Workshop Coordinator: Anne Morkill, Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation

 

The Laguna de Santa Rosa/Mark West Creek watershed is the largest sub-watershed of the Russian River, encompassing 254 square miles in the heart of Sonoma County where the majority of people live, work, and play. The Laguna de Santa Rosa is a vital and unique wetland ecosystem that is home to a wide range of plant and animal species, including coho and steelhead. Over the past 150 years, development and landscape modification throughout the watershed have altered flows and increased fine sediment and nutrient supplies, thereby severely impacting habitat conditions for many threatened and endangered species. This workshop highlighted a range of collaborative multi-benefit restoration efforts within the Laguna/Mark West Creek watershed focused on improving conditions for both fish and wildlife and the local community. 

 

Participants joined the Foundation for a series of presentations and an interactive dialogue that ranged in breadth from landscape-scale restoration planning to site specific project design and implementation. The topics covered included the development of watershed-wide fine sediment and nutrient TMDLs, innovative regulatory and voluntary conservation measures that facilitate large-scale restoration on both private and public lands, and the design and implementation of multi-benefit restoration projects in the watershed. The Foundation also shared highlights of the recently completed Laguna de Santa Rosa Restoration Plan that identifies opportunities for re-creating critical habitats within an altered landscape that is vulnerable to continued land uses and climate change. The presentations culminated in an interactive dialogue to build commitment and momentum for realizing our shared vision of an enhanced Laguna de Santa Rosa that supports native fish and wildlife for part or all of their lifecycle in a resilient landscape where people can also thrive. 

 

The workshop was held at the Laguna Environmental Center featuring 360-degree open views of the watershed and offered afternoon site visits to see completed and proposed restoration projects along the Laguna de Santa Rosa and tributary creeks. Presenters included the San Francisco Estuary Institute, Sonoma County Water Agency, North Coast Water Quality Control Board, City of Santa Rosa, Sonoma Resource Conservation District, and Cal Trout, and invited panelists from the Sonoma County Agricultural and Open Space Preservation District, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, private landowners, and more.