Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Environment topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Cotati proclaims Creek Week; volunteers organize Laguna cleanup and invasive-species removal
Summary
At its Sept. 9 meeting Cotati City Council proclaimed September as Pollution Prevention Week and set aside a Creek Week observance in the Russian River watershed. Volunteers and councilmembers highlighted a Sept. 20 Laguna cleanup and formation of Cotati Friends of the Laguna.
The Cotati City Council proclaimed September 2025 as Pollution Prevention Week and designated the week as Creek Week in the Russian River watershed, and local volunteers described plans for cleanup and habitat work on the Laguna De Santa Rosa.
Vice Mayor Lemus presented the proclamation recognizing Latino Heritage Month earlier in the meeting and Mayor Ford then read the Creek Week proclamation declaring September as a time for pollution prevention outreach and local cleanup events. The proclamation cites the Russian River Watershed Association and calls attention to cleanup campaigns across Sonoma and Mendocino counties, including Cotati’s annual creek cleanup and an invasive-species removal event planned for Sept. 20.
"The Russian River Watershed Association supports programs to reduce pollution, increase the environmental quality of our watershed, and provide our communities with the knowledge to be effective stewards," Mayor Ford read as part of the proclamation.
Two longtime local volunteers addressed the council following the proclamation. Paul Burke, who said he has lived along the Laguna for 36 years and whose yard backs onto the waterway, described years of independent cleanup: "I walk every morning, and I just get madder and madder and madder. And it was like, okay. I gotta stop being so mad when I walk. So I just decided to start cleaning it up," Burke said. He described removing large bags of trash, adding garbage cans to the trail, and continuing regular cleanups.
Volunteer organizer Jenny Blaker described a newly forming volunteer group, which she said has adopted the tentative name Cotati Friends of the Laguna. Blaker thanked city staff and volunteers and outlined goals for the group including regular trash removal, targeted invasive-species treatment, protection of native riparian vegetation, interpretive signage and benches, and volunteer training ahead of the Sept. 20 work party.
"Because we live upstream, we have a responsibility to take care of the Laguna," Blaker said, noting the Laguna De Santa Rosa flows about 22 miles from near Cotati to the Russian River and was recognized as a wetland of international significance in 2011.
Blaker and other speakers said teachers and students from local schools already use the Laguna as an outdoor classroom and that the group hopes to coordinate volunteers for a preparation day on Sept. 13 and volunteer work on Sept. 20 for invasive species removal and creek cleanup. The city manager and public-works director were thanked for collaboration.
Mayor Ford invited volunteers and others present for a photo after the proclamation. Vice Mayor Lemus also noted pan dulce was available for meeting attendees in honor of the related Latino Heritage Month proclamation earlier in the meeting.
The proclamation text included a general call for residents to "support efforts to protect and enrich our watershed health by participating in the many Pollution Prevention Week / Creek Week activities including the City of Cotati Creek Cleanup and Invasive Species Removal on September 20."
