As citizens of the Central Coast we have the privi-lege of living alongside and enjoying one of the most beautiful marine environments in the country: the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Currently, the greatest source of pollution in this unique resource comes from ur-ban runoff. Storm drains collect harmful bacteria, nutrients, pesticides,

EVENTSAug 21: Harkins SloughSept 8-13: Santa Cruz County Fair, Fairgrounds.Sept 16: First Flush Pre-training and World Water Monitoring Day.Sept 20: First Flush dry run and Annual Coastal Clean-up Day.Oct 18: Volunteer appre-ciation party and Clean Water Act DayNov: Fundraiser TBA

The Watermark Newsletter of the Coastal Watershed Council

Preserving and Protecting Coastal Watersheds Since 1994 Summer 2008

Urban Watch to First Flush: Trailing our runoff by Nancy Scarborough

PEOPLEBoard of Directors:

Josh Fodor, ChairChristine Reyes, TreasurerGary Peterson, SecretaryBruce Arthur, AssociateArmand Ruby, Associate

David Reid, AssociateMarcie Wald, Associate

Bryan Largay, TACShawn Chantrand, TAC

Staff:Armand Ruby

Interim Exec. DirectorNik Strong-CvetichAssociate Director

Debie Chirco-MacdonaldProgram CoordinatorNancy Scarborough

Urban Watch Coordinator

Direct from the Execby Armand Ruby

Summer greetings to all of our volunteers and supporters! As you will see in the rest of this newsletter, there is a lot going on at CWC. In May we completed the ninth annual Snapshot Day,

heavy metals, oils, and detergents and transports them directly to the bay. Therefore comprehensive, long-term monitoring becomes a fundamental element of resource management and protection -- Don’t you want to know what’s flowing into your bay? ...Cont’d on page 2

First Flush Volunteer on a late night monitoring mission

with water quality monitoring performed throughout the central coast by our army of volunteers, in conjunction with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctu-ary. Also this spring we completed the bilingual production of our agricultural water quality manual, Reading Your Runoff, and provided training to farmers throughout the Salinas valley region. Our Bay Watershed Education and Train-ing (BWET) Get Outdoors! (GO!) school education program is going strong. Our First Flush and Urban Watch volunteer monitoring programs are alive and well and expanding to include creek monitoring in conjunction with the monitor-ing of urban runoff discharges. We are continuing to support the Resource Con-servation District and other agencies in achieving environmental progress, and we are embarking on exciting partnerships with other like-minded organizations. ...Cont’d on page 2

“To preserve and protect coastal watersheds through

community stewardship, education and monitoring”

1Summer 2008

Snap Shot Day volunteers were greeted by Santa Cruz Mayor Ryan Coonerty and CWC Interim Executive Director Armand Ruby at the event kickoff.

Urban Watch to First Flush cont’d...For the last 8 years, the CWC’s Urban Watch Moni-toring Program has provided stormwater run-off data to local cities and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Funded by the cities and the Sanctuary, the program is built on the efforts of dozens of dedicated volunteers who work throughout the dry season to monitor storm drains for common pollutants such as detergents & chlorine, and collect data on pH, conduc-tivity, turbidity, odor and color. Samples are analyzed monthly for bacteria, nutrients and copper.

Direct from the Exec cont’d...The past year also has been one of much change for CWC. In July we said farewell to Tamara Doan, our Director of Programs and a long-term staff member, who for several years was the glue that held CWC together. We express our great appreciation for all of Tamara’s hard work on behalf of CWC and wish her well in her new endeavors. Staff member Colleen Sut-ter also left to pursue her master’s degree in education at Stanford – congratulations and thank you Colleen!Meanwhile we are excited to announce the hiring of Nik Strong-Cvetich as Associ-ate Director.

Nik is fresh off of a masters degree in Public Administra-tion and Environmental Policy from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and has excellent non-profit experience. Nik brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the position and will focus on development-re-lated activities. One of Nik’s first tasks will be to work with a consultant through a Community Foundation grant to put together the final phases of our Strategic Plan, in an effort to establish long-term sustainability for CWC. We also welcome former volunteer Nancy Scarborough to the staff. Nancy is leading the Capitola Urban Watch/First Flush volunteer monitoring and is doing a great job.

In August we bid adieu to Board co-chair, Kirsten Liske, who has served CWC diligently and been a guiding light on our Board for several years. Kirsten is a vice president with Ecology Action, and her responsibilities there demand her focused attention. We give our deepest thanks to Kirsten, who is truly an environmental hero in our region. Earlier in the year we also gained two new Board members with ties to local institutions: Marcie Wald, who is on the staff at Cabrillo College, and David Reid, a staff member with the County of Santa Cruz.

I look forward to working with you all as we continue to serve and protect coastal watersheds. With ever-growing effects of global warming, newly emerging pollutants, and ongoing threats to watershed health and salmonid viability up and down our coastline, this work is now more important than ever.

