and wildlife, and what local organizations are doing to help.
Diana Humple, PRBO Oil Spill Response leader is assisting with search and collection for oiled wildlife in Louisiana. Diana is part of a team of people coordinated by the International Bird Rescue Research Center.
Although a California-based organization, the Oiled Wildlife Care Network of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine is currently leading the effort to care for oil-affected marine mammals and sea turtles in Louisiana, in partnership with NOAA-NMFS and the USFWS.
Back to top |
Climate Change Report Released
As a working group of the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries Advisory Councils, local scientists from 16 agencies, organizations, and academic institutions, participated in a one-and-a-half-year collaborative effort to develop a comprehensive synopsis of scientific observations and expectations to identify potential issues related to changing climate - with an emphasis on the most severe ecological changes if they occur. The Climate Change Impacts Report released on June 3 provides a foundation of information for each sanctuary to develop strategies to address climate change. The strategies will outline priority management actions to address the impacts of climate change specific to the site, its communities, and the region.
Back to top |
EPA to evaluate 75 new pesticides to protect habitat of endangered species in Bay Area counties, including Marin
Tidewater goby |
On May 18 a federal court yesterday signed an injunction imposing interim restrictions on the use of 75 pesticides in eight Bay Area counties while the Environmental Protection Agency formally evaluates their potentially harmful effects on Bay Aea endangered species over the next five years. The injunction stems from a 2007 lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity against the EPA for violating the Endangered Species Act.
The endangered species are the Alameda whipsnake, bay checkerspot butterfly, California clapper rail, California freshwater shrimp, California tiger salamander, delta smelt, salt marsh harvest mouse, San Francisco garter snake, San Joaquin kit fox, tidewater goby, and valley elderberry longhorn beetle.
|
|
Rainfall in Tomales Bay Watershed
Now that our rainy spring is over, its clear that we've had a wetter than normal year. Rainfall in the current water year has now substantially surpassed the average annual rainfall over the past 30 years. The graph below shows how the current water year (October 1, 2009-September 30, 2010) compares to last year and the long term average.
|
|
Past Issues Would you like to see past issues of our newsletter? Click here to go to our website where past issues of our newsletter (starting with December, 2009) and other information and reports are available | |
|
We appreciate your ongoing interest and support and look forward to hearing from you. Please let us know if this is a meaningful and effective way to provide you with updates on our activities each month.
Sincerely,
Neysa, Rob, Margaret, and Melinda Tomales Bay Watershed Council Staff
|
|
|
