Greetings Friend,

It’s officially summertime at the EAC! 

Our office is bustling with activity as our summer interns are all onboarded, and for the first time since 2019, we are able to work with our team in-person at the office! We are all keeping busy with training new MPA Watch volunteers; planning for our upcoming fall events including Litter Bugs Me and Coastal Clean Up; and digging into our program and policy work on Healthy Tomales Bay and Planning for Ecologically Sustainable Communities. 

We have launched our summer educational exhibit, Protect our Ocean and Safeguard our Future, an interactive, multimedia exhibit that explores our unique local marine ecosystems and how you can help conserve the coast. The exhibit highlights California’s network of Marine Protected Areas and our National Marine Sanctuaries, as well as eelgrass and plastic pollution. Stop by Fridays and Saturdays through September from 12-4pm to see the display. We will be announcing some upcoming events soon to highlight the event. 

You may have noticed we did not hold our Annual Membership Meeting in June.…we didn’t forget, we delayed! We really want this year’s meeting to be in person, so we can share a meal, update you on our recent campaigns and programs, elect our Board of Directors, honor our volunteers, and celebrate the individuals who have strengthened our environment and community. We are pushing the meeting to September with high hopes we can make it happen!

Save the date - September 10, 2022 at 4PM at the Dance Palace.
RSVP & Potluck Sign Up coming in August. 

This year, we want to hear from you on prospective nominees for our:
1) Peter Behr Steward of the Land and Sea Award, and 2) Public Service Award. Check out our Member Meeting webpage to see who we have awarded in the past

Finally, it is with sadness we say goodbye to board member Claire Seda and her family as they begin a new life adventure in Belmonte, CA.

Claire joined the EAC Board of Directors in 2019, bringing her energy and passion for environmental conservation, education, social justice, and climate action to our team. Claire’s daughter Viola also became part of the EAC family, as Viola and my daughter, Reese, started a campaign in 4th grade to reduce single-use plastic in West Marin. Now about to enter 8th grade, Claire and I watched with smiles as the girls delivered comments to the Board of Supervisors in May 2022 before they adopted the Reusable Foodware Ordinance.

I am grateful for Claire’s guidance, support, activism, friendship, and willingness to jump in to help EAC to advance our program work and our mission. Claire, we will all miss you and your family! Thank you for all you do to protect our environment. 

And on that note, I am taking a deep breath, pausing to listen to the birds, and feeling gratitude for all that we are fortunate to have and to hold in West Marin. Thank you for your continued support of our work; everything we do at EAC to protect the places we love in coastal West Marin is made possible because of our membership community.

In gratitude, 

Morgan Patton

P.S. Please take advantage of the warmer weather and stop by our office to say hello. Our exhibit is open Fridays and Saturdays, but our office is open Monday through Friday if you want to pop in to say hello, share a story, or let us know of any issues you are aware of that we can help tackle.

P.P.S. Did you know that 70% of funding is from individual support? Please consider making a gift today to help support our work by joining, renewing, or making a donation to EAC.

MISSION

To protect and sustain the unique lands, waters, and biodiversity of West Marin. 
We achieve this goal through advocacy, education and engagement opportunities.

VISION

Our work strives to provide long-term protection and conservation of the unique ecosystems and rural communities of West Marin, and serves as a foundation of environmental protection for future generations.

Check Out Our Blogs

We have updated our newsletter page to include quick links to our blog posts. To stay up to date on our campaigns, check out our Program Blogs here.

Update Regarding the Upcoming Housing Element
Communities Push County to Uphold our Countywide Plan

Morgan Patton

The County of Marin is currently updating the Countywide Plan (CWP) to meet the requirements of the State’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation or RHNA (click here to read more about the RHNA and Marin County’s planning process). The first comprehensive round of public comments on drafts were due on June 30th. This commenting cycle is important to provide the County, Planning Commission, and Board of Supervisors with information on community feedback. 

Most concerning in the Draft Housing Element is the proposal to change the environmental planning corridors (these corridors guide the type of development and land-use based on physical geography of the County) and to rezone A-60 agricultural conservation parcels in order to pave the way for development of more than 200 above-market rate homes!

These changes would set a negative precedent, beginning the rollback of Marin’s long-fought 50 year history of sustainable community planning due to the pressure of urban sprawl! 

