And Build: Signs of a Healthy Estuary
Today’s guest blogger is Lisa Owens-Viani from the San Francisco Estuary Project. I met Lisa when she contacted me for photos of our beaver family to include in the 2008 State of the Estuary Report. Since then I have been bothering her with questions, which she very kindly answers when she can, or sends them along to others who might know. Read her post in its entirety; she’s a science writer who really understands the relationships between healthy waterways and healthy habitats.
When the beavers first appeared on Alhambra Creek in late 2006, I thought it was a quirky anomaly, probably not a long-lived phenomenon, but hopeful and interesting. Yet almost two years later, they are still here, managing to survive amid humans, flood control, and politics—and even reproducing. I can’t help but wonder if the restoration projects the city, creek advocates, and flood control folks have engaged in over the past decade at the mouth of the creek as well as upstream weren’t part of the enticement for the beavers, particularly the delicious willows planted as part of biotechnical bank stabilization efforts. Now that the paddling, diving, yellow-toothed critters are here—and seem to be content and thriving—we face a challenge: to see whether, even in an urbanized landscape, we can restore these ecosystems for the creatures that once lived in them, and co-exist despite challenges. The high level of public interest in the beavers is certainly a vote for peaceful coexistence, and regulatory and flood control agencies are trying as well, with Martinez City staff helping beaver expert Skip Lisle install a pipe to lower the dam height in a way the beavers wouldn’t object to.
Geographically, the beavers have lodged themselves not only near the mouth of Alhambra Creek, but also mid-Estuary, in the Carquinez Strait “chute” that connects the Bay to the Delta. This area, where the fresher waters of the Delta meet the saltier, ocean-influenced waters from the Bay—the San Francisco Estuary—is the end point of a vast watershed: the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, which flow into the Delta, drain approximately 40 percent of the state. The San Francisco Estuary Project, where I work, is one of 28 estuary projects throughout the United States that are part of the National Estuary Program. Mandated by Congress in 1987 to improve the quality of estuaries of national importance, these programs each establish a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan to meet the goals of Clean Water Act Section 320.
In 1993, the San Francisco Estuary Project completed its Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP). When the CCMP was signed in 1992, 44 signatories representing hundreds of stakeholders pledged to “achieve and maintain an ecologically diverse and productive natural estuarine system.” Like the 27 other national estuary projects, the San Francisco Estuary Project is a forum where region-wide issues are aired, a source of support for policy development and project work on a watershed/ecosystem basis, and a provider of up-to-date information on the San Francisco Bay Delta watershed and the many sub-watersheds that comprise it. Every other year the Estuary Project convenes a “State of the Estuary” conference at which scientists and policy makers present the latest information on the Estuary’s condition. The latest State of the Estuary report—“A Greener Shade of Blue”—can be downloaded at www.sfestuary.org under “Documents.”
The Estuary Project partners with environmental organizations and non-profits, local, state, and federal agencies, and businesses and industry from the 12 counties surrounding the Bay-Delta, and the public to implement the CCMP. Over the Estuary Project’s 20-year history, the Project and its partners have implemented many of the actions in the CCMP and fostered an environment out of which an array of new programs and partnerships have hatched and flourished. The Estuary Project provides funding and technical assistance to agencies, municipalities, and organizations to implement the recommended actions contained in the Management Plan. Each year Estuary Project staff, in partnership with the Implementation Committee, made up of representatives of the Project’s many partners, develop a work plan directing activities for that year. The Friends of the Estuary is the Project’s non-profit partner; Contra Costa Public Works Department’s Mitch Avalon and Friends of Alhambra Creek’s Igor Skaredoff are both active members of its board. The Friends are charged with helping develop public involvement, education, communication, and advocacy programs for the Estuary and serving as a watchdog for CCMP implementation.
Other Estuary Project partners include the state Coastal Conservancy and the Bay Area Open Space Council. In July, after conducting a public survey, the agencies chose the slogan “Nature Within Reach” for a new Bay Area license plate. The money from license plate purchases will go towards more open space preservation, trails, and wetland restoration. More wetland restoration in turn will hopefully mean more protection against climate change and sea level rise, and more habitat for more wildlife. “Nature Within Reach” won the survey, I think, because so many of us in urban areas value living near the Estuary and its wildness—with opportunities to see wildlife like the beavers close to home.
Alhambra Creek’s beavers may be a sign that the Alhambra Creek watershed is healthy enough to support creatures like this, at least in part due to the restoration work done by the city, Public Works Department, and Friends of Alhambra Creek. The Urban Creeks Council and others have spotted steelhead in the creek as well, another sign of health. The beavers and the steelhead show that restoration efforts can pay off: that one watershed can make a difference, and that we can restore the Estuary by restoring its watersheds, large or small. As Mitch Avalon puts it, “The local watersheds feed the Bay. It’s like a human body—if you’re eating poisoned food, your system isn’t going to be healthy. These watersheds provide rearing habitat for species that go down and live in the Bay—you’ve got to look at it as a whole system.” For more on the restoration work that has taken place on Alhambra Creek see http://sfep.abag.ca.gov/pdfs/newsletters/insert_june06.pdf.
Watch for an in-depth story on the beavers by well-known local natural history writer Joe Eaton in the October ESTUARY newsletter (download past issues at www.sfestuary.org). Every other month, ESTUARY presents the latest news on Bay-Delta water issues, restoration efforts, and the many programs, actions, voices, and viewpoints that contribute to implementing the CCMP. To receive the October issue as part of a free, three-month trial subscription of ESTUARY, contact Paula Trigueros at the Estuary Project ptrigueros@waterboards.ca.gov.
