THANK YOU FOR A FANTASTIC 2023 SYMPOSIUM!!!

2023 Contra Costa County
Creek and Watershed Symposium

Thursday, October 26, 2023
9:30 AM - 5:30 PM
Pleasant Hill Community Center
320 Civic Drive, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523, USA

We invite all creek enthusiasts, watershed advocates, wildlife supporters, conservationists, students, and interested community members to attend this event!

The theme of this year's Symposium, Intergenerational Watershed Stewardship, seeks to open an inclusive and practical dialogue between established watershed advocates and the emerging generation of watershed stewards. As we recognize the implications of our changing climate, how can we strengthen our commitment to collaboration and knowledge sharing among diverse participants in and around Contra Costa? How can we ensure that multi-year projects and plans come to fruition? We will explore answers to these questions, and we hope you will take part in the dialogue.

TICKETS
Tickets have sold out.
General Admission Ticket Price: $45
Student Ticket Price: $15*
*People who are currently enrolled in school, regardless of age, are eligible for Student Ticket pricing.

Your Symposium ticket includes:

  • Admission to the in-person conference at the Pleasant Hill Community Center on October 26, 2023

  • Symposium Welcome Packet, which includes a printed program and commemorative Klean Kanteen 10oz stainless steel cup (made of certified 90% post-consumer recycled 18/8 stainless steel!)

  • A light breakfast

  • A catered lunch (Vegan and gluten-free options are available.)

  • Refreshments from Cafe Ohlone

  • A celebratory networking reception with catered hors d'oeuvres

  • Admission to Field Trips on October 27, 2023

PROGRAM
We are excited to offer a program that prioritizes opportunities for attendees to engage with one another and the speakers. This event will include keynote speakers, facilitated panel discussions, posters, tabling, and networking opportunities. There will also be optional Field Trips on October 27, 2023—these will enable attendees to visit some of the projects highlighted at the Symposium. Click here to see the Conference Program!

SPEAKERS
Our Symposium speakers include Doria Robinson (Executive Director of Urban Tilth and Richmond City Councilmember), Nina Gordon-Kirsch (Home2Headwaters), Annie Burke (TOGETHER Bay Area), Jen Toy (Test Plot), and Kate Golden (Bay Nature). Supervisor Ken Carlson will offer welcoming remarks at the event.

Click the plus signs below to read more about our Symposium speakers, moderators, and panelists!

FIELD TRIPS
Symposium registrants have the opportunity to join one or more Field Trips on October 27, 2023. Each Field Trip will highlight a restoration project in a different part of Contra Costa County:

  • Three Creeks Parkway Restoration Project (Brentwood, CA)

  • Dutch Slough Tidal Marsh Restoration Project (Oakley, CA)

  • Lower Walnut Creek Restoration Project (Martinez, CA)

  • North Richmond Watershed Connections Project (North Richmond, CA)

AWARDS
After reviewing dozens of compelling nominations, the Awards Subcommittee of the Symposium Planning Committee selected one winner in each of four Symposium Award categories (Watershed Champion, Outstanding Contra Costa Watershed Volunteer, Outstanding Contra Costa Watershed Project, and Emerging Leader). The award winners are individuals or projects that have provided exceptional contributions to the creeks and watersheds of Contra Costa County between December 2019 and July 2023. Awards were presented at the Symposium on October 26, 2023. 2023 award winners and past award winners are listed here.

2023 AWARD NOMINEES
The following people and projects were nominated by their peers for awards in 2023. Congratulations to all for your contributions to the health of Contra Costa’s creeks and watersheds.

