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estUARY news BEST PRINT NEWSLETTER! WIns ESTUARY NEWS, heading into its 20th year of publication, has won the Clarion Award for Best Print Newsletter from the Association for Women in Communications. Highly sought after by both women and men, the Clarions, named for the medieval trumpet known for its clarity, symbolize excellence in clear, concise communica- tions. Clarion winners represent media companies large and small, leading cor ESTUARY Bay-Delta News and Views from the San Francisco Estuary Partnership porations, small businesses, and nonprofit- NEWS associations and institutions. http://www. | Volume 20, No. 5 State of the Estuary Conference Summary Preview| OCTOBER 2011 womcom.org/awards/Clarion2011.asp To continue receiving ESTUARY NEWS without interruption, please renew your subscription by mailing in the enclosed BANKING ON TULES renewal card with your payment. Our ill Delta farmers someday be able to December issue will cover the September cash in on carbon credits by growing 2011 State of the Estuary conference. Wtules instead of corn and asparagus? That’s the vision of two State of the Estuary Conference speakers, Belinda Morris of the Environmental Defense Fund and Steve Crooks of the environmental consulting firm PWA. Both point to a 10-year pilot project on Twitchell Island that raised the promise of carbon capture by native freshwater marsh CREEK GEEKS YOUR INDEPENDENT SOURCE FOR BAY-DELTA NEWS & VIEWS vegetation. “A lot of the foundational science As it meanders through northeastern Sacramento, Arcade Creek may seem like just another beleaguered urban waterway, with a familiar litany of problems: toxic spills, trash dumping, exotic vegetation. But has been done there,” says Crooks. Originally it’s become something special to the stu- dents of Mira Loma High School. It’s their outdoor classroom, where hands-on scien- tific research has turned them into creek a study of whether the subsidence of Delta advocates and activists. When Mira Loma became part of the rig- orous International Baccalaureate Program seven years ago, biology teacher Cindy Suchanek and other faculty members were islands could be reversed, the joint US Geologi- looking for a field project that would pull all the sciences together while benefiting the community. Arcade Creek was handy, and Wetland Worries Suchanek knew a stormwater specialist who wanted to help with mapping and a U.S. To county planners, El Sobrante’s “Subdivision and mining reclamation ponds, according to the cal Survey/California Department of Water Re- 8533” is 10 acres slated for 40 homes; to neigh- National Wildlife Federation’s Julie Sibbing; she bors, it is their last piece of open space and an describes those bodies of water as “wet deserts.” urban wildlife refuge. This site would be no Says Sibbing, “These ponds are not as complex as more remarkable than any other such site natural wetlands. They don’t have the biological planned for infill development except for the diversity of a wetland; they don’t have the same sources project also found that wetlands could fact that two forks of Garrity Creek run through functions. In general, they are too deep to have it, and its steep slopes are spongy with seeps vegetation except on the edges—vegetation is the and springs. These wetlands—how to avoid key to water filtration.” Wetlands, says Sibbing, are impacting them and how to preserve them—are also more dynamic hydrologically than man-made at the heart of a years-long battle between the ponds—wetlands’ water depth can change drasti- sequester large amounts of carbon dioxide: a Friends of Garrity Creek, county planners, and cally, promoting an edge effect that encourages the developer. blooms of invertebrates important to migratory Subdivision 8533 may seem insignificant in birds and the rest of the food chain. the grander scheme of things, yet it represents In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that median value of 25 metric tons per acre per EPA scientist who did bioassays. Other fed- the types of small wetlands that are being the Army Corps was no longer required to have eral and state agencies and conservation impacted or filled throughout the country, with jurisdiction over “geographically isolated, non- groups got involved. Starting with five little fanfare. Says U.S. EPA Region 9’s Mike navigable” wetlands. That same year, a report study areas, the Arcade Creek Project Monroe, “These small areas shouldn’t be writ- by the National Academy of Sciences con- expanded to 11, including vertebrate and Photo by tenVerne off. Nelson. Because there is so little habitat left, cluded that the goal established by former year. Beyond that, converting annual cropland plant surveys, longitudinal mapping, data small areas should really receive more protec- President George Bush in the 1980s of no net tion. If you add up the cumulative losses, it’s loss of wetlands is not being met by wetland analysis, restoration, andSTATE outreach. OF THE “It’s stu-ESTUARY