September 21 – 28, 2019 is Creek Week in the Russian River Watershed! Join in with this spirit of environmental conservation and community enrichment by getting educated, invested and involved. Creek Week is an opportunity for the community to collectively take on the task of cleaning the creeks of litter and debris, but did you […]
August is the last official month of the summer, and the time to celebrate National Water Quality Month! The 110-mile Russian River and all its tributaries move through many active communities and working lands which can affect water quality. Some of the main categories of water quality impacts can include chemicals, bacteria, sediment, and temperature. […]
Summer is upon us! We have completed our spring cleanup around the yard, made sure no standing water is present on our properties attracting mosquitos and setup our outdoor furniture. Summer also marks an important time of the year for water conservation. By using water wisely in the summer, it helps preserve our healthy watershed […]
Even though the Russian River watershed has received roughly 130 percent of the average rainfall this season, it is time to discuss the impacts of overwatered landscapes as the dry weather returns and irrigation controllers turn on. You are most likely aware of the traditional reasons to properly water your landscaping: save water and money, […]
There has been a lot of advice on how to landscape our homes to keep wildfires away (including this column). However, a critical lesson sometimes gets overlooked; our homes are also fuel for a wildfire. Wildfires are not limited to wildland. All too often, once a wildfire reaches a neighborhood, it is the homes in […]
Have you ever opened your medicine cabinet, picked up a bottle, and realized it has been expired for years or that you had more than you would ever need? A survey in Los Angeles County found that 59% of respondents had medications in their homes that were expired or no longer needed, with 45% of […]
You can’t see them. You can’t swim in them. But groundwater aquifers are one of the most important sources of water in the North Coast. Aquifers are water-rich underground areas. They aren’t like lakes or pools but are composed of water-filled areas between rocks, sands, and gravels. Plants and animals benefit from groundwater when it’s […]
Every landscape can have a beneficial impact on the Russian River and the surrounding environment. In 2010, the Russian River Watershed Association (RRWA) created a comprehensive toolbox of principles and practices to provide landscape professionals in the region with guidelines for protecting our environment, known as the Russian River-Friendly Landscape Guidelines (RRFLG): Landscape Locally Landscape […]
Give them an inch and they’ll take an acre…as the California Invasive Pest Council says. There are a whopping 195 invasive plant species in Sonoma County. In the northwestern forest region which includes Mendocino County, 265 invasive species have been identified. An invasive plant species is non-native and aggressively out-competes native species! In other words, they […]