Decisions on future development must begin with the CWP’s policies and guidance, as has been upheld and strengthened by more than 40 years of case law. Unfortunately, under pressure with the RHNA timeline, the County departed from bottom-up community collaboration to top-down planning, undermining the goals of our CWP, disregarding the time and effort of the public participating in the past comprehensive CWP updates, and reducing public confidence in community engagement and outreach. 

Since January, EAC has been fully engaged in the Housing and Safety Element public workshops, and this week, we organized a sign-on letter pushing back against the County’s plans to make significant changes to our CWP and sent a separate comprehensive letter to the County. We look forward to continuing to engage on this as the plan proceeds into the summer. . 

Keep Reading…

Read Community Groups Sign-On Letter

Read EAC’s Comment Letter

Public Interest Criteria Move Forward for CA Aquaculture 
Ashley Eagle-Gibbs

As part of our healthy Tomales Bay campaign, we monitor our local aquaculture industry to make sure it’s sustainable and any new leases are located in areas that are not harmful to the environment. We work to ensure that coastal resources, like eelgrass, species of special concern, endangered and native species, marine mammals, and shore and waterbirds are protected in Tomales Bay and beyond. 

This month, the Fish and Game Commission (Commission) Marine Resources Committee will be reviewing new public interest criteria guidelines to use for their review of

new aquaculture lease considerations. Essentially, this is a first-step checklist for the Commission to review when a new lease application is received that will help the Commission to make an informed decision whether that lease should be (or should not be) allowed to move forward based on the public’s best interest. 

We were surprised to learn that the Commission currently has no guidelines or criteria to review prior to issuing a lease! We thought that was odd, considering that the Commission is responsible for issuing new commercial water-bottom leases for aquaculture in most parts of the state including Tomales Bay. 

So we dug in and advocated for strong public interest criteria. We are thrilled to see the proposed language in black and white. Clear implementing guidelines and criteria will help the Commission make more transparent and informed decisions about whether to issue new leases, like the new lease application for Tomales Bay by San Andreas Shellfish.  

The Commission is looking for feedback on the draft criteria prior to July 14th. You can help strengthen the criteria by sending in written comments or attending the meeting or upcoming public workshop on the topic on July 12th at 1PM PT (registration coming soon). 

Learn More:

• EAC’s Comments on the Draft Language
• Keep Reading: How Participate, Send Comments, and Public Meeting Details

Marin County's Stream Conservation Area Ordinance is Nearly Adopted!
Ashley Eagle-Gibbs & Lauren Richards 

We are pleased to report that in May the County of Marin has agreed to a settlement in principle with the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN) and the Center for Biological Diversity regarding the County’s analysis of the environmental effects of the 2007 Marin Countywide Plan on endangered and threatened status fish in the San Geronimo Valley. 

As a result of this settlement, the County is close to adopting a proposed stream conservation area (SCA) ordinance for the San Geronimo Valley. The proposed ordinance consists of amendments to the County’s zoning ordinance (or Development Code) that would establish an SCA buffer of 100 feet or more, create standards for development within the buffer, and provide permit review procedures and requirements. 

On June 13th, the Marin County Planning Commission approved the proposed ordinance unanimously and the Marin County Board of Supervisors will consider the ordinance on July 19th. At the June 13th meeting, there was an overwhelming majority of environmental groups voicing support for the proposed ordinance. EAC’s legal and policy intern, Lauren Richards, provided oral comments in support. EAC also joined partners in sending a sign-on letter of support. 

EAC is especially encouraged to see the recent modifications to the proposed ordinance including: 

• a 35-foot riparian buffer as secondary protection that was recommended in the County’s 2010 Salmon Enhancement Plan;
• the reduced building allowance horizontally and allowance for vertical development (the allowance of vertical additions is a fair compromise and will hopefully incentivize less of a footprint in the watershed);
• the No Net Loss of Habitat, where development within the SCA triggers a replacement with native vegetation at a 2:1 ratio to be monitored by the property owner, and; 
• the term “Infeasible Development” being replaced with clear guidance on how to build out undeveloped parcels in the SCA. 

All of these measures taken together will help protect our local biodiversity including endangered coho salmon, hopefully allowing for its population to increase while also ensuring that Marin residents understand the reasonable development limitations.

EAC and many other NGOs have been supportive of the proposed ordinance; and we are hopeful that it will help protect endangered coho salmon, steelhead trout, and our riparian corridors. An exciting culmination of over 15 years of work by SPAWN, and once adopted, the ordinance may be used as a model for other County jurisdictions. 

