What’s new on the “Petaloo”

Holiday Greetings to all;

The Season of joy and sharing:

The holidays are now in full swing and we at Friends send our best wishes to all for a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, and Superb Solstice. We hope that 2007 be a great year for each of you and for the Petaluma River as well.

We are also ready to help with last minute gifts to river lovers on your lists (including yourselves). A fresh shipment of River wear, maps and boat stickers has just arrived. The good people at Clavey River Equipment 409 Petaluma Blvd. S. in Petaluma have graciously offered to provide an outlet for our merchandise. Stop in and check out our cozy fleece vests, handy wind breakers, quick drying hats, popular paddle maps & our new stickers.

FRIEND’S RIVER EMPORIUM

Maps of the Petaluma River
Paddlers’ Map - 11” x 17” $20.00
Two sided, water proof map of the Petaluma River

The Grand Edition - 30” x 36” $75.00
Printed on high quality map paper.

River Wear
Fleece vests - Cozy and stylish, with Petaluma River logo.$30.00
sizes - XS, S, M, L, XL, 2XL

River Jackets - $35.00
Nylon windbreakers - lined with warm flannel
& inside “phone” pocket - sizes S, M, L, XL

River Hats - Lightweight & quick drying; cotton/nylon blend $15.00

Celebrate and Conserve - “boat” stickers - $1.00

Cloudy Bend bookmarks: with beautiful photo by Scott Hess - Always free!

Please consider “Friends” for your holiday gifting and end-of- year giving too. Renew your membership at this time, give gift memberships, or make a year end donation. This can easily be done online, and all are tax deductible under our non-profit status! Visit www.FriendsofthePetalumaRiver.org.

The Petaluma Marsh receives a gift:

The Petaluma Marsh has just been expanded by 102 acres thanks to the efforts of Marin Audubon, its president Barbara Salzman, and support from the Coastal Conservancy and USFWS among others. On Friday Dec. 8th, a levee holding back San Antonio Creek was breeched and tidewater poured in to reclaim a section of formerly dyked land on the Marin/Sonoma Co. line. Read about it in the Marin IJ

waterfowl enjoying Marin Audubon’s restoration site

Friends Board sets priorities for 2007, and beyond:
Friends Board of Directors and key advisors met for a retreat on Dec 16th to assess our progress and set priorities for the future. In a wonderful 4 hour session at the Sheraton Sonoma Co.-Petaluma, ably facilitated by Sonoma State Univ. 2nd year Masters Candidates, Dave Tracy and Alan Yee; we discussed our goals, strengths and needs. It was generally agreed that because of Friends growth, the wonderful support of our membership, the commitment of new key volunteers, and continued excellent press coverage; that we have achieved the “critical mass” necessary to be effective leaders within the region on matters relating to the River. In order to realize this potential the retreat attendees indicated strong support for:

• Establishing a public headquarters in the community ASAP.
• Augmenting our boat tours and river access programs
• Creating more education programs and information materials
• Expanding our public affairs, “watch dog”, and water quality efforts.

It was also determined we need to improve our organization’s structure and capacity so that we can better meet these growing expectations. A team of key volunteers; Marshall Fitzgerald, Robert Brown, and Patrick Campbell have agreed to combine their considerable talents to formulate an organizational expansion plan and present it to the Board within the next 30 days. We anticipate a great future for Friends; with plans to provide more opportunities for education, recreation, and watershed stewardship.

An exciting time for Friends!

Petaluma Paddlers visit the Marsh:

Winter is no time to hang up your paddle. The kayak group Petaluma Paddlers is proving that, by being active year round navigators of the Petaluma’s waters. They have regular recreational paddles on the Petaluma River Wednesday and Saturday mornings, as well as destination trips to other waters in the region on a regular basis. On Sat. Dec. 2nd a merry group of a dozen showed up for lunch at “Marsh Mellow” on San Antonio Creek. They dined elegantly and departed in beautiful weather on a 6’6’’ high tide.

Petaluma Paddlers in their element		The Paddlers arrive Petaluma Paddlers lunch bunch

For information about joining the Petaluma Paddlers contact:

Ray Thompson Or meet them online at:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Petaluma_Paddlers/

Best Wishes to you for the Holiday Season and throughout the year from Friends of the Petaluma River.
We hope to see you on the water and in the community

Dave Yearsley – Friends of the Petaluma River

Celebrate & Conserve

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Biologists testing shoreline cordgrass to see if S.F. Bay invasion has spread north
Published: Wednesday, Dec 13, 2006

By COREY YOUNG
ARGUS-COURIER STAFF

A notorious, fast-spreading cordgrass already choking off waterways in the eastern and southern reaches of San Francisco Bay may have taken hold in the Petaluma River, scientists and environmental advocates say.

Three weeks ago, officials from several agencies plucked blades of the suspected grass from the shoreline of Petaluma’s Shollenberger Park, gathering samples to be tested at a University of California, Davis laboratory.

They want to know if the clumps of cordgrass, also called Spartina, are the native species or an invasive version originally introduced in the East Bay three decades ago to shore up levees.

A greater fear is that the unusual grasses seen along Shollenberger are hybrids of the native and non-natives species.

“The visual appearance makes them think it is the invasive hybrid,” said David Yearsley, the executive director of Friends of the Petaluma River, who joined representatives of Fish & Game, Petaluma Wetlands Alliance and the California Coastal Conservancy’s Spartina project on their Shollenberger visit.

The presence of the hybrid or the original invasive species, Spartina alterniflora, could be troubling for the Petaluma River and its meandering sloughs and marsh channels, Yearsley said.

“It overpowers the local variety and forces out other plants,” he said. Cordgrass can spread quickly over tidal mudflats that serve as foraging habitat for shorebirds and other small creatures, he said.

“Once we’re infested, it could spread throughout the watershed,” Yearsley said.

He investigated reports of non-native Spartina in Petaluma three years ago but found nothing. Today, though, there’s a possibility infestations in other parts of the bay have produced seeds carried up to Petaluma by the tide, he said.

Dr. John Shribbs, a Casa Grande High School biology teacher and a board member of Friends of the Petaluma River, has mapped suspected Spartina sites along the river near Shollenberger to help botanists study the situation, Yearsley said.

“At this point, it looks like scabs on the shoreline,” he said of the plant.

The non-native cordgrass is taller than the native variety, according to the Spartina project. Its leaves are a reddish-brown color on the bottom while the native grasses are white and green.

Since it grows faster than the native grass, Spartina alterniflora or its hybrids can quickly close off waterways and slow down the water — causing more sediment to build up and creating potential flooding problems by raising the channel’s elevation to that of the surrounding land, the group says.

In other parts of the bay, low-toxicity herbicides have been used to eradicate Spartina infestations. Results of testing on the Petaluma grass samples should be completed by the end of December.

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