Putah Creek NewsNature | Nearby 2015 Annual Review

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Inside

3 WaterWays Outdoor Education

5 Hidden Treasure: Restoring Putah Creek

6 Thank You to Our 2015 Donors

8 Our Heart and Soul (and extra hands)

10 Flight of the Bumblebees

11 One Creek Restoration Interns

11 2015 Cleanup Roundup

Still image from a video of Chinook salmon spawning in a Lower Putah Creek gravel scarification test plot in early December, 2014. A female lays eggs while two males flank her and release a cloud of sperm. Spawning gravel was recently added to a riffle in Winters Putah Creek Nature Park to increase suitable habitat in anticipation of this year’s salmon run.

Photo and video by Ken Davis - Wildlife Survey and Photo Service

Salmon Finding a Home in My Backyard - Could it Be?

The sound of splashing drew me to the stream. A dark finned back cut the surface. Salmon? The fish came into view and its snout was a giveaway, maroon-hued and curved like a hook.

This was a spawning male Chinook salmon. It alternated between chasing another hooknose and two jacks, small males that sneak in to add their sperm to the mix when a standard male and female are spawning.

The source of the commotion soon became clear: A mottled female was turned on her side and fluttering her tail in a patch of clean gravel, digging a nest,

By Peter Moyle, Distinguished Professor, Emeritus - Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology and Center for Watershed Sciences

or redd. Several small rainbow trout hovered nearby, waiting to feast on loose eggs.

The scene I’m recalling from December was not the Sacramento River or some other salmon highway, but a lowly back alley long associated with carp and suckers: Putah Creek, my hometown stream west of Sacramento.

Shortly after my find, I was involved in a discussion about a new bridge being built on the creek in the Yolo County community of Winters. Chinook salmon had recently been seen spawning at the construction site. Workers were preparing

to remove temporary supports from the span. Would the embryos buried in the gravel be destroyed in the process?

Until recently, such concerns would have been inconceivable. Though Putah Creek has been heralded since 2000 as a success story in stream restoration, salmon have been regarded mainly as a bonus. Few salmon have responded each year to a special pulse flow designed to coax them upstream to spawn in the cold waters at the foot of Putah Diversion Dam.

“Salmon finding a home”... continued on page 4

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Putah Creek Council protects and enhances Lower Putah Creek and its watershed through advocacy, education, and community-based stewardship

StaffCarrie Shaw Executive Director

Karin Young Education Coordinator

Amy Williams Stewardship Coordinator

Board of DirectorsStephen McCord, ChairValerie Whitworth, Vice-ChairChris Rose, TreasurerKate Mawdsley, SecretaryErin Hasbrook ~ Eric DavisNaftali Moed ~ Melissa ThormeBruce Conrad ~ Steve Wathen

Stewardship TeamAlejandro Lopez ~ Ann CraneAnna Steel ~ Benjamin RiveraBrian Butzin ~ Bruce BerryCaitlin Rippner ~ Caryn HolmesChris Adlam ~ Christina NowakDavid Hickman ~ Devi EdenDevin Rippner ~ Don SandersDylan Dixon ~ Eddie HwangElizabeth Reay ~ Eric PayneGabriella Garcia ~ Gemma WaalandGeorgia Riggs ~ Huaira AyalaJared Borba ~ Jeff CarlsonJenn Coleman ~ Jessica HuangJessica Weidenfeld ~ Jim WellingtonJoanna Solins ~ John McWilliamsJoong Sim ~ Karen VelasKari Staats ~ Kate LaddishKimberly LounsberryLaura Losmozos ~ Lisa EdwardsLujain Al-Saleh ~ Luke PetersenMandy Culpepper ~ Matt LechmaierMichael Herrera ~ Naftali MoedNancy Hwang ~ Phillip WieseReid Bryson ~ Rick HeinSherri Sandberg ~ Steve BonnelSteve Hicks ~ Trisha Taniguchi

Putah Creek Council

From the Executive DirectorBy Carrie Shaw

Putah Creek Council staff, Stewardship Team members, restoration partners, and 650 community volunteers

planted 18,548 grasses, sedges and rushes; 2823 forbs, vines and shrubs; and 532 trees.

