9th Annual Coho Confab
Salmonid Restoration Federation, Trees Foundation and Salmon Protection and Watershed Network will Host the 9th Annual Coho Confab August 25-27, 2006 at Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County Salmonid Restoration Federation, Trees Foundation and Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN) will sponsor the 9th annual Coho Confab August 25-27, 2006 at the Clem Miller Education Facility at Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County. The Confab is a symposium to explore watershed restoration and learn techniques to enhance recovery of salmon and steelhead. The Confab brings together community members, landowners, activists, scientists, and restoration ecologists for a weekend of innovative skills-building workshops, hands-on tours of restoration projects, community networking, and fun. Participants learn about an array of restoration techniques such as road decommissioning, streambank stabilization, water quality monitoring, native plant propagation, fish identification, and more.
Friday opening addresses include welcoming remarks from SRF and Trees Foundation, an opening prayer and historic and cultural perspectives by Coastal Miwok and Southern Pomo representatives, a presentation by SPAWN biologist, Paola Bouley, on Coho salmon empowerment and local grassroots action, followed by Liza Prunuske, of Prunuske Chatham Inc, offering a 20-year Retrospective of Marin County Salmon Restoration Efforts. In addition to an exciting diversity of concurrent workshops, the Confab offers two all-day workshops, both with a hands-on restoration component. In one, Brannon Ketchum, Hydrologist, and Lorraine Parsons, Wetland Ecologist and Project Manager from Point Reyes National Seashore will lead a tour of Giacomini Wetlands where participants will learn and assist with invasive plant removal. In the other, participants will tour SPAWN’s San Geronimo restoration projects, including the Geronimo Valley Rain Catchment Design Project and have the opportunity to participate in a bioengineering workshop, building organic structures with native materials to help stabilize eroding banks. The concurrent workshops offered span a wide array of restoration and fisheries topics. Maureen Roche from the Mattole River will also offer her popular workshop entitled, “Tails from a Hidden World,” where participants will have a chance to snorkel and see coho salmon and the micro-habitats where this remnant population thrives. Bioassessment pioneer Jim Harrington will teach macro-invertebrate sampling as a means of determining the health of the river. Circuit Riders Inc. will offer a native plant propagation workshop and a representative from Pt Reyes Bird Observatory will discuss bird response to riparian restoration. Gillian O’Doherty, Marine Habitat Specialist with NOAA Restoration Center will present Community Led Estuarine Restoration Projects in California. A series of workshops presented by NOAA Fisheries will address fish passage barrier removal, including project design and planning, a discussion of fish passage database resources including FishXing and CalFish, and a tour of fish passage projects at Point Reyes and Lagunitas Creek. This year’s Confab will also offer On Farm Watershed Management: Implementing Practices for Improving Water Quality and Habitat Conservation with Dave Lewis from UC Cooperative Extension and Nancy Scolari from Marin Resource Conservation District, Recovering California's Central Coast Salmon and Steelhead under the Federal ESA with Charlotte Ambrose, National Marine Fisheries Service Coordinator for the North and Central Coast; and Marin Geology: Comparing Eastern Marin and Point Reyes National Seashore with Jim Locke, Geology Professor at College of Marin. Finally, to round out the Confab offerings with some cultural fare, SPAWN Naturalist, Steve Waldron will present “Art of the Environment: Power Compositions” and musician, author and educator Dana Lyons will share Stories and Songs of Salmon and perform at the Saturday evening campfire. Tomales Bay Watershed Association will also host a Saturday evening BBQ. Since the Clem Miller facility at Point Reyes (http://www.ptreyes.org/clem/index.html) is limited in capacity it is necessary for participants to pre-enroll. Registration is $100-150 sliding scale that includes all food, workshops, and lodging in the dormitory-style bunkhouses. To learn more about this year’s Confab, to inquire about scholarship opportunities, learn about other lodging opportunities, or to register for the Confab, please browse our site, visit www.treesfoundation.org or call Trees Foundation at (707) 923-4377. |
The
9th Annual Coho Confab opens Friday with workshops in SPAWN’s
fish rescue techniques, underwater fish identification with Eric
Ettlinger, an Aquatic Ecologist with Marin Municipal Water District,
and Stillwater Sciences fisheries biologist Matt Sloat will lead
a workshop entitled “Coho across the riverscape: how migration
and seasonal habitat use reveals stream reach-specific restoration
potential in the Lagunitas Creek watershed."