For Immediate Release, July 9, 2021
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Contact: |
Audrey Fusco, audrey@seaturtles.org, 415-845-4791 |
Volunteers Needed for Invasive Plant Removal Event
LAGUNITAS, Calif. — The Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN) needs help restoring habitat on Lagunitas Watershed, the most important habitat for recovering endangered coho salmon on the central California coast.
The Marin-based nonprofit will host a volunteer event on Saturday, July 17 from 10am-2pm to remove invasive plants at their Tocaloma restoration project site located at 9255 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Activities include pulling and cutting back invasive plants such as wild mustard, hemlock, and thistles on the site.
“It is important to remove invasive plants due to their impact on water quality, biodiversity, tree cover, and fish and habitat cover,” said Audrey Fusco, SPAWN’s Nursery Manager and Restoration Ecologist. “Invasive plants spread quickly and create monocultures by displacing native plants. Insects have co-evolved with native plants, and because plants and insects form the base of the food web, invasive plants are a leading cause of native biodiversity loss.”
Completed in 2019, the Lagunitas Creek Floodplain and Riparian Restoration Project was proposed by SPAWN to improve riparian ecosystem function and address limiting factors for Coho salmon and other listed species along a one-mile stretch of Lagunitas Creek, including the former towns of Tocaloma and Jewell, in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The area is impacted by historic residential development, encroachment from highways and railways, and watershed changes from a regulated flow regime and upstream dams.
For more information and to RSVP for the event please visit www.seaturtles.org/events.
The Salmon Protection And Watershed Network (SPAWN), a program of the global ocean conservation non-profit Turtle Island Restoration Network, protects endangered, wild coho salmon and the forests and watersheds they need to survive in West Marin County, California. Learn more at www.seaturtles.org/salmon.
