Salmon Protection And Watershed Network - SPAWN

09/14/2026

Help Save Newts: Call for Volunteers! The Chileno Valley Newt Brigade is gearing up to rescue the thousands of newts, frogs and other creatures as they migrate across a dangerous road.

Can you help? The training will be held on Sept. 26th, 10 a.m. at Chileno Valley Ranch, 5105 Chileno Valley Road in Petaluma.

What: Wearing a reflective vest, you’ll use a flashlight and bucket to carry animals across the road. You’ll also keep count using iNaturalist, collecting data that reveals population trends.

When: You'll join a team that goes out once a week between mid-October and mid-March.

Where: Chileno Valley Road next to Laguna Lake, west of Petaluma.

www.chilenovalleynewtbrigade.org and fill out the volunteer form. Sally Gale will respond promptly 💚

09/14/2026

Found in n San Mateo park

A researcher surveying a San Mateo County creek stumbled upon a preserved Pacific mastodon molar estimated to be at least 10,000 years old.

09/07/2026

You are hereby invited to a free webinar about Point Reyes National Seashore.

Thursday September 17 at 4:00PM Pacific time.

Whether you know Point Reyes, have visited or are planning a visit, or have never heard of it, you'll be informed about and intrigued by this spectacular and precious place.

Even if you know all about our oceans work, come and learn about the wonderful restoration opportunities right in our headquarter's backyard, in West Marin County, just north of San Francisco.
Spend an hour learning about the only national seashore on the West coast. This webinar will cover Point Reyes history, wildlife, and planning your trip to Point Reyes.

This webinar is the first in a new series about Point Reyes, and we will also preview later editions, so you can hear what’s coming next — don’t miss out!

Register HERE: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aLzU7JEpRii7JvpiEGNNew #/registration

Any questions, please email [email protected].

08/30/2026

This is an opportunity to ask: Who pays the price for the AI boom?

AI may be the technology of the future, but the environmental and social costs of powering it are being felt right now — and not equally. As data centers expand, they place new demands on power grids and water systems while generating additional pollution and emissions.

So, which communities are being asked to bear those costs?

Look at Southwest Memphis. The historic Boxtown community has spent generations fighting for clean air, water and a voice in decisions affecting them. The area is already surrounded by polluting industries, including a refinery, coal power plant and pesticide manufacturer.

In 2024, Elon Musk’s xAI announced plans for its massive Colossus supercomputing facility in Southwest Memphis. Residents raised concerns about transparency and impacts on public health, air quality, water and energy.

Today, the facility operates with dozens of natural-gas-powered turbines and consumes hundreds of thousands of gallons of city water daily, with plans to expand. Meanwhile, Memphis has experienced prolonged power outages and an increasingly strained electrical grid.

So, who gets reliable access to that power — and who is left carrying the risk when infrastructure fails?

For KeShaun Pearson, founder of Memphis Communities Against Pollution, this is personal. Pearson has spent years organizing to protect his community, from fighting a proposed crude oil pipeline to pushing for stronger protections against ethylene oxide pollution. He says, “You will never be able to underestimate people power.”

That power is at the heart of environmental justice.

The AI boom should not mean sacrificing the health, resources or voices of communities that have already borne the burden of pollution. Environmental justice is social justice.

Photo 1: “Get Out of Memphis” protest, 2025. Credit: Austin Johnson.

Photo 2: xAI Colossus data center, May 2025. Credit: Stephen Voss/Redux.

Photo 3: PM2.5 pollution plumes from nine emitting sources in Memphis. Credit: Climate TRACE.

08/25/2026

The ocean is sending us a warning... new data shows global ocean surface temperatures have reached a record 21.1°C (70°F) — hotter than ever recorded 🥵

This isn’t just a number, the ocean absorbs more than 90% of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions, making it one of our planet’s most important climate regulators.

