Marin County voted down Measure D in this week’s election, effectively clearing the way for potential salmon restoration work on 157 acres along San Geronimo Creek, where 40% of adult salmon spawning currently occurs within the Lagunitas Watershed.
Formerly a golf course, the now-fallow land was recently purchased by Marin County’s Trust for Public Land (TPL), which had begun coordination with Trout Unlimited to consider plans for salmon restoration work, among other public land uses. But a local lawsuit halted planning, and then Measure D—if passed—would have blocked TPL and the County from converting the property to public land use.
With Measure D voted down by Marin County residents, Brendan Moriarty, senior project manager at the Trust for Public Land, says “we [TPL] can continue to get public input on the best uses and restore one of the most important salmon runs in the Bay Area.”
The latest issue of Marin Magazine includes an article on the implications of Measure D, highlighting the importance of restoring San Geronimo Creek and bringing endangered salmon and steelhead runs back to abundance in the Lagunitas Watershed.
California Trout Senior Scientist Jacob Katz and Bay Area Program Manager Patrick Samuel are both featured in the article, explaining the significance of restoring native salmon and steelhead runs in Marin County, and CalTrout’s current efforts to do so.
Read the article online, and if you live in Marin, go pick up a copy of Marin Magazine today!
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Peter Moyle is the Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology and Associate Director of the Center for Watershed Sciences, at UC Davis. He is author or co-author of more than 240 publications, including the definitive Inland Fishes of California (2002). He is co-author of the 2017 book, Floodplains: Processes and Management for Ecosystem Services. His research interests include conservation of aquatic species, habitats, and ecosystems, including salmon; ecology of fishes of the San Francisco Estuary; ecology of California stream fishes; impact of introduced aquatic organisms; and use of floodplains by fish.
Robert Lusardi is the California Trout/UC Davis Wild and Coldwater Fish Researcher focused on establishing the basis for long-term science specific to California Trout’s wild and coldwater fish initiatives. His work bridges the widening gap between academic science and applied conservation policy, ensuring that rapidly developing science informs conservation projects throughout California. Dr. Lusardi resides at the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences and works closely with Dr. Peter Moyle on numerous projects to help inform California Trout conservation policy. His recent research interests include Coho salmon on the Shasta River, the ecology of volcanic spring-fed rivers, inland trout conservation and management, and policy implications of trap and haul programs for anadromous fishes in California.
Patrick Samuel is the Conservation Program Coordinator for California Trout, a position he has held for almost two years, where he coordinates special research projects for California Trout, including the State of the Salmonids report. Prior to joining CalTrout, he worked with the Fisheries Leadership & Sustainability Forum, a non-profit that supports the eight federal regional fishery management councils around the country. Patrick got his start in fisheries as an undergraduate intern with NOAA Fisheries Protected Resources Division in Sacramento, and in his first field job as a crew member of the California Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Wild and Heritage Trout Program.