Friends of Gualala River Protecting the Gualala River watershed and the species living within it
By Laura Baker, Chair
Committee Members: Lynn Walton, Chris Poehlmann, Kenyon Rupnik, Ethan Arutunian, Peter Schmidt, Nathan Ramser, Pat Maxwell
As with so many other organizations, Covid has challenged our committee to stay connected to one another as well as to the larger community. For the past year and a half our committee has been meeting virtually via Zoom.
The Education and Outreach Committee was formed 5 years ago, inspired by the goal of helping educate the community about the beauty and value of the natural features of the Gualala River watershed. Because 98% of the land is in private hands with almost no public access to the river except at the estuary, the public lacks vital information about nearly every feature of the watershed despite its critical importance to residents and visitors alike. Our committee tries to fill this gap as part of our mission to protect the watershed now and for the future.
For Earth Day, we brought renowned fish biologist, Dr. Jacob Katz, via webinar to the community. If you missed the talk, you can find the video here: Recovery and Resiliency in California Salmonids. Dr. Katz provides a fascinating primer on freshwater fish as well as extensive information on salmonids in California.
Below you’ll read about two on-going projects that are part of the committee’s long-term vision. The topographic model, brain child of local museum exhibit designer, Chris Poehlmann, will capture images of the myriad forces that shape our watershed via video projection onto a permanent table model housed at the Gualala Point Regional Park Visitor Center. The Visitor Center is now hosting a new weather station, part of a planned network of weather stations throughout the watershed that will soon deliver real time weather data to the FoGR website reflecting the the diversity of micro climates in the watershed.
For more information, see:
The 3-D Topographic Watershed Exhibit Now Funded!
A Weather Station for Gualala Point Visitors
This past year we have also worked in close collaboration with the Redwood Coast Land Conservancy to help in the planning effort for the Mill Bend Preserve. FoGR representatives have served as technical advisors and have assisted the Working Group, meeting each week to discuss public access, invasive weed reduction, and protection and restoration of this wonderful site. Together with UC student and local resident, Elise Allen, FoGR also helped plan an interpretive nature trail that will be ADA-accessible. We hope to expand opportunities for further collaboration between FoGR and RCLC at the Mill Bend Preserve.
