Mendocino County Resource Conservation District

by Linda MacElwee for the Anderson Valley Land Trust newsletter

You may be noticing some new signs posted around the watershed. The Navarro Watershed Working Group (NWWG), the Navarro River Resource Center, and the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District have been collaborating on a sign project to develop watershed awareness in the Navarro, through a grant from the State Coastal Conservancy.

By strategically placing signs on the state and county roads at the watershed divides, as well as naming many of the creeks, the Navarro River watershed will have a new “identity”. These signs are brown with white lettering. And no, the fish symbol does not appear—we opted to spend the extra funding on more signs, especially to name some unsigned creeks!

There will be “Entering Navarro River Watershed” signs at the ridge crests on the following state and county highways: Highway 253; Highway 128 in Yorkville, as you drop into the Navarro; Highway 1, both north and southbound; Greenwood-Philo Road; Flynn Creek Road; Mountain View Road; and Fishrock Road.

The following creeks will also be named by a sign facing in each direction: Soda Creek and Anderson Creek on Highway 253; Beebe Creek, Robinson Creek, Mill Creek, Soda Creek, and Flynn Creek on Highway 128; Robinson Creek and Rancheria Creek where they cross Mountain View Road; Rancheria Creek where it crosses Fishrock Road; and the Navarro River where it crosses at Greenwood-Philo Road.

Tremendous thanks goes to the State Coastal Conservancy who sponsored the project and made it possible. The seed for the idea began in a NWWG meeting, at least five years ago. It’s very exciting to finally have those seeds come to fruition! The project was initially coordinated by NWWG members Thembi Borras and Dianne Chocholak and then, as their careers transitioned to Washington State and retirement respectively, I was asked to step in and complete the work program. Although it wasn’t easy to coordinate all of the steps, the Mendocino County Department of Transportation and Caltrans have been nothing but supportive—from permitting to accompanying us on site inspections. The California Conservation Corps will install signs on state highways, and the County will install the signs on county roads.

For more information you can stop in at the Navarro River Resource Center (we share an office with the Anderson Valley Land Trust) on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. The River Center has many resource materials for landowners, including The Handbook for Forest and Ranch Roads and video, pamphlets on invasive and native plants, and the Navarro River Guide to Watershed Care and Restoration. Stop in and say hello, or call us at 895-3230, we are available to help you find resources on land stewardship. Watershed literacy for all!

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.