Coastal Watershed Council

The Coastal Watershed Council (cwc), a 501(c)(3) public benefit corporation, was formed in 1995 in response to the declining health of watersheds connected to the monterey bay national marine sanctuary. Cwcs mission is to preserve and protect Coastal watersheds through stewardship, education and monitoring. Over the past 20+ years, cwc has educated thousands of students and trained thousands of volunteers to protect the natural resources along californias central coast. Today, cwc is using this expertise to revitalize the san lorenzo river. Cwc works to transform the lower san lorenzo river into a community destination by inspiring people to explore, enhance and protect it.cwc is working to realize santa cruzs vision of a healthy, welcoming and fun san lorenzo river that connects our diverse communities to nature and that is recognized as an attractive an desirable destination for recreation and reflection. This is a placemaking effort to produce environmental benefits for the river and community.in its 2022-2023 fiscal year, cwc implemented its strategy of focusing on those communities closest to the lower san lorenzo river. We invested in new community engagement initiatives including:expanding cwcs partnerships by working with neighbors to re-paint the beloved serpent play structure in san lorenzo parkdeepening work with spanish-speaking residents of the beach flats and lower ocean communities in conversations about flooding and climate impacts on the neighborhoodbuilding support and regular communication with the city of santa cruz to ensure a safe and accessible riverwalk parkswore in 861 youth as Watershed rangers after they learned about and took action to help their rivertaught 176 lessons across the school year at 13 schools with 31 teachers in kindergarten through 7th grades, including leading 1,051 youth on field trips to the lower san lorenzo riverexpanded the classroom programsengaged multi-generational families through events like fiesta de los artesengaged 351 volunteers to help increase biodiversity by removing 853 square feet of highly invasive species and planting 450 new diverse native plants comprising 10 unique species.launched a new partnership with the downtown streets team to engage people experiencing homelessness at the san lorenzo river.managed cwcs intern program with students from ucsc and local high schools