The best internet names are short and memorable. In keeping with this concept, I've shortened the name of this Watershed Networker column from "Name Stream & Tributaries" to simply "Tributaries." The theme of the column remains the same: to highlight the people, events and humorous anecdotes of interest to watersheders. Please email your short items to tributaries@yahoo.com
Speaking of change, I can't remember a time when there have been more job openings for watershed types and wetland folks. No one can say how long this trend will last. I do know there are quite a few watersheds positions in the pipeline for the coming year or two. If you are looking for a first job or a new job in these fields, I highly recommend getting on Earle Cummings' excellent email list. Contact Earle at earlec@water.ca.gov
Things are happening out there on the watersheds. The Restoria group working on the restoration of a reach of Putah Creek near Davis, California is trading volunteer time and expertise with the Presidio Park Stewards of San Francisco. I think these kinds of exchanges between watershed/restoration groups are the wave of a brighter future. As if to highlight the importance of watershed and stream restoration, 20 pacific lampreys showed up to spawn in Putah Creek near the Interstate 505 crossing this May. They were discovered by John and Erin Hasbrook and their children, Catherine, Clara and Christopher during an early evening walk from their home near Winters, California. John Hasbrook took about 20 minutes of videotape. These eel-like fish were 2-3 feet in length. They moved rocks with their mouths, dug depressions with their tails, lay on their sides and beat their tails (presumably to move rocks and silt from the nests), and wrapped themselves together like the hair of medusa.
This observation of spawning was a first, of sorts. Dr. Peter Moyle and others have found adult and young ("ammocoetes") lamprey in the creek, but spawning had never been observed first-hand, reported and documented for the Putah Creek Council. For more information email the Putah Creek Council at putah@dcn.davis.ca.us.
Pacific lamprey are remarkable. They emerge from their nests as tiny larvae just a fraction of an inch long. They are washed by the currents into quiet backwaters where they burrow into the soft bottoms. They live quietly and inconspicuously in these burrows for 3‚5 years, feeding on algae and other organic matter they filter from the water. The larvae are dark and worm-like, with no eyes and no jaws and teeth. When they are 6‚7 inches in length they begin a remarkable transformation into an active predator. Eyes develop, as does a sucking disk with teeth. They turn silvery in color and eventually migrate downstream going out into the ocean. How they get to the Pacific from Putah Creek is a story in itself. Once in salt water, the hungry lamprey find fish they can latch on to. They burrow a hole into the side of the fish, which has been numbed by a local anesthetic secreted by the lamprey, and suck out blood and body fluids. After a while, the lamprey lets go and the host often survives the experience. The lamprey spends a year to 18 months as a predator, before returning to a stream to spawn and die.
Back indoors in the land of the perpetual meeting, the MOU and the mega-planning effort, people are moving around.
Larry Costick recently took a job working on the watershed aspects of the USDA Forest Service's Sierra Nevada Framework Project. Previously, Larry completed a considerable body of work for the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project (SNEP), and recently after many years completed his Ph.D. at UC Davis. Larry's had an interesting career which includes managing leases of large tracts of resource and ranch lands for major landholding companies and institutions.
Yours truly, Clay Brandow, moved over to work with Pete Cafferata in a new watershed specialist position in Forest Practice at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and got a promotion. My new work phone is (916) 653-0719. Email is remains the same clay_brandow@yahoo.com. The focus of the new job is monitoring, and I'm delight by the prospect of once again getting out in the field more. My old job as watershed specialist at CDF's Fire and Resource Assessment Program (FRAP) is still open, if anyone is interested.
Regular Networker editor Mike Furniss reports that he has just completed a book called "Roads analysis: Informing decisions about the national forest transportation system." Mike's teammates in this included Bob Ziemer, Pete Bisson and Fred Everest of Forest Service research, along with a number of participants from various parts of the country. Publication is slated for late August. Mike also reports that he is delighted to have guest editors for the Networker Guest editors simply assemble core articles and Mike does the rest. "We need guest editors to reach out and bring our membership more of the incredible diversity that western watershed management holds." So call President Sari Sommarstrom if you'd like to discuss taking a crack at an issue of the Networker.
Saving the best for last, on March 19, 1999, Governor Gray Davis appointed Andrea Tuttle director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Her appointment is particularly noteworthy in this column, because she is the first CDF director appointed with such a strong background in watershed. Andrea lives in Arcata, California. In 1992 she founded Andrea Tuttle & Associates, a natural resource policy and planning company. Since 1997, she has been a member of the California Coastal Commission. Andrea has also served as a consultant for the State Senate Select Committee on Forestry from 1987 to 1991 and was a member of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, North Coast Region from 1976 to 1984. From 1978 to 1987, Andrea served as an instructor and researcher on environmental planning at the Berkeley and Santa Cruz campuses of the University of California. Andrea earned a B.A. in biological science and Ph.D. in environmental planning from the University of California at Berkeley. She also holds a M.S. from the University of Washington at Seattle.
Seventy miles or so downstream from Sacramento, I recently visited the USDA Forest Service's new Region 5 Headquarters on the hill at the southern tip of Mare Island, which from 1858 until recently was a Naval Shipyard. The new Regional Foresters Office strikes me as nice building with a great view of San Francisco Bay, but not a very good location in terms of visibility and accessibility to the public.
Further downstream and out the Golden Gate, first El Nino with warm Pacific Ocean surface temperatures, and then La Nina with cool Pacific Ocean surface temperatures, continue to do interesting things to weather on the west coast. Hopefully, these strong signals from the hydrosphere are increasing our understanding, and may help us better predict things like wet years and dry years, and warm summers and cool summers in the future. Until then, these two phenomena with Spanish namesakes continue to upset the apple cart.
Duty bound to do something, a few wags in the state legislature proposed legislating these Spanish-named phenomena out of existence as part of California's push for English only. The same wags quickly realized that per diem is a Latin term, and that their attempts to right the weather apple cart might inadvertently result in a gravy train wreck. The proposed legislation was scuttled for safety reasons, reported Tung Cheekward, our political correspondent. And so it goes.
And remember, if you've reached a watershed in your career or have interesting tidbit of watershed news, send a quick email to tributaries@ yahoo.com or write Tributaries, c/o Clay Brandow, 1528 Brown Drive, Davis CA 95616, or call me at (916) 653-0719
