Dear Friends,
Lots of news and progress to report as the year gets off to a good start for Friends of the Petaluma River. Read on and enjoy.
Cheers; Capt. Dave Yearsley
Ca. State Office of Grants pays a site visit to the Petaluma River Heritage:
On Feb. 3rd. Karen Simms, a project officer of the Ca. Office of Grants and Local Services met with Petaluma’s Ron DeNicola, Jan Mandrell, and Dave Yearsley at the Petaluma River Heritage Center to see the site and review plans for our State grant proposal to create a Nature Education Facility there. The visit went very well and Ms. Simms seemed very impressed with the location and existing facilities. This step is a good indication our $3.8 Mil. grant application is still moving forward. The Prop 84 funded program is very competitive and taking longer than anticipated, but we look forward to learning more near the end of March.
Friends wins $46.000 grant from Calif. DFG & NOAA Fisheries:
Good news came last week that our grant application for expanding our Petaluma Watershed Salmonid Habitat Enhancement and Outreach Program was approved for the term: 5 /01/2011/to 4/30/2012. It will build on the work we began last year from a $10,000 grant through The Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.
Under the new grant Friends of the Petaluma River will work to improve fish passage for Chinook salmon and steelhead trout, educate a broad spectrum of stakeholders, and increase community awareness and concern for the habitats and stewardship of these resources in the Petaluma River, marsh and watershed.
We are very excited about the possibilities this grant presents It will allow collaboration with other conservation and watershed groups, as well as creating informative displays, and presentations to take to classrooms and community groups; spreading word about the Petaluma’s often underappreciated and threatened Salmonid resources. It will also help fund work by our new grant administrator and program assistant Carolyn Dixon.
The groundwork for these grants began back in 2007 as we helped Ca. DFG with a watershed wide habitat survey. The results of that survey were presented to the public at our very successful “Salmonid Forum” in April of 2008.
M
ost of this work has been the result of the fabulous vision and support of Gail Seymour; Sr. Environmental Scientist, Supervisor for Fisheries & Watershed Restoration CA Dept of Fish and Game Bay Delta Region. We are extremely grateful to Gail and her colleagues at Ca. DFG. for their continued advocacy for the Petaluma Watershed’s resources and choosing to partner with Friends of the Petaluma River to inform the public about our Watershed’s Salmonid populations and improve conditions for them.
Pontoon boat donated to Friends fleet:
Recently Ernestine Campbell and family contacted Friends about donating their longtime family owned 20’ Kayot Pontoon boat to Friends. Although having been stored for several years, and in rough shape, the craft sparked our interest as a platform to run fishing and other outdoor oriented programs and for use in transporting passengers during River clean-ups & other events.
Small Craft group forming at the RHC:
As Water Rat said to Mole, in Wind in the Willows; “There is nothing – half so much worth doing – as simply messing about in boats”. I agree wholeheartedly, and in order to promote this wonderful activity on the Petaluma River, and make it more readily available to youngsters, seniors and families of our area Friends of the Petaluma is planning to hold a few informational and organizational meetings to see what kind of interest there might be.
Initial activities will focus on repairing and putting to use several small craft that have been donated to the River Heritage Center. Other possibilities for future activities are boat building & outings etc.
Initial Small Craft Club gatherings:
Outreach meeting
Sun Mar. 6th: 10 AM – 12 PM
Petaluma River Heritage Center
6 Copeland St. Petaluma.
Pancake Breakfast – work & play day
Sun. March 13th 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM
Whether or not you have a small boat or are just interested in learning more about them please come to one of our initial meetings and bring your ideas, friends and family. For more information and to sign up or help contact – david [at] friendofthepetalumariver.org.
Visit our Flickr site to see all of our action packed photos online.
