Coastal Watershed Council

Did you know there’s an app that offers an augmented reality perspective of Santa Cruz’s last Chinatown along the ? Download the free “Last Chinatown” app on your mobile phone and take a walk in downtown Santa Cruz near the present-day 418 Project. Open the app and you’ll have an immersive look back in time as you point your camera at different buildings to see what they looked like during the Chinatown era.

“Watermarks of the Last Chinatown” is an interactive public memorial in the form of a site-specific augmented reality experience that speaks to the rich narrative landscape of Santa Cruz, California, through the lens of historical erasure with a focus on its last Chinatown. The work is a collaboration between Huy Truong, Susana Ruiz, and Karen Tei Yamash*ta. It includes interviews with community members, historical photographs, virtual recreations, and a performative interpretation of an original story by Yamash*ta. The work incorporates documentary, holographic film, and gameplay and is experienced on mobile devices at historically important sites in downtown Santa Cruz to render visible the lives, legacies, and labors of those who lived there.

Our River Stewards members got to hear a wonderful talk from Deanna Giuliano the Nursery Director and Botanical Consultant at . She shared with members her career path, her knowledge on restoration, and her insight on native plants. Then she spent time working alongside our river stewards. It was a wonderful day, and we are grateful for guests like her showing members different paths into careers.

We had a great time leading these walks! Thanks to everyone who came out. Please leave us a comment if you'd like to see more San Lorenzo River walks like this in the future!

📣 Save the Date for Saturday, August 24! 📣 The Coastal Watershed Council and The Jams are hosting River Jam, an open house at the CWC office to celebrate the culmination of The Jams 1-year residency creating artwork inspired by the San Lorenzo River.

We'll have a bike ride to visit some murals along the San Lorenzo River, food, music, an art market, hands-on art activities, a raffle, tours of our habitat site, and more. Come join us from 12-3 pm, and tell your friends - it's going to be a blast! More info to come! 🌼

Summer Fun! is in session and it is always a fun time when we get to be in the . It is sometimes scary to try something new like using waders for the first time. After awhile, students have so much fun exploring and enjoying the water on a hot summer day!

If you are available and would like to help out the native plants along the lower San Lorenzo River please join us next Saturday. This heat got our plants stressed and we could use all the help to tend to the rivers' native plants. You can sign-up for this River Health Day in our bio or on our website at https://coastal-watershed.org/events/. Hope to see you all out there soon!

Staff from the Santa Cruz Warriors and State Warriors recently made a tangible impact for the San Lorenzo River by removing invasive ice plant – three whole tons of it! This group of 27 enthusiastic volunteers helped enhance habitat right across the river from the Warrior’s stadium at Kaiser Permanente Arena as part of an ongoing, multi-year volunteer partnership between the Warriors and CWC.

Using shears, clippers, and lots of elbow grease, the group snipped runners of invasive ice plant and hauled tarp loads up the levee to a waiting 15-yard dumpster. Together, we removed 731 square feet of highly invasive ice plant and filled the dumpster to the brim – a load weighing about three tons! 💪

This major effort helped clear space for native plants and animals along the river, including the Western Pond Turtle, which requires open areas for basking. Before the event kicked off, Santa Cruz Warriors President Chris Murphy highlighted how important CWC’s work is for the San Lorenzo, and how excited he is for the future of the river and for our partnership together. 🌱

We so appreciate this dedicated group of river neighbors who put the idea of river stewardship into practice! Thank you, Warriors, from CWC and the San Lorenzo River! 👏

Summer Fun is in full effect! We are so grateful to our community partners at Nueva Vista Community Resources for the opportunity to take such amazing kids to the . It’s one thing to talk about watershed protection in the classroom, but being waist deep in the water together is next level!

Watershed Rangers summer camp is now in full swing! ☀️ In partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Cruz County and Nueva Vista Community Resources from Community Bridges / Puentes De La Comunidad, CWC recently launched summer programs for 90 kids to get outdoors, explore the San Lorenzo River, and learn about their environment.

