Gallinas Watershed Council

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Las Gallinas Valley Wetlands Day

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Mission Statement

The Gallinas Watershed Council's mission is to connect the people who live and work in Las Gallinas Valley with their watershed, to help each other take responsibility for our impact on the watershed through protection, restoration and education, and to advance conservation action in our watershed environment.

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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.

Look at some maps as well as some photos of our Watershed Area.

Learn more

How do you imagine the watershed? What are your concerns? What is your vision? Tell us!
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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.

About Your Watershed

Our Watershed contains several creeks. The largest, the Las Gallinas Creek South Fork, flows through Gallinas Valley in San Rafael, 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 to the San Pablo Bay where the North and South forks of the Creek terminate.

The Las Gallinas Creek North Fork flows from Smith Ranch Road to McInnis Park where it meets the North Fork. Both Meadow Creek and Armory Creek flow from the hills of San Pedro Mountain into the Gallinas Creek South Fork.

Those of us who live along this highly altered and impacted stream would like to see it clean, restored and recreated as habitat for native plants and animals, including the salmon. This will substantially enhance our lives as humans, too.

To see how this can be accomplished, read the Gallinas Creek Hydrology Report.

Explore Your Watershed

Las Gallinas Valley Watershed is home to:
  • Marin County Civic Center, a Frank Lloyd Wright designed complex which is the County government seat
  • China Camp State Park, which offers hiking, biking, horseback riding, watersports and camping.
  • A private airport (San Rafael Airport), shops, restaurants and movie theaters (e.g. Northgate Shopping Center), a large Medical Center(Kaiser Permanente)
  • Several schools (Terra Linda High School)
  • A county park with golf course (McInnis), a beach (McNears Beach County Park).
  • Much more

Announcements

The GWC booth at the annual BAY AREA ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION RESOURCE FAIR (BAEER FAIR) at the Marin Center on 1/23/10 was well attended.

See the Program (PDF).





Success! Truck and Dumpster Removed from Illegal Dumpsite by Gallinas Creek

GWC now has 501c(3) Nonprofit status and we are a Fiscally Sponsored Project of MarinLink.

2009 Coastal Cleanup Results!


San Rafael Airport Recreation Facility

GWC Joins San Rafael Clean


Who We Are

Gallinas Watershed Council (GWC) is a group of concerned citizens who live and work in Las Gallinas Valley, San Rafael, Marin County, USA.

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 using the watershed approach to protect and enhance our environment.

Interested Public and Volunteers:
Sign up for our free Newsletter
to stay informed.
We are applying for an important Foundation grant to help fund our activities. The more members we have, the better our chances. Please support us by becoming a member of GWC.
Sign up as GWC member



Council Members only:
log in to our Member Forum.

Attachments (9)

  • FloodControlZone7_8x11_2009.pdf - on Apr 27, 2009 3:05 PM by A Kahl (version 1)
    162k View Download
  • GallinasWatershed_BasicMap.pdf - on Jan 27, 2010 10:37 PM by A Kahl (version 1)
    712k View Download
  • Gallinas_Bluelines.jpg - on Sep 14, 2009 5:22 PM by Judy Schriebman (version 1)
    361k View Download
  • Gallinas Creek Final Report 12-30-04.pdf - on Jun 21, 2008 1:48 PM by Judy Schriebman (version 1)
    1515k View Download
  • MCCDA Map2_0_Las_Gallinas_Valley_Land_Use.pdf - on Apr 27, 2009 11:48 AM by A Kahl (version 1)
    616k View Download
  • Marin Co Watershed Management Plan_Pt1.pdf - on May 7, 2009 12:09 PM by A Kahl (version 1)
    2204k View Download
  • SVNA watersed article.bmp - on Apr 24, 2009 12:53 PM by A Kahl (version 1)
    932k View Download
  • SVNA watersed article2.bmp - on Apr 24, 2009 12:53 PM by A Kahl (version 1)
    1307k View Download
  • SanPabloReport.pdf - on Apr 24, 2009 12:54 PM by A Kahl (version 1)
    6074k View Download