The past year has been an amazing one for Putah Creek Council. I first realized it in late spring during a meeting with the UC Davis Putah Creek Riparian Reserve staff. Andrew Fulks (Manager of the Reserve) looked at our list of 2014-2015 program accomplishments and said he was impressed that a staff of three had gotten so much done. Those of you who know Andrew, and are familiar with his leadership of Tuleyome (“We dream, we act, and together we get things done!”), know that he’s no slouch in the accomplishment department. So I graciously accepted the compliment and took another look at our list when I returned to the office.

Putah Creek Council did accomplish a huge amount last year! We were so busy, we did not realize it at the time. Bobby Gonzalez, Karin Young, Rich Marovich and I -- with help from our awesome Stewardship Team members and restoration partners -- led 47 plant propagation events at the native plant nursery and 75 planting events at 26 habitat restoration sites along Putah Creek, Pleasants Creek, the North Davis Channel and at Lake Solano. That is 122 community stewardship volunteer events in a 12-month period. Whew!

At the planting events, 650 volunteers planted over 18,000 grasses/sedges/rushes, nearly 3000 forbs/vines/shrubs, and 532 trees!

Add to this our record-breaking creek cleanup in September led by Amy Williams, our brand new Stewardship Coordinator. She organized over 175 volunteers who removed and properly disposed of 5200 lbs of trash, recyclables and hazardous waste from 8 miles of Putah Creek, including Lake Solano.

And our education programs, run by Karin Young, Education Coordinator, reached over 700 students and 200+ community members. Salmon-in-the-Classroom, Adopt-a-Flat, Putah Creek Club, CreekSpeak, Lake Solano Docents and a new summer intern program kept her hopping.

I’m immensely proud of Putah Creek Council, our board, and especially our staff. With your support, we are incredibly effective. Thank you!

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WaterWays Outdoor Education Program at Lake SolanoBy Carrie Shaw

WaterWays is an education program for upper elementary school students designed to build understanding, appreciation and stewardship of Putah Creek by exploring water use, water conservation and watershed protection and restoration through classroom lessons and a robust outdoor education field trip program at Lake Solano Park.

For the past 11 years, WaterWays has been supported by the Solano County Water Agency in partnership with UC Davis John Muir Institute of the Environment, the Putah Creek Discovery Corridor Cooperative, Solano County Parks, and Bureau of Reclamation.

Due to the retirement and relocation of key WaterWays staff, Putah Creek Council was asked to

WaterWays is designed to build understanding, appreciation and stewardship of Putah Creek by

exploring water use, water conservation, and watershed protection and restoration.

Mark Your Calendars and Plan to Join Us!Putah Creek Council Stewardship Celebration and Potluck

Wednesday, April 20th, 2016 ~~ 6:00 - 8:30 PM

We will send out more information about the potluck in the months to come.

take over the outdoor education and field trip portion of WaterWays starting this school year. Education Coordinator, Karin Young, jumped at the chance, and with unanimous board approval, we submitted a proposal to SCWA to coordinate up to eight WaterWays field trips in spring 2016 with the option of taking over the program annually if all goes well. The SCWA board is scheduled to review and approve a contract with Putah Creek Council at their Nov. 12 meeting.

The goal of WaterWays is to teach the youth of Solano County about where their water comes from (Putah Creek), and inspire them to get involved in the conservation of this precious resource. By offering urban and suburban students an engaging, science-based, hands-on, outdoor learning experience, we aim to inspire a future generation of water stewards.

Karin, who participated in WaterWays field trips while a student at UC Davis, is looking forward to training several student interns during winter term through JMIE’s Science Education Outreach Program, which has been supporting WaterWays since its inception.

Putah Creek Council is thrilled at this opportunity to expand our education programs.

