Who We AreGallinas Watershed Council (GWC) is a group of concerned citizens who live and work in Las Gallinas Valley, San Rafael, Marin County, USA. We are a 501c(3) Nonprofit and are a fiscally sponsored by MarinLink. Learn about our current issues or find out about watershed events & projects. From the hills of Terra Linda to the wetlands of Santa Venetia, we are a diverse group of volunteers committed to using the watershed approach to protect and enhance our environment. Please support us by becoming a member of GWC. AnnouncementsTell Us What's Happening to Protect Gallinas Valley!Know something we don't? Then we'd like to hear from you! Join our Mailing List, make a comment and tell us what you are interested in GWC Success at Northgate Promenade Celebration 5/2010  Success! 11/2009: Truck and Dumpster Removed from Illegal Dumpsite by Gallinas Creek  9/2009 Coastal Cleanup Results! San Rafael Airport Recreation Facility Interested Public and Volunteers: Support GWC! Please support us by becoming a member of GWC.  | About Your WatershedOur Watershed contains several creeks. The largest, the Las Gallinas Creek South Fork, flows through Gallinas Valley from its headwaters in the hills of Terra Linda, through the Santa Margarita neighborhood, along Freitas Parkway, under Highway 101, through Santa Venetia and Contempo Marin and out towards the San Pablo Bay where the North and South forks of the Creek join and terminate. Several ephemeral Creeks from the Los Ranchitos area flow through the Meadows and Redwood Village neighborhoods, under 101 and into a tidal finger between the RR line and Embassy Suites road.The Las Gallinas Creek North Fork flows from its headwaters near Gallinas Hill and Los Gamos Drive to Smith Ranch Road to McInnis Park where it joins the North Fork shortly before entering San Pablo Bay. Both Meadow Creek and Armory Creek flow from the hills of San Pedro Mountain into the Gallinas Creek South Fork. Both forks are fed by many smaller ephemeral creeks and year long springs, some of which are now completely undergrounded beneath streets and houses.
Those of us who live along this highly altered and impacted stream would like to see it cleaned, restored and recreated as habitat for native plants and animals, including the steelhead which were found spawning as far upstream as St. Isabella's historically. This will substantially enhance our lives as humans, too. To see how this can be accomplished, read the Gallinas Creek Hydrology Report. Explore Your WatershedLas Gallinas Valley Watershed is home to:
PROTECTING our WATERSHEDS: THE PUBLIC TRUST DOCTRINE The public trust doctrine holds that “By the law of nature, these things are common to mankind: the air, running water, the sea, and consequently the shores of the sea,” explains environmental attorney Jim Olson, quoting a translation from the original Latin. Olson has been advocating for environmental protection in the Great Lakes region since the 1970s. “The deep intent,” he says, “is that these things are not owned by anyone but that they are held in trust for the benefit of all.” This notion helped give rise to the idea of the public commons—places and natural resources that are shared by all citizens. In the United States, the doctrine has been used to affirm that we the people share in common America’s rivers, streams, lakes, wetlands, and coastal waters. It says that water cannot be deemed private property and that our right to access and use these waterways must be maintained. It has also been used to protect public waterways from private takeovers, such as corporate plastic water bottling plants, and from polluters of all stripes.Waterkeepers all across the country are now using the public trust doctrine to protect water quality and public access to local water. | Mission Statement  What is a Watershed?A watershed is nature's boundary for water resources.It covers an area of land within which water (rainwater, snowmelt) drains into a common body of water such as a creek or bay - in our case Gallinas Creek and San Pablo Bay. Watch this short video "What is a Watershed." Learn more about watersheds! See our PowerPoint presentation: GWC Presents Watersheds Look at some maps as well as some photos of our Watershed Area. Learn more How
do you imagine the watershed? Email usWhat are your concerns? What is your vision? What is the Watershed Approach?The watershed approach to solving water quality and natural resource problems considers the inputs from all pollution sources and activities with a watershed. Understanding the watershed on a more holistic level helps determine the needs for restoring and maintaining the watershed's chemical, physical, and biological integrity. Watershed approaches also consider social and economic factors. Wisely managing our watershed helps us gain new places to live, flood protections, good quality waters, and places to walk, swim and fish.Learn about the watershed approach. Join our Mailing List to stay informed.  Goes to MarinLink (our fiscal sponsor). Please designate donation for GWC. |
"We all really learned how to swim in the creek at the home ranch which is now the creek in Terra Linda, which has been straightened out, but in those days [the early 1900’s] it meandered and had potholes, as it were. We would learn how to swim in those potholes. I remember coming to town here on horseback and bringing my lunch with me and going to the San Rafael Municipal Baths and swimming there all day long then riding horseback home, and that was a full day."
INTERVIEW WITH MANUEL T. FREITAS, JR., JUDGE CARLOS FREITAS, LOUIS FREITAS, AND WALTER FREITAS by Carla Ehat & Anne Kent, February 6, 1976. ORAL HISTORY PROJECT OF THE MARIN COUNTY FREE LIBRARY (Original recording available at the Anne T. Kent California Room).
http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/lb/main/crm/oralhistories/freitasft.html
