Cotati Friends of the Laguna:
Neighbors and City, Caring for Our Waterway
1 st Annual Report 2025-
2026
Cotati City Council
October 13, 2026
Photo of volunteers
OUR FIRST SEASON:
SEPTEMBER 2025 - MARCH 2026
• ~370 volunteer hours |
1.5 acres of Laguna
• 1,445 blackberry crowns
| 607 broom plants |
98 privets removed (5+
truckloads)
• 121 native plants
installed, plus sedge
transplanted
TIMELINE OF CFL
● September 2025: Creek Week
● October 2025 to March 2026:
-Stewardship Days
-Climate Ready Fair
-Bioblitz and tour of habitat
garden at UELF
● September 2026: Creek Week
WORKING TOGETHER
• City
• Volunteers
• Partners
WHY IT MATTERS
• Improved habitat
• Flood mitigation
• Reduce soil erosion
• Connection
OUR ORIGIN STORY
• 1998: Community & Environment
Commission
• 2005: Cotati Creek Critters
received $169K state grant to
plant 2,000 native trees and
shrubs along 1 mile
• 2009: interpretive signs
• 2011: added another 1/3 mile
• Monthly nature education series
• Community Voice articles
• November 2024: Celebrating the
Laguna
WHAT’S WORKING AND WHAT’S TO COME
● Success story: basket sedge
(Carex barbarae)
● 2027 plans
○ Stewardship Days
○ Educational and fun events
● What we're dreaming about:
○ Benches
○ Updated interpretive signs
○ More collaborative
opportunities
Cotati → Laguna → Russian River → Pacific Ocean
INVITATION
Join us
at a Stewardship Day!
Next one: Saturday, October 17
9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
THANK YOU!
tinyurl.com/CotatiLaguna
CFL Steering Committee:
Councilmember John Savage, John Dell’Osso, Maria
Alvarez, Sam Malkemus, Jenny Blaker, Robert Leys,
Yukta Mehtaji, Judith Newton