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“Salmon finding a home...continued from page 1In fall 2014, however, more than 200 salmon came up the creek and spawned, or tried to, using every patch of gravel between the dam and the UC Davis campus, including the patch by the new bridge.

The number is tiny compared with the thousands of salmon that return annually to California’s Central Valley. But it’s the highest population recorded in the 30 years, when my UC Davis students began taking annual fish surveys of Putah Creek. The previous high was about 70 salmon, a decade ago. In most years fewer than 10 salmon can be found in the 27-mile-long stream below the diversion dam. Putah Creek has its headwaters in the Mayacamas Mountains that divide the Napa and Sonoma valleys and salmon once spawned in the now-drowned Berryessa Valley.

Most of this last fall’s salmon run used the freshly “ripped” gravel in the first few miles below the diversion dam. The Solano County Water Agency, which operates the dam, greatly increased the chances of a productive spawn by ripping through the concrete-like layer of clay and sand covering the gravel. Using heavy machinery, the agency’s Rick Fowler uncovered smooth stones of many sizes, ideal for spawning. As an experiment, alternating stretches of the creek were left as they were. Not surprisingly, no salmon spawned in these areas.

So why the sudden influx of salmon into Putah, during a drought no less? The reasons reflect the many challenges California faces trying to retain self-sustaining salmon populations.

The most optimistic reason is that

last year’s spawners were progeny of earlier spawners, 2 to 3 years ago. We have observed juvenile salmon migrating downstream during the spring, and local naturalist Ken Davis has recorded juveniles summering in the cold water below the diversion dam. Presumably these fish moved out as the water cooled in the fall, especially after a rain.

However, it is more likely that most of this year’s salmon were strays from hatcheries. About 25 percent of hatchery fish are marked by removing the adipose fin and we observed carcasses with this fin missing. The large number of hatchery strays could be explained by a series of events in the first week of December.

At the mouth of Putah Creek, a man-made canal known to trap wayward salmon drew an unusually large number of strays. The heavy rain that week could have accounted for this.

Flush with stormwater runoff, water flowing from Cache Slough into the Sacramento River could have been as attractive as the low flows from the drought-stricken river itself.

The wrong turn at Cache Slough took salmon up the dead-end canal, known as the Toe Drain of the Yolo Bypass. (A small board dam that sends water to the Yolo Basin Wildlife Area keeps fish from entering Putah Creek until the first weeks of December, when the boards are removed). California Department of Fish and Wildlife crews with nets rescued some but not all of the trapped strays and returned them to the Sacramento River.

Top: Lower Putah Creek. Sources: Teale GIS Solutions Group, US Census and USGS. Left: UC Davis science students caught small salmon fry in Lower Putah Creek in spring, 2015. Photo by Chris Jasper

“Salmon finding a home”... continued on page 5

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Hidden Treasure: Restoring Putah CreekBy Carrie Shaw

“We need the tonic of wildness...We can never have enough of nature.” This quote by Henry David Thoreau speaks to photographer Rob Stone and is one of the reasons he was so

thrilled to discover that the Putah Creek he has know since the 1970s is being protected and enhanced.

With assistance from Rich Marovich, Putah Creek Streamkeeper, and Putah Creek Council, Rob and his associate, Steve Ekstrom, have been exploring and photographing the creek for over a year.

The first group of about a dozen of Rob’s best images are now on display at Stone Photography Studio. The portfolio is called HIdden Treasure: Restoring Putah Creek and the intent of the project is to reflect the grace and power of a natural

area that has reemerged under the protection of human stewardship.

One of Rob’s images, “Willow” even won 3rd place at the Pence Gallery’s summer exhibit, “Slice: A Juried Cross Section of Regional Art.” There were 114 applicants from all over California and only 28 pieces were selected.

If you would like to visit Stone Photography Studio in downtown Davis to view Rob’s images, he can be reached at (530) 756-6319.

Limited edition signed prints of his images are for sale at the studio and are available in three sizes. He will also be producing two limited edition fine art Putah Creek Council posters. We’ll keep you posted!

