Stream Watch: A New Citizen Science Opportunity

Friends of the Napa River are excited that the RCD's Stream Watch program is rolling out this month! In August we told you about the Stream Watch program, which we helped to develop. It will help fill an important environmental data gap by documenting the presence or absence of flow in Napa River tributaries. Here's the story, from the RCD's Ashley Kvitek:

Just in time for the upcoming rainy season, we are seeking volunteers to help us monitor streams in the Napa River Watershed. We've identified 26 locations throughout the watershed that will serve as indicators for overall stream conditions. And now, we need your help to figure out when these stream locations start flowing, when they go dry, and which ones have litter that needs to be picked up.

It is important to monitor stream flow conditions over the course of the year and over many years because the timing of flow impacts habitat quality for a variety of local animal, plant and fish species. We want to understand current habitat conditions, and be able to track trends over time.

In some cases, land managers along a stream may be able to enhance stream flow for aquatic life by taking coordinated conservation actions on the land. We will use the monitoring information to identify these locations, and help our community plan and prioritize conservation actions in the stream reaches that need it most.

We have also built in a trash observation component to the monitoring. The reporting of whether or not a stream is littered will help guide another of our volunteer programs, Waterway Keepers!

If you're interested in learning more about Stream Watch, join us for a WILD Napa talk on November 18 at 7pm on Zoom and Facebook Live. You can also visit the Stream Watch website to find instructions for how to get started monitoring--- today!

Contact Ashley with questions: Ashley@NapaRCD.org or 707-690-3117

RCD Programs: Coastal Cleanup 2020- A Story of Success!

Coastal Cleanup 2020 was a new and exciting adventure for coordinators throughout the state, and here in Napa County was no different. We’ve done one-day, in-person cleanups here for 21 years, but have never asked our residents to do a cleanup and report their data on their own. We were very pleased with the participation from all of you here in Napa County!

Since we didn’t meet in person and couldn’t record data for people, we asked participants to record their cleanup results in the CleanSwell app, which was designed by the Ocean Conservancy for cleanups around the world. During the month of September, we had 141 people report their cleanup results in the app. That number blew away expectations, and we’re sure there are some people that did casual cleanups while walking through their neighborhoods without entering data into the app. We also had a lot of people borrow cleanup supplies- buckets and trash grabbers- for their weekend cleanups.

The fun thing about the CleanSwell app and the Ocean Conservancy’s TIDES database is that we can focus in on very specific data, and we can see that data as it is entered in real time. We can narrow down the data results to just Napa County, just one group, or even one location within our county. By doing this, we can see what the most common items were, how many pieces of trash were picked up, how many people participated, distance cleaned, and much more.

This year, our 141 recorded participants picked up 632.41 pounds of trash over 11.49 miles. All those people combined picked up about 7,744 individual pieces of trash. That’s 55 pieces of trash per person!

Cigarette butts are, unfortunately, always within the top ten items found in Napa County. Due to COVID-19, we expected to see many masks and gloves and other personal protective equipment, and those items came in at number 9 on our list. Check it out:

Top Ten Items Found in Napa County

Cigarette Butts- 1,913
Other Trash (a catch-all for things that don’t fit in specified categories)- 1,195
Food Wrappers- 948
Plastic Bottle Caps- 263
Plastic Bottles- 236
Grocery Bags- 212
Glass Bottles- 151
Straws and Coffee Stirrers- 147
Gloves & Masks- 136
Beverage Cans- 132

Many thanks to all who helped us Keep Napa Clean during Coastal Cleanup 2020! And don’t forget- you don’t have to wait for September to do a cleanup! Every day is a good day to keep our streets and creeks clean and free of trash!

Keep your eyes open, as we hope to soon welcome groups of volunteers back into the field in limited numbers. If you have any questions about cleanups or other volunteer events, please contact Ashley@NapaRCD.org.

Welcome, Craig!

FRIENDS has long benefited from an eclectic mix of some of the most talented folks in the community.  Over the past few months, we have told you about some who have exited our Board of Directors after extended periods of service (Laurie Puzo and Tony Norris) and others who have come forward to fill those spots (Brenda Perry).  Now we are highlighting another new member of the Board, Craig Smith.

Craig represents the dedication and longevity in the Napa community that FRIENDS is lucky to have in a partner.  He brings a myriad of skills to Friends that have already benefited Napa for 26 years. He comes across as a natural communicator, with manners that betray his southern roots;  Craig is a graduate of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Go Tar Heels (don’t forget that Michael Jordan guy).

Craig got started in Napa with the American Lung Association, and then responded to an opportunity with the Downtown Napa Association.  They were looking for a unique person who could relate to everything affecting the Napa Business community, from non-profits to retail, and even follow legislative action.  Craig fit the bill, and he went to work for the Downtown Association.  During 24 years as their Executive Director, he has coordinated and encouraged the expansion and revitalization of our entire Downtown.

