Stevens & Permanente Creeks Watershed Council
Stevens & Permanente Creeks Watershed Council 2353 Venndale Ave. San Jose, CA 95124 Tel: (408) 356-8258 Fax: (760) 281-9629	The Stevens & Permanente Creeks Watershed Council Who We Are and What We Do Next meeting: December 11th 2003 4:00 PM Sunnyvale Community Center Board Room Agenda Minutes Why Stevens & Permanente Creeks? The Watershed Approach Browse past Minutes and Agendas   Who We Are and What We Do The Stevens & Permanente Creeks Watershed Council was officially formed in August of 2003. We are refining our mission and welcome comments on it. The first draft reads: Our mission is to involve all interested stakeholders in protecting, improving, and restoring the Stevens and Permanente Creeks watershed through collaboration and consensus management. We are an collection of community residents, city representatives, agency officials, , scientists, environmental advocates, and other interested stakeholders with a common vision for a better watershed. All community members and interested parties are invited and strongly encouraged to attend and participate! For some ideas on how to contribute your time and knowledge, try our section on Getting Involved. We meet every other month to discuss ongoing projects, future goals, and current issues that face the watershed. Browse the minutes for more information. Questions or comments, contact Mondy Lariz, Watershed Coordinator. Back to Top Why the Stevens and Permanente?   Stevens Creek is an urban treasure amidst a busy metropolitan area. It still contains lots of wooded riparian habitat which benefits a remnant run of Steelhead Trout. One of the goals of the council is to improve conditions in the creek and help to restore this run of fish. More importantly the council hopes to provide an open forum for stakeholder discussion and problem resolution. Stevens Creek and Permanente Creek are connected via an underground pipe which allows for floodwaters in Permanente Creek to flow down Stevens creek avoiding flooding in the lower Permanente Creek watershed. Since these two creeks are thus connected we decide to address problems in both watersheds together. For more information about the watershed itself, check out the asset map! Back to Top The Watershed Approach In December of 2000 the California Watershed Management Forums 12 Steps to California's Watershed Recovery was documented. It formed a statewide coalition to further the common goals of watershed groups and asked the Governor for endorsement of the states commitment to the Watershed Approach to address problems of water quality, sprawl, and pollution on a regional level and with an emphasis on citizen-based management. There are many advantages to managing on a watershed level more comprehensive water quality management (including non-point source pollution) opportunities for regional restoration and openspace planning a wider base of skills and financial resources greater public stakeholdership The Watershed Approach is currently being implemented by a number of watershed groups in the state and is being given a high priority by the State Resources Agency which recently signed an MOU. Back to Top