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Our
big bold plan to protect the slough
Several
hundred migrating Brown Pelicans (a threatened species)
rely on Elkhorn Slough as a stopover each year. A dark head
marks a juvenile, a white head indicates an adult.
This
fall, more than 1600 people from hundreds of land trusts got together
for five days in Madison, Wisconsin to talk about protecting land.
There was a lot of knowledge floating around the conference center.
The Elkhorn Slough Foundation sent six staff members and between
us we were able to attend over a third of the hundred plus workshops
offered. They covered the full scope of the work we do protecting
Elkhorn Slough – acquisition, land management and restoration,
outreach and communications.
When we returned, a full load of work was waiting for us. Our
land staff is preparing for the winter rains and winter soil erosion.
(We summarize this year’s stewardship work below.)
Executive Director Mark Silberstein
is closing on an acquisition that he has been working on throughout
the year.
Just before heading to the conference, we completed work on a
major funding proposal to take the Tidal
Wetland Plan to its next level. When we look back on this
year we’ll probably remember it as the year we, and our partners,
began to address the channel widening and marsh loss that threaten
the Slough. This tidal scour has been at the top of the “big
threat” list for decades. Addressing it is a daunting task
because the issues are complex and the likely solutions expensive.
As we, and our partners, tackle this daunting task, we’ll
need to remember that saving Elkhorn Slough has always involved
tackling big threats. Decades ago concerned citizens spoke out
against the industrialization and
development of the Slough – and articulated a different
vision of Elkhorn Slough’s future. Today, more than 7000
acres of land have been protected.
Just seven years ago we tackled the threat of soil erosion from
the hills surrounding the Slough. Today, thousands of acres have
been protected and we are practicing farming in those hills in
ways that dramatically reduces soil erosion.
Elkhorn Slough has been “being saved” for decades through
patient, persistent, year-by-year effort. This year the Elkhorn
Slough Foundation developed a five-year plan that maps out our
part of that effort through 2010. (Below is
a preview of that plan.) When we began the planning proces,s we
felt the urge to come up with something big and bold – and
then we realized that we are doing something big and bold. We
are protecting one of California’s last great estuaries,
year by year. Our deepest thanks to everyone who has contributed
to this effort, year by year.
Table
of Contents
Multi-tasking
and multi-talented
As
anyone who has ever done so will tell you, building and maintaining
a good nonprofit Board is hard work.
That’s because Boards have a complex set of roles: they are
ultimately responsible for the organization; they supervise the
Executive Director; they are responsible for financial oversight;
they are public ambassadors and financial supporters. In addition,
a good Board will reflect the constituencies served by and involved
in the nonprofit’s work. The Elkhorn Slough Foundation Board
plays all these roles and some others as well.
Our fifteen Board members include two of our founders, John Warriner
and Anne Olsen. Eight members have served over seven years, which
is to say that they were members before ESF became an active land
trust responsible for thousands of acres of land. We think it’s
important to have this mix of long time members and new ones.
Wil Smith has been championing the issue of marsh loss and channel
widening for years.
Members
of the Board Land Committee get
a first-hand look at land we're protecting.
There
are other mixes which we seek to maintain on our board. Three
of our Board members have strong ties to the farming community:
Diane Cooley, Rich Morris, and our current Board President, Richard
Nutter. Other Board members have ties to the scientific community
(Steve Webster, who recently retired as the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s
Senior Marine Biologist) and to the volunteer docents at the Reserve
(Jack Taylor holds the record for volunteer hours served at the
Reserve).
As we’ve grown, we have brought on more Board members with
the financial and management experience a $1.2 million organization
needs. Bill Eggleston is a retired IBM executive, and Jerry Patrick
has an extensive fundraising background. Steve Dennis started
two software companies and has extensive experience in strategic
planning – which we have put to good use this year.
Perhaps one of the most important roles of the Board is to represent
ESF in the community – and all our Board members fulfill
this role in one way or the other. Candy Ingram, Dick Hammond,
Jim Van Houten, and, our newest Board member, Lydia Villarreal,
are all active in community groups – as are others mentioned
above. All Board members play multiple roles, just as the Board
itself does.
Our thanks to these hard working, multi-talented Board members
– and to two who retired in 2005: Paul Irwin and Frank Capurro.
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of Contents
A
"holistic plan" for the next five years
For
many people, the mention of “strategic planning”
leads to rolling eyes and a story about having done
it once – and how awful it was. ESF Board member
Steve Dennis hates hearing these stories, because
he’s a believer in planning, but not the kind
that leads to eye rolling. Steve’s planning experience
started with two businesses he founded and has recently
included working with several nonprofits. When he
joined our Board this year, Board President Dick Nutter
immediately tapped him to help us develop a new five
year plan.
