The Watsonville Wetlands Watch’s first ever Pajaro Valley Native Plant and Backyard Habitat Festival on September 28 was a true success! Hundreds of people from the community attended, including many who were learning about the wetlands for the first time.

The workshops and presentations on Creating Your Own Backyard Habitat, Composting, Tool Sharpening, Growing Native Plants, and Live Raptors were all packed; the Watsonville Wetlands Wildlife Photography Exhibit was also popular. Our Plant Sale, which was designed to help spread native plants throughout the watershed and Monterey Bay region, was highly successful. People shopped for and bought over 900 native plants. Marimba band Sadza created a lively backdrop while families and kids relaxed and played in the Eco Kids Zone.

The Watch is grateful to the many dedicated docents, volunteers, and local businesses, like the Corralitos Market and Sausage Company, and Driscoll’s, who were instrumental in helping us put on such a great community event celebrating the native habitats and wetlands of the Pajaro Valley. Click to see more fun Festival photos.

On Thursday, Nov. 14, the Watsonville Wetlands Watch is hosting local wildlife photographers Denise Murphy and Efren Adalem who will give a slide show of their stunning photographs while they talk about their many adventures and the process of capturing action shots of wildlife in natural settings. They use the local wetlands as the source of their inspiration.

Efren’s sea otter photographs were used in the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s otter exhibit and he was a finalist in the International Photo Exhibit in Varna, Bulgaria in 2013. Collectively they have won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place at the Santa Cruz County Fair for Wildlife Photography, Professional Class and 1st place in the Monterey Bay Birding Festival photo contest.

From 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at the Fitz Educational Resource Center, at the top of the Pajaro Valley High School campus in Watsonville (map/directions). Admission is free but you must reserve a seat by contacting Kathy Fieberling at 831-345-1226 or kathy@watsonvillewetlandswatch.org.

We have a new group of high school Wetland Stewards interns this year — Ernesto Robles, Jacob Moran, Paul Garcia, Fabiel Morales, Cynthia Satillan, Celeste Espino, Emmelie Avila, Santina Martinez, and Alexis Rodriguez. After weeks of training, in September the Wetland Stewards interns began leading after-school field trips with elementary and middle school students. Please join us in welcoming this enthusiastic group of young educators!

We invite you to help restore wetland habitat by planting native plants and removing exotic invasive plants as part of our monthly community work day on Oct. 26. We will work from 9 a.m. until noon, and we always make time for birding or a short hike around the wetlands. We supply the gloves, tools, and a snack. Meet at our Fitz Wetlands Educational Resource Center (map/directions). If you have questions, please contact Mary Paul at mary@watsonvillewetlandswatch.org or 831-566-4938.

You can help us protect and restore precious habitat. Contribute online by going to our website; or by sending a donation in the mail to WWW, P.O. Box 1239, Freedom, CA 95019. Contributions are tax-deductible in accordance with IRS rules for non-profit organizations and are greatly appreciated!