Upper Mark West Watershed Nominated
as a Priority Conservation Area

In August the Upper Mark West Watershed was nominated
by Sotoyome Resource Conservation District, in partnership
with Friends of the Mark West Watershed, Dept. of Fish
and Game, Sonoma County Water Agency and Monan’s Rill
Institute to be designated a priority conservation area by the
Association of Bay Area Governments.

Protection of the Mark West Watershed and its fishery is an
objective of the full compliment of resource protection and
regulatory agencies including, in addition to the Department
of Fish and Game and NOAA, Sonoma County and the
Sonoma County Water Agency, the Regional Water Quality
Control Board (TMDL’s), NFWS (endangered species), Army
Corp of Engineers (wetlands), writes Sotoyome RCD’s Kara
Heckert.

Our organized community efforts were recognized in
support of the application: “The demonstrated high quality
natural resources and extensive community engagement of
the upper Mark West Creek watershed makes it an ideal area
to bring together a wide array of agency, organization and
jurisdictional interests” according to RCD analysis.

The application underscores that the Mark West Creek has
been identified as a high priority stream for preservation
and restoration by several state, federal and local agencies.
The significant aquatic resources reflected by the high water
quality, significant in-stream and riparian habitat, and
endangered species occurrence in the area make the upper
Mark West Watershed extremely regionally significant for
conservation and protection.

Designation of the 20,000 acres in the Upper MW watershed
by the FOCUS program of the Association of Bay Area
Governments as a priority conservation area is sure to
attract further protection, conservation and investment in
preservation of the Upper Mark West Watershed. You can
download and read the entire application here (MS Word document).