WATERS Collaborative
Watershed Academics to Enhance Regional Sustainability
Sonoma State University / Sonoma County Water Agency
WATERS Meeting 8-30-2013, Schulz 1121
In Attendance; Keenan Foster (SCWA), Sean McNeil (City of Santa Rosa), Jordan Senia (Russian
Riverkeeper), Craig Dawson, Michael Cohen, Michelle Goman, Julie Bright, Nathan Rank, Suzanne
DeCoursey, Merith Weisman, Claudia Luke
1. Introductions
2. Year 1 WATERS Accomplishments
Claudia Luke, WATERS Coordinator, reviewed mission, approach, and accomplishments of the
WATERS Collaborative last year. These included:

WATERS website with 8 project descriptions, tools for partners to engage SSU (expertise guide,
water-related courses, academic engagement guidelines, list of existing collaborations), and
resources for new projects (annotate library, permitting guidelines, and volunteer/docent
information)

Students and Faculty Participants: 473 students, 10 faculty, 14 classes in 3 schools, and 2 senior
capstone projects

Sonoma State Science Symposium: this very well-attended event was funded by SCWA and GMC
Academic Integration Program and hosted science posters, including projects undertaken by
WATERS

SCWA Hires: SCWA hired graduating student, Chase Takajo, based on his work on erosion in the
watershed

Collaborations: WATERS worked with City of Rohnert Park and Sonoma Ecology Center and
received requests for more collaboration with City of Santa Rosa and Russian Riverkeeper. On
campus partnerships included working with Science 120 (an NSF funded 5-year Freshman
course), Water Works, and the SSU Science Festival

Leveraged Funding: WATERS leveraged $20,000 in additional funding for undertaking projects,
symposia, and events
3. Year 1 Feedback

Mike Cohen wanted to be sure that WATERS funding was helping to repair Mark Perris
chromatograph (it is)

Mike Cohen would like support in securing water quality data from Sotoyome RCD

Make the data available spatially so that people can see what data were collected where. This
may be a GIS project

Summarize project findings and make them available to K-12 teachers in the region

Make the Osborn weather station data easily available for students (Claudia is working with
Farid Farahmand to develop the Osborn sensor network. IRA funds were awarded this year).

Michelle Goman would like to find data about sediment coring in the Laguna. Keenan said that
the Laguna Foundation may have these data.

Mike Cohen would like funding for preconstruction monitoring of the proposed detention ponds
on Copeland Creek

5 of the 10 faculty engaged last year are on sabbatical (3), have left SSU (1), or received a grant
to work on other projects (1). Ideas for engaging new faculty are to explore possibilities for
engaging students in water planning issues.
4. Year 2 Draft Scope of Work & Budget
While the 2013 scope of work and budget have not been approved, SCWA is encouraging SSU to
move forward with pre-award spending. The item is anticipated to be presented at the October
Board of Trustees meeting. Three proposed tasks are similar to last year:

Task 1: Website: maintain and update WATERS website

Task 2: Projects: engage faculty and students in watershed management projects

Task 3: Outreach: share posters and press releases
Three new items are being proposed:

Cross-disciplinary projects – SCWA was excited about the Water Works approach last year, and
would like to encourage additional cross-disciplinary projects this year.

Broaden campus awareness - SCWA is supportive of integrating the WATERS Collaborative with
the SSU Sustainability Committee. The goal is to piggy back off of the branding success of Water
Works last year and to create a cross-campus administrative home for the WATERS
Collaborative that will raise awareness of the Collaborative with faculty in a wide variety of
disciplines.

Engage additional organizations and seek new sources of funding – SCWA has made leveraging
funding a requirement of the WATERS Collaborative in 2013.
5. Year 2 Projects & Funding Allocation
The following initial projects have been proposed by project partners for 2013. More are anticipated
to be developed during the year.

Water Quality Monitoring Projects
Summer/Fall
o
Water Quality of Summer Runoff (Mark Perri)
o
Water Quality Monitoring on Campus: SCI 120 (Jeremy Qualls/Karina Nielsen)
Spring
o

Water Quality Monitoring Throughout Watershed: SCI 121 (Jeremy Qualls/Claudia Luke),
BIO 338 (Mike Cohen), CHEM 125B (Mark Perri), LIBS 320B, 202 (Deborah Hammond)
Copeland Creek Sediment Projects
Summer/Fall
o
Stream movement, erosion and sediment loading in ephemeral creeks (Michelle Goman,
Geomorphology)
Spring
o

Identification of landslides using bare earth lidar in the Osborn Preserve (possibility with Jeff
Baldwin)
Vegetation Management Projects (Caroline Christian is on sabbatical)
Summer/Fall
o
Sonoma County Youth Ecology Corps (Suzanne DeCoursey/Craig Dawson)
Spring

o
Copeland Creek Restoration Exercise Project (Bulent Sokmne)
o
Colgan Creek Insect Biodiversity Assessment (Fran Keller)
Additional Project Ideas
City of Santa Rosa (Sean McNeil)
o
Field trips: Sean can assist with access and tours of Santa Rosa Plain (includes Colgan,
Roseland, Oakmont and Brush Creeks)
o
Studies: looking for collaboration on studies in
o
riparian restoration effectiveness
o
tiger salamander movement corridors and habitat quality
o
post-restoration biodiversity assessments
o
sediment and streambed change analyses on major streambed recountouring project on
Colgan Creek
o
Skills Training: can teach student rapid bioassessments and wetland delineation
Russian Riverkeeper (Jordan Senia)
o
Clean Water Initiative – Jordan is teaching high-school students stormwater management
skills and encouraging them to consider college. Looking for faculty or students interested in
assisting in the development of curriculum for a career training program in green
infrastructure
o
Rain Garden Project – Looking for class or intern to work on a K-12 project that measures
amount of rain captured by rain gardens. Also, interested in working with faculty to identify
soil microbes in rain gardens.
o
Guerneville Vegetation Management Project – Working with high school students to remove
non-native species and is developing educational curriculum surrounding riparian vegetation
management.
o
Social Media – Can work with students on these projects to create podcases and publish
data in a non-technical way for a wider community
Rainwater Collection Project (Susan Haydon) – installation of rainwater collection system at a
private residence