This year, the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership recognized Russian Riverkeeper with the Achievement in Nonprofit Excellence Award at the Heart of Sonoma County ceremony. We are so grateful and appreciative to have received this honor and could not have received it without the wonderful support of our community!

The Achievement in Nonprofit Excellence Award was judged by a large group of diverse community members including students, nonprofit leaders, volunteers, board members and citizens across Sonoma County. This award was generously sponsored by the Community Foundation of Sonoma County and recognized our accomplishments in 2021.

Last year we served all communities by restoring and sustaining the health of the Russian River. Our main focus areas included: landscape restoration; invasive species removal; trash cleanup; fire disaster recovery; school-based education; and public advocacy. All of this taken together minimizes pollution and helps ensure the best possible river flow—especially important in these times of unprecedented drought. At RRK, we are a small and mighty staff team leaning heavily on amazing, committed volunteers and a community that recognizes the value of our Russian River.

By honoring us with this award, CVNL demonstrates that they stand behind our long-term goal to regenerate the health of the Russian River by restoring river and wetland areas, most of which have been lost over the last 100 years to channelization, gravel mining, agriculture, and urban development. As we successfully pursue this goal, recovery of tens of millions of dollars in ecosystem services is possible! These services, such as groundwater recharge; flood and fire protection and recovery; pollution sequestration; and wildlife habitat restoration are essential to a healthy economy and way of life in Sonoma County, yet are consistently at risk if the health of the River is compromised.

Each year, Russian Riverkeeper actively engages in trash monitoring and cleanup. Cleanup is increasingly important as thousands of residents and tourists flock to the Russian River each year to soak up its natural beauty and recreational opportunities and leave trash behind. This has the potential to cause hundreds of thousands of pounds of trash to enter our waterways, strangle wildlife, and destroy habitat. Since 2015, the Clean Team and community volunteers have cleaned up over 2 million pounds of trash! That is the equivalent weight of a full-sized cargo ship! In 2021 alone, 355,000 pounds—the equivalent weight of 42 hippopotamuses—were taken from the River! Concurrent with these efforts, the Riverkeeper’s Clean Camp and Education program worked directly with over 180 homeless individuals living along waterways, educating and helping them to maintain a clean camp while supporting them with weekly trash service.

When you think of Russian Riverkeeper, you might not immediately think “fire recovery”, but our efforts are essential to what is becoming our “new normal”. Fire leads to toxic waste and sediment entering the river system. The need for hazardous waste cleanup and erosion control is very real. The Walbridge Fire, for example, which burned more than 55,000 acres in the hills West of Healdsburg in the Fall of 2020, had had a lasting impact on the land and its waterways, and we continue to restore affected areas today.

More than 150 homes were lost, and rebuilding, revegetation, and soil recovery remains a priority as new fires ignite.

Russian Riverkeeper’s advocacy work is another critical part of its mission. RRK advocacy influences important policy decisions. We are the voice for the environment. If we don’t speak up, industrial interests take over and can threaten our rights to fishable, swimmable, and drinkable waters. Just in the past year, we have actively commented on 20 policy actions including but not limited to winery orders; temporary urgency change petition implementations; Russian River flow regulations; drought considerations; emergency regulations; curtailments; coal train opposition statements; and multiple industry permit implementations. These comments influence decisions made at the policy level and voice the interests of the Russian River so the environment is considered and taken into account in the decision-making process.

Russian Riverkeeper is only able to accomplish this work because of hundreds of volunteers who effectively partner with staff leadership each year. Engaging volunteers and working with youth in the education program prepare the next generation of river stewards that will protect the river now and into the future. Building a groundswell of stewardship is critical to keeping the river clean while fostering a sense of ownership in our greatest local resource.

Whew! You made all of this possible. A huge THANK YOU for being a Russian Riverkeeper supporter!