Coast and Creek Cleanup Coming Soon! Together We Make a Difference

SUISUN CITY, Calif. - On Saturday, September 17, 2011, Suisun City residents will come out to clean trash and debris from local urban creeks, marshes, and bays, as part of the statewide California Coastal Cleanup Day.

Last year, the three-hour citizen event coordinated by Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District collected nearly 4000 pounds of trash and recyclables from just the Suisun Waterfront and Estuary, the Rush Ranch area, and Belden’s Landing.

Throughout the cities of Suisun City and Fairfield, the 2010 Coast & Creek Cleanup volunteers covered 23 miles of waterways. The event was a huge success, due to the growing number of volunteers each year. Thank you to the tremendous turnout of our community members, like Trish Abbatiello of Sunset Bay Kayaks. For several years, she has provided kayaks to volunteers to help remove trash that is otherwise difficult to reach from the shore.

Would you like to make a difference?

Groups and individuals are invited to participate at any of the cleanup sites. No experience is required, but each volunteer (or parent/guardian if a minor) must sign a liability waiver to participate.

For more information about the Cleanup, visit the Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District website at www.fssd.com, call the Don’t Pollute hotline at (707) 428-9191 or see the event listing at www.VisitSuisunCity.com.

Pre-registration is not required, and drop-ins are welcome!

2010 Coast & Creek Cleanup a Big Success

SUISUN CITY - The volunteers who participated in the Coast & Creek Cleanup this past Saturday pulled a tremendous amount of garbage and recyclables from local waterways, according to initial figures reported by the Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District.

According to the District, the 364 volunteers hauled

• 6,381 pounds of garbage and
  
• 1,173 pounds of recyclables from
• 22.5 miles of creek and waterfront in
  
• 14 sites in Suisun City, Fairfield and Solano County.

In Suisun City, a key work site was near the Boat Launch and Peytonia Slough, and in the waterway with volunteers using kayaks. Other nearby sites included several at key spots on Grizzly Island Road extending out into the Suisun Marsh.

While the participation and haul was tremendous, the amount of rubbish pulled from the waterways also serves as a reminder for everyone to be more careful about their waste. Make sure all items are disposed of properly, and waste containers are properly closed, particularly to protect against our trademark Suisun City winds.

Thanks to everyone who participated, and particular thanks to the Sewer District for taking the lead in organizing the local Cleanup each year! We hope to see you all again in 2011!

Suisun Marsh Makes "California Top 11" List

CALIFORNIA TRAVEL INSIDER NAMES MARSH A TOP STATEWIDE DESTINATION

A noted independent California travel writer has named the Suisun Marsh among her Top Eleven for California list of favorite destinations.

Writer Barbara Steinberg included the Suisun Marsh with this summary:

Suisun Marsh – The largest contiguous brackish water marsh remaining on the west coast of North America it encompasses 116,000 acres and includes 52,000 acres of managed wetlands. Incredible hikes and wildlife viewing; you pass right through on Amtrak’s Capital Corridor trains. Enjoy easy hikes from the Rush Ranch Visitor Centerpart of the Solano Land Trust off Grizzly Island Road. Enjoy a sunset kayak trip; a little fishing; explore Indian grinding stones; or views of white pelicans as they glide across the sky. Suisun Marsh is part of California's natural and historic past.

The best way to get into the Marsh is through Suisun City (on Highway 12 just east of I-80). The southern border of the City is formed by the Marsh.

You can drive in or take the Capitol Corridor train service to the Suisun-Fairfield station and enjoy the easy walk down the Promenade to the Suisun City Waterfront District.

At the south end of Kellogg Street, you'll find the Suisun Wildlife Center, a state-sanctioned nursery and safe-haven for abandoned infant wild animals from the neighboring Marsh. Next to the Center's main gate is the entrance to the Peytonia Slough Ecological Reserve and the Suisun City boat launch.

You can even get out into the Marsh itself aboard a guided tour boat trip aboard the California Sunset or by renting a kayak in town and heading out on your own or with an experienced guide.

State water officials to discuss Delta future in Suisun City

Suisun City will be ground zero next week for the statewide discussion of the future of the Sacramento Delta and Suisun Marsh.

From 6 -8 p.m. Monday June 23 at the Nelson Center (corner of Merganser and Village Drives), state officials will hold one of three town hall meetings to discuss how to balance water delivery and protecting the environment.

Here's what the Sacramento Bee reported Wednesday:

State water officials will host three town hall meetings on Delta issues
next week, with the aim of helping the public understand the many studies and
programs under way to correct ecological and water delivery problems in the
estuary, the largest on the West Coast of the Americas.

Programs involving the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta include the
governor's Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force, the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan,
emergency response planning, habitat restoration and flood-safety improvements.
The public will have a chance at each meeting to learn about these programs, ask
questions and share concerns.

The 740,000-acre Delta is witnessing the decline of nine fish species,
serious water quality problems, and legal and environmental constraints that
have sharply reduced water exports this year.

The various Delta research programs are examining new water delivery
plumbing, improved levees, and proposals to increase and improve wildlife
habitat. These efforts could affect some communities by dramatically altering
land use in the Delta.

