Water Conservation and Stewardship Education Workshop

Salmonid Restoration Federation and Sanctuary Forest Host a Water Conservation and Stewardship Education Workshop to Address Water Scarcity Issues and Resources for Rural Landowners

10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Saturday, January 30 at Beginnings Octagon in Briceland

Contacts: Dana Stolzman, Executive Director, Salmonid Restoration Federation (707) 923-7501, srf@calsalmon.org
Marisa Formosa, Education Coordinator, Sanctuary Forest (707) 986-1087, marisa@sanctuaryforest.org

On Saturday, January 30 Sanctuary Forest and Salmonid Restoration Federation will host a water conservation and stewardship education workshop at the Beginnings Octagon in Briceland. The workshop will be from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and aims to help prepare local landowners for future droughts, to educate and inform about water rights and to protect anadromous species and habitat.

The day’s activities will include short panel presentations followed by break-out tributary discussions where participants will be offered a vision for forming tributary stewardship groups and will have the opportunity to converse about their watershed, ask questions of presenters and other resource experts and brainstorm collective solutions to water shortages. Panel presenters will include local restorationist Kyle Keegan on permaculture practices for water conservation, Trout Unlimited California water attorney Matt Clifford on water rights, Bill Eastwood on fire and fuels reduction and Sanctuary Forest Education Coordinator Marisa Formosa on community engagement and tributary stewardship collectives. The workshop is open to all interested Mattole and Eel River watershed landowners and residents, and will focus on several Mattole River and South Fork Eel river tributaries—namely McKee Creek, Thompson Creek, and Ravashoni Creek in the Mattole and Redwood and Sproul Creek in the South Fork Eel River watershed.

The workshop and tributary breakout groups will provide an opportunity to build consensus and capacity about community-based water conservation efforts. “With the passage of Water Bond and the watershed restoration funding available in Proposition 1, there is a unique opportunity to coordinate water conservation efforts in watersheds that still hold hope for recovery,” said Dana Stolzman, Executive Director of Salmonid Restoration Federation. This collaborative meeting aims to bring community members together to come up with creative and effective ways of addressing local climate change impacts and sharing our common resources.

Marisa Formosa of Sanctuary Forest explains, “With climate change bringing longer dry seasons and less winter rain, communication and collaboration are more important than ever. While we rejoice in the current downpours and watch the streams fill and the salmon spawn, we must also take this time to plan and think ahead. We hope that workshops like this one will result in greater trust and cooperation among neighbors and within communities—that it will be one step in an evolution of human consciousness that brings humanity into closer relation, respect and understanding of the earth and all living beings.”

An organic lunch will be provided with a $10 suggested donation. For more information on Sanctuary Forest and Salmonid Restoration Federation please visit www.sanctuaryforest.org and www.calsalmon.org. Funding for this meeting and ongoing stewardship education was provided by the California Department of Fish and Game’s Fisheries Restoration Grant Program.