Web of Life

Chapter 9 of “Our Watershed Stories,” is a journey to the coastal hills of western Sonoma County to meet Brock Dolman.

Dolman lives and works at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, near the very top of the Dutch Bill watershed.  “And Dutch Bill Creek happens to be one of the few watersheds left in the Russian River basin that has a remnant population of coho,” adds Dolman.

The Dutch Bill Creek watershed is one place where coho salmon are staging a comeback.

“If their population lacks resiliency,” he explains, “then it is really an indicator about the land use in that place.”

With Brock’s leadership, people here have come together to care for this fragile Northern California habitat.  “The community of Camp Meeker all got together to develop a plan,” he says. “And all of the pre-identified fish passage barriers in this watershed have all been modified, ameliorated, or removed.

“I personally care about coho because I care about people; because I care about life.  Because I’m a biologist: one who studies life.

“And redwood trees, and oak trees, and bunch grasses, and elk, and coho, and turkey vultures, and humans—they’re all part of the web of life.  And we, as humans, are dependent on the integrity of the web of life!”

Original Website

Our Watershed Stories: Chapter 9 of 9
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Sonoma County Water Agency

Credits

My Credits: Senior Producer, Writer, Editor, Graphic Designer, Website Designer
© 2012 KRCB – North Bay Public Media. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Technical

Cameras: JVC GY-HM700 with Fujinon 18x lens; and  JVC GY-HM100
Camera Format: XDcam EX (1920x1080i)
Master Format: ProRes 422(HQ) at 1920×1080 Interlaced
Post Production: Final Cut Pro
Graphic Design: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Apple Motion
Length: 1 minute, 30 seconds

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Into the Bay

Chapter 6 of “Our Watersheds Stories” introduces these 2 men:  JT Wick and Andy Rogers.  They are friends with each other, as well as “Friends of the Petaluma River.”

“We focus on conservation, education and celebration of the Petaluma River,” says Wick, who serves as the chairman of the organization’s Board.

Imagine the Petaluma River Watershed as a massive bowl—Wick and Rogers live on opposite rims.  From their perspective, they see first-hand what their actions have on the river downstream.

Rogers explains it further like this:  “At my place, it rains and water will shed down through the fields and into the Liberty Creek, which eventually connects with the Petaluma River and eventually to San Pablo Bay.”

The lower Petaluma isn’t really a river, but rather, a tidal estuary. In fact much of the Bay Area’s shoreline once looked a lot like the Petaluma River estuary, where 12 miles of tidal sloughs still twist and turn through scenic places like Shollenberger Park.

If you visit this area, says Rogers, “experience it with friends and family.  It becomes something that’s important to you.”  He adds, “I think that that’s probably one of the biggest roles Friends of the Petaluma River plays.  We get people out to see what is in their backyard.”

In Petaluma, you find proof that all you need to celebrate your Bay Area watershed is a little help from your friends!

Original Website

Our Watershed Stories: Chapter 6 of 9
GetSimple CMS
Sonoma County Water Agency

Credits

My Credits: Senior Producer, Writer, Editor, Graphic Designer, Website Designer
© 2012 KRCB – North Bay Public Media. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Technical

Cameras: JVC GY-HM700 with Fujinon 18x lens; and  JVC GY-HM100
Camera Format: XDcam EX (1920x1080i)
Master Format: ProRes 422(HQ) at 1920×1080 Interlaced
Post Production: Final Cut Pro
Graphic Design: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Apple Motion
Length: 1 minute, 30 seconds

Accessibility Features

Captioning: Closed captions

Creeks and Dams

Chapter 5 of “Our Watershed Stories” takes us 10 miles north of the Golden Gate, where over eons of time, Novato Creek carved a lush valley into these Marin County hills.

Bill Long, a longtime resident of Novato, has studied the history of the region.  “The creek was the central feature of this valley,” he says.  “It’s where the Native Americans gathered and it’s where wildlife gathered.  When the area was developed, much of the creek ended up in people’s back yards”

Chris DeGabrielle“After World War II,” notes Chris DeGabrielle, “Novato was growing rapidly, and the well water supply couldn’t keep up.”  That’s one reason why, in 1951, Stafford Lake was formed behind a dam constructed on the creek.

