Watershed Stewardship Program

The Sonoma Creek Cleanup & Stewardship Program is a community based creek cleanup and stewardship program created to address perennial creek stewardship issues and the chronic accumulation of trash along Sonoma Creek and its tributaries.

Our program includes outreach, event planning, partnership collaboration, identifying creek sites for clean-up activities, and establishing localized public stewardship volunteer initiatives such as a new “Adopt-a-Bridge” program. Our goal is to remove all trash from Sonoma Creek and its tributaries, preventing it from reaching San Francisco Bay. Our program conducts outreach and education to all communities along Sonoma Valley creeks so that less dumping and trash reaches the Bay.

Trash is a pollutant. The presence of trash in waterways adversely affects beneficial uses, including threats to aquatic life, wildlife, and public health. Creek trash and roadside trash have seen a spike in the past year. SEC’s Creek Stewardship program will be a key player in Sonoma County District 1’s ability to address California’s goals of zero trash in streams and water bodies by 2030.

Trash accumulation locations in Sonoma Valley have been identified to include the following: Glen Ellen and Arnold Drive Bridge, Maxwell Farms Regional Park, Riverside/Ig Vella Bridge, Nathanson Creek Preserve, Agua Caliente Road Bridge, Leveroni Road, Sonoma Developmental Center, and Oakmont creeks.

Trash has accumulated due in part to people being unaware of resources available for disposal, and to increases in unhoused population in Sonoma County. In addition to creek cleanups, this program will make an effort to address the causes of dumping and litter through community outreach and education, annual community clean-ups in identified “hotspots,” events for drop-off of bulky items to Recology, and outreach and collaboration with social service organizations. Our collaborative program will work with partners at the community, city, county, and neighborhood communities to address our localized stream health along the length of Sonoma Creek from headwaters to outflow into San Pablo Bay.

We provide outreach, coordination, and planning for creek cleanup programs with our community and agency partners.

SEC takes the wheel in coordination and planning of stewardship events and events are planned in tandem with active community groups to ensure robust participation and the engagement of new and diverse audiences. Businesses, community groups, educational clubs, and volunteer groups are invited to participate. Our work includes the development and promotion of a new Adopt-a-Bridge program in collaboration with County Transportation and Public Works, creek clean-up site identification, and event planning.

SEC Research and GIS staff will support this program by developing a system for identifying and documenting locations of trash build-up. A reporting tool has been developed to capture photos and locations, and assist in tracking what trash has been reported and cleaned up. Research staff will also assist in identifying trash and debris locations and will map these locations during their monitoring work throughout the watershed. Erosion prevention or planting may follow garbage removal if appropriate and supported by additional grants. This documentation structure will be open to input from community members and groups that we partner with.

The Creek Stewardship program will engage partners, governmental leadership, resource recovery contractors, and the public through our outreach efforts. A collaborative will be established through which to disperse information about Sonoma Creek stewardship efforts and to magnify messaging and build capacity. Our creek stewardship program will emphasize collaboration and partnerships with community and agency partners concerned with environmental stewardship, homelessness, community service, and event coordination, including Sonoma County, the towns of Kenwood and Glen Ellen, the City of Sonoma.

Contact us at creek@sonomaecologycenter.org