Fisheries & Wildlife

Fisheries

Five of Marin Water’s seven reservoirs are within the Lagunitas Creek watershed on Mount Tamalpais. Water is diverted from the creek’s basin to provide essential water supply for more than 190,000 people in southern and central Marin. As stewards of the watershed, and in compliance with state water rules developed in 1995, it is also Marin Water’s duty to take care of protected and endangered species downstream of Peters Dam on Kent Lake. Our work to improve habitats for coho salmon and steelhead trout also benefits the overall ecological health of our precious watershed.

Marin Water’s fisheries program is widely recognized as a leader in the area of salmon conservation. We have comprehensive programs to monitor the different salmon populations and enhance their natural habitats. Lagunitas Creek is a spawning and rearing ground for endangered coho salmon and steelhead trout. We collaborate with other downstream land management agencies to restore habitats and fisheries, to preserve what is now one of the largest remaining population of Central California Coast coho salmon.

Visit the Leo T. Cronin fish viewing area to see salmon during spawning season, from December through January. The shallow water upstream of the parking lot is consistently one of the busiest spawning areas in Lagunitas Creek. You might even see them jumping up a small waterfall!

For Lagunitas Creek surveying updates from Marin Water’s Fisheries Team, visit Creek Notes and subscribe to have these special reports emailed to you.

Resources

Recent fish reports

For previous reports, please reach out to Watershed@MarinWater.org.

The Lagunitas Creek Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) is a collaborative, multi-party forum that provides its members the opportunity to leverage resources to implement programs and projects that will provide multiple benefits for water resources in the Lagunitas Creek watershed. The TAC serves as the information-sharing forum for its members on fisheries, water quality and ecosystem restoration issues in the Lagunitas Creek watershed, and the TAC offers advice to all of its members on optimal approaches to benefit the environment of the watershed.

Meeting Notes

Wildlife

The Mt. Tamalpais watershed is home to 400 species of wildlife, and includes rare, threatened, and endangered species. We are committed to sustaining the ecological health and biological diversity of the watershed, with programs to monitor wildlife such as the northern spotted owl, osprey, the yellow-legged frog and the western pond turtle.

Long-term monitoring is an important tool in wildlife conservation as it provides a wealth of useful information about ecosystem health, species presence, and population trends over time. The District supports long-term monitoring programs for a number of wildlife species. The District has also conducted a limited number of targeted inventories, short term surveys designed to determine the presence or absence of target species.

Marin Water is fortunate to have strong community partnerships that help us care for our watershed. We work together through volunteer programs, educational programs with our local schools, and partnerships like One Tam—a coalition of agencies working to preserve and protect Mt. Tamalpais that includes Marin Water, the National Park Service, California State Parks, Marin County Parks, and Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.

Resources