MMWD’s Fisheries Stewardship is Swimming Along

by Gregory Andrew, Fishery Program Manager   

I recently presented a report to the Watershed Committee on the district’s fisheries activities during 2012 and 2013. These activities include monitoring, habitat enhancement, and collaboration with the many agencies and organizations working on salmon restoration for Lagunitas Creek and other coastal watersheds.

Our monitoring is rigorous and we are now part of a state-wide effort for life-cycle monitoring, tracking salmon population trends in coastal streams throughout California. We conduct surveys during all the life stages of salmon while they are in Lagunitas Creek: juveniles (a.k.a. fry, young-of-the-year, parr or fingerlings); adult spawners; and smolts (the stage when they migrate to the ocean). There is positive news to report on the coho population in particular. At all three life stages, the coho in Lagunitas have shown an increase from the scary-low numbers of three and four years ago. The coho spawner run this past winter approached our long-term average of about 500 adults. This doesn’t mean that their recovery is complete, but it is a huge improvement over what had been characterized as an extinction vortex.

We have been successful at obtaining grants to help us implement habitat enhancement projects and assessments. We have implemented road drainage improvement projects, to reduce sediment from entering fish-bearing streams, and conducted assessments on all of the unpaved roads in the Lagunitas Creek watershed. Our current and very exciting approach to habitat enhancement is to improve habitat conditions during the winter to increase survival of coho and steelhead. This approach has the potential to increase the populations above the long-term average.

We are hardly working alone on these efforts. This work takes the support of the entire staff at MMWD and the Board of Directors. We also collaborate with a host of other agencies, organizations and individuals (including homeowners) who are equally as dedicated as MMWD, and we appreciate their participation. We all have more to do.

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Lagunitas Coho Are Almost Average!

by Eric Ettlinger

Coho salmon numbers in Lagunitas Creek have been so low in recent years that even a run-of-the-mill run would be welcome news. Well, I’m pleased to report that our current count of coho redds (nests) is just shy of a 17-year average.  In the last two weeks, MMWD biologists observed what may be the last few coho redds of the season, bringing the watershed total to 239. This is only eight redds shy of average and makes this the largest coho salmon run seen in the watershed in six years (see chart). What makes this even sweeter is that it was so unexpected. In 2011 we documented a relatively small number of coho smolts migrating from Lagunitas Creek to the ocean. Typically, only 2-5 percent of these fish would survive to return to their natal stream and start the cycle again. As things now stand, an astonishing 10.3 percent of those fish have returned. Excluding Olema Creek, where coho have returned at a fairly typical rate (4 percent), the rest of the watershed has seen nearly 13 percent of its coho return!

According to the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, ocean conditions were very good for coho salmon in 2012. Physical conditions improved and plankton were abundant, including the copepods and fish larvae that make up coho salmon’s preferred prey. Looking forward, they predict that these favorable conditions will continue through 2013, which would be very good for Lagunitas Creek coho. If the coho currently in the ocean are surviving at a rate similar to what we just observed, we could see over a thousand coho salmon return in the fall. A record-breaking run isn’t out of the question.

Not to be forgotten, steelhead are currently spawning in small numbers (see chart). To date we’ve seen 15 steelhead and 38 redds, and spawning activity is likely to remain subdued while the dry weather continues. Once the rain returns, however, we’ll find out if ocean conditions have been as good to steelhead as they have been to coho.

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Lagunitas Creek Spawner Update

by Eric Ettlinger

The holiday season is a tough time to keep up with regular spawner updates, and a lot has been happening in Lagunitas Creek over the last three weeks. Right after my previous update (12/17/12) we were hit by the second large storm of the season, which dropped over seven inches of rain. Stream flows peaked at 1,900 cubic feet per second and within a week Kent Lake began spilling. Flows have remained too high since then to conduct surveys in the main stem of Lagunitas Creek.

A pair of coho salmon spawn in Lagunitas Creek.