Emerging Leader Nominees

  • Fareed Nabkel, Friends of Concord Creeks

  • Zachary Drummond, The Watershed Project

Outstanding Contra Costa Watershed Volunteer Nominees

  • Jane Moore, Friends of Alhambra Creek

  • Tod Rubin, Friends of San Ramon Creek

  • Elaine Jackson, Friends of Alhambra Creek

  • D’Arcy Task, Carquinez Recover the Waterfront Committee (CReW)

  • Lafayette Creeks Committee

  • Ann Moriarty, Friends of Pinole Creek Watershed

  • Friends of Alhambra Creek

Watershed Champion Nominees

  • Dick Heron, Friends of San Ramon Creek

  • Tod Rubin, Friends of San Ramon Creek

  • Jane Moore, Friends of Alhambra Creek

  • Heidi Petty, Contra Costa Resource Conservation District

Outstanding Contra Costa Watershed Project Nominees

  • North Richmond Watershed Connections Project

  • Lower Walnut Creek Restoration Project

  • Three Creeks Parkway Restoration Project

  • Sibley Alder and Leatherwood Creek Restoration and Public Access Project

  • The Shoreline Festival organized by Heidi Petty, Contra Costa Resource Conservation District

  • Trash Monitoring Map by Zachary Drummond, The Watershed Project

  • Friends of San Ramon Creek’s Arundo Removal Project


ACCESSIBILITY
We invite everyone to this conference, regardless of ability to contribute financially. If cost is a barrier to attend, please reach out to us at Symposium@ccrcd.org.

The Pleasant Hill Community Center is wheelchair accessible. If you have additional accessibility needs, please reach out to us.

Parking is free, but limited. We highly encourage carpooling or using public transportation.

  • District 4 Supervisor, Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors

    Presentation: Welcoming Remarks 

    Bio: Ken Carlson was elected to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors on November 8, 2022. He is the first LGBTQIA+ member of the Board. 

    Ken has a long history of public service with deep roots in Contra Costa County where he served as a Concord Police Officer for 29 years, from 1988 to 2017, and Pleasant Hill City Council member for 10 years, from 2012 to 2022, and as Mayor in 2015 and 2019. Over the last 10 years, Ken has served on many boards of regional bodies and non-profits, including the Family Justice Center, the John Muir Community Health Fund, and the Rainbow Community Center. 

    During his time on the Board of Supervisors, Ken has prioritized improving mental health care, expanding homeless services, and protecting vulnerable populations, including the LGBTQIA+ community.

  • Executive Director, Urban Tilth
    Richmond City Councilmember

    Presentation: Relationship is the Most Powerful Resilience

    Bio: Doria is a 3rd generation resident of Richmond, California and the Executive Director of Urban Tilth. As a former Watershed Coordinator with The Watershed Project and Urban Creeks Council, she supported the development of the watershed restoration and community engagement practice and training program Basins of Relations at Urban Tilth as well as led in the restoration and development of the North Richmond Farm, on formerly abandoned Flood Control District property in North Richmond, California. Even in its interim state, Urban Tilth’s 10-acre urban farm serves hyper-local and sustainably grown produce to over 500 West County families each week and supports 10 additional small family and BIPOC farms. In 2022, she became the first Urban Agriculture practitioner to be appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to the California Board of Food and Agriculture. In 2023, she was elected to the Richmond City Council representing the fenceline community of District 3 where she grew up, raised her kids, and continues to live today.

  • Water Educator, Home2Headwaters

    Presentation: Home2Headwaters: A 240-mile Journey to Trace My Drinking Water

    Bio: Nina grew up in Berkeley and graduated from Berkeley High School. She earned her B.Sc. in Environmental Science at USC and then took off for Israel and Palestine where she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study plastic and hormone residues in the wastewater systems. She stayed on with her research team to earn her M.Sc. in Palestinian wastewater treatment and recycling. Upon returning to the U.S., Nina worked for Camp Tawonga, Outward Bound, REI, and multiple Bay Area high schools taking youth out into nature for transformative experiences.

    Over the past ten years, Nina has become deeply immersed in CA water systems. Nina is an installer and educator for Greywater Action, leading workshops on how to install Laundry-to-Landscape residential greywater systems. She also used to work for the Regional Water Quality Control Board monitoring water quality for recycled water projects and worked for Walking Water helping people see water as a Being to be witnessed and listened to, as opposed to a resource to be manipulated. For the past seven years, she worked for the Urban School in S.F. teaching an experiential education class for high school seniors about CA water systems.