Click here for more information on the Town Hall meetings
Click here to go to the Delta Vision website, deltavision.ca.gov

Hunters help the Marsh, too!

Lest you think that only college and government researchers work out in the Suisun Marsh (see earlier post about UC Davis biologists trudging around in the Marsh), Barry Eberling over at the Daily Republic wrote a story about duck hunters who build boxes 6-to-8-feet in the air to help wood ducks breed.

As Barry explains, wood ducks usally breed in trees. But habitat destruction and unregulated hunting made the sighting of wood ducks on Grizzly Island very rare. Now, officials are reporting seeing flocks of them thanks to the volunteer efforts of duck club owners and hunters who have built thousands of nesting locations for the birds.

To see Barry's article, visit the Daily Republic website at www.dailyrepublic.com.

What are those scientists doing in Suisun Marsh?

Have you ever wondered just what those field researchers are doing out in Suisun Marsh?

We hear frequently that Suisun Marsh is one of the most important ecological resources in California and perhaps the entire West Coast of North America. We know it is the largest contiguous brackish marsh on the West Coast, and just happens to border our little burg, Suisun City, as one of the best neighbors anyone could request.

But I've never had opportunity (nor desire, frankly, aside from general speculation) to go along with any researchers out into the Marsh to see what they are up to.

But leave it to Anna Opalka, an intrepid student journalist with the UC Davis California Aggie, to don the hipwaders to bring her readers an interesting and readable first-hand account of what UC Davis biologists, researchers and students are looking for as they ply the Marsh. (The short answer: they are catching and counting small fish).

If you didn't see my other links, click here to get to Anna's story here.

Calling all kayakers!

Check out this new site just for local kayaking enthusiasts - Suisunkayakers.com.

It's a great new site just for people who love to explore the Suisun Marsh by kayak, whether for fun or fitness.

Good luck on this new site. We'll check in from time to time to see how things are going!

If you know of a local blog or website you'd like to share with us, drop an e-mail or leave a comment.

Suisun meeting to discuss state water supply

Daily Republic staff

SUISUN CITY - A free March 7 workshop will look at protecting the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem and the state's water supply.

The workshop will run from 8:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Joseph Nelson Community Center, 611 Village Drive. Check-in begins at 8 a.m. Lunch is provided.

The Water Education Foundation and California Resources Agency are the sponsors.

People must register in advance.For more information, go to http://water-ed.org/deltavisionworkshops.asp.

Media: Suisun City center breeds love of wildlife

By Carol Bogart Daily Republic

SUISUN CITY - Sedit the coyote watched expectantly as Lee Munoz, 70, approached with food. The coyote, found tied to a post as a pup, never learned how to be 'wild.'

Sedit, the American Indian word for coyote, has resided at the Suisun Wildlife Center in Suisun City for many years.

For the past two years, Munoz has been volunteering at the center. She prepares meals for an aging opossum that regards visitors balefully from beneath a blanket. Munoz feeds dead mice to raptors at the center such as a great horned owl. Her favorite resident, though, is Sedit.

'I just love animals,' Munoz said.

Munoz retired from the Fairfield-Suisun School District and still lives on the Green Valley ranch where her mother was born.

She has had more exposure to animals than birds at the ranch, so she is drawn to the animals at the wildlife center.

Matching volunteers with the animals and birds that interest them is the goal of Cindy Forrest, the center's rehabilitation director.

For example, Sherry Moyce, 48, has turned her Suisun City home into a nursery of sorts. Moyce uses a dropper to feed two baby gray squirrels blown out of a tree during a recent storm.

It's clear the two have embraced Moyce as 'mom.'

After their meal, they burrow under her sweater and nestle against her neck. 'I get real attached,' Moyce said. 'I like having babies. This gives me my 'mommy' fix.'

Jim Furco, 68, who retired as a sergeant in the Fairfield Police Department in 1993, has volunteered at the wildlife center for 12 years. His wife, Margie Furco, 61, is also a volunteer. The couple took a three-day course at UC Davis to learn how to handle raptors.

Furco is the center's primary handler of a resident male golden eagle. Sool, the American Indian word for eagle, lost half a wing and can't fly.

Sometimes, Furco said, Sool will make a barking sound when a hawk or another raptor passes overhead.

Sool may be trying to attract a female, Furco said. 'After 11 years in a cage, he'll take anything that flies,' he joked.

All jokes aside, Furco would love to see Sool soaring free. Knowing that's not possible, Furco arrives at the center at 1:30 p.m. each day except Sunday to work with the disabled eagle.

Leather protects Furco's hand and arm from Sool's huge talons.

As he held the enormous bird on his forearm, Furco fed Sool and told stories. For instance, Furco said Sool has so much strength in his feet that he could crush his handler's hand.

When Furco first started working with the bird five years ago, Sool was so aggressive Forco was 'scared to death.'

The two have since formed a bond. 'He's not tame,' Furco said. 'He's just got manners.'

Reach Carol Bogart at 427-6955 or at cbogart@dailyrepublic.net.

