June 2012 Vol
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ESTUARY 1 science • restoration • watershed • politics • species • Bay RECYCLING OUTSIDE san Francisco estuary partnership THE ESTUARY NEW GREY BOX REAS IN A THE Waterless PLUMBIThereng CODE was no sign of shirking Water Closets? NEWS Advocates of water when 50 school kids began Never mind the wh digging holes and planting buckeye saplings at the former Hamilton airbase. These kids weren’t just playing at restoration, they were actually doing it.... see p.3 NEWS JUNE 2012 Vol. 21, no. 3 INSIDE Kids Plant Trees . .3 Bird and Vet Refuge . 4 Goofy Sturgeon . .5 Delta Flow Stations . .6 Legendary Lady . .9 Grey Water . 10 2 JUNE 2012 3 ESTUARY NEWS YOUTH e d U c a t i o n SPEAKS BRIEFS BALLAST WATER BELT- NATIVE WATERSHED TIGHTENING: Federal agencies are VEGETATION RESEARCH: A new Watershed tightening controls on ballast water, US Forest Service classification of a major vector for invasive aquatic watershed conditions in the National Kids Dig Futures at a Glance species on the West Coast. The US Forests is paving the way for more Saving Coast Guard’s new standard for the research on vegetation condition Fifty kids from fourth and second “I like knowing that I’m helping allowable concentration of living and invasive species spread. As a grades scattered across a barren the environment,” said fourth- the World SMELT HOTEL AT DAVIS: Delta smelt organisms in discharged water took result, the California Native Plant field on a recent spring morning to grader Sriha Srinivasan. Other are picky when it comes to things like effect June 21, 2012. Lieutenant Society recently received funding to ply the dirt with adult-sized shovels students also echoed the ecologi- I grew up loving the outdoors, play- temperature, salinity and turbidity. Rebecca Deakin, speaking at the Bay add to the knowledge base of plants and hoes. They were putting in a cal principles that they had been ing in the dirt, and being one with the Getting these variables to resemble Planning Coalition’s Ballast Water and habitats at the watershed level. morning’s work planting buckeye taught in the classroom before the bugs. I pressed flowers and made mud “natural” estuarine conditions is Briefing in Oakland on June 7, said The Society launched pilot fieldwork and live oak saplings at the former field trip. “It’ll help the animals pies. As I grew older my connection to tough to accomplish in university re- ships built after December 1, 2013 projects this summer in the San Hamilton Air Force Base as part of because it should give them more nature changed. I ran cross country in search tanks. “Delta smelt don’t like must meet the new requirements; Bernardino and Plumas National a program called habitat,” said high school and loved traversing the to be in clear water, don’t like a lot of existing ships will be phased in Forests, with additional sites to be STRAW (Stu- nine-year-old local hiking trails. While my classmates light, and don’t like to be by them- over a five-year period. The agency determined. dents and Teach- Wesley Souder. debated becoming doctors, lawyers, selves, which makes them perhaps considers the standard as the tight- ers Restoring A “There’s going or engineers I knew that my place was the most challenging fish we have to est than can be implemented and Watershed). Every to be forests,” outside; I decided to study the environ- work with,” says UC Davis fish biolo- enforced at this time. Meanwhile, the WATER BOARD APPOINTMENTS: year, the program one second- mental sciences. gist Nann Fangue. But the main Davis US Environmental Protection Agency Felicia Marcus and Steven Moore, helps more than grade boy said. I graduated with my Bachelors degree campus has a new experimental is revising its Vessel General Per- longtime friends of the San Fran- 3,000 students get “Animals,” from UC San Diego in the spring of 2009, facility, including three recirculating mit in light of both the Coast Guard cisco Estuary Partnership, have been their hands dirty added another, not a good year for the economy. Since systems, where many of the variables regulations and California’s more tapped for the State Water Resourc- through a cur- as a third glee- very few of my fellow graduates, my- that affect smelt survival can be ma- stringent standards. es Control Board by Governor Brown. riculum focused fully chimed in self included, had jobs lined up it was nipulated. While UC Davis cultures Marcus, western director at the on science and with, “Bugs!” difficult to throw our caps up in the air Delta smelt in a state-of-the-art lab Natural Resources Defense Council, environment — and take the world by storm. Still, I had in Byron, this is the