  • Executive Director, TOGETHER Bay Area

    Presentation: Why 30x30 Gives Me Hope

    Bio: Annie serves as the executive director of TOGETHER Bay Area, a large and diverse coalition of local Native tribes and tribal organizations, nonprofits, public agencies, and mission-aligned businesses working in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our members are on-the-ground implementers with programs and projects that make a tangible impact on the land and in their communities. Annie's skills and experience are in coalition building, strategy, communications, convening, and fundraising. Annie led the Bay Area Open Space Council’s convening program, fundraising, and communications from 2010-2017. Prior to that she worked for large and small nonprofits in various fundraising and organizational development capacities. She has produced three films about partnerships between Indigenous Tribes and conservation organizations (Here & Now, Dancing in the Balance, and Umunhum). Annie has a masters in organization development from University of San Francisco and a B.A. in psychology from Denison University. She completed two National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) courses.

  • Landscape Architect, Test Plot

    Presentation: Test Plot: An Ongoing Experiment in Community Landcare

    Bio: Jen is a landscape architect, educator, and sometimes weed puller. She currently leads an organization in California called Test Plot, a hands-on experiment in community based landcare. Through design, programming and stewardship, she partners with residents to reclaim degraded park spaces, install native plant plots and monitor and care for them over time. Jen currently teaches at the University of Southern California and in previous work, co-founded the nonprofit Kounkuey Design Initiative. Her favorite jobs have been a park ranger in Yosemite and a groundskeeper at the Morton Arboretum. She is a 1.5 generation Chinese American and grew up in the Bay Area where she developed her love of landscapes.

  • Camp-to-Community Fellows Coordinator, YES Nature to Neighborhoods

    Presentation: Empowering the Next Generation: Youth Employment for Environmental Impact (Panelist)

    Description: This panel includes staff and coordinators who are working in job training and youth empowerment roles in the environmental field. We are glad to have representatives from YES Nature to Neighborhoods, The Watershed Project, Urban Tilth, and Family Harvest Farm. These panelists and moderator Itzel Gomez will engage in conversation surrounding their career development program challenges, successes, lessons learned, visions, and more.

    Vencel (he/him/his), Camp-to-Community Fellows Coordinator, joined YES in January 2017. After earning his B.S. in Recreation Administration, Vencel began his career in recreation coordinating youth and adult sports in Sacramento. Since returning home to the East Bay, he has served as a counselor, mentor, tutor, and coach with the City of Emeryville and the City of Richmond, and worked alongside YES as Camp Director for East Bay Regional Park District’s Community Outreach Outdoor Program. Vencel is passionate about sharing his love of outdoor recreation, academics, and mentorship with YES youth.

  • Executive Director, The Watershed Project

    Presentation: Watershed Restoration Projects: Partnerships in Action

    Field Trip Host: North Richmond Watershed Connections Project

    Bio: Juliana Gonzalez has been the Executive Director of The Watershed Project for a decade and has worked in the Contra Costa Watersheds since 2006. She holds a Ph.D. in Geography from King’s College London and an M.S. in Environmental Sciences from the State University of New York. Juliana has led multiple community-based planning and visioning processes that ensure community participation in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of shoreline adaptation and other climate resiliency projects. Her organization also has a long trajectory of environmental public outreach and education. Most recently under her leadership, The Watershed Project has been the key partner for the participatory planning of the North Richmond Shoreline Adaptation Project. She also has been implementing innovative creative place-making projects that connect communities to the shoreline and creeks through art and cultural resources in partnership with local community leaders, artists, and Tribal members.

  • Director, California Central Valley River Conservation, American Rivers

    Presentation: Watershed Restoration Projects: Partnerships in Action

    Field Trip Host: Three Creeks Parkway Restoration Project

    Bio: Sarah Puckett is the Central Valley Program Director for American Rivers where she works to plan, fund, and implement small and large-scale multi-benefit river and floodplain restoration projects for fish, wildlife, and people in the Central Valley. Prior to starting at American Rivers in 2021, Sarah worked as an environmental consultant for over 10 years specializing in implementing urban creek and wetland restoration projects around the San Francisco Bay and Delta.

  • Watershed Planner, Contra Costa County Watershed Program

    Presentation: Watershed Restoration Projects: Partnerships in Action

    Field Trip Host: North Richmond Watershed Connections Project

    More info coming soon.