Planning is not as critical when you’re a small
operation – as ESF was until we took on our land
trust responsibilities. Just seven years ago our staff
consisted of Executive Director Mark Silberstein and
two part-time staffers. Our plan was, more or less,
in Mark’s back pocket or in his head. These days,
ESF has ten staff members and administers grant funds
for another 10 positions at the Elkhorn Slough Reserve.
During the summer, Steve Dennis guided the staff and
our management team through a process that was, the
word was repeated many times, “painless.”
Even more important, the results were satisfying –
clarifying our goals and priorities, pushing us to
think down the road, helping us address issues that
can get lost in the day-to-day crush of work.
Expect
more member events in the years ahead –
like our Spring Walk, where you can pick
cultivated flowers like these.
In
September our Board gave its enthusiastic initial
approval to the new five year plan for ESF –
and to a planning process that we think will serve
us well beyond that five year period. Board member
Dick Hammond, who said he came with his arms crossed
(and his eyes rolling no doubt), called the results
“spectacular.” Board member Rich Morris,
who pushed for such a process for the past two years,
called it “a holistic plan” and an exciting
step forward. We’re making some minor changes
now, with final Board approval expected at the end
of the year. We’ll report on the final results
in our next issue.
More
members, more events
One thing that’s already certain is that we plan
to continue expanding our membership – and the
number of member events we hold. This year we’ve
expanded our membership from 700 to almost 1000, and
we hope to cross that 1000 mark soon. We’ve also
expanded the number of member events during the past
few years, and this year’s record turnouts make
it clear that we need to add more.
Our Spring Walk drew more than 100 members –
almost double last year’s turnout. Our Fall Kayak
Tour filled up weeks ahead of time. And our Annual
Celebration at the Aquarium set a record with over
200 people. We’re delighted that so many of our
members have joined us at these events, and we love
showing you what we’re protecting and how we’re
caring for the land.
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Who
we are,
what we do
The
Elkhorn Slough Foundation is a community-based
nonprofit founded in 1982 with the mission of
conserving and restoring Elkhorn Slough and
its watershed.
The Foundation has spearheaded innovative and
cutting-edge research, conservation, and educational
programs in Elkhorn Slough.
The Foundation currently owns and/or manages
3600
acres, the largest conservation holdings in
the Elkhorn watershed. Since its inception,
the Foundation has been directly involved in
the restoration of over 1000 acres of key habitats,
including tidal wetlands, coastal prairie, oak
woodlands, freshwater ponds, riparian corridors,
and chaparral.
The Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit under
the Internal Revenue Service Code and is the
only community-supported organization wholly
dedicated to conserving and protecting Elkhorn
Slough and its watershed. Seven hundred members
support the activities of the organization.
A fifteen-person board governs the Foundation.
The board represents a broad cross-section of
community interests including conservationists,
attorneys, educators, farmers, academics, business
people, scientists, and community volunteers.
Several board members have roots in the community
going back five generations.
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Table
of Contents
Protecting the slough, step by step
Throughout
the year we report to you the dirty, muddy, weedy
details of stewardship – the work of caring
for 3600 acres of land. We’re providing this
summary to cover some of the things we missed,
and to give you an overview of work that cost
us $440,000 this year.
Blohm
Ranch 14 years ago. Soil erosion on these steep
sandy slopes
planted in strawberries averaged 33 tons of soil
per acre every year.
Our
stewardship budget has more than doubled in three
years, because the amount of land under our care
keeps growing. Our first land manager was hired
in 1998 when we managed 800 acres of land. We added
a second position in 2000, when we managed 1500
acres of land. In late 2004 we hired our third land
staff member, after a four year period when we more
than doubled the land under our care. Here’s
how we keep them busy.
Stewardship
farming
This year we hired our first Farmland Manager, John
Kenney, to work more closely with the farmers who
lease our land. Being a veteran farmer himself,
John serves as a resource to our farmers and as
a liaison with the multiple farming agencies we
collaborate with. ESF currently leases 137 acres
for farming a wide variety of crops, including strawberries,
perennial herbs, and vegetables. We also lease 200
acres for grazing, using holistic management techniques.
At the end of 2005 we expanded grazing by another
60 acres. Our approach to these farming and ranching
operations is to experiment and demonstrate ways
to successfully farm and protect the natural environment.
Blohm
Ranch today. The steepest slopes are being restored,
the rest are in pereennial herbs. The result is
a dramatic
reduction in soil erosion.
This
year ESF leased its first
certified organic farmland. The land is on property
we acquired in 2002 and left fallow for three years,
in order to certify it organic. We also reduced
the farm footprint – the amount and shape
of the land under cultivation. When we acquired
the land, 70 acres were under cultivation –
most of it on steep slopes that produced high rates
of soil erosion which fed directly into Carneros
Creek. We have taken the steep slopes out of production
and will, in future years, restore them. The 21
acres on relatively flat land are being farmed by
Martinez Farms, a local family-run operation that
only farms organically. They are growing strawberries
and vegetables like beans, squash, tomatoes, peas,
and peppers.
