Know Your Watershed

Local Watershed Creek Groups - Learn more about you own watershed, see what others are doing to improve the health of our local creeks, and find out how you can help!

Marin County Watershed Program - In 2008, the Marin County Board of Supervisors identified the implementation of a watershed-based flood and stream protection program as one of the County's top priority initiatives. The watershed program provides a framework to integrate flood protection, creek and wetland restoration, fish passage, and water quality improvements to protect and enhance Marin's watersheds.

Miller Creek Watershed - A historical timeline from the beginning of the 1800's, outlining ecology and land management, landscape, land use, indigenous management and practices, and an overview and quick facts about the watershed and its future.

North Bay Watershed Association (NBWA) - The North Bay Watershed Association is a group of 15 regional and local public agencies located throughout Marin, Sonoma, and Napa counties.

University of California Cooperative Extension - A collaboration with landowners, watershed-planning groups, and government agencies to develop and implement scientifically based education to maintain viable natural resource management and agricultural production while conserving, protecting, and restoring watershed function.

Find Your Place in the Watershed!
The following maps are available for download (You will need to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer. For best results, use Acrobat Reader 6.0 or above.)

East Marin Map (683KB)	East Marin showing Schools (698KB)
West Marin Map (508KB)	West Marin showing Schools (513KB)

Find out where to get out in nature in your watershed!

A watershed is the land that water flows over, or under, on its way to a creek or bay. Water travels down hills, across farm fields, lawns and city streets to the lowest point (usually a creek) - or it seeps into the soil and travels underground as groundwater. As urban stormwater runoff travels, it carries pollutants (e.g. plastic cups, sandwich bags, motor oil, pesticides/herbicides) with it, accumulating in concentration as it runs off city streets, roadways, etc.

In East Marin, such pollutants flow directly to San Pablo Bay or San Francisco Bay through one of six major creeks. Check the map to see if you can identify those creeks, as well as their tributaries which may be near your house. Each of these major creeks has its own drainage basin, or watershed. For example, San Anselmo, Ross, Fairfax, Corte Madera and Larkspur are all in the Corte Madera Creek Watershed. As you drive North and pass Horse Hill, you leave Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio Watershed in Mill Valley and enter the Corte Madera Creek Watershed. As you "climb" toward Alameda del Prado/Hamilton exit, you cross the Miller Creek Watershed and enter Novato Creek Watershed. In some hilly coastal areas like Sausalito, Tiburon, Belvedere and China Camp, rainwater generally flows directly into wetlands and the Bay. In West Marin, such pollutants flow mostly to the ocean or Tomales Bay.