The City of Watsonville received$225,500 in grant funds for City wetlands trails and greenway projects. This funding comes from the California Strategic Growth Council’s Urban Greening for Sustainable Communities Grant Program. In partnership with the Watsonville Wetlands Watch, the City will be improving pedestrian trails and landscaping at Hazelwood Park, and restoring special habitat along the Upper Struve Slough Trail near Main Street. Both projects are part of the City of Watsonville’s Urban Greening Plan that maps out the long-term vision for community greening, infrastructure improvement, and environmental enhancement adopted by the City Council in 2012. The plan calls for a 30 mile trail system, nature pocket parks, new street trees, and wetlands and open space restoration and improvement projects.
For the past ten years, the City and Watsonville Wetlands Watch have partnered to develop a series of trails in and around our community’s unique freshwater sloughs as well as preserving and restoring the sloughs. This grant funding will allow us to move ahead with two more high priority projects.
The Hazelwood Park project includes tree main components:
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- Improvement of walking and bicycling path within the park,
- Creation of a bioswale, a detention pond that collects stormwater and filters pollutants out, improving water quality in the slough
- Planting of native trees, shrubs, and grasses to beautify the area and enhance habitat.
The City is excited to involve neighbors and local Rolling Hills middle school students to participate in the project.
The Upper Struve Slough restoration project will enhance an acre of wetland along the upper Struve Slough trail near Clifford Avenue and Main Street. Work will include removal of invasive plants and replanting of thousands of native plants to enhance habitat along the wetlands and improve scenic views from the trail. Currently, tall, dense invasive plants dominate the habitat and obstruct views. This would be replaced by low-growing, native, riparian plantings to provide nesting and foraging habitat for the diverse wildlife species of our slough system.
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Both of these projects represent tremendous opportunities to fulfill the greening plan vision for the wetlands and natural places within the City of Watsonville. The Watsonville Wetlands support a diversity of rare and important wildlife and provide a vibrant place for residents to enjoy the natural beauty of this community.
The project will support the over 250 different resident and migratory bird species that use the slough system and the 23 native plant and animal species that are listed as threatened, endangered, or species of special concern. The effort to improve water quality is taking place at an important time, as Watsonville’s wetlands play a role in supporting Pajaro Valley’s water recharge projects. The wetlands and wetland trails also support a budding eco-tourism industry drawing thousands of visitors each year for a variety of recreational activities such as the Monterey Bay Bird festival, local hiking tours, and walking and bicycling opportunities.
Design of these projects will take place this fall with construction to follow in the spring. To date, the City of Watsonville has raised over $1.5 million dollars towards the urban greening effort.
For additional information contact Murray Fontes, Principle Engineer for the City of Watsonville at 768-3117 or Jonathan Pilch, Restoration Director of Watsonville Wetlands Watch at 728-4106.