A graduate of the Napa Valley Leadership Program (Class 11), Craig got to see not only the genesis of Measure A, but also the entirety of the Flood Control Project.  He credits the Leadership program with showing him the collaborative efforts necessary for a project to succeed in our town. 

Having lived in Napa for just short of 40 years, Craig and his wife, Denise, have a deep appreciation of the role of the Napa River in everyday life.  Most anytime you kayak or hang out in or on the river you will probably see both Craig and Denise kayaking the river, or hiking or biking the Bay Area Trails system. You can also see what is on his mind by reading his articles in the Register, under the heading of “Craig Smith’s Downtown Talk”.

While interacting with all the business activity in our now vibrant Downtown area, Craig has identified an interest not only in the preservation of our river environment, but also in the maintenance necessary to allow for the continued enjoyment of the river by all.  Craig would like to work on a program to accomplish the necessary maintenance dredging not only to preserve the capacity of the river to carry flood flows, but also to encourage the boat traffic that enhances tourism in our valley.

Without a doubt, FRIENDS count ourselves as lucky to benefit from the commitment, knowledge, and energy that Craig has brought to the Downtown Association and now the FRIENDS organization.  He may not have quite the vertical jump of fellow Tar Heel Michael Jordan, but his commitment to success is certainly comparable.  When you go downtown, be sure to give Craig a wave and say thanks for all he does. 

-Dennis Rinehart

Groundwater and the River

Groundwater has been in the news in Napa of late.  Ever since passage of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in 2014, Napa County has been working to get a better handle on the way we use groundwater.  This summer the County plunged into an intensive process to develop a Groundwater Sustainability Plan for the Napa Valley subbasin of the Napa River watershed, which is scheduled to be complete in November 2021 - just over a year from now.

If you haven't thought a lot about groundwater, you're not alone.  Even if you have a well, you may be fairly sketchy on how water moves into, through and out of the ground we walk on.  The basic fact is that the earth has a fairly porous surface, and rainwater that doesn't run off or evaporate must soak in.  That water collects in geologic formations that have significant pore space for holding water, which are called aquifers - water bearing formations.

Water in the ground is always trying to find its own level, responding to gravity just as it does on the earth's surface, except that groundwater moves much more slowly - after all, it's moving through a solid medium.  The medium becomes saturated below a certain level, which is called the water table.  And what happens around rivers and other surface water bodies is interesting;  the water table may be higher or lower than the river, and water will flow from one to the other through the river bed and banks.  See diagram 1

Diagram 1

Here's a diagram of the situation when the groundwater table is higher than the river.

As you might imagine, water will flow into the river, which we then call a gaining stream.  Diagram 2 shows the opposite, a losing stream.

Diagram 2

So we see that flow in our Napa River may well be related to groundwater levels around it, and in fact one element of the monitoring program being developed for the County will focus on the interconnected surface and groundwater network. We are following this process with interest. Thanks to the Nature Conservancy for the use of their visuals.

Bob Zlomke

Focus on the River

The Napa City Planning Commission considered a draft element of the prospective new General Plan last month, and we took the opportunity to remind the Planners of the importance of the Napa River to the Downtown and Oxbow areas.  Here's what we wrote:

Over thirty years ago, a citizens’ group (Renaissance Napa) held community conversations and gatherings about the Downtown and Oxbow areas. The unanimous finding and recommendation to the community was that the focus of these areas was its heart: the Napa River.

That work helped lead to the founding of the Friends of the Napa River, to Robert Mondavi choosing the Oxbow area for what is now Copia, to the ultimate approval and success of the Napa River Flood Control Project, to the Riverfront development, to miles of river trails and public access.

In the early 2000s, the City, a strong consulting team, and the community worked together to craft a series of plans that included the “Soscol Corridor/Downtown Riverfront Development & Design Guidelines”, the “Tannery Bend Development and Design Guidelines” and the “Napa River Parkway Master Plan”. We know that these need to be pulled off the shelf in the Planning Department, dusted off, and brought forward as additional development is proposed along our River.

Unfortunately, a key area of the River has not been fully addressed and its importance to Friends can be seen in our logo: the Oxbow. In the 2018 Oxbow study by the Urban Land Institute (ULI), the first recommendation was to Focus on the River:

“The river should be treated as a community amenity rather than as a backyard. To foster connections, the city should look for opportunities to connect publicly accessible streets, trails, and open spaces to the river… and the river trail and river-edge landscape should be extended, maintained, and improved to the maximum extent possible.…” 

We urge the Planning Commission to recommend that the ULI recommendations be clearly added as part of General Plan policy for the Oxbow area. And the Napa River needs to remain as its heart.