For Immediate Release.

SPAWN Secures Funding to Complete Habitat Restoration on San Geronimo Golf Course

Olema, Calif. (March 2, 2015) – The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Fisheries Restoration Grant Program (FRGP) has announced 2015 funding totaling $665,237 for three projects all located in West Marin’s critical Lagunitas Creek Watershed. Turtle Island Restoration Network’s Salmon Protection And Watershed Network (SPAWN) program was awarded two of the three grants, with the third grant going to the Marin Municipal Water District.

“SPAWN continues to secure hundreds of thousands of dollars to protect and restore coho habitat in the Lagunitas Creek Watershed on both public park land and on private property. SPAWN is helping protect local property values by shoring up failing creek banks, while also protecting the public trust,” said Todd Steiner of SPAWN.

The first grant to SPAWN is for Floodplain and Instream Habitat Restoration on San Geronimo Creek.  For this project, SPAWN will design a plan to restore historical creekside floodplains, create side channels and backwaters to support juvenile fish rearing, and put in place large woody debris structures to support complex habitat that coho salmon desperately need to survive. This project is the second phase of a large habitat restoration design project happening on the San Geronimo Golf Course with the first phase, including the restoration of Roy’s Pools, currently underway.

“We believe this is a wonderful opportunity for San Geronimo Golf Course to do our small part to help protect the endangered salmon and appreciate SPAWN and CA Fish & Wildlife for providing us this opportunity. In the end, we hope the community and the endangered fish all benefit,” said Jennifer Kim, Executive Director of the San Geronimo Golf Course.

These changes will provide a welcome refuge for endangered coho salmon so they can migrate with ease, survive floods, find slow water to grow, and have cold, deep water to hide from predators and stay healthy during hot weather spells.

The San Geronimo Golf Course has approved the project, and is looking forward to continuing to restore important salmon habitat on their property. When both projects are completed the entire San Geronimo Creek that runs through the Golf Course will be restored and safe for coho salmon.

“California Fish & Wildlife is a lifesaver for coho salmon and we are extremely appreciative,” said Preston Brown, SPAWN’s Watershed biologist. “Without this agency this critically endangered species would have little chance of survival.”

The second grant to SPAWN will go to enhance riparian habitat at the former Redi-mix Concrete Plant along Lagunitas Creek, near the confluence with Nicasio Creek. This project will restore a large portion of the old concrete plant located next to the creek. SPAWN will remove an unused parking lot and create 12,000 square feet of riparian habitat. Additionally, SPAWN will be planting 1,000 trees and removing invasive plants throughout a one-mile stretch downstream of the plant to help restore conifer forest to the area.

“We are grateful to local landowners like the owners San Geronimo Golf Course and Black Mountain Ranch (who owns the land at the concrete plant) for allowing us to work on their property to protect and restore coho salmon,” said Steiner.

The grant to the Marin Municipal Water District is for the enhancement of critical winter habitat for coho salmon in lower Lagunitas Creek. The project will focus on placing several large woody debris structures in the creek to improve floodplain habitat and provide critical habitat for both young and adult salmon.

A list of all funded proposals can be found here: https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=93527&inline=1

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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. The Salmon Protection And Watershed Network (SPAWN) is a project of Turtle Island that works to protect endangered salmon and their habitat in the Lagunitas Watershed. SeaTurtles.Org/Salmon

PDF of press release available here.