WILDLIFE VOLUNTEERS

For information on becoming a volunteer at the Suisun Wildlife Center, call 429-HAWK (4295). The center, located at 1171 Kellogg St. in Suisun City, is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

Media: Saving Delta may jeopardize Suisun Marsh

By Barry Eberling DAILY REPUBLIC

FAIRFIELD - A big state push to try to save the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and solve California's long-running water wars is also addressing Suisun Marsh.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Blue Ribbon Task Force is not giving the marsh the same emphasis as the Delta itself. But every now and again, the group's much-publicized Delta Vision released in December 2007 refers to 'the Delta and Suisun Marsh.'

What this means will become clearer this year as the task force turns the broad statements of its vision into an actual plan. But Steve Chappell, executive director of the Suisun Resource Conservation District, is among those working to make certain Suisun Marsh isn't an afterthought, and perhaps even a victim, of the state's great Delta rescue effort.

Officially, 116,000-acre Suisun Marsh isn't part of what the report calls the California Delta. Even though the marsh contains 10 percent of the state's remaining wetlands and is home to an array of migratory birds and rare species, its location doesn't grant it that status.

But it's adjacent to the Delta, shares the same water, faces similar levee problems and has many of the same rare fish species that are facing sudden, big population downturns.

'They're linked,' Chappell said. 'Thinking of them as separate is kind of dangerous.'

Solano County Supervisor Barbara Kondylis is among those who thinks the marsh might end up on the short end of stick. She is afraid the state might build a peripheral canal to take fresh water across the Delta to Southern California, leaving too much salty ocean water encroaching into the Delta and Suisun Marsh.

Another scenario causing local concern is that the state neglects already fragile Delta levees once a peripheral canal is built. Should levees break and large Delta islands flood, salty ocean water would get pulled inland, once again leaving Suisun Marsh saltier than it is now.

'The Suisun Marsh is the biggest ecological disaster waiting to happen,' Kondylis said at the Nov. 27 Board of Supervisors meeting.

The Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force has only seven members, and none are from Solano County. But it is advised by a 45-person stakeholders group. Members from Solano County are Chappell and former Rio Vista mayor Marci Coglianese.

Chappell is uncertain how Suisun Marsh will fare once everything is said and done. He called the Delta Vision report a 'pretty blunt instrument,' with broad goals, such as improving Delta ecological functions.

But now the Blue Ribbon Task Force is working on a plan that will turn sweeping statements into policies. Ending the state's protracted water war -- a clash involving the environment, irrigation water for Central Valley farms and drinking water for 25 million Californians -- is bound to have winners and losers.

'Everyone acknowledges there is a problem and we need to find solutions to the problems,' Chappell said. 'There is some regional acknowledgment that change is needed to find solutions. But no one has identified a victim yet. Who is the sacrificial lamb to make this change?'

Coglianese said many people don't understand the connection between the health of the marsh and the health of the Delta and its water supply.

'I think Steve Chappell is doing a good job trying to raise people's understanding of that,' Coglianese said. 'But it's a tough road.'

Coglianese sees not only the marsh at risk, but also all of eastern Solano County. Among other things, the state is going to attempt to control land use in the Delta, she said.
'This is very serious,' Coglianese said. 'People cannot afford to take a pass on this. This is a very important year.'

Meanwhile, an array of agencies is putting together a Suisun Marsh plan that, among other things, calls for restoring 3,000 to 9,000 acres to tidal marshes. A draft state and federal environmental report could be released in the fall.

If all goes as planned, the new Suisun Marsh Plan and the ideas adopted by the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force will dovetail.

Both the Delta and Suisun Marsh are landscapes radically transformed by humans.

The marsh in its pristine state was wild, overgrown and mosquito-infested, a place where early explorers feared getting lost amid a labyrinth of sloughs and tules. The occasional grizzly bear was among the wildlife.

That marsh is gone forever. Levees were built 100 years ago to create dry land for farms and later duck clubs that are periodically flooded. State and federal water projects store massive amounts of the fresh water in such faraway places as Lake Shasta and Lake Oroville, water that once ran down the Delta and into the marsh unimpeded each spring.

Humans now share water with the Delta and marsh.

'The reality is we're never going back to unimpaired hydrology because that would mean zero consumption,' Chappell said.

Reach Barry Eberling at 425-4646, Ext. 232, or at beberling@dailyrepublic.net.

Suisun Marsh facts

• Suisun Marsh encompasses 116,000 acres. About 52,000 acres are managed wetlands, 6,300 acres are tidal wetlands, 30,000 acres are bays and sloughs, and 27,000 acres are uplands.
• The marsh is home to 221 species of birds, 45 species of animals, 16 species of reptiles and amphibians, and 40 species of fish.
• Marsh property owners are both public and private. The marsh has more than 150 duck clubs.
• Places to visit in the marsh include Rush Ranch open space preserve at 3521 Grizzly Island Road; Beldon's Landing boat launch at Grizzly Island Road and Montezuma Slough; Grizzly Island state wildlife area at 2548 Grizzly Island Road; and Peytonia Slough preserve at the southern end of Kellogg Street in Suisun City.