Marin Voice: Fair’s ‘Make a Splash’ theme hits on our close tie to water

The theme for this year’s Marin County Fair is “Make a Splash.”

As you enjoy all that the fair has to offer, please consider this year’s theme of water. Visit the education booths and learn about our drinking water supplies, drought planning and remember the necessity of clean water. Water is essential and, in Marin, the proximity to water is connected to our sense of place, our terrific weather and opportunity to play along at the coast and bay.

As you ride to the top of the giant Ferris wheel, take a look around at that view. You can probably imagine it right now – Mount Tamalpais, Mount Burdell and the ridges of open space in between that offer hiking, biking and habitat for wildlife and plants, some of which live nowhere else but in Marin.

Numerous creeks drain from those hills and mountains to San Pablo and San Francisco bays. The giant wheel spins and, if you look north of the fairgrounds and the Civic Center Lagoon, you will see the forks of Gallinas Creek.

Daily tides carry water up Marin’s creeks past Highway 101 and into our neighborhoods. In many places, the tides come up a long way as Marin’s low valleys were wetlands before our cities and towns were built. Some of these still have native fish, including stickleback and steelhead trout, probably a few introduced species as well.

On most summer days, those tides fill the creeks when the summer flows are reduced to a trickle. Higher than you can see, along the coast, high tides shrink the beach and fill Tomales Bay, Bolinas Lagoon and Drakes Estero. Secret beaches accessible during the low tides and shoreline pathways along the coast disappear and wash away the footprints on the sand.

Water is humbling. Waves carry away sand, water soaks up wetlands and leaves open water, drowning the rushes and pickleweed under clear waters. Pesky waters come up through our pipes and pool on ground away from the shoreline. Puddles of water show up on the road edge in low spots. The tides recede and the water goes away. But what if it stays?

Sea level rise is a certainty. While the exact amounts vary, Marin’s proximity to water brings risks that require countywide planning. Marin communities know the risk, but we need to act if we’re going to be prepared for the future. This county has experienced flooding and we collectively remember these fears during the rainy winter as we watch the waters rise under bridges, along homes and downtowns.

We worry about El Nino winters and full moons that bring higher-than-predicted tides. We often think of flooding limited to the waterfront, but even without waterfront property, residents and visitors alike will experience impacts of rising sea levels. Transportation, public safety buildings, utilities and emergency access routes across the county can flood, resulting in a need for big solutions. Those big solutions require new approaches to problems.

Yes, sea level rise is scary, but we can build projects to protect and enhance our communities. We need safer access in and out of our communities, modern utilities and infrastructure, and better planning as we face the need to protect not just from flooding and sea level rise, but wildfires too.

The natural beauty of Marin contributes to our risks: forests and grassy hills, water on three sides, limited roads and freeways can create challenges when planning for long-term, sustainable communities. Marin County has been planning for sea level rise, but in order to be successful, we need everyone.

So get your neighbors, kids and parents to think about the future of Marin with us. The alternative without your participation is far more frightening. To support working together, county officials have initiated a new project to look into different ways to organize our government to help us plan better together.

Learn more about the project online at MarinSLR.org There will be opportunities to learn and inform our future in Marin. Please join us (after the fair, of course).

Chris Choo is assistant director for the Marin County Community Development Agency.