Preserving and Protecting Lagunitas Creek Habitat -- California Coho Salmon's Most Important Watershed: Active land conservancy Needed in Current Tool Box to Assure Recovery of Species

The Lagunitas Creek Watershed, Marin County, California has been identified as the most important spawning and rearing habitat left in the State for wild coho salmon. Central California (ESU) of coho is currently federally listed as threatened, but has been proposed for up-listing to endangered. The State of California already lists the species as Endangered.

In reality, the species is teetering on the verge of extinction. Despite having the best run of wild coho left in the State, estimated at up to 20 percent of the State total, only about 300 to 500 adult females currently return each year to spawn here. The Lagunitas Creek watershed is also important habitat for federally listed steelhead trout and California freshwater shrimp.

Coho life history has documented that this species primarily uses headwater regions of streams to spawn and as "nursery" habitat. In this watershed, most publicly owned protected "open space" in the riparian zone occurs outside the headwaters area, which is mostly privately owned and sub-divided in relatively small parcels that either have or are zoned for single family homes.

Millions of dollars are being expended by federal, State and local government agencies, non-profit organizations and community members in studies, monitoring, and habitat restoration activities. Simultaneously, new threats constantly emerge from increased development pressures on privately owned parcels of land, especially along the critically important riparian habitat.

Yet, virtually no effort is currently underway to purchase remaining undeveloped parcels in the headwaters region or to create conservation easements to protect riparian habitat on these private parcels.

Turtle Island Restoration Network, and its program SPAWN, the Salmon Protection And Watershed Network, located in the San Geronimo headwaters, actively works to protect salmon and its habitat through research and monitoring, landowner education, and habitat restoration proposes.

In the coming months, SPAWN will work to promote the creation of a land conservancy to protect riparian habitat through acquisition and conservation easements.

We invite you to get involved through active participation in the process, by granting conservation easements on your Lagunitas Creek Watershed property or by donating funds to SPAWN's land conservancy project.

Call Todd Steiner at 415.488.0370 ×103
Email: Spawn@SpawnUSA.org