“Salmon finding a home...continued from page 4

To salmon remaining in the muddy Toe Drain, Putah Creek would have seemed like an attractive option – especially once the stormwater started flowing down the stream. The first fish up the creek would have found a small board dam in the bypass blocking their way; the dam sends water to the Yolo Basin Wildlife Area until the first week of December, when the boards are removed. Salmon were observed swimming upstream immediately after the boards went off. The biggest influx apparently occurred during with the five days of pulse flow from the diversion dam, which coincided nicely with the inflow of stormwater runoff.

Whatever the reason for the surge in Putah Creek salmon, I will be watching for young out-migrants in the creek. Last spring, a team of UC

Davis undergraduates led by Chris Jasper found some small (1.5 inch) fry in the creek on campus. These fish had clearly just emerged from a redd. I can only hope some of these fish are the progeny of naturally produced adults from previous years.

Studies elsewhere have shown that juveniles of wild salmon parents have much higher survival rates than those of hatchery-born salmon, even if those parents spawned in the wild.  

If wild fish are not swamped out each year by less fit hatchery fish, natural selection – evolution – can start to work again, producing fish better able to live under the changing conditions of our rivers.

It would be good to see what is going on in Putah Creek occur in larger rivers, with thousands of fish. This can happen only if we

radically change our management of hatcheries and salmon in dammed rivers.

It would be wonderful if every fall families could go to bridges and banks and look down on huge salmon spawning in their local creek. Putah Creek as salmon stream – hold that thought!

Peter Moyle, a professor of fish biology, is associate director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis.

Note: This article was originally posted March 11, 2015 on the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences California Water Blog www.californiawaterblog.com

Wishbone by Rob StoneHidden Treasure Portfolio

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A Sincere Thank You to our 2015 Donors!Putah Creek Council’s first fundrais-ing appeal was in August 1989. That summer we were raising money to contribute toward an “emergency wa-ter purchase fund” to buy and release an additional 1000 acre feet of Solano Project water down a very parched and stressed Putah Creek.

Today, with environmental flows in Putah Creek secured, we can put your gifts toward our education and stew-ardship programs and advocacy on behalf of the creek, its habitat, and its thriving fish and wildlife. Thank you!

Alan ColombanoAlexandra WeillAllegra SilbersteinAmy and Dan AbramsonAmy GilreathAnna and Zack SteelAnnette De BowAvid ReaderBerryessa BreweryBev and Bruce WatrosBobby Gonzalez and Betsy BambergerBrad JuarrosBrett Moffatt and Anne FinkelstonBrian and Amanda TrainorBrian ButzinBrooke and Clay BrandowBruce and Rebecca ConradCarol and Ed SciannaCarol BrydolfCarolyn V. Sunny ShineCarrie Shaw and Marc HoshovskyCarrie Shepard and Dan GusfieldCaryn HolmesCatherine IshikawaCay and Dave PrattCecilia Aguiar-Curry and Larry HarrisCharles and Janis BarquistCharlotte AcharyaChris RoseChris YamaChristina NowakChristine BruhnChristopher Dewees

Cultive Frozen Yogurt DavisCynthia BatesDan and Betsy O’HanlonDan Ray and Doriene MarshallDana and John RichardsDana Stokes and Tom PhillipsDave and Laura WaltersDave MartinDavid AllenDavid and Kalista HickmanDavid and Kathleen ZezulakDavid JulianDavis Bike ClubDavis Waste RemovalDawn and Graham CalcianoDean Keith SimontonDennis and Jessica KilkennyDevi Eden and George SimonsDiane and Keith CaryDon and Julie SaylorDonna WrenDylan WarnerEarl and Barbara ByronElizabeth and Darryl Davis

Elizabeth Eklund TaraElizabeth ReayEllen and Barry HechtEmil Everett and Karolyn FreyEmily Griswold Emily ZeffermanEric DavisErica OrcuttErnst & Gertrude Ticho FoundationFleet Feet DavisFred CostelloGene Trapp and Jo Ellen RyanGeorge and Nora MealyGeorge Galamba and Chikako TakagiGreg NeuburgerHaig and Irene ZeronianHal BrownHap DunningHarold AndersonHarry Spanglet and Anitra PawleyHeidi LaurensonHeidi TschudinHelen McCarthyHerb and Christine Wimmer