While taking a tour of the San Lorenzo River with CWC this week, Watershed Rangers from Nueva Vista's Summer Fun Program got to visit our Artists-In-Residence The Jams painting a river-themed mural on the levee wall at Third Street! We love that these kids got to see public mural art in action, and see how it is connected to the river. The mural's beautiful message (Agua es Vida / Water is Life) matters to all of us. 💧

Have you seen the new mural yet? 💙

Get excited and ready for this Saturday's Family River Health Day! We will be doing hands on work on the San Lorenzo River and having fun activities for kids. We will be by Mike Fox Skate Park from 10 am - 12 pm. We hope to see you there!

CWC Supporters Host Fish Monitoring Equipment on Branciforte Creek - Coastal Watershed Council A new piece of equipment is monitoring steelhead trout movement in Branciforte Creek, thanks to the help of San Lorenzo River champions Ken and Tina Slosberg! Ken and Tina are […]

We're so excited to host local youth and families at our Family River Health Day event next Saturday, June 22nd from 10:00-Noon on the Santa Cruz Riverwalk! It's going to be a blast and we hope your family will join us.

Bring your kids and your excitement to help us protect native plants along the San Lorenzo River while also enjoying activities including bird watching and art projects. You can register for this event by clicking the link in our bio.

The San Lorenzo River is our source of drinking water and a critical habitat corridor for all types of life, including sensitive species like steelhead trout and the western pond turtle.

Together we can keep the healthy for our human community and for our amazing river wildlife. We're excited to see you there!

Special shout out to for helping us spread the word!

Art in progress: An amazing mural by our Artists-in-Residence The Jams! Check it out on Third Street at the levee! 💙

We're Hiring! Do you have a head for data and a heart for the environment? The Coastal Watershed Council in Santa Cruz is seeking a dedicated development associate to drive our fundraising efforts and support connecting our community with a thriving San Lorenzo River. 💧 🌱 ❤️

Reporting to the Communications Manager, the Development Associate is responsible for administrative duties and coordinating activities related to fundraising and engagement. You’ll thrive in this role if you are highly organized, detail-oriented, and tech-savvy, with an interest in deepening your knowledge in non-profit development.

Read the full job description on our website and apply by June 23, 2024, by emailing your resume to [email protected]! Please help us spread the word about this opportunity!

https://coastal-watershed.org/cwc-is-hiring-a-development-associate-apply-by-june-23/

Spend a morning at the with us and to celebrate National Trails Day!

On Saturday, June 1, the Coastal Watershed Council is hosting a volunteer work event at the Santa Cruz Riverwalk! We’ll spend a few hours removing invasive ice plant by Mike Fox Park to improve the river habitat, then head over to Woodhouse Blending & Brewing for a well-deserved party. 🎉

Expect good times, sunshine, and lots of freebies: all volunteers will receive good karma, plus free lunch, free 🍺 from Woodhouse, and an entry into a volunteer raffle full of outdoor goodies 🎒 🎁.

Sign up to snag your spot at https://act.santacruztrails.org/national-trails-day/

We can't wait to see you there! 🌼

Each piece of public artwork near the has stories worth sharing. CWC is kicking off a new grant that will interpret three art pieces at the river and uplift underrepresented local history through community storytelling! 🎉

Funded by a Coastal Stories grant from the California State Coastal Conservancy, this project aims to increase the representation of Indigenous, Chinese, and Latine communities in public spaces in Santa Cruz. Each of these communities has a rich history and connections to the San Lorenzo River, and each has inspired a unique piece of public art along the river!

The three pieces of artwork at the center of this project shown in these photos include 1) the “Aulintak” storm drain mural in Poet’s Park, which was inspired by the name for the village near the mouth of the San Lorenzo River inhabited by the Awaswas-speaking Uypi tribe for 2,000 years before Spanish colonization, 2) the Chinatown Bridge Monument, also known as the Dragon Gate, near the San Lorenzo River pedestrian bridge marking the site of Santa Cruz’s last Chinatown, and 3) the Tlāloc storm drain mural in Beach Flats Park that prominently features the Aztec (Mexica) god of rain as a tie to neighborhood identity and culture.

