Local conference workshop to vision a restored Salinas River watershed
Ecologistics will present its annual Dreaming the Salinas workshop at the Central Coast Bioneers Conference, as part of its region-based restoration and conservation initiative to restore the Salinas River. This year, Gretchen Hayes, a scientist, environmental planner and principal with Tessera Sciences, will take the stage with Devin Best of the Upper Salinas-Las Tablas Resource Conservation District and Bob Fredenburg, Chief Consultant for the California State Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Material to vision a Salinas River that runs free from the mountains to the sea. Hayes was instrumental in the Napa River Rutherford Reach Restoration Project, a private-public partnership that was successful in funding and implementing a watershed management plan for the Napa River.
For decades the Salinas River has been treated as two separate rivers, one with San Luis Obispo County and the other in Monterey County. This panel will address the concept of a watershed plan for the entire river to ensure protection and conservation of its resources for future generations. Hayes will bring lessons learned from the Napa project and make recommendations that could be applied locally.
The workshop will be held Saturday afternoon, October 25th, as part of the Central Coast Bioneers local presentation lineup. It will be preceded by a short presentation by David Yun on his Google Earth interactive mapping project of the Salinas River.