Reducing
soil erosion
Even after more than a decade of committed work
by many landowners and natural resources agencies,
soil erosion continues to be one of the most serious
threats to the long-term health of Elkhorn Slough.
The Elkhorn Slough Foundation works to reduce this
threat in two ways: by taking the steepest, most
erosion-prone hills out of cultivation and by limiting
soil erosion on the lands it leases to farmers.
Since 1990 we have removed more than 300 acres of
steep slopes from cultivation, including 20 acres
on one of the ranches we acquired at the end of
2004. During the past year we have worked extensively
on limiting soil erosion on the lands we farm. In
late 2004 and early 2005 we did our second year
of work on the drainage channels and sediment basins
at the Hambey property. This fall we worked to clear
sediment basins and drainage channels in preparation
for the rainy season.
Farmland
Manager John Kenney cutting weeds
on our new (used) tractor.
One
of the gratifying parts of our work is going out
on the land and seeing the cumulative impact of
years of work. There is no better example of this
than at the Blohm Ranch – because this is where
we have worked the longest, more than 14 years.
Years from now we will be able to look at some of
our recent acquisitions and see the same kinds of
changes.
Removing
non-native weeds
Five of the twenty most invasive non-native plants
in California are established on ESF lands. This
year and every year we devote significant resources
to just limiting their expansion. Our major removal
efforts were focused this year on Jubata grass (a
species of pampas grass), one of the most widespread
invasive non-native plants on our lands. In 2003
we launched a five-year program to eradicate this
aggressive species from 2000 acres we manage. We
are moving west to east with the prevailing winds,
so that cleared areas are not reseeded from the
uncleared areas on our lands. Our land staff reports
great success in the first two years, and we are
on schedule to complete this project in 2007. Next
year we begin tackling the vast stands of Jubata
on the Hambey property
These
goats are helping control non-native weeds and
are setting the stage for restoration plantings
next year.
This
year we invested in a new (well, used) tractor to
assist in the mowing of weeds on our lands. This
fall we started using goats on the El Chamisal property.
The goal is to use the goats to control a massive
problem with non-native weeds, and to set the stage
for active restoration. The El Chamisal property
is a case study in the full range of stewardship
activities – trash removal, taking steep slopes
out of production, controlling invasive non-native
weeds. We look forward to the day when the “before”
and “after” pictures of this scarred property
will resemble those at the adjoining Blohm Ranch.
Restoration
Our process at El Chamisal and Blohm demonstrate
that restoration is a multi-stage, multi-year process.
In this view, weed abatement and the removal of
invasive non-natives is part of the restoration
process. So is repair work – filling in gullies
and stabilizing slopes. At the end of 2004 we recontoured
gullies and planted a winter cover crop on our most
recent acquisition, the Renteria property. Two years
ago we did similar work on the Elzas and Brothers
properties and this year we returned to plant perennial
plants to further stabilize the soils and enhance
the area for pollinators. We planted Yarrow, California
Aster, California Fushia, and Pink Flowering Currants.
Our land staff is now developing plans for additional
native plant restoration projects on hundreds of
acres under our care.
Before
and after stewardship
The pictures of the Blohm Ranch (opposite page)
give you some idea of what land looks like after
14 years of stewardship. The Nature Conservancy
acquired this land in 1991 and we have managed it
under contract for them since then. The picture
at the upper left shows the steep sandy slopes that
were cultivated when we took over management of
the land. Hundreds of tons of soil (averaging 33
tons per acre) eroded each year. The picture at
lower right shows these slopes now. Some of them
are fallow because they are too steep to farm without
periodic massive erosion. Others are being farmed,
in this case with perennial herbs. What you can’t
see here are the drainage channels and sediment
basins that further reduce erosion. You also can’t
see the healthy creek that now feeds into Elkhorn
Slough through other land we manage across Elkhorn
Road. Caring for the land is a series of steps,
all of them connected, with the end goal of protecting
the health of this estuary and the vast array of
life that depends on it.
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Leading
the way since 2002
Three
years ago the Elkhorn Slough Foundation Board of
Directors created the Stewardship Circle to help
ESF care for the thousands of acres of land under
our management. Members of the Stewardship Circle
contribute $1000 or more a year – and play
a leadership role in protecting Elkhorn Slough.
Since 2002, members of the Stewardship Circle have
contributed over $450,000 towards the conservation
of Elkhorn Slough.