Learn More

County to Study Additional Public Restrooms in Point Reyes Station

Ashley Eagle-Gibbs & Morgan Patton

In 2019, the County of Marin helped establish community working groups to discuss how to support the increases in visitation in Point Reyes Station. The working groups identified some high-priority items for the County to address, including: additional public restrooms, a community kitchen, water refill stations, and issues with trash and solid waste management. 

On June 28th, Marin County Parks and Supervisor Rodoni restarted this discussion with the community by kicking off feasibility studies in partnership with Sherwood Design Engineers on two properties owned by the County: B Street Property (Donovan Property) and the Mesa Lot (near the Public Park).

Possible Public Use:

• Mesa Lot: The County is interested if the Mesa Lot would be an appropriate location for additional public restrooms. The feasibility study will focus on a needs assessment and capacity needs now and into the future at this site; including alternative wastewater treatment technologies (like composting toilets). 
   
• B Street Property: The County is interested in understanding if this site would be appropriate for overflow parking and wastewater treatment from the current public restrooms at Toby’s Playground. The county will develop an alternative analysis and concept design for this property. EAC supported Marin County’s acquisition of the this property for public uses, with the acknowledgement that a transparent public process would take place.

We will be reviewing these proposals and look forward to future public discussions about these potential uses in the coming months and will keep our membership up to date. The County is currently working on another public meeting scheduled in late October (date and time to be determined). 

In the meantime, if you missed the June 28th meeting, you can watch it back here.

If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to Craig Richardson at Marin County Parks.

Email: CRRichardson@marincounty.org

Phone: (415) 473-7057. 

Visit Our Summer Exhibit!

We are pleased to announce the opening of our summer environmental educational pop up, Our Coast and Ocean: Protect the Ocean and Safeguard our Future. Every few months we transform our office in downtown Point Reyes Station to raise awareness of challenging environmental issues in partnership with our West Marin communities.

Inspired by the natural beauty and diverse marine life found along coastal Marin County, the exhibit highlights how protections like the network of California Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and the Greater Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries support biodiversity, protect coastal and marine habitats, and safeguard the ocean for current and future generations. 

California’s coastal ocean waters are among the most biologically productive in the world, these marine resources are vital to the state’s coastal economy and provide numerous ecosystem benefits, and about 70% of the state’s population resides along the coast. The productivity, wildness, and beauty of the coast is central to California’s identity, heritage, and economy. It’s essential to protect, conserve, and manage the diversity of coastal resources and uses to safeguard living marine species and their habitats, scenic views, water quality, recreational values, and cultural or geological resources in the face of changing climate conditions and over-consumption.

Visitors will learn about the richness of intertidal and open ocean life and about some of the challenges these areas face due to changing climate conditions, the plastic pollution crisis, and what we can do as individuals and collectively to safeguard our coast and oceans. 

The exhibit is made possible thanks to a collaboration between the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin, Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary, the MPA Collaborative Network, the Golden Gate MPA Collaborative; features local artists Laurie Sawyer and Birgit O’Connor; and Lagunitas Middle School student monuments by Serenne Fox and Mia Wilhelm. The event is co-sponsored by our friends at Unicorn Printing and the generous contributions made to EAC to celebrate our 50th Anniversary protecting and sustaining the unique lands, waters, and biodiversity of West Marin. 

Cost: Free
When: Fridays & Saturdays, 12 - 4 PM
Where: Environmental Action Committee of West Marin Office
65 3rd Street, Suite 12, Point Reyes Station, CA 94956

Learn More

Celebrating Ocean Day & Cleaning Up Drakes Beach
Ashley Eagle-Gibbs & Lauren Richards

We celebrated World Ocean Day on June 8th by cleaning up Drakes Beach and providing plastic pollution education with volunteers organized by SipSmith.

World Ocean Day is a good opportunity to raise awareness around the struggles our global oceans face including plastic pollution. In a world of single use plastics, our oceans are filling up with trash. Virtually every piece of plastic that was ever made still exists, breaking down into smaller and smaller fragments or microplastic. 

Organized by Sipsmith, a certified B-corporation, we took out a group of volunteers from the Bay Area service industry, allowing us to provide education and learn about the changes they are making to reduce plastics in the bar and restaurant settings like skipping straws, offering paper options, and using glassware. 

