Re: Strategic Planning meeting, January 21, 2025
Dear Mayor Ford, Vice Mayor Lemus, and Council members Rivers, Harvey and Sparks As you consider a Strategic Planning process for the City, I would like to offer some thoughts and suggestions about volunteer engagement, as was discussed at the January 14 City Council meeting. More specifically, Maria Alvarez and I have a request about engaging volunteers in the care of the Laguna and its tributaries.
Council members lamented the difficulty of recruiting volunteers. I would suggest a survey or analysis of volunteering in Cotati, as it applies to forwarding the City’s goals.
Volunteers in Cotati are engaged with the Laguna, with musical events such as the Accordion Festival, annual Music Festival, working with children on music and theater, and events like Art Trails and Farm Trails. I’m sure volunteers are associated with VerondaFalletti Ranch and Sandy Loam. I’m sure we all know Cotati residents who volunteer in other countywide organizations such as Redwood Empire Food Bank, Ceres, hospice, animal rescue, Petaluma Bounty, and LandPaths. I imagine most volunteers prefer to be involved with practical actions that make visible and tangible differences to people’s lives or to the environment, rather than to form committees or write grants, as was being discussed at the Council meeting.
At the January 14 meeting, the Community & Environment Commission, Cotati Creek Critters, and the Cotati Historical Society were all mentioned in a positive light as groups that have been successful in recruiting volunteers. Another good example would be the successful City-sponsored Creek Week Clean Up on September 1, 2024, when City staff provided a structure, the Recreation Dept. helped recruit volunteers, and volunteers spent a morning on creek clean up.
The Laguna trail is an incredible asset to the community and is well used and enjoyed by many. This was particularly noticeable during the pandemic when restaurants were closed, gyms were closed, and many more people were regularly walking the Laguna trail. It's now on the map, literally, with wayfinding directional and interpretive signs and maps and this is good to see. At the same time, it's important for people to know that the Laguna, further downstream, is valuable wildlife habitat and a Wetlands of International Significance, and that by taking care of the waterways here in Cotati we are helping to take care of the Laguna, the Russian River, and ultimately even the Pacific Ocean. This fits with the City’s requirements to minimize pollution.
Maria Alvarez and I have some suggestions about volunteer engagement, in discussion with City staff, to help take care of the Laguna in Cotati.
Maria Alvarez is a plant biologist and restoration ecologist working with the National Parks Service. She was a member of Cotati's Environment Advisory Commission (CEC) which morphed into Cotati's Community & Environment Commission in the 1990s. She has led volunteer habitat restoration crews in Marin for the National Park Service for over three decades.
Maria was the person who first started teaching me about California native plants around 1996, and together we started the Cotati Creek Critters, as a small group of volunteers working closely with the CEC. I later worked with the Laguna Foundation to apply for grant funding from the California Department of Water Resources, which allowed Wade Belew and I to expand the capacity of CCC to take on the planting of 2,000 native trees and shrubs, working in conjunction with the City of Cotati, the Sonoma County Water Agency, SSU, SRJC, and others, to engage thousands of volunteers over several years in planting and maintaining native plants and removing invasive plants along the Laguna channel in Cotati. We also ran a community education program, the Inside/Outside Nature Education series, and contributed a monthly column to the Community Voice newspaper.
Both Maria and I remain engaged in issues related to the Laguna in various ways, and know several other local residents who are knowledgeable about ecology, plants, birds, and other wildlife, and are concerned about the health of the Laguna.
Some of our observations along the main Laguna trail, between McGinnis Circle ("Elderberry Bridge") and Ladybug Park include:
· For the most part, the trees and shrubs that Cotati Creek Critters planted are thriving. · One particular success is the spread of the basket sedge, Carex barbarae, a plant used in traditional indigenous basket making. It has spread successfully, helps reduce erosion, stays green all year round, and is even out-competing non-native invasive plants such as Harding grass and Himalayan blackberry. Tule is another existing beneficial plant that could be encouraged.
· There is some encroachment by non-native invasive plants including Scotch broom (Cotati Creek and downstream to Commerce Blvd); privet; prickly oxtongue, Harding grass, HImalayan blackberries, and in places English ivy, and giant periwinkle. · Some uplimbing of trees could be done to help maintain the flood control channel. · We understand there may be some changes in Sonoma Water's management of the flood control channel and would welcome an opportunity to meet on site with City staff to discuss.
· See attached Cotati Creek Critters plant list which was originally supplied by SCWA.
Other issues include:
Culverts: in some places the culverts alongside the trail get overgrown with vegetation and are not visible to walkers on the trail, which could pose a hazard. They need to be regularly kept clear and visible.
Interpretive signs: The three interpretive signs alongside the trail which were originally installed by CCC in 2009 have stood up well but are showing signs of wear. The manufacturer KVO Industries supplied a quote to replace all three panels, for $1,279. Is this something that the City can consider in the next year? Pocket Park: It looks as if the City's re-do of the project has been deemed complete. It is not listed at https://cleargov.com/california/sonoma/city/cotati/projects The two new benches are a nice addition - but there is no shade! Can trees be planted to create shade over the benches for anyone who may want to use them in summer? Putnam Park: Regarding the Capital Improvement Project, several suggestions were made regarding the potential for planting native plants alongside the small waterway/ditch to the south and eastern edges of the park, with trees for shade and understory plants to help clean up the water in the tributary before it enters the Laguna; and also for an interpretive sign explaining the context and significance of this site within the Laguna watershed. The details and maps posted at https://cleargov.com/california/sonoma/city/cotati/projects are too small to read. What is the current status of the park project? Trash: Will there be another creek clean up day in 2025? And what else can be done to minimize trash in the creek? Perhaps small teams of volunteers could help out with trash removal on, say, a quarterly basis? One volunteer as you know installed trash cans and has been collecting trash north of E.Cotati Ave, single-handedly making a huge difference to the volume that ends up in the Laguna.
Grafitti: The Public Works Department has responded to reports about graffiti on signs. A small number of volunteers also remove graffiti on signs from time to time.
Plastic wattles: We've made repeated requests for the City and its contractors not to use plastic-wrapped wattles to control erosion in ditches etc., but it's still happening. New plastic wattles were installed in a ditch near E. Cotati Ave. within the last two weeks. I understood that the City was going to use biodegradable wattles only. Plastic wattles last far longer than the straw they contain, and then become a hazard for wildlife and yet more plastic trash in the creek system. What can the City do to ensure that plastic wattles are removed and no longer used in Cotati?
Trail surfacing materials: a number of people are interested in the question of surfacing materials for the trails which was discussed at City Council a few weeks ago.
One suggestion Maria and I have is that we could monitor the Laguna channel, say once a month, and report any issues back to staff for discussion and/or remedy.
Lastly, for information of upcoming events:
Maria, Michael Knappman and I were involved with the Cotati Historical Society event, “Celebrating the Laguna,” November 3, 2024, and took part in the speaker panel. As a follow up to that event, Michael, who volunteers with teachers and students at University Elementary at La Fiesta, using the Laguna as an outdoor classroom, and I, are planning a “walk to the historical headwaters of the Laguna” on April 5, 2025, as part of the Laguna Foundation’s educational program. Historical ecologist Arthur Dawson will be our guest speaker. Nineteen people signed up immediately on Nov. 3.
Meanwhile, the accompanying exhibit in the museum, Celebrating the Laguna, is accessible when the museum is open, Saturdays, 1-4pm, for up to a year.
We would welcome the opportunity to discuss with the City ways of engaging residents with care of the Laguna and its tributaries and some of the issues listed above.
Many thanks,
Jenny Blaker