PETALUMA WETLANDS ALLIANCE NEWSLETTER

P.O. Box 973

Petaluma, CA 94953-0973

Chairman: Gerald Moore: glmemoore@comcast.net Tours: Bob Dyer nrdyer@comcast.net

Newsletter Editor: Jane Merryman jane@sonic.net Secretary: Mary Edith Moore

Providing Education in and Stewardship of Petaluma's Public Wetlands.

Spring 2006

Shollenbergerπs Heron and Egret Colony by Bob Dyer

Since 2003, there has been an active heron and egret colony across the Petaluma River from Marker #8 of the park, on property now owned by Dutra Material. From 2003 to 2006 170 healthy chicks were raised, primarily the offspring of great egrets but also of some great blue herons and snowy egrets. The colony is active from March until August.

This year it continues to thrive. There are about forty active nests and a dozen young chicks (as of May 6) with many more expected! Docent Len Nelson and I submit reports every two weeks or so to the Cypress Grove Research Center in Bolinas, which is creating a regional atlas of heronries. Healthy colonies suggest healthy environments.

This colony faces a future threat, however, and it is not from common ravens or golden eagles—but from development. Dutra wants to build an asphalt factory on their property and load and unload materials on the river next to the colony. While the colony is protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the law does not specify how close industrial operations can be. Experts suggest a 100-to-200-meter buffer zone around colonies during nesting. Will Dutra be able to comply? This colony, unlike several urban colonies in the county, is currently isolated from nearby human habitation, so its birds may be sensitive to human activity.

Other potential environmental problems associated with the proposed plant include noise, smell, pollution, and nonaesthetic appearance. These concerns are the subject of an Environmental Impact Report that should be released soon. The public will be able to testify on the findings before the report is final. We recommend you monitor the 'Alerts' section of our Web site, www.petalumawetlandspark.org, for future news on this project.

Docents Needed to Share Nature with Children by Sharon Mansfield

Can you recall the first experience you had with nature? Was it finding a speckled bird egg tossed out of its nest . . . or an ant carrying a bread crumb larger than itself? Petaluma Wetlands Alliance is looking for docents who want to bring exciting experiences of nature to nine- and ten-year-olds through a classroom and field adventure. We want to get kids excited about the curious and fun things to learn at Shollenberger Park in Petaluma.

We take an educational program into the classroom with a slide presentation and hands-on activities. This is followed, on another day, with a trip to Shollenberger Park for a morning's activities of looking, listening, and learning, all with hands-on experiences. We help children feel that they are a part of nature and that the park is a place where they can explore and appreciate the interactions of plants and animals. In this way they will begin to understand their own importance in caring about natural life around them and create their own wonderful memories of nature.

If you have an interest in sharing nature, like to be outdoors, and enjoy being with others of similar interests, please consider taking our docent course. Our next docent training class will be held on Fridays, September 8 through October 13, 2006. Find more information about the docent program and an application to become a docent at the PWA Web site, www.petalumawetlandspark.org, or call Bob Dyer, 763-2934, or Sharon Mansfield, 778-6558.

Park Docents Enjoy a Tour

of the Bouverie Preserve by Bob Dyer

On April 18, during a rare break between the serial rainstorms we suffered through this spring,

Barbara Carlson led eight park docents on a tour of the Bouverie Preserve. The preserve is located in Glen Ellen off Highway 12, and Barbara has been a docent there for a number of years. She is now a Petaluma Wetlands docent, too.

Barbara took us on a three-mile round-trip through wildflowered meadows and up a hilly trail to an overlook, from which we enjoyed a spectacular waterfall. The contrast with our Shollenberger domain illustrates the great range of beautiful vistas we enjoy in Sonoma County. En route, docent Barbara demonstrated her advanced knowledge of the preserve's flora and fauna by pointing out such things as witch's lettuce and red-bellied newts.

Barbara scheduled the tour for a day when there were few other walkers, so it was as if we had this treasure to ourselves. At the overlook, during our lunch break, we watched a pair of golden eagles hassling a pair of red-tailed hawks. After the walk, at the parking area we also enjoyed seeing a number of violet-green swallows, a species we seldom see at Shollenberger.

Information on Bouverie can be found at www.egret.org.

PWA Starts Weed Management Project by Gerald Moore

During the past year our docents became aware that the Petaluma public wetlands were being overrun with six very invasive weed species. If left unchecked for several more years, these species would push out all other plant species in the area and degrade the habitat even more than what we see there today. We decided to take action to eliminate the worst invasive weeds and replace them with native species that will provide quality habitat for our wildlife.

Last winter Gerald Moore and John Shribbs wrote a weed management plan using a template developed by the Nature Conservancy. In late January 2006 we presented the plan to the Petaluma city staff. They approved the plan in late February and sent a draft of our Memo of Understanding (MOU) about the project to the city attorney for his rework and approval. We need this MOU to invite the public to participate in the project and hope the city attorney will finish with it soon.

In the meantime, our docents, who are approved to do stewardship in the park, have started to remove the Italian and star thistles. We are doing this by pulling the young plants and cutting the bigger plants with weed whips or other tools. The goal is to keep these annual species from producing new seed and dispersing it. If we can do this for three to four years, these species will mostly disappear from our wetlands. We also need to attack the cardoon, hardinggrass and perennial pepperweed, which are invasive, rhizomatous perennials that will be harder to eliminate. We also plan to work with the city staff, PRBO, and other interested biologists to develop a habitat management plan for the public wetlands to optimize the restored habitats we generate for a wide diversity of native bird species.

To help kick-start this weed project, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has just donated $1,000 worth of weed removal tools to PWA.

Upcoming Events

1. On Saturday, 20 May, PWA along with Madrone Audubon will host the grand finale of this year's Madrone International Migratory Bird Days celebration at Shollenberger Park. The activities will include bird walks, children's activities and nature walks, information booths, and more. Please join us from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. for this free celebration of bird migrations. See our Web site for more information.

2. Enrichment trips for our docents are planned for May and June to include a VIP manager's tour of the Viansa Wetlands and a tour of the PRBO bird banding station.

3. On Friday, 8 September, we will start our 2006 training course for new docents. We will meet from 8:30 a.m. until noon on six consecutive Fridays at either Lucchesi Center or Shollenberger Park. Please consider becoming a docent or encourage your friends to do so. Details can be found in Sharon Mansfield's article in this newsletter, on our Web site, or by calling 763-2934 or 763-3577.