- Armand Ruby, Executive Director

The force behind this year’s program consists of 15 fabulous volunteers and our new intern, Bob Til-lotson. This enthusiastic group has jumped right in to help monitor four storm drain sites and new this year; three stream sites around the City of Capi-tola. As of this writing we have held 10 sampling events, conducted 510 sep-

Snapshot Day 2008by Debie Chirco-Macdonald

Mild, sunny weather graced the Central Coast for the 9th annual Snapshot Day event on Saturday, May 3, 2008 as approximately 184 trained volunteers fanned out across the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctu-ary to monitor water quality in streams flowing into the Pacific Ocean. Co-coordinated by the Coastal Water-shed Council and the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Citizen Watershed Monitoring Network (“Network”), Snapshot Day’s annual one-day event collects valuable water quality data about the health of our coastal waters.

The morning of the event volunteers met at hub’s in San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Luis Obispo Participating volunteers monitored 160 sites from Marin County in the North to Morro Bay ...cont’d on page 4

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arate field measurements, 350 field analyses, filled 168 whirl-pak bags, entering it all into a master database to be shared. The program is ongoing through the sum-mer and fall, culminating with the “First Flush”—the first significant rains after the summer season. Urban Watch is always seeking new volunteers as some of our students return to school in the fall. ###

Summer 2008

First Flush Celebrates World Water Monitoring Day

by Nancy ScarboroughCoursing over our roads, freeways, and driveways, the first significant rain washes all the oils and grease, heavy metals, nutrients from fertilizer, dirt and detritus and everything else built up during the summer from our urban landscape toward our marine landscape. It becomes imperative that we get out to sample, mea-sure, analyze and share exactly what is going into our coastal waters.

This event can happen anytime night or day, and will require our volunteers to mobilize quickly. It typically occurs sometime in October or November. We will hold a pre-training September 16th at the Simpkins Family Swim Center and one “Dry Run” training Sep-tember 20th. This year’s Dry Run takes place on the Annual Coastal Clean-up Day and we will be coor-dinating with Save Our Shores to do a special stream clean-up before the Dry Run.

Also this year, CWC’s First Flush event will partici-pate in conjunction with World Water Monitoring Day, beginning September 18, 2008. In 2007 46,000 people in 43 countries monitored their water and in-cluded their data in an international database. We will be uploading our sites and data to share with the rest of the world.

We need more volunteers for both the Urban Watch Program and First Flush event. For more information please see our website, www.coastal-watershed.org, visit our Facebook page (Coastal Watersheds), email urbanwatch@coastalws.org or call Nancy at 464-9200.

First off, I am excited to be on board with CWC and get to work with such a great group of staff, board, and volunteers! After receiving my masters in Public Administration and Environmental Policy, I launched the Conservation Leadership certificate program at the Monterey Institute. I worked previously in Agricul-tural water quality with ALBA in Salinas. At CWC, I will largely be spearheading development efforts to become more sustainable and grow the organization! In addition to our long running programs like Urban Watch, First Flush and the Get Outdoors! (GO!) Pro-gram, we have a number of great new projects that are currently under development.

We are soon embarking on a strategic planning process with gracious support from the Community Founda-tion of Santa Cruz County. We are going to set a new path for CWC and grow in new strategic and sustain-able directions. Stay tuned for the outcomes from this process...

A Coastal Watershed Welcomeby Nik Strong-Cvetich

Also, come visit us at our new Facebook page, where you can chat with other members and volunteers about Coastal Watershed Council’s work, donate, or just keep in touch with us! Come find us and be our friends! Our ID is Coastal Watersheds.

Last, CWC has been an integral part of a coalition to put a new measure on the ballot to promote city water quality projects to reduce pollution in our creeks, riv-ers, beaches and oceans. Look ahead to the November ballot for Measure E, and help support clean water and healthy streams in Santa Cruz. ###

Tamara Doan mentors Associate Director Nik Strong-Cvetich, at a 2006 Training of the Trainers.

GET WET WITH FIRST FLUSH!First Flush Seeking Volunteers:The training includes two sessions: Tuesday night in the use of monitoring equipment & sampling techniques and a Saturday Dry Run . Please plan to attend both.FIRST FLUSH TRAINING: Capitola & Santa Cruz:DATE: Tuesday, Sept. 16 TIME: 6:00 – 8:30 PMLOCATION: Simpkins Family Swim Center 979 17th Avenue, Santa CruzDRY RUN: The Dry Run on Saturday provides participants with hands on practice and a chance to see your site by daylight. DATE: Saturday, Sept. 20 TIME: 9 AMLOCATION: Site TBA (assigned on Tues.)This year’s Dry Run takes place on the Annual Coastal Clean-up Day. We will be coordinating with Save Our Shores to do a special stream clean-up before the Dry Run. Contact Save Our Shores (www.saveourshores.org) for more information.

