Tour Coordinators:
Brock Dolman, Occidental Arts and Ecology Center
Kate Lundquist, Occidental Arts and Ecology Center

Tour Leaders:
John Green, Gold Ridge RCD
Sarah Nossaman Pierce, CA Sea Grant
Mia van Docto and Mary Ann King, Trout Unlimited

This full-day field tour will focus on Dutch Bill Creek Watershed, considered to be one of the most critical watersheds for the recovery of endangered Coho salmon and steelhead in the lower Russian River watershed. For two decades there have been a comprehensive suite of strategies utilized by multi-stakeholder to restore this watershed from ridgeline to rivermouth.

The first portion of the tour will start in lower Dutch Bill Creek with a discussion about the Russian River Coho Flow Partnership and other partner’s restoration efforts in Dutch Bill Creek. Participants will hear about the Coho broodstock program and monitoring efforts, fish passage barrier removals (dams, fishways) instream habitat structures (large wood), sediment control and water quality enhancement techniques (advanced road shaping) and instream flow enhancement projects (water conservation, seasonal storage, irrigation demand reduction, diversion modifications, spring reconnection and augmentation),

The last portion of the tour will visit the headwaters of Dutch Bill Creek at the 80-acre Occidental Arts and Ecology Center site.  Here tour participants will see the results of 25 years of upland restoration techniques such as headcut and fuel load mitigation, fish friendly roads, stormwater recharge, graywater, composting toilets, organic food production, wildlife habitat enhancement, water rights, permitting considerations, community education and organizing.