As a Novato resident, Long knows that when he turns on the tap, “about 20% of that water comes from Stafford Lake.”  The rest comes from the Russian River, itself fed from the Eel River, in distant Mendocino County.

Stafford Lake also provides for wildlife habitat, but flood control is it’s most critical role whenever stormy weather rolls in.

Judy Arnold is the Marin County Supervisor who represents the city of Novato.  “When we have a flood,” she says, “we have several neighborhoods that the water comes into their house.”

Long adds, “if there’s a big storm that hits at high tide, then the storm water builds up on top of the tidewater.”

The community has come together to restore Novato Creek’s banks, which helps reduce flooding’s impact.  “And it looks like this is a habitat for humans and for nature that we’re creating,” says Arnold.


 

Original Website

Our Watershed Stories: Chapter 5 of 9
GetSimple CMS
Sonoma County Water Agency

Credits

My Credits: Senior Producer, Writer, Editor, Graphic Designer, Website Designer
© 2012 KRCB – North Bay Public Media. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Technical

Cameras: JVC GY-HM700 with Fujinon 18x lens; and  JVC GY-HM100
Camera Format: XDcam EX (1920x1080i)
Master Format: ProRes 422(HQ) at 1920×1080 Interlaced
Post Production: Final Cut Pro
Graphic Design: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Apple Motion
Length: 1 minute, 30 seconds

Accessibility Features

Captioning: Closed captions

Our Habitats

Chapter 2 of Our Watershed Stories is a journey up the Dry Creek Valley to Warm Springs Dam and Lake Sonoma.

Photo of Peter LaCivita of the US Army Corps of Engineers“This dam was put here to alleviate severe flooding on dry creek,” says Peter LaCivita, a Fisheries Biologist with the United States Army Corps of Engineers, “and to provide water supply, recreation, and conservation opportunities.”

As a result, Dry Creek is wet year-round!  You might think that the native fish would love having a dam.  To understand why they don’t, you first have to understand wild salmon.

Photo of Brett Wilson of the California Department of Fish & Game“The adults will run upstream to where they were born,” explains Brett Wilson, the Senior Hatchery Supervisor for the California Department of Fish & Game.  “They’re imprinted on that stream because they reared on that stream as juveniles, and now they’re coming back from the ocean.  And they will pair up.  They will find mates.”

Photo of Lake SonomaBut not if they can’t find their way home in the first place.

“In 2008, our agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Sonoma County Water Agency generated a Biological Opinion that addressed water supply and flood control.”

Photo of Don Wallace of Dry Creek Vineyard“They’re ultimately going to have 6 miles returned to it’s natural habitat,” adds Don Wallace, a partner in Dry Creek Vineyard & Winery, says, “I think that’s a great legacy.”  Among Wallis’s accolades, he was awarded a 2011 “Leadership in Sustainability Award” through the Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy.

Photo of man examining microscope at the Warm Springs HatcheryMeanwhile, the Warm Springs Hatchery is helping the Coho Salmon population come back.

“I’ll raise from 100,000 to 250,000 fish,” says Ben White, a Biologist at the US Army Corps of Engineers who works at the Warm Springs Hatchery’s Captive Breeding Program.  “Our goal is for those Photo of biologist Ben Whitefish to return to these streams as spawning adults, and to re-establish a self-sustaining run of coho salmon.”

A lifetime resident of the bucolic Dry Creek Valley, Don Wallis recalls “My grandfather told me one time when I was very young:  My job in this life is to turn this land over to my kids in better condition than I got it.

“And that’s really what I am after.”


 

Original Website

Our Watershed Stories: Chapter 2 of 9
GetSimple CMS
Sonoma County Water Agency

Credits

My Credits: Senior Producer, Writer, Editor, Graphic Designer, Website Designer
© 2012 KRCB – North Bay Public Media. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Technical

Cameras: JVC GY-HM700 with Fujinon 18x lens; and  JVC GY-HM100
Camera Format: XDcam EX (1920x1080i)
Master Format: ProRes 422(HQ) at 1920×1080 Interlaced
Post Production: Final Cut Pro
Graphic Design: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Apple Motion
Length: 1 minute, 30 seconds

Accessibility Features

Captioning: Closed captions