American Rivers was awarded a $441,146 grant from the EPA West Coast Estuaries Initiative for its project: "San Gregorio Creek Watershed: Filling Critical Flow Needs". The goal of this project is to show that it's possible to increase water quality and restore habitat while maintaining agricultural productivity.
This project will advance an already successful coalition of organizations that have been working together the past three years. Project partners include: American Rivers, Natural Heritage Institute, San Gregorio Environmental Resource Center, Stillwater Sciences and USGS. The project team is advised by a Technical Advisory Committee that includes: NOAA Fisheries, California Department of Fish & Game, Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District, San Mateo County Farm Bureau, California State Parks, Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Mateo County Resource Conservation District, and Stetson Engineers who serve as Watermaster for San Gregorio.
Initial meetings began in Septmember, followed by initial workplans for both flow and lagoon monitoring. Following approval of the workplans by our Technical Advisors, weekly water quality monitoring began in the lagoon in October 2010. An instream flow monitoring project is beginning March 1st followed by another meeting in April of the Technical Advisors to assess progress.
The project team stays in touch regularly by phone conference and email. All questions or comments are welcome from the public on the workplans, this EPA grant, or the watershed in general.
