Management Plan
Working with the community
In 2004, a Stakeholder Council was convened for the purpose of defining and articulating clear goals for the Laguna. This was done through facilitated sessions that gave equal voice to all participants. Broad goals for healthy habitats, biologically diverse plant communities, clean water, and good land stewardship practices were easy for this group to state. But more detailed goals for each of these required deeper thinking, open-mindedness and a learning posture on the part of participants. One of the breakthrough sessions occurred when stakeholders were asked to imagine themselves, in the year 2030, describing what the Laguna looked like at that future date, and what had transpired in the intervening 25 year period: this backward glance helped the participants to look at the big picture and enabled them to shape that big picture into a common vision for the future of the Laguna.
Advisory Committees
On a coincidental timeline with the Stakeholder Council, four advisory committees were formed to discuss problems and opportunities related to: 1) water quality, 2) hydrology, 3) biological diversity and wildlife, and 4) public access and recreation. A separate advisory committee was also created to provide a forum for farmers and ranchers to share their ideas and recommendations for the Laguna. But the community’s involvement in formulating the ideas for this plan was not limited to the Stakeholder Council and the advisory committees: many volunteer and professional consultants helped to shape the ideas for this plan throughout the duration of the project.
Stakeholders came from many groups, including:
- Public regulatory and enforcement agencies
- Public resource land managers
- Local ranches and farms
- Public planning and public policy commissions and associations
- Organizations working on conservation acquisitions and conservation easements
- Non-governmental advocacy groups and trade associations
- Federal and state public research services
- Regional resource conservation districts
- Nearby conservation research facilities
- Local conservation education groups
- Citizen-led watershed organizations
Charting a course
The all-encompassing statement of goals for the Laguna, as expressed by the stakeholders, is simple:
“To preserve and enhance the Laguna de Santa Rosa watershed through ecological restoration, research, and care that supports biological diversity, improves water quality, provides flood pro-tection, enhances groundwater resources, and provides for human needs, thereby leaving a lasting legacy for future generations.”
This statement is clarified through specific high-level goals which include:
- restoring native habitats and enhancing biological diversity,
- restoring the Laguna’s waterways to dynamic equilibrium while reducing water-borne pollution,
- actively managing and monitoring the health of the public lands and private preserves of the watershed, and
- establishing a center for wetlands research. For each of these high-level goals, detailed objectives have been established and individual recommendations have been made towards reaching each high-level goals.
Habitat Restoration
Under the broad category of habitat restoration and management, objectives include: working toward self-sustaining ecosystems; designing restoration projects that mimic the biological and structural diversity of native habitats; improving the effectiveness of restoration projects through research, monitoring, and adaptive management practices; and preserving biological diversity by limiting the spread of aggressive invasive species.
Habitat Diversity
Towards habitat diversity, the principal objective is to preserve the watershed’s diverse plant communities, with high priority recommendations made towards enhancing riparian corridors, developing environmentally-appropriate urban waterway plans, and developing management regimes to enhance native grasslands.
Bilolgical Diversity
Towards biological diversity the principal objectives include implementing the California tiger salamander recovery plan, enhancing the vernal pools of the Santa Rosa Plain, restoring anadromous fish passage, and preserving the watershed’s rare plants while “keeping common species common.”
Under the category of water resources the principal objectives include re-establishing dynamic equilibrium to the watershed’s channels, floodplains and aquifer recharge areas. These hydrologic and hydraulic efforts should be coupled with pollution reduction efforts targeting water temperatures; dissolved oxygen levels; and excessive nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment.
Strong Science Program
To support these objectives, a strong science program should be institutionalized, a good organizational framework for data storage and retrieval should be established, eductional programs for adults and children should be strengthened, and broad community outreach efforts should continue.
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