Protecting, enhancing, and restoring the Corte Madera Creek Watershed
We are Friends of Corte Madera Creek Watershed
Friends of Corte Madera Creek Watershed is dedicated to the protection, enhancement, and restoration of the natural ecosystems of the watershed, especially those relating to urbanized creeks and wetlands. We recognize that all activities—human and natural—within a watershed are interconnected, so that a wide range of issues must be addressed to meet these goals.
Our Projects
Friends has projects up and down the watershed. We are working on restoring Corte Madera Creek at College of Marin, improving fish passage in Kentfield and San Anselmo and managing habitat enhancement and restoration sites in Kentfield, among other activities.
About the Watershed
Lying in the rugged Coast Range some twelve miles north of San Francisco, the 28-square-mile Corte Madera Creek watershed drains into San Francisco Bay near San Quentin. The watershed includes a rich variety of habitats, from tidal wetlands to redwood forests.
Education & Outreach
We share current and historical information about the watershed in our biannual newsletter, Creek Chronicles. We organize volunteer habitat enhancement and restoration and creek clean-up days, assist students with their community service, and host bioblitzes, events that identify and document the diverse plant and animal species in the watershed.
Featured Stories
Student Group Gives a Hand at the Ecology Study Area
On a beautiful spring day at the end of February, a group of students from College of Marin’s Environmental Action Club met at the Ecology Study Area to help Friends remove periwinkle and young acacias, to make room for our three-year-old native plantings. Bonuses for the day were sightings of a ring-necked snake, and a white-tailed kite hovering over a tall tree. Thank you to all!
Saunders Bridge Replacement
In support of the Town of San Anselmo, we are working to obtain funding to replace the Saunders Avenue bridge. After treatment of the barriers in the concrete channel by the Marin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District scheduled for 2026, the Saunders barrier will be the first barrier encountered by spawning steelhead and Chinook salmon attempting to reach upstream spawning habitat.
Big Fish in Ross
In early January, Roger Farrow spotted this large fish in Ross. He writes, “In 40 years I have never seen them this size, 2.5 to 3 feet. My son saw a bobcat eating one the other day.” They are most likely Chinook salmon, as steelhead migrate up the creek later, in early spring.