ABOUT NOWWE

From its very beginnings, NOWWE’s mission has been the PRESERVATION, PROTECTION and RESTORATION of Mark West Creek and its associated watershed. The Creek, located in Sonoma County, California, is a key tributary to the Russian River. For the past several years, we have been specifically committed to proactive stewardship of upper Mark West Creek.

Our organization is an outgrowth of the concerns expressed by creek side property owners and community members as they watched inappropriate and possibly illegal land development negatively impact the Creek’s whole ecological system – the water, the fish, the flora and the fauna.

Our strategy has always been to work within the existing infrastructure to compel agencies and government entities to follow the regulations and guidelines under which they are supposed to operate. We have hired professional consultants to develop the technical information that can assist federal, state and local agencies in making informed decisions regarding land development activities. We have developed irrefutable scientific evidence that agencies such as Fish & Game, National Marine Fisheries, water quality control boards and the like can use to support their positions on certain kinds of development within the Mark West Creek Watershed. Our success is evidenced by the support NOWWE received from government agencies. In addition, we have archived ten (10) years worth of video and photographic images that chronicle the degradation of Mark West Creek and the human activities that have contributed to it.

Our Board of Directors and Executive Director are neither salaried nor compensated for their services.

Casey Caplinger-Director

Casey Caplinger is a life-long Sonoma County resident who lives on the banks of Mark West Creek.  An arborist by profession, Casey has developed a deep knowledge of ecology and nature as a ocean diver, fisherman, mountain explorer and bow hunter.  As he observed the decline of the fishery and water quality of Mark West Creek, he could not stand by and do nothing.  As a result he founded NOWWE as a watershed and community based organization, with the goal of providing the science and legal tools for citizens to work together to protect the creek and its watershed.

Laura Waldbaum-Director
Laura was an outspoken critic of residential development of the Upper Newport Back Bay in 1994. She worked the phones, went door to door, and wrote many articles defending this unique suburban natural area. Laura and Casey met while protesting a 1,200 acre proposed residential subdivision in the Mark West Creek Watershed. Casey’s legal appeal of this development (in conjunction with Ms. Dranginis of the Audubon Society) set in motion the events which resulted in the area being purchased by Sonoma County’s Open Space District. Laura’s organizational skills and public speaking abilities help NOWWE achieve its goals.

Katherine Stevens -Director
Katherine has been a resident of St. Helena Road next to Mark West Creek since December 1977. She has witnessed the change to the Watershed over the last thirty three years and has become increasingly concerned about the progressive deterioration that is becoming evident. She met Casey, Laura, and Ray through the protest of the proposed 1,200 acre residential subdivision in the Mark West Creek Watershed.

NOWWE Scientists investigate effects
of human activities on Mark West Creek

In 2008 NOWWE, hired Stacy Li, PhD, to perform a Habitat Inventory Assessment on a section of upper Mark West Creek. The steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) that inhabit this waterway are listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA), and Mark West Creek has been designated as “critical habitat” for them. If you are interested in reading the Executive Summary of the assessment, follow the link on this page. For other recent activities, such as our presentation to the Sonoma County Board of Zoning Adjustments in November 2009 and proposed future activities, check out the information contained in the Currents page of this website. You can read the Executive Summary here.

In January of 2012, NOWWE engaged fishery biologist Patrick Higgins to review available research and reports to determine whether the Cornell Winery was likely to impact salmonids in Mark West Creek and whether the Cornell Biological Resources Report adequately examined the project’s potential for harm.

Mr. Higgins was selected for this work because of his background and experience. He has worked as a consulting fisheries biologist and watershed scientist since 1989 and his specialty is salmon and steelhead restoration. He authored fisheries elements for several large watershed restoration plans. He has examined the cumulative impacts of vineyard development and timber harvest conversion on steelhead populations throughout Northern California and addressed the problems of over-appropriation and illegal diversion of water in northwestern California for municipalities, tribes and non-government organizations.

Mr. Higgins found that there are “major flaws” in the Biological Resources Report for the proposed Cornell Winery, and that the project has the potential to seriously impact Mark West Creek. Below are the abstract and Summary of his report, Comments on the Impact of the Proposed Cornell Winery Project (Application UPE07-0008) to Mark West Creek Pacific Salmon Species and Critical Habitat.

ABSTRACT

These comments on the Biological Resources Report (TWA 2011) submitted in support of the proposed Cornell Winery Project (Project) (Sonoma PRMD Application UPE07-0008) are being done at the request of New-Old Ways Wholistically Emerging (NOWWE) and focus on the project’s impacts to Pacific salmon species, particularly steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). Both these species are federally listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and coho salmon are also listed under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA).

