Grown In Marin 

The freshwater tributaries that flow into Tomales Bay from Walker Creek, Lagunitas Creek and the varied sidelets carry with them a story. During big storms, the story gets more complicated and the cast of characters increases like a Russian novel.

Tomales Bay

On a particularly intense and blustery storm event, Michael Lennox and David Lewis from UC Cooperative Extension head out to West Marin to read the book of runoffs. Sampling during 40 knot south winds, through flooded Highway One at 4 a.m. doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun, but these two scientists thrive on it. What they read, measure, and decipher is the scientific measurement of the fecal coliform bacteria in runoff. These measurements give us a way of knowing how many of the microorganisms are being picked up and moved by runoff on or near dairies, pastures and open space watersheds.

The fecal coliform count is like the proverbial "canary in the coal mine," an indicator that harmful pathogens may be present. For swimming, the beaches are posted for at 200 mpn\100 ml (Most probable number per hundred milliliters of water). The oyster growers are required by state law to shut down when the count reaches 14 mpn\100 ml. The closures are an expensive deal for aquaculturists and an issue of real concern. Weeks of closure put a real dent in cashflow.

John Finger of Hog Island Oyster Company, an active member of the Tomales Bay Watershed Council, knows this situation well. "The shellfish industry has the strictest regulations for water quality. We need to have the highest water quality to stay in business. Tomales Bay has been listed as both 'pristine' and 'impaired,' and both are true. What we want to see is a raising of the standard, to leave the Bay and the watershed to the next generation in a healthy, productive condition. This would be a great legacy." Up the hill from Hog Island Oyster Company, Albert Straus, from Straus Family Creamery, has taken this responsibility seriously and has invested $600,000 in five holding ponds, four barns and now methane generators and separators. "We are prepared to go the distance. We need to do this to survive." Albert understands that this is part of being in the dairy business in Marin today, and that these issues won't go away. The Walker Creek watershed reaches inland to Chileno Valley where the fertile rangelands support our cattle industry. Here too, ranchers are at work on their watershed management plans. "It's a kind of of housekeeping for our land," says Chileno Valley rancher Sally Gale, "We do everything we can to keep our house in order, so to speak. We fix up our creeks and bring back our riparian areas. We like the wildlife and fish it brings back." Sally sits on the board of the Marin Resource Conservation District as well as the Tomales Bay Watershed Council, and raises grass-fed beef with her husband, Mike. "It's all a process, a work in progress. All the information is complex to say the least, but we do all live together here, and we need to work together every day to improve our ranches and fulfill our obligation to the plants, animals and lands that we have inherited."