Key 2019 Successes 

Protected Critical Habitat and Coastal Resources & Combated Marine Debris 

Since 1971, EAC has been working to protect Tomales Bay and its watershed, including securing its nomination as the 19th USA Ramsar site, or international wetland of importance in 2002 (nomination and update) and our advocacy to restore the Giacomini Wetlands. In 2019, we continued that legacy by ​preventing aquaculture development in eelgrass and advocating for the implementation of aquaculture best management practices to reduce marine debris. We also advocated for sustainable fisheries, continued our engagement and advocacy in the Marin County local coastal program amendment update, and voiced our opposition to any new offshore oil leases off the West Coast and beyond. We will continue our work protecting the health of Tomales Bay and its watersheds in 2020.

Thank you to our community Waters Committee members Tom Baty, Bruce Bowser, Richard James, Kevin O'Connor, and board members Terence Carroll and David Weinsoff for your expertise and assistance as we tackle issues facing the health of our fresh and marine waters. 

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Defended Public Lands 

Some of EAC's earliest work involved advocacy to protect our public lands from development, exploitation, and unintended consequences. In 2019, we continued to defend our public lands by advocating for protection of our unique environmental resources, participating in the public process to safeguarding our parks, supporting the acquisition of new public land that would expand and protect wildlife and provide community resilience, and taking legal action against the federal administration's failure to conduct a public process and National Environmental Policy Act review before opening trails to the use of electric bicycles. We continue to work diligently to protect West Marin's lands by supporting our public lands, monitoring land-use policies, proposed development activities, and planning for climate change adaptation.

Thank you to our Lands Committee board members Terence Carroll, Sarah Killingsworth, Bridger Mitchell, David Wimpfheimer for your time, energy, and expertise as we work to defend our public lands.

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Monitored Marine Protected Areas 

In 1999, California adopted the Marin Life Protection Act that kicked off the process to design an interconnected network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Following the 2010 implementation in the Bay Area, EAC and partners, Point Reyes National Seashore and California Academy of Sciences, joined the statewide program, MPA Watch, to train community scientists to monitor MPAs in Marin County. Our program launched in 2013 and we have engaged with more than 250 volunteers and collected over 1,000 surveys of human activities. Marin MPA Watch has five-years of data usable by public agencies and to inform the California MPA Monitoring Action Plan. In addition, our data is being used to analyze uses by local resource mangers including Point Reyes National Seashore and Marin County Parks. In addition, we continue to support MPAs through our work with the Golden Gate MPA Collaborative where EAC's executive director serves as co-chair. The Collaborative launched an online classroom training for docents to learn more about MPAs and received a remote operated vehicle (ROV) this past summer to document MPAs in West Marin.

Thank you to our 2019 MPA Watch volunteers: Ryan Brunn, Martin Chourre, Ashley Dumbra, JD Hennessey, Steve Jaffe, Lee Jensen, Gerald Kawamoto, Phil Klasky, Kent Khitikian, Frederic Leist, Kayla Londono, Fatima Ray, Juliana Romano-Silverstein, Candace Swimmer, Deanna Stouder, Alison Quoyeser, Ashley Wemp, and Lena and Aiden Zentall.

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Launched Marin's Monarch Movement

In 2019, we launched our campaign to protect the Western monarch butterfly population to ensure these iconic and essential pollinators continue to share this earth with us. We are working to evaluate Marin County's local and regional response to the crisis in a report, Marin's Monarch Movement, that seeks to identify the collective action of organizations and individuals working to protect Western monarchs. In order to fully capture the regional response efforts by the Marin community, we need individual, organizational, businesses, and public agencies who are working on monarch conservation and recovery projects to take our survey to be included in our report, Marin’s Monarch Movement. 

Thank you to Mia Monroe for bringing idea to EAC and partnering with us. Thank you to the financial contributors for making this program come to life!

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Partnered with our Community to Address the Climate Crisis

The Climate Crisis is the biggest environmental challenge of our time, and we are working on several levels to address the sources and impacts in West Marin. In 2019, we advocated for climate resilient solutions by participating in Drawdown Marin and highlighting the importance of aquatic carbon solutions (like wetland protection and restoration), and by supporting local planning efforts that focus on natural adaptation (like living shorelines) to mitigate the impacts of sea level rise and preserve public access. We also launched a collaborative engagement project, Community Climate Conversations, a project organized by West Marin Standing Together, EAC, Point Reyes National Seashore Association, Heart of Compassion Sangha, Garden of Eden Apothecary, and Drawdown Marin. These conversations seek to create community, education, connections and provide direct actions our community can take to fight against the climate crisis.

Thank you to our collaborators, including our partners at West Marin Standing Together coordinated by Bing Gong.

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Educated 250+ Students, Provided Scholarships & Trained the Next Generation  

We believe providing opportunities for internships and outdoor education creates lasting and meaningful impressions that help to foster the environmental stewards of the future. In 2019, our environmental education programming brought more than 250 students Marin County Parks and Open Space as part of our West Marin Wild program, and to California's network of MPAs to learn about habitats and community science through the use of iNaturalist. Since 2017, students have collected more than 1,200 observations, and identified 250 species. In addition, we provided environmental scholarships to two College of Marin students through our pilot program, the Ridge Education Fund.

We proudly hosted six interns, hailing from Sir Francis Drake High School, UC Davis School of Law, UC Berkeley School of Law, Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, and Dominican University. Our interns helped advance EAC’s mission by assisting with reports on groundwater, providing critical legal research for our public land programs, creating a report of MPA Watch data, and supporting our program work on the climate crisis.

Thank you to our amazing group of 2019 interns; our naturalists who helped us deliver this dynamic program in 2019 including David Herlocker, Juan Carlos Solis, Wendy Dreskin, Natalie Clark, Liz Wilhelm, Marco Berger, Bruce Bowser, and Kent Khitkian; and to Alison Quoyeser with Amigos Alados.

Learn More (Environmental Education, Marin MPA Watch, Internships) 

Successful Events and Advocacy 

Engagement is a key part of EAC's mission, to provide experiences to our community to appreciate the unique environment we are fortunate to have in our backyard. Last year, we connected with our community of supporters though our Annual Member Meeting, Potluck and Awards, Piper on the Beach, and Community Climate Conversations. We provided direct action opportunities to clean up our coast on Coastal Clean Up Day, where more than 100 volunteers removed more than 1,000 lbs. of trash and recycling from the Tomales Bay watershed. Our keystone event, the Point Reyes Birding and Nature Festival, hosted more than 450 attendees, provided more than 50 field trips including a free youth and family program to over 200 participants, and hosted keynote speakers authors Sharon Beals and Kenn Kaufman.  

Thank you to all of our volunteers and Point Reyes Birding & Nature Festival Guides who make our outreach and engagement possible for these events.

Join our member circle to gain early bird registration to the 2020 Bird Festival.

Stay tuned, 2020 Festival Schedule and Tickets will be live in February 2020.

Thank You 2019 Volunteers!

Your time and effort helped provide environmental education, collected valuable community science data on Marine Protected Areas in Marin County, removed trash and debris from Tomales Bay and our surrounding watershed, and provided critical assistance for program research and experience, design and administrative support. We are grateful for your time and dedication to our mission!

Volunteer Thank You