Conservation Programs |
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Marin Audubon Conservation Committee reviews critical issues related to wildlife habitats and comments to cities, agencies, and other jurisdictions. To join the committee, phone Co-chair Barbara Salzman at 415-924-6057, or Co-chair Phil Peterson at 415-898-8400. STRAWBERRY SCHOOL WETLANDS View a video created by local teens to protest the destruction of the Strawberry School wetlands (.mov file may require a plug-in.) RUSH CREEK The Public Works Department completed the work on two culverts leading to Cemetery Marsh in August. Work on the third is being completed as of September 2007. Construction contractors, Maggoria Ghilotti, performed the work. We thank the department for their attention this problem. The Rush Creek and Cemetery marshes in northern Novato provide important shallow wetland habitat, particulary during summer and fall when seasonal wetlands are dry, as well as acting as a flood ponding basin. Rush Creek Marsh is owned by the Department of Fish and Game. Cemetery Marsh is owned by the Marin County Open Space District. Both are managed by the Marin County Public Works Department and the Marin Sonoma Mosquito Abatement District. BINFORD ROAD SELF-STORAGE PROJECT The proposal is for 25 pile-supported, 300-foot-long metal structures jutting 2,000 feet into the tidal marsh east of Binford Road. The project conflicts with countywide plan policies and would require rezoning and other changes to county ordinances. In spite of a staff recommendation for approval, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend denial of the project. HOW YOU CAN HELP: Write a letter to the Marin County Board of Supervisors urging them to turn down the project, as the Planning Commission recommended. Write Supervisor Susan Adams, Chair of the Board, 3501 Civic Center Drive, San Rafael, CA 94903. Better yet, attend the meeting and testify. The meeting will be held in the Supervisors' chambers on the third floor of the Marin County Civic Center. PROPERTY UPDATES Bahia – Thank you Fish and Wildlife Service for awarding us a $100,000 grant under their Private Stewardship Grants Program. The funding is to assist with construction of the restoration design for Marin Audubon’s property at Bahia. These funds will be combined with other grants obtained from North American Wetlands Conservation Act and the San Francisco Foundation grants. More funding is needed to complete the restoration, so we will be applying for additional grants. EELGRASS PRESERVE IN SAUSALITO? Marin Audubon Society, in coordination with Marin Baylands Advocates, has made an offer to purchase a 13 acre property along the Sausalito Waterfront in the hopes of establishing the Sausalito Eelgrass Preserve. Our purpose is to permanently protect the most stable eelgrass colony in the bay. The property consists of approximately one acre of filled land
along Bridgeway and acres of underwater tide lots between Dunphy
Park and an existing marina. The underwater lots were part of a
widespread practice around the early 1900's that divided the bay
into parcels with the intent of filling and developing them. MAS
owns underwater lots off the San Rafael and Corte Madera shorelines. In their comment letter on the earlier project, the California Department of Fish and Game stated that dredging for the project would “remove all of the existing submerged aquatic vegetation. Periodic maintenance dredging of the project area in the future would remove re-colonized submerged aquatic vegetation and continually disrupt benthic habitat. The project area and adjacent open water space to the northwest represents the last remaining area of submerged aquatic vegetation along the Sausalito Waterfront.” The importance of these underwater lots was emphasized at a recent conference on eelgrass. As the experts described, this eelgrass is in a strategic location near the mouth of the bay along a shoreline that is used by fish moving into the estuary and out to the ocean. Submerged aquatic vegetation in Richardson Bay consists primarily of eelgrass (Zoster maiina) and red alga (Gracilaria sp). Eelgrass is a rich aquatic plant that forms mats that provide rich and diverse habitat. They are habitat for invertebrates, cover for small fish, and substrate for spawning . Richardson Bay is the primary subtidal spawning area for herring in San Francisco Bay, and foraging habitat for fish and birds. Eelgrass in San Francisco Bay has declined probably due to high sediment load carried by bay waters, as well as urban activities including dredging, pile driving, boating, etc. The only place fish have to stop, rest and feed along this important shoreline on the way into the Bay and north or out to the ocean, is in the eelgrass on this property because most of the shoreline is developed with marinas and other urban uses. Acquisition of the property will also provide the opportunity to restore tidal marsh along the bay edge of the uplands, further enhancing the bay and edge habitat, and to undertake eelgrass expansion efforts to sections of the property where eelgrass does not exist. The remaining upland will be enhanced as part of the city-owned Dunphy Park. We have been making preliminary contact with potential funding
sources, and are in communication with the property owner. He wants
more money than the appraised value determined by our professional
appraisal. If you are a birder, Audubon member, landowner, land manager,volunteer, or just plain interested in birds and habitat conservation, you can help birds in California by nominating an Important Bird Area (IBA). We need all hands to nominate both well known and potentially overlooked sites in the state for consideration as IBAs. We especially encourage private landowners and public land managers to nominate or help with the nomination of their property. Once a list of IBAs is developed, it will be used to support local and statewide efforts toward cooperative conservation planning, habitat management, public education, and ecotourism. For nomination materials, information,to set up a workshop to help with the nomination process, or to get on our electronic update list, please contact Kathy Gilbert, Audubon-California, 555 Audubon Place, Sacramento, CA 95825, or call 916-481-5332, or email to kgilbert@audubon.org Important bird areas update The Important Bird Areas (IBA) program is an international effort to identify, conserve, and monitor a network of sites that provide essential habitat for bird populations. BirdLife International (www.birdlife.net) began the IBA program in Europe in 1985. Since that time, BirdLife partners in more than 100 countries have joined together to build the global IBA network. Audubon (BirdLife partner-designate for the U.S.) has been working since 1995 to identify and conserve hundreds of IBAs throughout the United States. Important Bird Areas often support a significant proportion of one or more species' total population. Through the IBA program, we're setting science-based conservation priorities and engaging local action to safeguard essential sites for our bird populations. IBA Scorecard
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| Marin Audubon Society, Box 599, Mill Valley, California 94942-0599 | ||
IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS