During the summer of 2014, SPAWN staff, interns, and numerous volunteers spent many hours building a cattle exclusion fence on the McIssac Ranch located adjacent to our office on the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in Olema.

The cattle fence now protects the 1.5-acre riparian habitat free from cattle grazing, which has allowed the native riparian vegetation to thrive! SPAWN crews built willow walls along the steep banks to prevent fine sediment from washing into the creek and planted over 100 trees and shrubs within the area that have now grown like gangbusters!

Take a look at the before and after pictures below, from 2014 and 2017.

With the revegetation of the 450 linear feet of stream, we have seen an increase in the presence of ground nesting birds including turkeys and quail, and increase in the quality of streambed gravels and cobbles with less sand and clay particles.

We want to thank all of the SPAWN volunteers and members for making this project a success, and we look forward to continuing similar projects in the watershed that improve watershed quality and salmon habitat!

This summer, Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN) brought 25 educators and community leaders together for 8 days for a unique learning opportunity to become certified University of California Naturalists. Our training inspired these leaders to develop their own programs for one epic public event in September.

“The strength of what we did, and all that we learned, really kept me connected with why I do what I do.” – participant feedback

This effort began over a year ago when we had the idea to support training leaders from Latino Outdoors (LO) to be naturalists. Rather than SPAWN staff acting as a lead naturalist, our goal was to support more diverse leadership development in our parks. Thanks to the California Coastal Commission and the Whale Tail grant program, we did just that.

Read more about SPAWN’s Naturalist Programs.

Launching off our partnership with LO, we recruited leaders from California State Parks, Nature in the City, Yes Nature to Neighborhoods and other amazing non-profits from throughout the Bay Area to join this unique certification.

“This course changed my life.” – participant feedback

Each year SPAWN offers professional development for public school teachers. This year, thanks to NOAA’s BWET program we extended the certification to science teachers working in a range of urban schools from Oakland to Sacramento.

At a time when our state is shifting to a new set of science standards, we created an opportunity to show science teachers how to easily use meaningful outdoor experiences to build scientific literacy.

“I walked away with a motivation to find ways to include the aspect of advocacy and action in my year-long watershed ecology theme.” – participant feedback

When this magical combination of movers and shakers united for a week of inspiration and inquiry, deep connections to people and place were formed.

During the 8 day intensive we learned from an expert geologist while sitting on top of the San Andreas Fault. We tested the science behind climate change with hands on experiments. We explored redwood-lined creeks with coho salmon biologists. Experts shared the most up-to-date research on redwood ecology and carbon storage.

Banding birds, weaving tule baskets, tracking animals, or surveying tide pools, we crammed a lot of science experience into one week.

What is unique about this course is the sponsorship to train influential leaders already working in organizations and schools across the Bay Area. We had 25 of the Bay Area’s leading educators meeting with experts, sharing resources, honing content knowledge and collaborating to build one epic public event.

On Saturday September 23rd, 2017 our amazing naturalists will reconvene at Hearts Desire beach at Tomales Bay State Park to Celebrate California Coastal Clean Up Week with the public.

We invite you to join SPAWN and Latino Outdoors for a hike, bring a family picnic, try out the new State Parks Junior Rangers activity book, or enter the high school spoken word competition.

Learn more about Celebrate the Coast event here: https://seaturtles.org/events/celebrate-the-coast-with-turtle-island/

“I loved that we had lecture, then group activities/assignments, and then field trips. This learning technique touched on visual, physical, and verbal styles, which helped me to understand and retain the information. I had a week of training prior to this certification course and that training doesn’t even come close to what Catie provided as a CA Naturalist Certification facilitator. This training was so advantageous to my job as a volunteer coordinator. I loved interacting with all of the participants of our cohort and learning from each other. I really enjoyed the group activities, field trips, and all the donations from the presenters. I came back to work with a tote full of manuals, cones, redwood cross-sections, a scat bandana, and a lifetime of experiences/memories and connections to educators and organizations working in the same environment.”

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Scientists are expressing concern for the looming threat of Ocean Acidification, but do you really know what Ocean Acidification is? The climate is changing and this will have lasting impacts on our oceans beyond the polar ice caps melting and the sea levels rising.

The ocean acts like the lungs of our planet and absorbs a majority of our atmospheres carbon. Scientists are trying to explain how this is dramatically impacting the chemistry of the ocean.