  • Environmental Analyst III, Contra Costa County Public Works Department, Environmental Services Division

    Presentation: Watershed Restoration Projects: Partnerships in Action

    Field Trip Host: Lower Walnut Creek Restoration Project

    Bio: Laura works in the Environmental Services Division of Contra Costa County's Public Works Department. Her role is to help ensure County transportation and flood control projects meet environmental compliance. Her interests include the space where restoration principles, climate-resiliency, and public infrastructure projects intersect.

  • Senior Conservation Director, River Partners

    Presentation: Watershed Restoration Projects: Partnerships in Action

    Field Trip Host: Dutch Slough Tidal Marsh Restoration Project

    Bio: John Cain, Senior Conservation Director at River Partners, has spent his career at the intersection of water policy, flood management, and restoration of rivers and wetlands. He has worked on re-watering the San Joaquin River, developing the Dutch Slough tidal marsh restoration project, multiple Delta planning efforts, and the successful Central Valley Flood Protection Plan. His work at River Partners focuses on developing multi-benefit flood management projects to expand Central Valley bypasses and floodways.

  • Environmental Program Analyst, City of San Pablo

    Presentation: Empowering the Next Generation: Youth Employment for Environmental Impact (Moderator)

    Description: This panel includes staff and coordinators who are working in job training and youth empowerment roles in the environmental field. We are glad to have representatives from YES Nature to Neighborhoods, The Watershed Project, Urban Tilth, and Family Harvest Farm. These panelists and moderator Itzel Gomez will engage in conversation surrounding their career development program challenges, successes, lessons learned, visions, and more.

    Bio: Itzel Gomez, the newly appointed Environmental Program Analyst at the City of San Pablo, brings a wealth of experience from her role as a Sustainable Youth Program Manager at Earth Team. She has passionately mentored over 100 youth in Contra Costa County, fostering a new generation of environmental leaders and making a significant impact in the field. Itzel's commitment to environmental education and community engagement continues to drive positive change in her work with the City of San Pablo.

  • Program Director, The Watershed Project

    Presentation: Empowering the Next Generation: Youth Employment for Environmental Impact (Panelist)

    Description: This panel includes staff and coordinators who are working in job training and youth empowerment roles in the environmental field. We are glad to have representatives from YES Nature to Neighborhoods, The Watershed Project, Urban Tilth, and Family Harvest Farm. These panelists and moderator Itzel Gomez will engage in conversation surrounding their career development program challenges, successes, lessons learned, visions, and more.

    Bio: Anne is the Program Director at The Watershed Project, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to inspire Bay Area communities to understand, appreciate, and protect their local watersheds. Anne's role is to guide and support all of The Watershed Project's varied programs and staff, including the Green Collar Corps paid internship program for young adults. Before joining The Watershed Project as an environmental educator in 2017, Anne worked for federal government, local government, and nonprofit organizations, and she has a background in environmental education and community engagement. Aside from a few years in the Los Angeles area for college, Anne has lived in Contra Costa County her whole life.

  • Farm Manager, John Muir Land Trust | Family Harvest Farm

    Presentation: Empowering the Next Generation: Youth Employment for Environmental Impact (Panelist)

    Description: This panel includes staff and coordinators who are working in job training and youth empowerment roles in the environmental field. We are glad to have representatives from YES Nature to Neighborhoods, The Watershed Project, Urban Tilth, and Family Harvest Farm. These panelists and moderator Itzel Gomez will engage in conversation surrounding their career development program challenges, successes, lessons learned, visions, and more.

    Bio: My name is Mary Cherry and I am a farmer with a passion for food justice, soil and working with youth. I started farming in 2013, when I discovered a sense of purpose and community in growing food and caring for the land. I knew that this would be my lifetime career, as I felt empowered and fulfilled by the work. In 2018, I became the farm manager at Family Harvest Farm, a program that provides job training and life skills to foster youth through sustainable agriculture. It was a perfect fit for me, because I too aged out of foster care and faced many challenges in finding my place in the world. Becoming connected with land and food was the most transformative thing I have ever done, and I wanted to share that with youth coming from similar backgrounds as I did. The farm is really special, because we all have being involved in the system in common, which creates connection and safety. We grow organic fruits and vegetables and because we are in a USDA food desert, most of our produce is donated. We hold a free farmstand once a week for the community. We also host workshops, field trips and events for the community, to educate and inspire people about the benefits of local and organic food.