3Summer 2008

Thank You to our all donors!Grants and Foundations

-Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County

-San Francisco Estuary Institute

-City of Santa Cruz-City of Capitola

-PG&E-Regional Water

Management Foundation-Appleton Foundation

-NOAA

In-Kind Donations-Odwalla

-Trader Joe’s-Santa Cruz Coffee -Roasting Company

-Emily’s-Upper Crust Pizza

-The Bagelry-Crystal Springs

-Natural Bridges SB-Noah’s New York Bagels

-Nob Hill/Raleys-Santa Cruz Port

Commission- Garbiella’s

-Kayak Connection-Linda’s SeaBreeze Café

-Live Oak Grange (space)-New Leaf

- Newman’s Own-REI

-Patagonia-San Gregorio General Store

Business partnersADH Consulting

Central Coast WildsEcology Action

ALBA

Bruce Daniels Sam Watson

Mark MenesiniBruce Ashley

Bill BaierLouise BerryTricia Biocini

Pam & Jim Cham-berlain

Elaine & John CookSonia & Tom Deetz

Larry DetloffRon DuncanKirsten LiskeJohn Fischer

Stephen GibbsBreta Holgers

Thomas HopkinsKendall L. Jensen

Paul JohnsonMurray Macdonald

Bob Montonye, Colleen Brokaw, Gwen Clark, Ed Morrison, Lucy Kemnitzer, Emma Trollman, Steve Jesberg, Cheryl Ruby, Nate Ruby, Ryan Hogan, Jeff Belden, Vai Campbell, Meiling Roddam, Sharon Lacy, Sharyl Yamamoto, Patrick O’Rourke, Penny Chesluk, Shawn Agarwal, Ross Clark, Brice Dahlmeier, Patrick Graham, Rodney Cahill, Travis Baggett, Jean Fife, Rita Jaramillo, Chuck Kuzak, Karl Lusebrink, Greg Lydon, Lisa Lydon, Mary Panton, Neil Panton, Loro Paterson, Julie Schreiber, Corina Schreiber, Caroline Towe, Leonard Woren, Tony Pullin, Nigel Webb, Kristina Howard, Michelle Powell, Krista Gray, Jacenda Rangle, Adrian Rangle, Justin Meek, Laura Bon-trager, Rebecca Zuccerman, Mallory Pickett, Dylan Tansy,

...And a big thanks to all our volunteers!

Coastal Watershed Council is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization. All donations are tax deductable. Please send checks to PO Box 1459, Santa Cruz, CA 95062 or visit our website www.coastal-watersheds.org.

Individuals &FamiliesScott Macdonald

Tom MaderJane Orbuch

Robert OrrizziGary Patton

Larry PetermanDenis Ramirez

Celia ScottHeidi Wengert

Jonathan WittwerBarry AntlerJosh Fodor

Amy VandiverDavid Bruner

Sue SheuermanWilliam Leland

Eric RubyGerald & Bonnie

ChristensenMarcie WaldArmand Ruby

Be like these folks and donate now!!!

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Snap Shot Day cont’d...

in the South, measuring water quality and collect-ing water samples from 123 water bodies.

For many of the streams monitored on Snapshot Day it is the only time dur-ing the course of the year that water quality informa-tion is gathered.

Snapshot Day successes are due in large part to the dedication, hard work and enthusiasm of our volun-teers. We are grateful for the many hours our vol-unteers spend assisting in the efforts to protect our local watersheds.

As well, a special thank you goes out to the local businesses that donated snacks and drinks to the San Mateo and Santa Cruz volunteers on Snapshot Day: Odwalla, Trader Joes, Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Company, Emily’s Good Things to Eat, Upper Crust Pizza, The Bagelry, and Crystal Springs Drinking Water. And a special thank you to Anna Holden of the Network for coordinating Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties and Joanne Mohr from the Gulf of the Farallones for coordinating two teams there.

This year samples were processed by the San Mateo County Department of Environmental Health, Sewer Authority Mid-Coastside, Santa Cruz County De-partment of Environmental Health, Monterey Bay Analytical Services and San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department.

Data gathered from the 5 counties will be synthe-sized into a summary report and when completed will be available on our web site at www.coastal-wa-tershed.org. Past Snapshot Day reports can also be downloaded from our website. ###

Summer 2008

Eric Anderson, Marcus McDonough, Kyla Plumlee, Lindsey Hitt, Jonna Slomovitz, Sara Rajan, Ron Compton, Jennie Munster, John Dick-inson, Michelle Zenda, Joseph Brezner, Kevin Lewis, Dennis Davie, Allen Hasty, Erin Stanfield, Brad Macdonald, Sierra Macdonald, Sandra Goldstein, Kent Hull, Alay Vautier, Gary Conley, Marie Brayman, Kristine Sherwood, Carolyn Ngo, Kate O’Gorman, Kelleen Harris, Jen English, Nop Panitchpakdi, Ray Halim, Ileana Konviser, Micayela Konviser, Kiana Charles, Amanda Charles, Phoebe English, Susan Fer-rel, Isabella Golino, Serena Ferrel, Serena Leichter, Ed Spurr, Gail Olson, Malena Clark, Peter Wilde, Shannon Pickens, Sarah Greene, Jeff Alford, Genine and Camille Scelfo, Ava Klein, Katrina Binckmann, Bruce Ashley, Christen Hanson, Kay Wood, Kirsten Liske, Mary Ray, Alessandro Natt, Stephanie Osby, Christian Kocher, and Julia Hengst. Sorry if we forgot you!