To help fight Ocean Acidification you can Adopt a Redwood (Redwoods capture and store more carbon than any other forest on the planet!) through the 10,000 Redwoods Project

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There is an immediate threat to our oceans, and researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have published micrograph images to try and demonstrate the urgency. Pteropods, small floating sea snails, are dissolving, providing a great indicator of the ocean acidification disaster looming ahead.

This is a healthy pteropod, known as the butterfly of the ocean. They are abundant in the ocean from Monterey to Antarctica and play an important role in the ocean food chain. The species pteropod Limacina helicina are also California coho salmon’s favorite ocean food.

Scientists consider pteropods the sentinel species to demonstrate ocean acidification because their shells are composed of a material called Aragonite. Aragonite is more soluble than the more common calcium carbonate shells. Their shells are only 2-5 mm thick, which makes them a good indicator species for ocean acidification.

Here is a series of images of pteropod shells left in solutions with a PH 7.7 mimicking future ocean conditions, if our current level of carbon emissions go unchecked. Within 45 days the shell is completely dissolved.

In preindustrial times, oceans had a Ph of 8.3. Today, oceans currently measure a Ph of 8.1. This process of the ocean absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and changing chemistry is known by scientists as Ocean Acidification. It may not seem like a lot, but scientists already see evidence of negative impacts on the shell structures of pteropods in current conditions.

Here is a healthy pteropod followed by one with obvious signs of damage to the shell surface.

Pteropods are translucent and begin to turn opaque as their shells are damaged. It can almost seem backwards, like the translucent shell would be thinner or weaker. You first have to think about why an animal would have adapted over millions of years to be translucent: They become more visible to predators. But this problem goes way beyond their vulnerability to predators.

Scientists are able to measure the severity of this shell break down, or dissolution, by using powerful micrographs. They measure the dissolution of the shells based on the porosity of the surface. Scientists are already finding evidence of some pteropods with dissolution through the entire shell wall!

Here is a micrograph image of a standard healthy pteropod shell.

Here is a micrograph image of a pteropod shell found in Monterey Bay in current ocean conditions.

Here is a close up image of the surface of the healthy shell.

Here are close up images of the shell surface and impacts from dissolution.

Beyond being the main food for our local coho salmon, pteropods are a critical food source for ice fish. Ice fish are at the bottom of the arctic food chain and essential to animal life in the most rugged and remote areas of the world. Ice fish are essential to the arctic food chain as the main prey of penguins and seals. All of these issues are compounded in the arctic winter environment due to ice freezing over during winter, sealing increasing amounts of carbon dioxide.

While this is a dire call for emergency action to protect our oceans, there are many different ways you can help. Lowering your individual carbon footprint is a great start, but reforesting our planet is very high-impact action we can take to reduce atmospheric carbon and protect against ocean acidification.

Redwood forests are able to sequester, or store, more carbon than any other forest on the planet! Unfortunately, only 5% of the historic redwood range remains. Join our efforts to restore these iconic forests, and create a local carbon sink, which will amplify our efforts to protect the beautiful butterflies of the sea.

Read more information about our 10,000 Redwoods Project

Educators interested in teaching students about this growing threat to our oceans, can email Catie@tirn.net to learn more.

We want to thank  the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program and the SOARCE webinar series for all of the information and photographs in this post.

By Elizabeth Villano

As the redwood and climate intern at Turtle Island, I have one of the coolest jobs in the world. I live in the redwoods, get to learn as much as I possibly can about them, and then share that knowledge with students all around the Bay Area. Why should children learn about redwoods?

Redwood forests hold more above ground carbon than any other forest in the world, including the Amazon rainforest! Redwood can live up to 2,500 years old, and take another few hundred years to rot, making them an extremely long term carbon sink. This is important because of climate change, one of the scariest problems of our generation.

With 95% of the historic redwood habitat deforested in the 20th century, Turtle Island Restoration Network is tackling a small component of the restoration work with our 10,000 redwoods project. Every redwood that lives to 100 years has the potential to sequester 24,876 lbs of carbon- more than the average American emits in one year!

My journey was not a smooth or straight path to the Turtle Island internship I have today. I graduated from Brandeis University with a B.S. in Health, Science, Society, and Policy (HSSP); a public health degree. While I enjoyed my time learning about public health, I found myself thinking more about the environmental components of health; how the environment we live in affects our health.

Worldwide, an estimated 12.6 million deaths each year are attributed to unhealthy environments (WHO), from air pollution, to chemical leaks, poor water quality, or natural disasters. While many of these deaths are outside of the United States, I believe in the power of environmental education and good stewardship to move our society into a better future, for the planet and the people on it.