On December 27, the day before Kent Lake started to spill, MMWD biologists conducted a survey in the ½-mile reach between the Leo T. Cronin Fish Viewing Area and Peters Dam. They observed 28 coho and 12 new redds. Folks who visited the Fish Viewing Area around that time were lucky enough to witness the best salmon viewing in the last few years.

To date we’ve counted 320 live coho and 170 coho redds, which are the highest counts for early January since 2006. More than half of the redds found so far have been in San Geronimo Creek and Devil’s Gulch, where we’ve documented 49 and 42 coho redds, respectively. By the end of this week we’ll be able to once again survey the main stem of Lagunitas Creek, where we expect to find quite a few more coho redds.

MMWD fisheries intern Ariana Chiapella of the AmeriCorps Watershed Stewards Project prepares to collect tissue samples from a spent female coho salmon.

The timing of spawning this season has been consistent with historical trends (see chart), so within the next three or four weeks coho spawning should essentially be over. But as coho decline, steelhead spawning will ramp up. We observed live steelhead for the first time last week in San Geronimo Creek. Steelhead spawning typically peaks in mid-February and continues through April. This year we’re expecting an above-average steelhead run to return to the Lagunitas Creek Watershed.

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Lagunitas Creek Spawner Update

by Eric Ettlinger

The deluge we received earlier in the month (more than ten inches of rain over eight days) raised Lagunitas Creek stream flows to their highest level since 2006. On the downside this may have scoured some early coho redds (and washed the eggs away), but on the upside the high water seems to have cleaned much of the streambed of accumulated fine sediments. In many places the clean gravel looks like a blank canvas on which coho are now creating their redds.

Huge male coho carcass

Before I wax poetic on all the wonderful things the flood did for the creek (you should see the debris jams!), let me get to the fish numbers. In the last two weeks coho were seen spawning throughout the creek, and in numbers not seen in six years. MMWD biologists counted 66 coho redds, including 39 in Lagunitas Creek, 15 in accessible areas of San Geronimo Creek, and 12 in Devil’s Gulch. We also counted 130 live coho and found four carcasses (including the impressive male pictured here). To date we’ve counted 160 live coho and 80 redds, which is above average for mid-December (click here to see chart). This run is shaping up to be a huge improvement over the parent generation, which spawned three years ago. Only 67 coho were seen that entire season. This year’s coho are unlikely to match the runs of their grandparents (2006-07) or great-grandparents (2003-04), but it’s been a long time since a Lagunitas Creek coho run could be described as even “above average.”

Other notable observations from recent surveys included a school of 14 coho holding in a pool in San Geronimo Creek, and possibly the largest coho redd I’ve ever seen, measuring 27’ by 19’. Mid-December is usually the peak period for coho spawning in Lagunitas Creek, with spawning tapering off through January. Typically two-thirds of coho spawn after the peak week, so it’s likely that many more coho have yet to spawn and there will be plenty of opportunities to see them do it.

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Lagunitas Creek Spawner Update

by Eric Ettlinger

Significant storms are bearing down on Northern California at the moment, which limited spawner surveys this week and will likely curtail additional surveys for a while. However, our limited surveys did find some very interesting things.

The storm just before Thanksgiving dropped more than three inches of rain and raised flows in Lagunitas Creek to over 400 cfs. That high water allowed the first coho spawners to migrate throughout Lagunitas and San Geronimo Creeks. Coho were seen spawning upstream of the Leo T. Cronin Fish Viewing Area as well as adjacent to the San Geronimo Golf Course, which are both near the upstream anadromous limits of those two creeks. MMWD biologists observed the highest level of spawning activity for November in eight years, including 30 coho salmon and 14 new redds.