🔥 Warmer oceans can mean 🔥
🔵 Stronger storms and more extreme weather
🔵 Rising sea levels and increased coastal flooding
🔵 More frequent and intense marine heatwaves
🔵 Stress and damage to marine ecosystems, including coral reefs

While the current El Niño is adding heat to the system, the science community emphasizes that it’s happening on top of decades of human-caused climate warming. The ocean is absorbing the heat of a changing climate. What happens next depends on what we do about it.

Read more on the BBC here: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62m4gpnp78o

08/19/2026

The SPAWN team wants to give a huge shout out to Vesper - our summer volunteer with the 10,000 Redwood Program!

Her contagious energy, staunch environmentalism, and vivacious spirit made her such an asset to the team.

No task was too big or too small for this incredible human being — from weeding non-native plants, supporting the SPAWN nursery to monitoring planted Redwoods and conducting outreach, Vesper gave all tasks her unwavering enthusiasm.

Help us wish her the best of luck as she navigates her senior year of High School!

08/18/2026

Illinois is showing what it looks like to stand up to plastic pollution, and the plastics industry! A new law makes Illinois the first state in the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds to officially designate industrial plastic pellets - “nurdles” - as pollution. The law requires companies that manufacture, use or transport nurdles to report spills and take steps to keep these tiny plastic pellets out of stormwater and waterways.

And Illinois’ action should be a wake-up call for Texas. Texas is home to more than 30 facilities that produce nurdles, more than any other state, with many concentrated along the Gulf Coast. A recent study found microplastics in 76 of 77 Texas waterways tested - a stark reminder that plastic pollution is already impacting the state’s rivers, bays and coastal waters. Texas lawmakers have proposed legislation to strengthen protections against nurdle pollution, but those efforts have yet to become law.

We applaud Illinois for taking action and putting clean water, wildlife and public health ahead of industry interests.

Texas, it’s time to follow Illinois’ lead. Plastic pollution doesn’t stop at state lines... neither should the policies that prevent it!

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/08/11/plastic-pellets-nurdles-pollution-illinois-law/?share=cecsgi1op1rrsh0tog2i

08/11/2026

If you see the SPAWN team on bikes looking up with binoculars, we are not bird watching ;) We are looking for the green gold!

That's right, we are looking for green redwood cones. Identifying the mighty redwood trees with seeds that we plan to collect and propagate in our Native Plant Nursery at the Olema Turtle Island Restoration office.

So, if you are out and about exploring the beautiful landscapes in Marin County, help us identify these cones, pin the trees with the green cones and send them to [email protected].

If you have a redwood tree in your property with green cones, we would love to hear from you!

08/07/2026

Longtime resident of San Geronimo Valley and avid gardener, Frank Morris, has nurtured many Redwood seedlings into healthy saplings 🌱 Needing a place for them to flourish, Frank reached out to the 10,000 Redwood Program team via a flyer he saw in his community asking for community support and engagement!

Happy to receive the generous donation of 17 Redwood saplings, the SPAWN team encourages other community members of the valley to support in whatever way they can - tree donations, seed collecting, volunteer during planting events, providing land for planting, monetary donations, etc.

Please send any inquires to [email protected] 🌲 We will be excited to see Frank later this year supporting the program by planting his trees in land!

08/03/2026

In the second half of July, Representative Michael Baumgartner introduced H.R. 9621, "The Northwest Endangered Salmon Predation Prevention Act of 2026" - a bill that would dramatically expand the lethal removal of seals and sea lions in WA under the premise of recovering endangered salmon.

Protecting salmon is essential, but decades of research tell us that killing pinnipeds is not the solution. Scientific evidence consistently points to the primary drivers of salmon decline: habitat loss, hydropower dams, degraded river systems, impaired fish passage, hatchery impacts, and changing ocean conditions.

Pinniped predation is only one piece of a much larger picture, and expanding lethal removals risks diverting attention away from the actions that will actually help salmon recover.

Healthy ecosystems don't require us to choose between salmon and marine mammals. We cab (and should!) protect both through science-based conservation.

In late July, the bill was heard by the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries - next steps to speak up will be coming soon. For the time being, please use your voice in support of healthy rivers, salmon and pinnipeds here: https://seaturtles.org/take-action/action-center/