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS 2010) categorizes Mark West Creek as a priority basin for protection and recovery of coho salmon in its Central California Coast Coho Recovery Plan. Sonoma County classifies the headwater area where the Project will take place as “Water Scarce” and Mark West Creek has been classified as “Fully Appropriated” by the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB 1998).

Based upon my knowledge of the project area and my review of the scientific literature, it is my opinion that there are major flaws both in the TWA (2011) report’s characterization of the fishery and the Projects’ potential effects on it. The Project’s potential effects include increasing flood peaks, decreasing base flow and increasing sedimentation in an area which is already experiencing effects from existing over-development above coho salmon and steelhead Critical Habitat for spawning and rearing. The TWA (2011) report’s discussion of fisheries, water quality, hydrology, and cumulative effects in many instances lack scientific credibility. Ecological problems and watershed and water quality conditions are obscured in the document, which treats the Project in isolation and ignores the cumulative effects of other similar projects in the upper watershed. It also minimizes the effects of the proposed winery and existing vineyards on the North Fork and mainstem Mark West Creek immediately downstream.

The TWA (2011) report implies that coho salmon are extinct in the Russian River, when in fact wild coho salmon juveniles were reported in Mark West Creek in 2011 (Sotoyome RCD 2012). In addition coho salmon juveniles from the captive broodstock program at Warm Springs Hatchery have been planted in Mark West Creek in 2010 and 2011, including immediately downstream of the Project site. TWA (2011) also states wrongly that steelhead do not occur in the North Fork itself. Adult steelhead have been videotaped in the North Fork in the past and, although video documentation has been filed with the Sonoma County Permit and Resource Management Department (PRMD), TWA (2011) makes no reference to it. Also, juvenile steelhead were documented in the lower North Fork by CDFG (Acomb 2011b) in late August 2011.

Water use is the key issue with regard to the Cornell Winery development and TWA (2011) obfuscates problems associated therewith. Although TWA (2011) reports that the northern well of the planned Project draws from the northern aquifer that feeds the North Fork of Mark West Creek, the report does not consider the effects of water withdrawals from the well on habitat in the North Fork Mark West Creek. Furthermore, TWA (2011) ignores the fact that fault plains in the area may extend across drainages; therefore, the north well could also serve to reduce flows of cold water to the mainstem of Mark West Creek (Kamman 2007). Based on temperature gradients in pools on the North Fork and immediately downstream in the mainstem, connection to the hyporheic zone is apparent.
Consequently, it is likely the North Fork aquifer is feeding the mainstem Mark West Creek through sub-surface flows, even when there is no surface water connection. In sum, TWA’s (2011) claim that the Project has no impacts on coho salmon and steelhead Critical Habitat in Mark West Creek is not correct.

CONCLUSION

Existing cumulative effects in the Mark West Creek watershed are widespread and the Cornell Winery Project will contribute to these effects in ways that cannot be mitigated. TWA does not address many of these effects and the investigative data behind its conclusions are inaccurate and incomplete. The impacts of this Project will have irretrievable and irreversible effects on coho salmon and steelhead production immediately downstream and adjacent and with ripple impacts to the entire Mark West Creek aquatic ecosystem. NMFS (2010) describes the situation for coho salmon as this:

“These few fish represent the struggling remnants of a once abundant species and a thread backin time, not so very long ago, when our creeks were clean, cool, and flowed unimpaired from their headwaters to the sea.”

More than rhetoric will be needed to restore coho salmon in the time frame of 2009-2019 (NMFS 2010). An ecosystem based approach to resolving Mark West Creek water flow and temperature impairment to make it compatible with coho restoration needs to follow guidance of current best science principles as summarized by Bisson et al. (2009):

“Management of the freshwater habitat of Pacific salmon should focus on natural processes and variability rather than attempt to maintain or engineer a desired set of conditions through time.”

The watershed processes that have created the cold, clear waters of Mark West Creek have been so disrupted that the coldwater ecosystem is at a tipping point. Bradbury et al. (1995) point out that patches of functional habitat or refugia, such as upper Mark West Creek, need to be protected as a priority in restoration planning. The Cornell Winery Project will drive the watershed further from its normal range of variability and should not be permitted in one of the last refugia for steelhead and coho in the Russian River basin.

 

In 2010, the Resource Renewal Institute selected NOWWE as a recipient of the River Warrior Award. The River Warrior award recognizes 25 groups and individuals each year for "uncompromising work benefiting threatened fish, rivers, and related habitats". Click on this link for more information about the River Warrior award.

2010 River Warrior Awards Announced
Read the Press Release here