Female chum salmon in Lagunitas Creek

The most interesting observation of the week, however, was of a chum salmon—a rare species for California, and more common in rivers from Oregon to the Arctic Ocean. Aside from a freak run of chum salmon in 2001, we’ve never seen more than a handful of these beautiful fish in Lagunitas Creek in a season, and no chum at all have been seen since 2006. When we first came upon this fish on her redd, we briefly saw blotchy vertical stripes before she darted upstream. When we next saw her a short distance upstream, she had changed her coloration to mostly gray with a dark horizontal stripe. This color changing ability is peculiar to chum salmon, and was fascinating to see. I got a quick photo of her (well, most of her) before she swam away again. It would have been great to see this fish in her full spawning glory, before her tail was worn from digging and fungus began to grow on her back, but hopefully we’ll see more of this species next month and in the years to come.

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The Coho Run Has Begun!

by Eric Ettlinger

The 2012-13 spawning season is off to an auspicious start. We’ve already received 12.5 inches of rain—far above average for this time of year—and with the rains come the salmon. The first coho salmon of the year were seen on Sunday near the Leo T. Cronin Fish Viewing Area. Today we saw two of these fish actively spawning on a fresh redd. Another redd was seen yesterday in Samuel P. Taylor State Park that had characteristics typical of a Chinook (king) salmon redd, including a deep pit and sharp edges. Chinook salmon typically spawn at this time of year but we haven’t seen Chinook spawn in Lagunitas Creek since 2008. We’re excited by the possibility of Chinook spawning, but we need to see a fish before we can conclude that Chinook have actually returned to Lagunitas Creek.

Most of Lagunitas Creek is still running high and brown after last night’s rain, but salmon spotting should get easier over the holiday weekend. Happy Thanksgiving!

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New Rainfall Year Began July 1

Lake Lagunitas, where we have already had measurable rainfall since the new rainfall year began on July 1.

Just as our fiscal year begins on July 1, so, too, does our rainfall year. And, surprisingly, we actually had measurable rainfall this month. July typically has zero inches of rain, but this July we had 0.04 inches of rain at measured at Lake Lagunitas.

Here are the current water statistics:

Reservoir Levels: As of July 23, reservoir levels are 89 percent of capacity, or 70,497 acre-feet.* The average for this date is 79 percent, or 63,144 acre-feet. Total capacity is 79,566 acre-feet.

Rainfall: Rainfall for the year ending June 30, 2012, was 40.51 inches. Annual average rainfall is 52.65 inches. The new rainfall year is just getting started, with 0.04 inches to date.

Water Use: Water use for the last seven days averaged 31.9 million gallons per day, somewhat higher than last year’s average of 30.4 million gallons per day. On a per capita basis, this year’s figure is 167.6 gallons and last year’s is 160.1 gallons (for the last seven days).

Supply Source: This past week we averaged 28.1 million gallons per day from our reservoirs and 3.7 million gallons per day from the Russian River.

Creek Releases: During the month of June 2012 MMWD released 260 million gallons, or a total of 799 acre-feet, into Lagunitas and Walker creeks in west Marin. We release water throughout the year to maintain adequate flows for the fishery per our agreement with the State of California.

Current water use and reservoir figures can be found on our homepage.

*One acre-foot is 325,851 gallons.

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Coho Salmon Leave Lagunitas Creek in Record Numbers

by Eric Ettlinger

Every spring MMWD biologists count coho and steelhead smolts as they migrate from Lagunitas Creek to the Pacific Ocean. These smolts have survived despite floods, predators and competition for limited habitat, and their numbers tell us a great deal about conditions in the watershed. This year’s smolt emigration provided us with enormous insights, as well as renewed confidence that the Lagunitas Creek coho population is recovering after two years of very low numbers.

MMWD began monitoring smolts in 2006 using a rotary screw trap. The trap is essentially an aluminum raft with a large, rotating funnel that catches smolts as they’re swept downstream. The funnel has internal baffles so fish going into the funnel can’t come back out. Every morning from late March through May we remove fish from the trap and count, measure and release them back into the creek. We also mark up to twenty fish per day with a small fin clip and release them upstream to estimate how many fish we’re catching, and more importantly, how many we’re missing.

