Volunteerism Keeps Laguna de Santa Rosa Flourishing in Rohnert Park and Cotati

Over the past five years, environmental activists and volunteers have planted a mile-long stretch of riparian trees, shrubs and grasses along the Cotati's stretch of the Laguna de Santa Rosa — and on March 11, about 30 people showed up to continue restoring the area.

“I work out here every month; it’s an important part of maintaining natural habitats,” said Chirelle McCorley, an environmental studies major at Sonoma State and the eco-projects coordinator for Join Us Making Progress, a student-led volunteer organization at the university.

“This is what I want to do when I get older, and it helps me connect with the community,” McCorley said.

That’s the idea behind Cotati Creek Critters, a local nonprofit that organizes the volunteer workdays, to preserve the creek's biodiversity and help return it to a more natural state.

The Laguna, a 14-mile channel that starts in Cotati and enters the Russian River north of Forestville, includes a rich network of seasonal wetlands, marshes, still water pools, grasslands and forests, that provide a patchwork of niche habitats for migratory birds, aquatic life and other species biodiversity, according to environmental groups. The tributary to the Russian River also acts as a buffer during storm surges, helps filter pollutants from agriculture and urban runoff and cools water for fish and other aquatic organisms.

But Cotati's section of the laguna wasn’t always that way. Until a few years ago, the creek was just about getting water out of town as fast as it could — the area was mowed and sprayed with herbicides, said Wade Belew, the stewardship coordinator for Cotati Creek Critters.

That led to the disappearance bird, fish and plant species once abundant in the area.

Then, in 2005, the organization received a grant from the California Department of Water Resources to help restore the area. That was the start. Now the creek beds and slopes are filled with native plants, such as California buckeye, big leaf maple, oaks, coyote bush and snowberry.

“This used to be a series of channels, shifting and meandering down from the mountains,” said Jenny Blaker, outreach coordinator for Cotati Creek Critters. “It’ll never fully return to its natural state, but it’s important to restore the area’s biological functions, improve water quality and prevent soil erosion.”

On a nearby slope, volunteer Tom Webb pruned trees and laid mulch around existing plants. Webb has been coming to volunteer work days since 2001.

“I moved here from San Diego in 2001 for college, and this really helped me feel like part of the community,” Webb said. “I like being outdoors, giving back and doing something good for the environment.”

Webb went on to major in natural resources management, and he now works for the California State Park system, on the Sonoma Coast.

“Doing this has helped me get every job I’ve had,” Webb said.

Nicole Jaco, 20, a student at Santa Rosa Junior College and Raina Phillips, 17, a junior at Maria Carillo, worked together across the creek from Webb, mulching and pulling weeds.

“I didn’t even know what native plants were before today,” Jaco said.

“We’re definitely learning a lot,” Phillips said.

It's important work, volunteers said, because the tree canopy will increase the shade on the creek, and the understory plants will help strengthen the banks.

“It’s important to keep the water temperature down, because as it goes up, the dissolved oxygen in the water goes down,” Belew said. “It’s a real issue for the fish.”

Editor's note: The organization has planted about 2,000 over the last few years. Organizers said they're now now focusing mainly on maintaining these plantings by weeding, mulching, pruning, etc. 

According to the organization's website, the "Cotati Creek Critters, working with the support of the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, the City of Cotati and the Sonoma County Water Agency, has been sponsoring volunteer creek restoration efforts since 1998, particularly since receiving an Urban Streams Restoration Grant from the California Department of Water Resources in 2005."