Earth day presents an opportunity to further raise awareness of conservation and sustainability on all forefronts of environmental topics such as water, energy, air, and wildlife. One of the City’s greatest environmental assets is its location in the Russian River Watershed. The river is our sole source of drinking water, a critical source of irrigation water for the agricultural lands that surround our city, and is a key part of our economy, an important recreation resource for walking, hiking, swimming and boating, and is home to a host of plants and wildlife.

The Russian River Watershed encompasses an area of nearly 1,500 square miles of forests, agricultural lands and urban lands in Mendocino and Sonoma Counties. The mainstem of the Russian River flows 110 miles from its headwaters near Redwood Valley and Potter Valley along the eastern edge of Cloverdale before heading out to the Pacific Ocean near Jenner. The watershed is home to approximately 360,000 people, 238 streams and creeks, and 63 species of fish.

Russian River Watershed Association (RRWA):

The RRWA is a coalition of ten agencies including the City of Cloverdale, Sonoma and Mendocino counties, and a host of cities and special districts in the Russian River watershed that have come together to coordinate regional programs for clean water, habitat restoration, and watershed enhancement. The City of Cloverdale appoints a Councilmember to sit on the Board of Directors of RRWA. This year, Councilmember Morgenstern represents the City on the RRWA Board of Directors.

• The RRWA is partnering with Sonoma Water’s Water Education Program for the annual high-school video contest for Water Awareness Month in which participating students have the chance to win cash prizes. In recent years a local Cloverdale high school student won a prize for their video! This year’s prompt is, “How has drought impacted you or your community? How can we be more resilient to drought?” First, second, and third place videos are selected by a panel of professionals in the water and media fields. Cash prizes are split between the student(s) who create the winning videos and the high school they attend. The winning videos are used as educational outreach materials throughout the watershed. More information and winning videos from previous years can be seen here: https://www.sonomawater.org/video-contests/
• RRWA continues to see success in collaboration with the Cloverdale Chamber of Commerce placing restaurant placemats at participating Cloverdale restaurants. Restaurant placemats are a way to reach out to children about the watershed, river wildlife species, and limiting storm drain pollution. Placemats are in MoE’s Eagles Nest Deli, Papa’s Pizza, Tian Yuen, 101 ThaiWay, Flavia’s, Zini’s Diner, and the Cloverdale Public Library. A new bilingual version has been developed and is being distributed to participating locations.
• RRWA facilitated the watershed-wide sign program “Ours to Protect” featuring the egret that we see along bridges throughout the watershed. Cloverdale has these signs at Porterfield Creek and Cloverdale Creek. Storm drains are directly connected to our local waterways. All pollutants on roadways, sidewalks, parking lots, and other surfaces that drain to storm drains end up in our local creeks where they can harm aquatic species and negatively impact water quality.
• RRWA publishes environmental articles each month which can be found on their blog https://www.rrwatershed.org/blog/. Recent articles include, “Get Ready to Chase Down Sneaky Leaks!” “New Year Brings New Opportunities for Safe Medicine Disposal,” and, “Recycled Water: A Necessary Resource for Sustainability.”
• The RRWA manages a regional contract for Our Water Our World (OWOW) to coordinate and implement pesticide-related education and outreach at nurseries. The OWOW is a joint effort by water pollution prevention agencies, participating retail stores, and pesticide distributors and manufacturers — working together to reduce the risks associated with pesticide use. Ace Hardware in Cloverdale is a participating retailer.