Creek Stewardship

A Partnership of Residents, the City of Santa Rosa, and Sonoma Water

The Creek Stewardship Program offers citizens who live, travel, and recreate along Santa Rosa’s creeks the opportunity to protect and enhance the creeks they enjoy. An informed, supportive, and proactive community strengthens desirable qualities such as wildlife habitat and public safety while reducing problems such as illicit dumping, water pollution, illegal camping, erosion, and growth of non-native invasive plants. The program’s objectives are to:

Increase the public’s awareness of the values provided by local creeks by providing volunteer and educational activities in conjunction with community partners.
Support volunteer Creek Stewards who serve as additional “eyes, ears and a voice” to identify and report undesirable conditions and activities. Creek Stewards also perform minor maintenance and monitoring tasks and provide suggestions to enhance creek areas.
Provide timely and effective response to citizens’ concerns regarding creek related maintenance, environmental, safety, and recreational issues.

The Creek Stewardship Program draws from the multitude of community resources to increase the public’s appreciation and support for the environmental and social benefits provided by urban creeks. Activities include walks, creek cleanups, restoration work days, presentations on creek topics, and creek activities for youth programs. Working together, Sonoma Water, the City, and its residents can enhance creek corridors to provide efficient transportation routes, safe neighborhoods, scenery, wildlife habitat, and recreation.

Sign up to Become a Creek Steward Today!

Creek Stewards provide a vital link between the community and the governments and agencies responsible for the protection and care of creeks. Anyone who spends a little time along creeks can volunteer as a Creek Steward. Ideally, Creek Stewards are able to keep an eye out for any creek needs or disturbances during their normal routines.

Besides having fun, Creek Stewards:

Adopt and care for a specific reach of creek near their neighborhood, school, or business
Receive background information on the condition and goals for Santa Rosa’s creeks
Receive training to recognize and report conditions such as water pollution, habitat degradation, and unlawful activities
Help maintain creekside areas by picking up litter, removing non-native invasive plants, and caring for restoration areas
Provide suggestions for the enhancement of creeks
Alert the Program Coordinator, appropriate City department, or responsible agency to problems

Creek Stewards may represent neighborhoods, groups, businesses, or participate as individuals. A Program Coordinator supports Creek Stewards’ activities and expedites follow through on reports regarding trash removal, water quality, natural habitat, recreational opportunities, trail maintenance, neighborhood safety and other situations that arise.

Organize Your Own Creek Clean Up Get Community Service hours for Students!

For help organizing a creek clean up with your neighborhood, school, community group, or business please contact the Creek Stewardship Program. The Program is also ideal for students seeking community service projects.

Preventing Pollution in Creeks

Every day we can act to protect local creeks by preventing storm water pollution from our homes, yards and businesses. Use the information here as a resource for how to safely use and dispose of materials that can pollute creeks and waterways. The health of human communities depends on the health of the surrounding natural environment.

Creek Master Plan

The Creek Master Plan recommends habitat preservation, enhancement, restoration projects, and improvements to the creek-side trail system, presented conceptually and specifically by watershed. Project recommendations are based on community input, literature reviews, and extensive field survey work. Our local creeks have the potential to enhance our hearts, our minds, our health, our connections to each other and with the natural world. It is up to all of us who live, work, and play in Santa Rosa to each do our part to help make the vision expressed in this Plan become a reality.

Creek Master Plans

Creek Stewardship