first on-campus also serves on the Delta Stewardship and responsibility. Though the facility where scientists can really Council. Moore, a civil and sanitary Photo by Jacoba Charles entire restora- made the smart choice; I was graduating work on how all life stages of this en- engineer with Nute Engineering, is a “This isn’t just kids playing at tion site at the with a degree in Environmental Sci- dangered fish respond to changes in current member of the San Francis- doing something,” said Laurette Hamilton Air Base covers 2,500 ence and I was needed! From what I’d environmental conditions, and study co Bay Regional Water Quality Con- Rogers, who founded the program, acres, the trees the kids planted learned environmental catastrophe was the pickiest life stage of all, larva. trol Board and was formerly a board now hosted by the Point Reyes Bird can easily be seen from a nearby imminent and I’d better get out there engineer. Moore also serves on the Observatory, 20 years ago. “They public trail. And that’s a big advan- and solve some pressing problems. A editorial board of Estuary News. The know they’re actually doing it, and tage according to STRAW’s Rogers. good place to start had to be… permit- GOT ANTS? The San Francisco Estu- appointments require Senate confir- that makes a difference.” A lot of kids like to go back and ting? check on how the restoration is ary Partnership is gearing up for a mation. And the students of Rancho El- Permitting? That isn’t what I would coming along — months or even fall outreach program to inform the ementary School in Novato seemed have said my career goal was as an un- The largest containership ever to visit years later. Fourth-grader Ashley public about handling ants in the to enjoy the challenge. After piling dergrad. But three years, a Masters de- North America docked at Oakland this Urrea is already looking forward to home without causing environmental VALLEY GROUNdwATER GETS off the bus, they gathered in a semi- gree, and several internships later I have March. Photo courtesy Port of Oakland. that. “The neatest thing is that we’ll damage. According to the Partner- A PHYSICAL: San Joaquin Valley circle on the dirt and sparse grass a different view of the environmental get to see the plants grow over time ship’s Athena Honore, data show that farmers used enough groundwater where an airport runway once stood. science field. I have found that my inter- and say, ‘I made the world a better urban areas use more pesticides than between 2006 and 2009 to fill Lake STRAW instructors showed them est lies in the arena of place,’” she said. farms, with ants the most common SCENIC RIVER REPEAL? Rallying Mead, according to a new study by the proper way to use their tools and environmental permit- target. Those used for indoor and out- to the defense of the Merced River, Bridget Scanlon of the University of handle the plants. Then, in groups It is not just the world that is ting and management. door ant control are extremely toxic to Friends of the River has urged Sena- Texas at Austin and US Geological of four, they began to scrape away being helped, observed second- This means that I have stream life, even at very low con- tor Dianne Feinstein to oppose HR Survey scientists. But depletion is weeds and dig their holes. grade teacher Sue Spry. Kids of all never lobbied to save centrations. The education program 2578. The bill, introduced by Repre- worse in the High Plains, including different learning abilities seem to the endangered polar “There’s a lot of clay in the soil,” will employ a “mix of media,” says sentative Jeff Denham (R-Merced), the Texas Panhandle. While Scan- enjoy the program. She pointed out bear, but I do know observed fourth-grader Michael Honore, including advertising, a web would repeal federal wild and scenic lon and her colleagues say water one little girl who is autistic and how to avoid the acci- Griffin. “It takes teamwork to get site and Facebook. SFEP will part- river protection for the Merced to banking has the potential to support has trouble in the classroom—but dental taking of a gray it done.” ner with 50 organizations statewide, allow expansion of the McClure Valley agriculture, they warn that out here she is doing just fine. fish called the Santa Ana sucker. While including leaders in IPM, structural Reservoir. HR 2578 has cleared irrigated farming is no longer sus- The second-grade girls in one I respect the lone activist chained to “I can’t say enough about what pest control, and stormwater and the House Committee on Natural tainable in the southern High Plains. group were so small that several the redwood I understand that a Habitat a positive experience this is,” said wastewater management.