MORE ABOUT THE
Watershed Council

Mission:
The mission of the San Francisquito Watershed Council is to foster a diverse and healthy watershed, valued as a natural and community resource, in a manner consistent with public health and safety and respect for property rights.

Who we are:
The Watershed Council is a consensus-based watershed stewardship organization of more than 30 stakeholders along San Francisquito Creek and its tributaries. It is governed by a Steering Committee; participants include watershed residents and representatives from neighborhood associations, Stanford University, environmental organizations, local cities, and federal, state, and local resource agencies.

About the watershed:
San Francisquito Creek is one of the last major unchannelized streams south of the Bay Bridge. It drains an area of approximately 45 square miles between the Santa Cruz Mountains and San Francisco Bay. This drainage area, or watershed, lies in two counties and contains all or part of the municipalities of Portola Valley, Woodside, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, and Palo Alto. It encompasses such diverse land uses as commercial nurseries, grazing pastures, shopping centers, suburban developments, a university, a biological preserve, and creekside trails.

History:
Recognizing that resource management based on political boundaries alone often ignores the realities of natural systems, a group of the watershed’s major stakeholders assembled in 1993 to examine an alternative, holistic approach based on ecologically defined boundaries. This group, which became the Watershed Council, identified issues for consideration in six focus areas: natural resource preservation, flood and erosion control, pollution prevention, land use, social issues, and public education. It recently completed A Vision for the San Francisquito Watershed (downloadable at left).

Program areas:
The Watershed Council works to improve water quality, reduce flood dangers, restore riparian habitat, and provide a forum for the exchange of ideas about watershed stewardship. It accomplishes these goals through five program areas.

It serves as a clearinghouse of information about the watershed and provides education to the community through creek walks, presentations, and events.
Through volunteer work days it enlists community members to take part in creek cleanups, remove invasive plants from the riparian corridor, and plant the prepared sites with native species.
Its Streamkeeper Program trains local residents to monitor the ecology of the creek, report unusual events, and educate their neighbors about watershed stewardship.
The Steelhead Task Force, an expert advisory committee to the Council, works to improve watershed conditions and maintain a viable population of native steelhead and rainbow trout.
The Council also facilitates the Long-term Monitoring and Assessment Program, which monitors water quality, flows, and sediment on key tributaries and provides data, including research by the U.S. Geological Survey and Stanford University, to the public and decision-makers.