Carmel River Watershed Conservancy

We will be LIVE tomorrow starting at 10am PST: Check it out: https://studio.youtube.com/video/4rc-qx5VQAA/edit?hl=en Our full California Wildlife Day agenda and all links will also be live here: https://whova.com/web/calif1_202012/ For an optimal experience, we still recommend signing up on our Event Site, but you will also be able to access individual sessions via the links on this posted agenda. See you all in the morning! Happy Spring and Happy California Wildlife Day(s)! # CWD # House of 8 Media (Illustration credit: Linda Yamane)

Happening now! Resilience of the Condors!# CWD

Look Whooo came to visit...Roja the red-tailed hawk and Cucoo the great horned owl...Jpin us for Day 2 of CWD 2021!

Join us this weekend! Here is the direct link to register: https://whova.com/web/calif1_202012/

You don't want to miss our Student Showcase of student art, poetry, and science projects at California Wildlife Day... Happening this weekend, March 20-21. The Student Showcase is from 12-12:30pm both days and all events start at 10am PST. The direct link to register is here:https://whova.com/web/calif1_202012/ Otter Poem by Dahlia B. I’m not just a fuzzy otter ... I’m someone's Daughter. I need your help Can you hear my yelp? There's not many of me around I need your help to float instead of drown I spend my days On the ocean waves Staying away from nets that tangle And sharks that mangle I deserve much better I don’t want to be a sweater Help if you can I need you...a HUMAN.

This is interesting work we should keep an eye on as we plan to study wildfire impacts in our own watershed: https://www.klcc.org//osu-researchers-will-study-watershed

Enjoy our Story Map of the Carmel River Lagoon at: https://storymaps.arcgis.com//367aaa1a725a4386abe6532b3916

Check out one of our great poetry submissions! Thank you Sparrow! Snowy Plover By Sparrow Picard... I stir and softly wake From the magnificent dream I had I have my brother to thank For he was lookout last I watch many other birds Wake up as I Some dreary, some lured By all that food (Like crustacean pie!) When everybody wakes, I flutter Up to go see everyone Passing my sleeping brother And following birds, a ton My mom and dad smile My siblings with big round eyes They feed us for a while Angie ate with surprise Good days come, good days go Like on and off the sand flutters Or the ocean, aflow For I’m a Snowy Plover! Photo Credit: Luciane Coletti #Luciane Coletti Conservation Photography

Yet another reminder that wildfire mitigation and studying wildfire impacts to water quality are critical to the health of our Watershed. CRWC will continue to focus on these critical efforts! https://gazette.com//article_6a50ca20-667f-11eb-b839-179ab

FYI to all in our Community affected by wildfire!

Who wants to join us for California Wildlife Day 2021?! We are accepting student submissions in all categories: art, poetry, and science. See: https://www.carmelriverwatershed.org/art--poetry-contest-su Check out our site for everything CWD-related. We are opening up general admission to the event soon and will have our schedule published in early March. Save the date for March 20-21!

After the storm...the herons, egrets, pelicans, seagulls, buffleheads, and red-winged blackbirds are loving it!

Check out our Virtual Watershed Tours on our website at https://www.carmelriverwatershed.org/watershed-education.ht. We will be populating our site with more virtual tours and activities...so stay tuned....

Interesting research done by UCSC that could be valuable to do in the Carmel River watershed and add to our watershed health report card. It looks at ecosystem recovery following wildfire and immediate impacts of the first flush on burn areas in terms of sedimentation, water quality, etc. https://news.ucsc.edu/2020/11/watershed-wildfire.html

The pelicans have been enjoying both Carmel River and Monastery beaches...

The pelicans have certainly been enjoying their sea harvest-both at Carmel River and Monastery beaches lately...

Today is national pharmaceutical take-back day! So don't forget to protect our watershed and responsibly and anonymously dispose of your unused sharps and pharmaceuticals in one of the many public drop-off locations in our area. A link to the map is below. CRWC initiated the setup of three of these sites and is actively working on a fourth in Carmel Valley! https://www.dontrushtoflush.org/

This is also something CRWC plans to study in the next iteration of its watershed health report card! https://www.vaildaily.com//eagle-river-watershed-council-/

https://www.latimes.com//conservationists-want-to-build-a-

It looks like our watershed will receive a better grade than this area's report card! Stay tuned for the release of our new Carmel River Watershed Report Card this year! https://www.greatlakesnow.org//western-lake-erie-mediocre/

We are preparing virtual watershed tours and a story map at different sites along the Carmel River watershed...stay tuned!

Our CRWC Board member Jen Hunter is Executive Director of the UC Hastings Research Reserve in Carmel Valley that just barely survived the recent wildfires!

A quick video of the Carmel Fire from CalFire if you haven't seen it. Our photos from yesterday show the burn area near where the fire began on the Cachagua Road grade and near Sky Ranch. https://go.discovery.com//cal/full-episodes/carmel-burning

It was incredible to see the burn areas from the Carmel and River fires yesterday, in the company of our President Lorin Letendre and Jen Hunter, who is a board member and director of the Hastings Natural History Reservation. Luckily all Hastings buildings were spared thanks to CalFire and fire lines cut by Hastings and nearby property owners. This tour inspired us to continue our work on fire prevention efforts, such as staying active with the Carmel Valley Fuel Breaks task force and adding a fire regime indicator to our watershed health report card. The report card will also being looking at environmental and species impacts from local wildfires. These efforts need our support now more than ever!

Happy World Rivers Day! Let’s continue to take good care of all of our rivers, which are the source of freshwater and life.

The pelicans at sunset don’t even realize how beautiful they are...The tide was high and connected to the lagoon, providing a little cooler water for the fish...

The fish were dancing at twilight...there is still beauty in the world. May we continue to protect it: the land, the water, and its inhabitants.