At Drakes Beach, in a little over an hour, we were able to remove woody debris, syringes, 7 masks, cutlery, plastic bottle caps, straws, cans, to-go ware, clothes, rope, 35 shotgun shells, and cardboard boxes. What was most disheartening was the amount of small plastics covering the beach. The volunteers agreed that no matter how long they searched and combed the area, more pieces seemed to show up! Sadly, the small pieces of trash found in our marine environments are a threat to aquatic and airborne animals alike — who mistake bright colored plastics for food and consume them. 

Our volunteers removed a significant amount of trash from the beach that we sorted and brought to our office to feature at our education exhibit Protect our Ocean & Safeguard our Future.

EAC is also working hard with partners to advocate and support for policy changes to stop plastic pollution at the source. 

• Marin County: The County passed a ban on single-use plastics for restaurants, the reusable foodware ordinance in May 2022.
• California: Governor Newsom recently signed SB 54, “requiring all packaging in the state to be recyclable or compostable by 2032, cutting plastic packaging by 25 percent in 10 years and requiring 65 percent of all single-use plastic packaging to be recycled in the same timeframe.” This is a step in the right direction even if compromises were made, as they often are.
• Nationally: The National Park Service recently committed to fully banning plastics in national parks over the next decade! 

While the state of our plastic crisis is depressing, we all must do our part to reduce the use of single use materials and advocate for policies that control plastic at the source.

Get Outside and Join MPA Watch
Leslie Adler-Ivanbrook

If you love walking on the beach and want to contribute to a community science program, this program is for you! 

Marin MPA Watch is part of a statewide community science program training volunteers to collect data on human activity in and near California’s network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Marin MPA Watch volunteers survey activities at four locations in Marin: Corte Madera Marsh, Agate Beach / Duxbury Reef, Limantour Beach, and Drakes Beach. 

This data is important to resource managers, as it provides useful information on visitation trends in coastal areas, and can help inform future management and education programming efforts, such as the recent development of the Duxbury Docent program at Duxbury Reef.

Join us for one of our upcoming training sessions to become a certified MPA Watch volunteer. We have room for volunteers on Saturday, July 9th at Corte Madera Marsh; Sunday, July 17th at Drakes Beach; and Sunday, August 14th at Limantour Beach. 

Additionally, we will be rescheduling our Spanish language MPA Watch training in Corte Madera for late August, date TBD soon.

Learn More and Register for a Training 

Space is limited due to public health restrictions, so sign up today!

Welcome Summer 2022 Interns
Ashley Eagle-Gibbs & Leslie Adler-Ivanbrook

The EAC team is thrilled to welcome two Legal and Policy interns and three Coastal Advocate interns this summer!

Legal & Policy Interns: Allison Pritchard and Lauren Richards are joining us during their summer off from Berkeley Law School and University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Allison hopes to use her law degree to work at the intersection between science, law, and policy – specifically as it pertains to wildlife habitat and biodiversity. Her work with EAC focuses on our Healthy Tomales Bay campaign, 30x30, and Safeguarding our Coast and Ocean. Lauren is excited to take her science background and legal training to help benefit the people and ecosystems of West Marin, and her work with EAC focuses on our Planning for the Future and Protecting Public lands campaigns. They have already dove into our advocacy work, speaking publicly and helping us draft comments.

Coastal Advocate Interns: Three interns have joined our team this summer to support our Marin Marine Protected Area (MPA) Watch program and other ocean conservation projects. Rachel Mueller is a sophomore at Colgate University where she will major in Biology and double minor in Global Public & Environmental Health and Economics. She wants to pursue a career that combines global health and environmental conservation, especially relating to the world's oceans and coasts. Julian Durante is a sophomore at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where he is pursuing a B.S. in Environmental Management & Protection and double minoring in GIS and Indigenous Studies in Natural Resources. He looks forward to a meaningful career that combines his passions for climate sciences, environmental policy, spatial analysis, natural resources conservation and social justice. Eli Hanft is a third-year undergraduate at UCLA pursuing a degree in Marine Biology.  Eli loves to give back to his community, especially in regards to environmental advocacy, community science, and nature education. He hopes to pursue a career in field science, studying our marine ecosystems and helping to mitigate the effects of climate change on our oceans. We really enjoy providing real world experience to our interns, and it also helps

Past Copies of Print and Email Newsletters

Western Monarchs - Videos, Working Group Update, Resource Library 

Healthy Tomales Bay

Marin MPA Watch Volunteer Program

Point Reyes National Seashore Ranching Plan

Safeguarding our Coast and Ocean Blog

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