Members of the Stewardship Circle at their annual
dinner,
held this year at the home of David Fried in the
Elkhorn Highlands.
At
that time the Board set the goal of having 100 members
of the Stewardship Circle by the end of 2005. This
year, 16 new members joined the Stewardship Circle
– joining 68 renewing members to bring our
total membership to 84. We hope to reach that 100
member goal in the year ahead.
Our thanks to those listed here and to others, including
13 members of our Board, who wish to remain anonymous.
Chuck
and Ramona Allen
Stephen and Linnea Bennett
Will and Margaret Betchart
Roberta Bialek
Rachel Blank
Mark Blum
Terry and Mary Bourne
Bob and Patricia Brown
Frank Capurro
Carol Christensen
Sue Sesnon Dolkas
Judy Donaldson
Bill and Nancy Doolittle
Jean Draper
Susan Draper
Richard Faggioli
David Fried
Beverley Galban
Gwen and Bob Gin
Steve and Jane Green
Herb and Nancy Greenfield
Kristi and Jan van Gruenen
Sidney Harrison
Robert Hartmann
Ruth Hartmann
Gary and Sandra Hornbuckle
Cynthia Jordan
Linda Jordan
Robin Jepson and Tony Lorenz
Mari and Klaus Kloeppel
Ralph Lopez
Lynn and Richard Magruder
Linda Melton
Konny Murray
Peter Neumeier and Gillian Taylor
Don and Laura Newmark
Margery Nicolson
Lowell and Wilda Northrop
Richard Pasetto and Sherry Palacios
Leland and Vivian Prussia
Aneita and John Radov
Randy Repass and Sally-Christine Rodgers
Iris Rodgers
Mark and April Sapsford
Earl and Patricia Schmidt
Kirk and Carol Schmidt
Richard and Mary Solari
Sally and Curt Souza
Paul and Laura Stampleman
Robert Stephens and Julie Packard
Connie Stroud
David Taggart
Ron and Dorothy Tyler
Pat Vazquez
Chris Weir and Sally Arnold
Hank and Yvonne Wheeler
Marsha McMahan Zelus
Organizations
and Businesses
The Amber Foundation
The Dr. Earl and Ethel Meyers Oceano-
graphic and Marine Biology Trust
The Mervyn L. Brenner Foundation
The Bella Vista Foundation
The Keith Campbell Foundation
The Upjohn California Fund
CTB/McGraw Hill
PG&E
Essex Environmental, Inc.
Duke Energy
Friends of Pajaro Dunes
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Leave
a legacy
This
year the Elkhorn Slough Foundation received
the final payment from the estate of Burrell
Leonard (a profile
appeared in the fall 2002 issue of Tidal Exchange).
His gift of almost $200,000 has been placed
in ESF’s permanent endowment, which means
that it will permanently assist in the protection
of the thousands of acres under our care.
You too can leave a lasting legacy by including
ESF in your will or estate plans. To assure
this perpetual protection we are building a
$10 million endowment. We have $3 million in
the endowment currently.
For more information about leaving a lasting
legacy of protected lands, contact the Elkhorn Slough Foundation at 831-728-5939.
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The
NIDO
Gallery in Moss Landing is featuring Coastal
Estuary Art from November 12th through January 27th.
The artists and the gallery will together generously
donate ten percent of the proceeds from this show
to the Elkhorn Slough Foundation. We thank them.
Painting by Brian Rounds.
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Join
us!
If
you’re not yet a member of the Elkhorn Slough
Foundation, we hope you will join
today. Your membership directly supports the
conservation and restoration of one of California’s
last great estuaries and the abundance of life centered
here.
Member
benefits
Members receive this newsletter quarterly, a 10%
discount at the Elkhorn
Slough Reserve Bookstore, and a 15% discount
on kayak rentals at the Kayak Connection in Moss
Landing. You will also be invited to member-only
events, including walks on our lands (photo), our
Annual Celebration, and kayak
tours of the north slough.
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Table
of Contents
Tidal
Exchange is
written and edited by ESF staff.
To receive a copy or to send one to a friend, email
us.
Board
of Directors
Diane Cooley
Steve Dennis
Bill Eggleston
Dick Hammond
Candace Ingram
Paul Irwin
Richard Morris
Dick Nutter
Anne Olsen
Jerry Patrick
Wil Smith
Jack Taylor
Jim Van Houten
John Warriner
Steve Webster
Lydia Villarreal
ESF
Staff
Mark Silberstein, Executive Director
Kris Beall, Administrative Director
Stephen Slade, Director of Communications & Development
Kim Hayes, Land Manager
John Kenney, Farmland Manager
Ken Collins, Assistant Land Steward
Kevin Contreras, Land Acquisition Coordinator
Greg Hofmann, Communications & Development
Susan Burgess, Bookstore Manager
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