A western agricultural watershed project was the 1998 Community Award Winner for the CF Industries National Watershed Award, a program co-sponsored with USEPA, the Conservation Fund and the Terrene Institute. The Marin Coastal Watershed Enhancement Project, located north of San Francisco, California, described the keys to their success in their own words:
"The Marin Coastal Watershed Enhancement Project empowered us to implement voluntary practices so we could show the regulatory agencies we were willing to work with them to address water quality issues on our own ranches, believes Joe Pozzi, owner of Pozzi Livestock. What better testimony to a team led by natural resource and agricultural agencies who decided to form a ranch-planning group to work directly with landowners in the California coastal counties of Sonoma and Marin? Dairy operators and livestock ranchers were particularly concerned about the runoff effect of sediment and ammonia as it might affect the salmonids and oysters. And the Project, as Pozzi put it, made landowners aware of impending regulations and how they would affect their operations. Funded by the Marin Community Foundation, the Marin Coastal Watershed Enhancement Project was initially comprised in 1994 of the University of California Cooperative Extension, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin Agricultural Land Trust, and a landowner hired to work with the agency group. The landowners insights to ranching issues were invaluable to the Project, recalls NRCS District Conservationist Charlette Sanders. By 1997, as the second phase began, the Project expanded to include all stakeholders: Regions 1 and 2 Water Quality Control Boards, resource conservation districts, Marin County Farm Bureau, Department of Fish & Game, and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
To develop solutions to water quality problems in the two counties, Project staff visited during the summer of 1994 with 54 beef, sheep and dairy operators to discuss nonpoint pollution concerns and familiarize them with the Project. As a result, A Ranch Plan Workbook was developed as a blueprint for a voluntary approach by landowners. Designed to be completed in a class or individually, the workbook guides the rancher through the process of writing a plan: assessing their operations, outlining best management practices and developing schedules to implement them, and identifying water quality monitoring protocol for their operation. More than 45 people representing 25 family ranches (over 25,000 acres) attended the first ranch planning short course in the spring of 1995. Subsequent courses have brought the number of ranches represented to 75, representing over 50,000 acres! A broader audience of coastal landowners was also reached during this first phase through a series of informational meetings. Information and ideas generated by the individual landowners and the group meetings resulted in a list of issues and concerns about nonpoint pollution the Project used to set its future goals.
Landowners have now formed watershed groups to address issues specific to their own watersheds. The two major groups, Tomales Bay and Stemple Creek, will soon break into working subwatershed groups of producers and shellfish growers to develop options for addressing water quality problems and to implement range management practices. A Creek Care booklet was developed to give rural landowners information about how to properly manage creeks and their watersheds. The booklet talks about aquatic organism habitat needs, the importance of riparian habitats, and general practices that improve creek conditions. And a video, Planning for the Future of Marin Coastal Watershed, focuses on the importance of ranch planning and how ranchers can improve water quality.
Dollars alone testify to the success of this Project. NRCS has received some of the highest funding in the state through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program: $548,044 in 1997, $450,000 in 1998 for on-the-ground water quality improvement practices. But this Project has gone far beyond the two coastal counties for which it was begun four years ago:
The Ranch Plan Workbook is being used throughout California and has been requested by individuals and agencies across the nation.
The ranch planning short course, the first in the state, has also spread through California, with 50 additional courses to date; and 12 workshops by NRCS, which plans another 20 next year.
In the past year, NRCS has helped ranchers develop 140 ranch management plans. To put it succinctly, Dennis Salisbury with Cal/EPA's North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board believes The success of ranch planning in this area is the basis for the proposed statewide voluntary compliance program."
For more information, contact: Stephanie Larson, Livestock & Range Farm Advisor, University of California Cooperative Extension, 2604 Ventura Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95403. 707-527-2621; fax 707-527-2623; lpbf@communique.net .