Rob Floerke and Dale Hoffman-Floerke were first-time donors to Putah Creek Council in 2015. Rob and Dale moved to Davis from Fresno in 1991 and have followed the work of both Putah Creek Council and the Yolo Basin Foundation closely. Rob and Dale, both retired from State service, have backgrounds in wildlife (Rob) and fisheries (Dale) biology. They are nature enthusiasts, photographers and avid world travelers. When at home in Davis, they enjoy supporting local organizations that have diverse missions. Rob and Dale, thank you for your generosity and welcome to the Putah Creek Council community!

Nature | Nearby

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Ian MacLeodIrene TweedtJames Cramer and Helen RolandJames McCallumJayLee TuilJean Witzman and Paul HolmesJeanette and Peter SchulzJeff Carlson and Jen LoPolitoJenny NapolitanJill AguiarJim and Cheryl WellingtonJim CrenshawJim YeagerJo Crescent and Jack YoungJoe OttoJohn and Erin HasbrookJohn and Marsha AndersonJohn and Regina HamelJohn Barry John Donlevy Jr.John McWilliams and Keri MistlerJohn Ott and Annette PoriniJohn Whitehead and Anne HuberJon and Peggy WattersonJoyce GutsteinJuanita Glick and Cindy CarmoucheJudy and Eldridge MooresJudy and Richard WydickJulie Horenstein and Marty BerbachJulie Langston and Gregg RecanzoneKaren and Steve AdamsKari Peterson and Jim FrameKarin and Matthew YoungKate MarkeyKate MawdsleyKate McDonaldKatherine Holmes and Mick KlassonKathryn Reed SmithKelly and Sandy HarcourtKelly McGuire and Carmen KuffnerKerry LouxKevin McGrew and Eva BayonKim LongworthLars AndersonLaura B GayLaura ParkerLeanne FriedmanLeo RainerLeslie Q. HunterLester Farms BakeryLiam KeatingLibby Earthman and Reid BrysonLinda Sloan

Lorraine HwangLouise WalkerLucy JosephLynne NittlerManfred Kusch and Jamie MadisonMargaret KendrickMarian StephensonMarianne KirklandMarilyn Whitney and John FawcettMark and Marcia CaryMarlyce Myers and Ray McDowellMarnelle Gleason and Lou FoxMartha WongchaipasoedMary Helen and Cedar SeegerMary KimballMatt and Lauren LechmaierMaureen OlanderMelanie Truan and Rory OsborneMelissa ThormeMelody Matthews and Nathan GoeddeMichael and Monica TurelliMichael LopezMichael PerroneMichael StevensonMike and Kelly McGrawMike’s Velo CityMitchell Korcyl and Theresa BorcheltNaftali MoedNancy GrayNaomi WalkerNeal KrollNicholas StidhamNugget MarketsOutdoor DavisPam PapponePat Dressendorfer and Ona WilloughbyPatrick Huber and Evan SchmidtPaul GeptsPaul LandesPeregrine Elementary SchoolPeter and Marilyn MoylePetrea and Vince MarchandPia TuckerPierre Neu and Marcia GibbsPizza Factory WintersPutah Creek WineryRamona SwensonRebecca Bresnick HolmesRecology DixonRex DufourRhonda Reed and Ken GebhartRich and Donna MarovichRichard and Evelyne Rominger