This project will create interpretive signs to provide history and context for each piece of artwork, and include links to videos featuring community storytelling about the artwork and the San Lorenzo River. We are excited to be partnering with the The 418 Project and local artist Irene Juarez O’Connell (who painted the storm drain murals) on this project. Read more about this project on our website, and stay tuned for more! https://coastal-watershed.org/uplifting-community-stories-to-interpret-river-public-art/

The Education team is back from ! We had the opportunity to network and learn about nationwide river conservation efforts in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

We started off with the first-timers meetup to meet new people who were new at river rally! We then walked over to the famous Blue Bridge to the welcome reception to meet hundreds of amazing people working to protect our communities and watersheds nationwide.

We got to learn so much from topics such as Flooding, Urban Forestry, Communication Tools, Reconciliation Ecology, and Social Media.

We were also very excited to attend field trips. Our Environmental Educator, Maria, got to spend the morning aboard the W.G. Jackson research vessel to test for water quality and look at the critters that live in the soil of Lake Michigan and Lake Muskegon. The afternoon was spent doing a dune hike at Muskegon State Park with freshwater dune experts and local dune protection advocates.

Overall we had a lot of fun learning from organizations and making new connections to bring back to the and our communities.

We're in the Good Times Santa Cruz! So thrilled to see this highlight about our fantastic partnership with Santa Cruz Downtown Streets Team and Jane Mio. Read about the great work our team of “River Rescuers” is doing to restore the habitat of the San Lorenzo River! https://www.goodtimes.sc/river-rescuers/

Also thanks to our Board Member Linda Cover for this great photo!

CWC’s education team is currently in Grand Rapids, Michigan attending River Rally 2024!! This conference is a great opportunity for Sam and Maria to share successes and challenges from CWC’s work in the San Lorenzo River community while learning from other river-focused groups from across the country.

Impactful sessions so far include: “Urban River Restoration and Homelessness: Intersectional Solutions” and “Reconciliation Ecology: Addressing Historical and Current Injustices by Restoring Relationships in the Plaster Creek Watershed.”

We are so excited to bring our new knowledge and partnerships back to Santa Cruz to the benefit of CWC, the San Lorenzo River, and our resilient community.

“Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.” -Wendell Berry

Volunteers Needed! Connect with nature this weekend by joining CWC for a River Health Day! We'll be tending to native plants along the San Lorenzo River from 10 am – 12 pm on Saturday, May 18. Help the river ecosystem thrive – sign up to volunteer on our website! https://coastal-watershed.org/event/river-health-day-54/ 💪🌿

River Health Day - Coastal Watershed Council Join us for CWC's May 2024 River Health Day to maintain and plant native seedlings along the banks of the San Lorenzo River!

We have lots of new updates from CWC’s Board of Directors! We're thrilled to share that Dr. Eva Salas has stepped into the role of Board Chair, after previously serving as Secretary. Eva is a Costa Rican biologist who moved to Santa Cruz in 2011, and currently lives near the San Lorenzo River with her husband and son.

The Riverwalk is a place Eva comes to meditate, walk, and admire nature, and it serves as her main biking route to get anywhere around town. She particularly loves to see the changing faces of the river throughout the year. 🧘‍♀🚶‍♀️🌿 🚴‍♀️

“My vision is to transform the lower San Lorenzo River into an attractive destination where people and nature can thrive,” she said. “I hope to continue connecting our community to the river with the help of CWC’s education and habitat enhancement programs."

Eva has a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from UC Santa Cruz and works as a Project Director for Coral Reef Restoration at The Nature Conservancy. We look forward to her leadership! Learn more about Eva here: https://coastal-watershed.org/introducing-cwcs-new-board-chair-eva-salas/

Did you know that dragonflies are considered beneficial insects? They can eat up to 100 pesky mosquitoes and gnats every day, so we love to see them zooming around!

Dragonflies live as nymphs in our local creeks and streams for many years before they emerge into the skilled flyers we know and love. If those rivers or streams are polluted, dragonfly eggs and nymphs would not survive. When we see dragonflies, we know our waterways are healthy!

If you look closely at this photo taken at the you’ll see this dragonfly has freshly molted, emerging from its former exoskeleton to spread its wings for the first time.