“It is still breathtaking to think about the monstrous potential these saplings have as they mature.” ~ Elizabeth Villano

Turtle Island has given me a platform to harness my enthusiasm with restoration work and education. And a way to combine my passion about public health with stewardship for the environment. I am hopeful that my generation will come together and work together worldwide to implement these ideals.

I’m thinking of all of this as my boss and I are crouched over a redwood sprout. Its burgeoning form reminds me of the many students I have helped seed redwoods, as well as the educational aspect of our project – reclaiming floodplains in northern Marin county.

I think back on the students’ reactions as they see a redwood germinate the first time. It is still breathtaking to think about the monstrous potential these saplings have as they mature. This is a memory that would only have come from my hands-on work as an intern.

Want to do similar good work? Want to help? Turtle Island is always looking for volunteers, people to adopt a redwood tree, and yes, like me, to be an intern.

Find our resources here: https://seaturtles.org/salmon-infographic-resource-page/ 

Resources can be found HERE

Science in the Redwoods

We just had the 4th graders from Rise Community School in Oakland join us for an adventure filled day surveying the health of Lagunitas Creek. Rise Community School, along with 30 other classes, is already registered to grow redwoods in their classroom as a part of the 10,000 Redwoods Project.

On this trip, under the towering redwoods, students collected benthic macroinvertebrates in Lagunitas Creek and identified their tolerance to low water quality. Through analysis of the diversity of species we documented, students were asked to determine the health of the creek.

We overcame fears of holding crayfish, counted and identified juvenile salmon, listened to birds, deciphered mysterious bones, and even tasted some delicious native plants!

After our hike to removed invasive plants throughout the redwoods, and by the end of the hike the kids were not ready to leave. We even had a couple of kids trying to hide when the bus pulled up to take them home.

Thankfully, we will all see each other again this fall when the class comes to collect their own redwood seeds.

This field trip was made possible by NOAA’s Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program, Save the Redwoods League and all of our amazing donors.

You can support our redwoods in the classroom program by adopting a redwood at www.10000redwoods.org

To learn more about how you can sign up your students to join Turtle Island’s Science in the Redwoods programs please email Catie@tirn.net

For Immediate Release

CONTACT:
Joanna Nasar
Communications Director
Turtle Island Restoration Network
Cell: (415) 488-7711
Joanna@SeaTurtles.Org

Leading Marine Conservation Group Strengthens International Influence

Goldman Environmental Prize Winner to Serve as International Director

San Francisco (February 17, 2016) – Turtle Island Restoration Network, a leading marine conservation organization, welcomes Randall Arauz, a world renowned and award-winning biologist, to their team in the newly created position of International Director.

“Over the past year, our close collaboration on several marine protection campaigns led to some stunning victories,” said Todd Steiner, Executive Director and Founder of Turtle Island. “We came to realize that by working together we could achieve more than we could individually.”

Over the past year, these collaborations have: convinced major U.S. carriers such as American Airlines and UPS not to transport shark fins, prompted Costa Rica to take leadership on shark protection at an important international meeting (the Convention on Migratory Species), and pioneered the use of drone technology at Cocos Island, Costa Rica to document pirate fishing at the World Heritage Site.

“Turtle Island’s international and U.S. reach will provide me with the grounding to launch new efforts in Latin America, and gain greater credibility in international policy arenas,” said Arauz. “Turtle Island’s nimble and cutting-edge approach fits perfectly with my agenda to transform protections for sea turtles, sharks, and other marine species,” he added.

Arauz has a rich history with Turtle Island. He first joined the staff in 1994 as Turtle Island’s Central America Director before eventually founding a sister non-profit organization in Costa Rica called PRETOMA that focused on grassroots activism, sea turtle conservation, and better fisheries management.

During a joint PRETOMA-Turtle Island undercover operation to document the impact of longline fishing on sea turtles, video footage surfaced of fishers finning sharks, and in 2001 Arauz initiated a campaign against this abominable practice that had domestic, regional, and global impacts. He has been honored for his work internationally, including receiving the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, the Gothenburg Award for Sustainable Development, and Whitley Gold Award.

He serves on several official Costa Rican councils, such as the Cocos Island Regional Management Council, and the National Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES ) Scientific Council, and has participated as an official delegate at international conventions, such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the Convention on Migratory Species. He was also the first director of the Leatherback National Park.

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Turtle Island Restoration Network works to mobilize people and communities around the world to protect marine wildlife, the oceans and the inland waterways that sustain them. Join us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. SeaTurtles.Org