dent-driven and student-led,” explains probably the small areas tucked mitigation programs, nor away that have been dam- are the government Suchanek. Each study hasCome two student hear the man- latest scientific findings agers who lead a team and work with a aged the most.” agencies tracking wet- NEWS to wetland stops the carbon emissions caused designated teacher. Theabout students the health also run of San Francisco BayA report released last land mitigation at the 10th Biennial State of the Estuary ESTUARYBay-Delta News and Views from the San Francisco Estuary Partnershipprojects doing | Volume an 20, No. 4 | AUGUST 2011 the project’s Web site, where data from the October by the studies is posted. ThisConference year, they’ve on also Tuesday and Wednesday,Government adequate job. begun writing grants.September “You empower 20-21, the 2011, at the downtownAccountability Office Many environ- kids,” Suchanek says. Oakland“It makes Marriott them realize (City Center BARTfound Station). that the Army mentalists are worried by the plowing and oxidation of peat soil. they really can make a difference.” Corps is not preventingRETURN OF THE NATIVESthat these losses will When water quality samplesThe State showed of San a Francisco Bayisolated, 2011 non-navigable only increase, espe- huge chlorine spike threereport years will ago, be releasedMira at the conference,wetlands from being s shorebirds and waterfowl have begun using newlycially modified with proposed salt ponds in the South Bay, Loma students alertedwith the countya summary to a pre-presentation givenfilled. on Yet the at a press so have fish. The first year of monitoring by the UC Davis regulationsFisheries Research Team led by just conference this March, released by the Army viously undetected spill.first The day restoration by lead author Andy Gunther from Jim Hobbs detected a high diversity of fish species in the ponds, with a strong preponder- The Twitchell project was recently then Interior SecretaryA Corps and U.S. EPA team has removed redthe sesbania, Center anfor invasive Ecosystem Management ance of natives. plant that chokes Central Valley streambeds, Gale Norton and encouraging the use of and Restoration. Topics range fromAgriculture salt Secretary Hobbs’ team monitored fish populations in the Eden Landing, mitigationAlviso, Ravenswood, and Bair banks. “The and persuaded nurseriespond not restoration to sell it. to pollution solutions Tule farm on Twitchell Island. Photo courtesy of They’re also tackling the creek’s feral cat Mike Johanns Island areas, including restoration ponds like Ravenswood’s SF2 and flooded “island ponds” like emphasis on mitigation to watershed health, green streets,announced and that thereAlviso’s A19, A20, and A21, from July through December 2010. Shallow sloughs and intertidal banks is really distress- mothballed because of federal funding cuts. problem with the aid of local veterinarians. The students went to sustainablethe city council communities. when has been a net increasecreeklets in were also surveyed. Sampling diverse habitatsing,” requires says Arthurusing a variety of trawls and wetlands in the United Feinstein with Citizens a creekside area with ancientOther oaks featured was speakers include: traps, as well as hook-and-line angling at pond outlets. Matthew Grimm, EDF. about to be turned into a parking lot for a States since 1998. The Committee to increase is primarily due toAn impressive 98% of all fish caught Complete the Refuge. “It nonprofit group, and helped• Phil Isenberg, Delta Stewardship broker a deal the creation of golf courseby trawling the sloughs were native spe- undermines the goal of However, DWR is still in the game, partnering with The Nature Conservancy and EDF to locate a for a better site away from the creek. Council ponds, borrow pits, stockcies. ponds, Of 30 species, three-spined stickle- continued page 2 • Fran Spivy-Weber, State Water backs accounted for more than half (1,678 continued page 2 VOLUME 15, NO.of over3 3,300) of the captures, followed in Resources Control Board JUNE 2006 abundance by northern anchovy (549), top- larger, 200-to-400 acre site for feasibility testing in a farm-scale wetland. EDF is also developing • Jerry Meral, California Natural smelt (392), staghorn sculpin (253), arrow Resources Agency goby (142), and longfin smelt (61.) “That’s • Peter Gleick, Pacific Institute comparable to the open Bay,” Hobbs explains. “Environmental conditions in To see the full program and register, go the South Bay are a little saltier. Most economic models to project breakeven costs for replacing farmland with wetland. For his part, Leopard shark by Matthew Field, taken at Monterey Bay to http://sfestuary.org/soe2011/ invasive fish species are more freshwater Aquarium. A gala precedes the conference the tolerant, and are more common in the North evening of September 19 at the Aquarium Bay.” The presence of small fish like sticklebacks and anchovies is good news for cormorants and of the Bay in San Francisco and is included other fish-eating birds.