During the peak of the coho emigration in late April the trap was catching nearly 300 coho smolts per day, and it was clear that this emigration would be the largest yet seen. When the trap was removed at the end of May, we had captured over four thousand coho smolts, and we estimated that 8,315 coho had left Lagunitas Creek. Over the years we’ve gathered strong evidence that Lagunitas Creek couldn’t produce more than about 6,000 coho smolts, which it has done in three of the last seven years. How did Lagunitas Creek produce over 8,000 smolts this year?

The answer seems to be an unusually small steelhead population. This year’s steelhead emigration was smaller than average, and in the last seven years whenever steelhead numbers went down, coho smolt numbers went up (click here for graph). Steelhead seem to be able to outcompete coho for habitats that provide protection from high flows, shelter from predators and good feeding opportunities through the winter. Steelhead generally live in the creek for two years before migrating to the ocean (compared to one year for coho), and these second-year steelhead are larger and can likely dominate the best habitats. We couldn’t simply reduce our steelhead population to benefit coho, since both species are federally protected. We need to enhance habitats in Lagunitas Creek in ways that benefit coho more than they benefit steelhead. This may be the most important insight gained from counting smolts seven days a week, two months out of the year, for the last seven years.

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National Award for Trout in the Classroom

by Gregory Andrew

An elementary school student with a parent volunteer, releasing trout into Lagunitas Creek.

MMWD is a partner with the California Department of Fish and Game, Trout Unlimited and local schools to bring biology and nature to Marin kids through the Trout in the Classroom program. The program gives children the opportunity to raise and learn about the life history and habitat requirements of rainbow trout and salmon. Aquariums are set up in classrooms, trout eggs are delivered to each class, and the kids watch the eggs hatch and raise the baby fish until they grow to fingerling size. Then the kids take a field trip to MMWD’s Lake Lagunitas Picnic Area where they release the fish into a stream that flows between Lake Lagunitas and Bon Tempe Reservoir.

A class preparing for their fish release at the Lake Lagunitas Picnic Site.

On May 23, the program was recognized on a national level when the American Fisheries Society (AFS) presented an award for excellence in creating community-based Aquatic Education Programs to the State Fish and Game Commission. California was selected by AFS to receive this award for the creative approach, dynamic partnerships and sheer number of children impacted by this program. In Marin County alone, over 1,000 elementary and middle school students are now participating in the program each year. State-wide, approximately 1,000 classrooms are involved—that’s over 20,000 children, not to mention the teachers and parent volunteers. There are 80 Marin County classrooms involved and 380 around San Francisco Bay.

The award was accepted by Fish and Game Deputy Director Jordan Traverso and Classroom Aquarium Education Program Chair Ethan Rotman. MMWD has a small role but we are still beaming with pride over the award. Really though, it is the teachers and kids who make this program such a great success.

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April Showers Keep Reservoirs Full

Rainfall in April totaled 2.97 inches, approximately 75 percent of the month’s average of 3.74 inches. But it was enough to keep the reservoir storage levels well above average (110 percent) and to delay the start of the irrigation season.

Here are the current water statistics:

Reservoir Levels: As of April 30, reservoir levels are 99.8 percent of capacity, or 77,389 acre-feet.* The average for this date is 90.5 percent (72,030 acre-feet).

Rainfall: Rainfall from July 1, 2011, to March 28, 2012, totals 40.17 inches. Average for the same period is 50.42 inches.

Water Use: Water use for the last seven days averaged 20.7 million gallons, slightly lower than last year’s average of 21.3 million gallons.

Creek Releases: During the month of March 2012 MMWD released 311 million gallons, or a total of 956 acre-feet, into Lagunitas and Walker creeks in west Marin. We release water throughout the year to maintain adequate flows for the fishery per our agreement with the State of California. We have released more water every month this winter than last to help make up for the lack of rain this year.

Current water use and reservoir figures can be found on our homepage.

*One acre-foot is 325,851 gallons.

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