Enjoy your mosquito-eating adventures, dear friend!! ❤️ 💧 🌲

We were thrilled to participate in Bay View Elementary School's Fiesta de Las Artes event this year and hand out some incredible San Lorenzo River art kits developed by CWC's Artists-in-Residence, The Jams! 🎨

Jessica Carmen, one half of The Jams, is also a passionate arts educator. Drawing on this aspect of her background, Jessica has created an art kit for students to explore the San Lorenzo River as part of her artist residency funded by the .

The art kit's varied activities cater to different learning styles to help kids connect to the San Lorenzo River, including a word search, coloring pages, a native plant scavenger hunt, a river mindfulness activity, and more! 💧

Learn more and download your own copy of this amazing art kit on our website! https://coastal-watershed.org/art-kit-creates-connections-to-the-san-lorenzo-river/

California Arts Council Arts Council Santa Cruz County

Ssssssssssssssoo cool to see this beautiful and harmlesssssssss Pacific gopher snake on the at CWC’s habitat enhancement site last week!!

These helpful and beautiful snakes can live up to 15 years and spend 90% of their time in underground burrows. They eat gophers, rats, and other small mammals that are usually considered a nuisance to humans, as well as small birds, lizards, and insects on occasion. Thank you, snake, for being great natural pest control at the !!

Please leave these snakes alone and try not to disturb their natural behavior. Grabbing or poking these snakes is considered wildlife harassment which is illegal. Gopher snakes will hiss and flatten their heads to mimic a rattlesnake when threatened, but they are non-venomous and not harmful to people or pets.

We hope to sssssssssssssee you again!

The Coastal Watershed Council has been a community partner for the Teacher Leadership Institute for Sustainability (TLIS) and the Green Classroom Challenge hosted by the .

"The 76 Teacher Leaders for Sustainability and Green Classroom Teacher Champions who were honored at the event have engaged over 4,300 students in environmental learning and action."

This year we had to shift from planting to seeding. As we learn this skill and adapt our restoration techniques every day we have a success to share. Our coast tarweed (Madia Sativa) has not only grown, but it has bloomed. This bloom has reminded us how with just a little seed and a lot of love we can make the San Lorenzo River a little bit better for us and our seed-eating friends. If you all would like to learn more about the process and see who helped us along the way please check out our new blog in our bio or here https://coastal-watershed.org/spreading-seeds-with-cwc/.

In honor of Day we are shining a spotlight on heroes of the San Lorenzo River – members of the Cruz Downtown Streets Team experiencing homelessness who have become dedicated river stewards through a unique partnership with CWC! Since November 2022, more than 30 DST members have come to weekly volunteer events at the river to remove weeds, spread mulch, clear trash, and help the river's native habitat flourish! Read more about their success:

Downtown Streets Team Members Become Successful River Stewards - Coastal Watershed Council Through a unique partnership, Santa Cruz residents experiencing homelessness have become dedicated stewards of the San Lorenzo River and improved the river habitat.

Join us, and to celebrate mother nature and tend to the Lower San Lorenzo River. We will be removing invasive plants, removing litter, and beautifying our lovely San Lorenzo River. We hope to see you out there! Also, who doesn't love a pool party?🌱🌎🐦
You can signup on our website or here https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bridging-the-gap-habitat-restoration-and-trash-clean-up-tickets-870389457297

Please join CWC, the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, other environmental organizations, and some of our community's best teachers to learn how environmental literacy is being incorporated into classrooms county wide!

Presentations are on April 20th, 2024 from 10 am-Noon at the in Santa Cruz. Presentations are included with the price of admission.

Thank you for supporting local environmental education and the protection of our !

Thank you to everyone who came out for today’s State of the San Lorenzo River Symposium and tour of the Fall Creek fish ladder in Felton!

We enjoyed presenting on the many positive benefits of flooding in our watershed, and hearing lots of other great talks. CWC even got a shout out from the for our efforts to remove invasive ice plant from the lower San Lorenzo River, which opens up habitat for Western Pond Turtles and other wildlife!
🐢💧

Thanks to everyone for taking an interest in our watershed. Huge kudos to our fellow organizers - and big thank you to and The Bagelry for providing such delicious snacks! 💙