Richard and JoAnn LarkeyRichard Curley and Nancy BrambergRob and Andrea StoneRob and Lacey ThayerRob and Liz ComanRob Floerke and Dale Hoffman-FloerkeRobert WestfallRoberta MillsteinRobin Graziani and Daniel MazzaRobin Kulakow and Bill JulianRobin LeongRoger WillmarthRon and Petra UngerSally and Peter MooreSally Brown and Jeff TenPasSandy Shaw and Wendy NyquistSara Russell and Michael HochderfferSeyem PetritesShannon Marie MooreSheila and Bob CordreySherri SandbergSteady Eddy’sStefan and Kathleen LorenzatoStella TaylorStephen and Ramona McCordStephen M. BrownSteve and Ellen BonnelSteve HamptonSteve and Susan ChaineySteve Ekstrom and Susan BrownSteve WathenSteven TracyStewart and Christine McMorrowSusan and Rick PaullineSusan Cohen ByrneSusan Handy and Matt RichterSusan HodgsonSusan Sanders and Ted BeedySusan StackhouseTeach Your ChildrenTed and Jennifer SommerTeresa FongTerry MacaulayThe ScoopTim and Margy MessickTim YuTom and Ginny CahillTom Matoff and Patricia ErigeroValerie Whitworth & Michael BarbourWalter and Margaret SwainWendy CohenWendy Rash and Morgan DoranWoody and Rebecca Fridae

2015 Annual Review

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Stewardship Team: Our Heart and Soul (and extra hands!)By Amy Williams, Stewardship Coordinator

One of the most rewarding parts of my job as Stewardship Coordinator is getting to know and work with the individuals on our Stewardship Team.

With their assortment of backgrounds as educators, farmers, professionals, academics, students, at-home parents, retirees, musicians, veterans, artists, sports enthusiasts, and scientists of all stripes, there is always something new to learn, something unique they bring to each event. More importantly, as an organization with ambitious projects and only three staff, we never forget just how much this specially-trained group of volunteers helps us with our mission to engage the public and foster environmental stewardship.

We often describe the Stewardship Team as the “heart and soul” of Putah Creek Council, and they truly are the essence and embodiment of what we do. They function as ambassadors for Putah Creek and the Council, while providing much of the leadership and labor at each event. This year alone, the Stewardship Team has contributed over 700 hours at planting, education, cleanup, and nursery events, fully one third of our total volunteer hours! Add to that an additional 300 hours one dynamic member of the team contributed in additional work outside events, and it becomes easy to understand how essential our Stewardship Team is to the education and restoration work that Putah Creek Council does.

The Stewardship Team has grown with each passing year, and this year was no exception. Our annual Stewardship Team training day

At the end of the day, we welcomed 20 new members

to this year’s Stewardship Team - a phenomenal 34% growth from last year.

was held on Saturday, October 24 at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, and we saw a major influx of new, enthusiastic participants. We spent the day learning about the birds of Putah Creek, soils, and native plants, touring the native plant nursery, and practicing planting skills at the Davis Parkway Project with our restoration partners from the Yolo County Resource Conservation District.

At the end of the day, we welcomed 20 new members to this year’s team, a phenomenal 34% growth

from last year! We now have over 50 Stewardship Team volunteers ready to help us lead community stewardship events during the comint year!

The Stewardship Team is a decidedly diverse mixture of creek enthusiasts, but all are invariably generous with their time and energy. We are deeply grateful for the dedication of this team as we are to everyone who has volunteered their time for Putah Creek. Thank you.

Stewardship Team members (l to r)) Haley Schrader (also a UC Davis Putah Creek Riparian Reserve Intern), Karen Velas, and Huaira Ayala at the 2015 Putah Creek Cleanup. Stewardship Team members provide crucial leadership as “site captains” during our fall creek cleanups.

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Huaira Ayala • Stewardship Team Rock Star!

Cathi Christo • Dedicated Lake Solano Docent

Victoria Joyce • One Creek | Restoration Intern

Huaira, at Stewardship Team Training in 2014, is packed with enthusiasm.

Cathi Cristo, one of our outstanding Lake Solano Docents.

Tori plans to study Environmental Science and Restoration in college..

Huaira works for the City of West Sac-ramento Parks Department and is also attending college. He is one of the most active members of the Steward-ship Team, giving generously of his time at events an average of twice a month for the past year.

