Laguna Watershed Knowledgebase

The Foundation’s Five-Year Restoration, Research and Stewardship Work Plan was developed in 2007 to define and prioritize our efforts in these program areas so that we can plan and organize the resources needed to support them. The Work Plan is a direct outgrowth of the Restoration and Management Plan (RMP). Projects in the plan were selected based on how well they advance the specific goals for the Laguna identified in the RMP.

Some of these projects are continuations of current efforts, such as permanent restoration in the project areas of the Ludwigia Control Project, additional phases of the Middle Reach Restoration Project and ongoing efforts to restore the riparian vegetation along currently denuded channels and tributaries of the Laguna. Others will provide us with basic data needed to inform our work and help us to understand the Laguna’s needs, such as species surveys in vernal pools of the Santa Rosa Plain, baseline bird counts in wild areas of the Laguna, and ongoing research into pollutant sourcing and the dynamics of water quality throughout the watershed. The Work Plan is a living document, however, and will change depending on opportunity, availability of willing landowner partners, funding and other variables.

The Foundation’s Five-Year Restoration, Research and Stewardship Work Plan is an ambitious but achievable set of activities which will advance the biodiversity, water quality, and flood control capacity of the Laguna, as well as our degree of working knowledge about its systems and resident species.

It should be noted that the development of the Foundation’s Education Program is not addressed in this plan, but is being planned under a separate process. At some point in the future, plans for all three programs will be integrated into a single Programmatic Work Plan.