  • Watershed Restoration Field Crew Manager, Urban Tilth

    Presentation: Empowering the Next Generation: Youth Employment for Environmental Impact (Panelist)

    Description: This panel includes staff and coordinators who are working in job training and youth empowerment roles in the environmental field. We are glad to have representatives from YES Nature to Neighborhoods, The Watershed Project, Urban Tilth, and Family Harvest Farm. These panelists and moderator Itzel Gomez will engage in conversation surrounding their career development program challenges, successes, lessons learned, visions, and more.

    Bio: I was born and raised in Oakland, California. I am a UC Santa Cruz alumni, graduating class of 2019, with a degree in Environmental Studies. I’ve been an avid fisherman for the majority of my life, and carry that passion into my work as a water steward and advocate.

  • Principal Environmental Analyst, Contra Costa County Public Works Department, Environmental Services Division

    Presentation: Envisioning a Healthier Walnut Creek Watershed

    Bio: Claudia Gemberling is the Principal Environmental Analyst with the Environmental Services Division of the Contra Costa County Public Works Department/Flood Control District. She has been with the Division since 2008. Prior to that she worked in various environmental compliance positions in the public and private sectors. The role of environmental compliance is to ensure projects comply with state and federal environmental regulations which include coordinating with project managers, consultants, and resource agencies to find ways to avoid and minimize impacts on natural resources and mitigate impacts. Claudia's degree is in Environmental Studies and she is proud to have a career in the field that she is passionate about. Claudia has been a Brentwood resident since 1998 and has volunteered for the Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed group and served on their Board from 2010 - 2012. One of her favorite pastimes is exploring the wild and scenic rivers.

  • President, Walnut Creek Watershed Council

    Presentation: Envisioning a Healthier Walnut Creek Watershed

    Bio: Bob has been an active volunteer in the creeks since the early 1990s. He helped create the Walnut Creek Watershed Council, and currently serves as its President.

  • Student, SLIA (Sustainable CoCo)

    Presentation: Home2Headwaters: A 240-mile Journey to Trace My Drinking Water (Panelist)

    Bio: Rohan is a youth environmentalist based in East Contra Costa. He has an interest in policy and water justice, serving as Vice-Chair of Sustainable Leaders in Action, an organization for youth in environmental efforts. He has also worked with the Rose Foundation and the Contra Costa’s Hazardous Materials Commission.

  • Water Quality Monitoring Technician, The Watershed Project

    Presentation: Home2Headwaters: A 240-mile Journey to Trace My Drinking Water (Panelist)

    Bio: Zachary Drummond is an environmentally-conscious intern at The Watershed Project in Richmond, as well as an up-and-coming environmental professional. In his work at The Watershed Project, he is involved with environmental education grades k-12 and community outreach, and he contributes to the water quality monitoring of 30 Bay Area creeks.

  • Digital Editor, Bay Nature

    Presentation: Following the Oodles of Money for Nature in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act

    Description: When Congress passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, environmentalists got the climate money they'd been demanding for a generation. Most of it ramps up green energy, electric vehicles, and GHG reductions. But when Bay Nature combed through the 489 spending programs, we found at least $106 billion that could affect nature in the Bay Area—coastal resilience, wildfire risk reduction, climate-smart agriculture and more. Now, it's not easy to spend this much money this fast. So, will this funding live up to the big promises that came with it? And how can small organizations get a small piece of it? Come hear how a tiny, intensely local journalism nonprofit is following the money—and bring your story ideas, tips, and questions!

    Bio: Kate Golden runs Bay Nature's website and leads Wild Billions, a reporting project examining how BIL and IRA money are spent on nature in the greater Bay Area. She began her career as a small-town newspaper reporter in Alaska and now specializes in investigative, data, and science journalism, especially on water. Her reporting has taken her from rural Australia to the Bering Sea, and has appeared in the Washington Post, NPR, Sierra, KQED, Hakai, and the Atlantic.

Thank you to our generous Symposium sponsors!!!