He first heard about Putah Creek Council in 2013 when the North Davis Channel project got underway in his neighborhood. After helping out with planting events at the channel he was hooked, and he joined the Steward-ship Team in 2014. Asked why he

Cathi, on the faculty in the College of Education at Sac State, loves being outdoors in nature, and learning about the things she observes, the uses of plants, what birds she sees, and appreciating the environment around her.

Docents help cultivate a sense of won-der and appreciation in people, and Cathi wants to share that wonder with visitors to Lake Solano Park.

Cathi loves learning new things about

Victoria (Tori to her friends and family), learned about our One Creek summer internship from an article in the Vacav-ille Reporter. She’s a senior at Will C. Wood High in Vacaville.

Tori attended nearly every intern event we had this summer at the nursery and at restoration sites in the watershed. She loved being outdoors, working along the creek and getting hands-on restoration experience.

To Tori, the internship was a great way

chooses to support Putah Creek Coun-cil as a volunteer, Huaira responded, “I joined the Stewardship Team because I wanted to get more involved with the local community, and I agree with the Council’s mission of encouraging environmental stewardship. Learning all about the local native plants and wildlife is an added bonus.”

He encourages anyone thinking about volunteering to give it a try. “Putah Creek Council makes it easy to get involved,” he says, “and it’s fun!”.

the park and interacting with people on her tours. She enjoys the common experience of observing and learning that she shares with park visitors. Cathi admits that she sometimes tries to share too much information on her tours! But she’s learned to appreciate the ways in which different people with different backgrounds can be outdoors and also learn about their natural world.

to meet new people that share the same love for the environment. She liked learning about native plant spe-cies, how to use water more efficiently, and ways to make the environment more beautiful and healthy. “It was the most inspiring, knowledgeable, and memorable experience I have ever had,“ she readily admits.

Back at school this fall, Tori is President of her Key Club and active in arts club. She is also a ballet dancer and works at a CPA firm.

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Above: Putah Creek Club restoration activity - protective caging for alders. Right: Salmon-in-the-Classroom.

Flight of the Bumblebee: Putah Creek Education ProgramsBy Karin Young, Education Coordinator

When I look at the education programs we have lined up for 2016, a piece by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov comes to mind: “Flight of the Bumblebee.” For those of you not familiar with this composition, it is a frantic, busy piece featuring long runs of chromatic sixteenth notes and is very difficult to perform. It’s also an apt metaphor for this upcoming education season. Not only are we adopting two new educational programs next season, we’re continuing two of our regular programs as well. Is anyone else hearing that chromatic buzz?

Salmon-in-the-Classroom and Putah Creek Club are both on the calendar again this school year. We are extremely grateful to the Water Resources Association of Yolo County for seed funding for Salmon-in-the-Classroom. Putah Creek Club is an after school “explore and restore” program for Winters 6th graders that runs in the spring. Every other week the students alternate between nature exploration or restoration activities.

CSI: Creek Science Investigations is a new curriculum that we developed

with Winters Middle School science teacher, Kristie Oates.

Joining the lineup are WaterWays (pending SCWA board approval) and “CSI: Creek Science Investigations.” WaterWays is a outdoor education program for 4th and 5th graders and it is profiled in a separate article on page 3.

“CSI: Creek Science Investigations” is a new curriculum that we developed with Winters Middle School science teacher, Kristie Oates. We have applied for funding to jointly develop lesson plans and field trip activities and we will be working with her 7th grade students to study the local flora and fauna and see what we can discover about the Putah Creek watershed.

We also recently wrapped up the two-day Lake Solano Docent Training and happily welcomed 11

new docents into the program. Even though the training days are over, the docents never stop learning – and we’re so grateful that this group of volunteers chooses to share their desire to learn and their enthusiasm for nature with Lake Solano Park visitors. We’re developing new tour ideas, adding to our collection of interpretation resources, and enjoying getting to know each other.

As we continue to add to our Docent group and education program offerings, I’m excited to see what we learn and how we can make these projects run smoothly and beautifully. It’s a fun challenge to see the details get lined up in the right way and all of the field trip, tour, and in-class lesson logistics organized.

