Mission: to protect the San Pablo Creek Watershed and inspire community appreciation and stewardship through advocacy, education, and habitat restoration.
SPAWNERS formed in the spring of 2000 to bring together local residents interested in
making the creek a community asset, and protecting its natural resources. Earth Day in
April 2000 attracted 75 volunteers to remove invasive ivy from the creek banks at the El
Sobrante Library and to pick up trash from downtown El Sobrante as well as the creek.
SPAWNERS hosts the ongoing effort to control ivy at the library site, where it has been
strangling and killing the trees by the creek. We have worked with the El Sobrante Chamber
of Commerce and the Rotary Club to establish a native plant demonstration garden and picnic
area behind the library, on public land that was formerly unsafe for community use. Our goals
are to continue improving the library site for both people and wildlife, to educate the
community on caring for our creeks and preserving water quality, and involve volunteers in
creek restoration projects within the watershed.
Ongoing activities include:
- Stewardship: Creek clean-ups, monthly water quality monitoring, habitat restoration and revegetation, and erosion control.
- Native Plan Gardening: The group has established two native plant demonstration gardens at the El Sobrante library; a new one in the front planted Earth Day 2004 and one in the back on the bank of San Pablo Creek. We hold regular workdays to improve and maintain the gardens. Many of the plants used in the gardens have been propagated by our members from local sources.
- Meetings: Community meetings are held
every other month, at the El Sobrante Library, 4191 Appian Way, 7 – 9 p.m. They provide a regular forum for community building, discussion, learning, and planning. Most meetings feature a guest speaker on various topics related to the watershed.
- Newsletter: A newsletter is distributed
quarterly to watershed residents to share and promote information and activities.
- Publications: A Cultural and Natural History of the San Pablo Creek Watershed, The Gardener’s Guide to Native Plants of the East Bay.
- Student Outreach: Local schools participate in water quality monitoring and restoration activities.
- Special Events: Earth Day celebrations and other festivals, watershed tours, native plant walks, creek surveys and mapping.
SPAWNERS is coordinated by the The Watershed Project and is patterned after other successful programs such as the Friends of Sausal Creek and the Friends of San Leandro Creek. It is a comprehensive outreach program that seeks to educate residents about sources of pollution and how land use relates to water quality, and to identify ways to address the types of problems encountered. By involving a diversity of citizens, public and private organizations, and resource specialists, the program will provide for an exchange of knowledge, resources, and support that will enable participants to more effectively understand and address water quality problems.
SPAWNERS is administered under contract with the Contra Costa County Clean Water Program, CalFed, and the City of San Pablo. Additional financial support is provided by the East Bay Municipal Utilities District, the California State Coastal Commission, and US Fish and Wildlife Service.
For more information or to join in our restoration opportunities and efforts to educate the public about San Pablo Creek’s resources, please contact Elizabeth O'Shea at (510) 231-9566 or
elizabeth@thewatershedproject.org.
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