These days it's hard to believe that California is still in a drought, but when it downpours, imagine all the water rolling off your roof, over the pavement, and washing the roadside pollutants and debris into the rivers and wetlands. The egrets and herons are wading in it, the shorebirds shoveling their beaks through it, and it's wreaking havoc on California salmon spawn.

Native plants that like having wet feet in the winter, and handle drought conditions in the summer are perfect for staunching this. Installed near drainpipes, they slow the rush of rainwater so that it soaks into the ground before making it to waterways. They also create a filtration system so that it not only slows the water, but the plants and ground filter it of many toxins. It also helps slow river bank erosion. As well it helps to improve the quality of your garden's soil so that come the dry months, you need to water less.

Julie Vogt of Lagunitas was tired of paying a huge water bill every summer to keep her grass green, so she stopped watering, let it die, and then planted native sedge grasses. As well, she installed cisterns to catch rainwater. The effect was a beautiful garden and the water from the cisterns provided irrigation for the native plant nursery that is on her property and maintained by SPAWN. The natives are planted along riverbeds to help stop erosion and save spawning areas for California salmon. "The more impervious surfaces that are built, like parking lots and buildings, the worse this problem is going to get," Julie stated. "Rain gardens help, getting rid of lawns help, as do preserving or creating green spaces."

SPAWN has teamed up Marin Municipal Water District to launch the 10,000 Rain Gardens Project. They provide technical and design assistance to residents and businesses in Marin County for harvesting rainwater and installing native gardens. Visit their website HERE for more details.

And it's not just Marin County. This month, the El Cerrito Green Streets Rain Garden is being implemented on public walkways to help staunch the flow of water and help keep pesticides, PCBs, mercury, and copper from running into the San Francisco Bay.

Plant lovers in Palo Alto can attend the Native Plant Nursery Workday on Wednesday to plant seedlings in marshes. Visit Save the Bay

To find out what you can do in your neighborhood visit Estuary Partnership

Tips: Community Service

Tip: You can volunteer to plant seedlings at your local non-profit that restores wetlands. This counts as community service to help pay down traffic tickets. So double up on that debt to society!

Available February 16th!