Now...to get warmed up!

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Creek Cleanup 2015 By Amy Williams

Creek enthusiasts stepped up in record numbers on September 19, for a hugely successful 2015 Putah Creek Cleanup. Over 175 volunteers gathered to clean debris from floodplains, roadsides, and the creek channel; to beautify and care for our local creek, our nature nearby.

Teams led by site captains cleaned a dozen sites along the creek by foot or boat, covering eight miles between Lake Solano and Mace Blvd. Over 5000 pounds of garbage and recyclables were carted away, including mattresses, TVs and other appliances, tires, beverage cans and bottles, wrappers, takeout containers, and spray paint cans.

It was especially encouraging to hear from a local cyclist who was inspired to stop and join the crew at Stevenson Bridge, filling a bag with roadside trash before finishing his ride. “Once I saw what they were doing, I wanted to do my part,” said Richard Maddock. “It was the high point of my ride!”

This year, a special effort was made

to focus on micro-trash, small bits of debris that pose a threat to wildlife. We especially want to thank our tiny creek-keepers, the young people who spent the day expertly collecting this tiny debris. As a result, 1128 cigarette butts, 344 bottle caps, and 2200 bits of foam, glass, and plastic, will no longer be a danger to the digestive systems of local birds and fish.

One Creek | Putah Creek Restoration InternshipsFor the past few summers, Putah Creek Council has been able to accept a handful of summer interns to help us with seasonal maintenance work on restoration projects and assist us at the native plant nursery. It has been a win-win experience because the interns get a wide variety of hands-on, supervised restoration experience and get to meet a professional restorationists, and we get much

needed help during a time of year when it is harder to recruit community members for volunteer stewardship work.

This past summer we piloted a joint internship program with the UC Davis Putah Creek Riparian Reserve and Solano County Water Agency. Both UCD and SCWA had two paid interns and access to vehicles, equipment and tools. The idea was

to combine interns several times to tackle big projects needing many hands and also to offer the UCD and SCWA interns plant propagation experience at the native plant nursery and diverse stewardship opportunities at restoration sites throughout the Lower Putah Creek watershed.

Dubbed the One Creek | Putah Creek Restoration Internship, it was a firm success. Thirteen Putah Creek Council interns and four UCD and SCWA interns logged over 400 hours of volunteer time together. And, two of our interns from last summer, Zachary Moffatt and Fiona O’Keeffe, also returned and helped out at most of the events. Always a good sign!

One Creek | Putah Creek Restoration Interns in front of a huge pile of invasive giant reed that they removed (by hand) from the bank of Putah Creek.

The ubiqutous “Aerosolis graffitiosis” - found at numerous

sites during the cleanup.

Photo by Tim Messick.

Putah Creek Council106 Main Street, Suite CWinters, CA 95694

Welcome New Staff and Board MembersAmy Williams took over as Stewardship Coordinator in August and “hit the ground running” by organizing the biggest Putah Creek Cleanup in recent years. Amy was a Putah Creek Council Stewardship Team member for two years and has a Master’s in Geography from UC Davis. She developed a passion for rivers during grad school while studying wetland ecosystems along the Sacramento River.

Melissa Thorme joined the Board of Directors in November and she looks forward to getting more on-the-ground environmental experience. As an environmental lawyer, Melissa works on resources issues every day, but rarely gets a chance to do the kind of work that PCC does - restoring and protecting a watershed. As a

former President of the Riparian Improvement Organization (RIO) in the late 1990s, Melissa wants to connect again with a stewardship group.

Bruce Conrad also joined the board in November. Bruce remembers swimming in Putah Creek in the 1950s at “Cannonball” and has

been volunteering at the nursery and at stewardship events along the North Davis Channel since he and his wife, Becky, moved back to Davis in 2013. He has also been one of our “awesome irrigators” along “the ditch” and appreciates the improvments he sees. He wants to see more successful projects in the Putah Creek watershed.

Amy Williams Melissa Thorme Bruce Conrad