The Clean Streams Citizen Monitoring Program, implemented by the Coastal Watershed Council initially in Arana Gulch in 1996, involves local citizens monitoring local watersheds to build a dataset of baseline conditions, and foster community minded stewardship for the care and protection of these watersheds. Over the last 10 years, Clean Streams has been operated by CWC across three counties which drain into the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary; San Mateo , Santa Cruz and Monterey County .

The goals of the Clean Streams monitoring program are:

• To provide baseline data where watershed information and water quality data are lacking or absent.
• To support and inform ongoing watershed assessments and enhancement plan development and ultimately provide effective monitoring for projects resulting from the assessment and enhancement plans.
• To support and inform ongoing watershed restoration action strategies.
• To support and inform local and state decision making around central coast watershed by providing reliable water quality and habitat data.
• To develop and support stakeholder involvement in watershed initiatives and foster long-term watershed stewardship thru the involvement of local citizens in watershed programs.

The five Central Coast streams in the 2003/2004 program included: Aptos, Branciforte, Corralitos and Gazos Creeks and the Watsonville Sloughs. The Clean Streams Citizen Monitoring Program includes recruitment, all aspects of training, scheduling and supervision of volunteers, data entry, and draft and final data report completion.

The Aptos Creek watershed, including Valencia , Mangels, Trout Gulch and Bridge Creeks as well, is located in Santa Cruz County approximately 8.5 miles south of the City of Santa Cruz , and encompasses approximately 24.5 square miles. The Coastal Watershed Council has maintained a volunteer water quality monitoring program in Aptos Creek since 1998. In 2001, the Aptos Creek Watershed Assessment and Enhancement Plan rose out of a need to evaluate factors potentially harmful to salmonid populations within Aptos Creek; its main goal is to develop restoration recommendations (Aptos Creek Watershed Assessment and Enhancement Plan, 2003). Through funding from the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), the Clean Streams Program continues collecting data, following guidelines and recommendations reported in the Aptos Creek Watershed Assessment and Enhancement Plan.

Prior to the 2001 onset of the watershed assessment, few watershed studies focused on Aptos Creek or any of its tributaries ( Valencia , Mangels Gulch, Trout Gulch and Bridge Creeks). Currently, the smallest populations of steelhead and coho salmon are found in the coastal waterways of Southern and Central California . To increase the likelihood that they will remain in these waterways and maintain their populations and species diversity focus is needed for preservation and restoration of fish habitat within these areas (Aptos Creek Watershed Assessment and Enhancement Plan, 2003).

The most recent Clean Streams Monitoring Program in Aptos Creek began in May 2003 and continued for a second season in 2004. The Clean Streams Monitoring Program focuses on weekly water quality data collection.

Citizen water quality monitoring began in Branciforte Creek in September 1999 with one family monitoring Branciforte Creek behind their home. By June 2003, the group now called "The Neighbors of Branciforte Watershed" had grown to 10 volunteers monitoring six sites within the watershed. In 2003, the Coastal Watershed Council collaborated with the Neighbors of Branciforte Watershed to continue monitoring and to support and inform ongoing watershed restoration action strategies. Branciforte Creek is the San Lorenzo River 's largest tributary and flows into the San Lorenzo River in the city of Santa Cruz . The Branciforte Creek Watershed also includes the drainage of Carbonera Creek, and the final mile of Branciforte Creek is confined into a concrete flood control channel.

CWC established a volunteer monitoring program in Corralitos Creek in May 2003 under the Clean Streams Program. Corralitos Creek, located in Santa Cruz County , is a tributary of the Pajaro River and drains a watershed of approximately 23 square miles. It flows approximately 17 miles from its headwaters in the Santa Cruz Mountains to its confluence with Salsipuedes Creek in Watsonville .

CWC has maintained a volunteer monitoring program in Gazos Creek since September 1997, and established the current Clean Streams Monitoring Program in May 2003. The Gazos Creek watershed is an 11 square mile watershed encompassing approximately 16 miles of drainages located in southern San Mateo County , just south of the town of Pescadero . It is one of the last viable coho salmon habitats south of San Francisco .

CWC began monitoring in the Watsonville Sloughs in May 2000, assisting the Santa Cruz County Resource Conservation District to implement a new volunteer monitoring program as part of the Central Monterey Bay Wetlands Project. Monitoring efforts resumed in 2004 under the Clean Streams Program. The Watsonville Sloughs are comprised of six individual sloughs (Watsonville, Harkins, Struve, Wes t Branch Struve, Gallighan, and Hanson) fed by the northern drainages of the Pajaro Watershed, and cover approximately 800 acres bordering the City of Watsonville.

The Watsonville Sloughs are a highly valued, sensitive ecological area, providing critical ecological functions as well as providing habitat to a variety of migratory birds, wildlife, and native plants. The Watsonville regions high commercial agricultural activities, and increased pressures from human development, pose threats to the environmental balance of this watershed. Both Watsonville Slough at Ramsay Park and Struve Slough at Harkins Slough Rd. are intersected by pedestrian and automobile roads; high levels of litter at these sites suggest a lack of community awareness and/or concern for protecting these sensitive areas. Further public education and outreach are critical to ensuring community participation in future slough protection.

To read the Clean Streams reports, please visit our Library files.