Living Arroyos

What is Living Arroyos?

Living Arroyos was initiated in July 2013, and is currently a partnership of the City of Dublin, the City of Livermore, and the City of Pleasanton, as well as the Alameda County Resource Conservation District and the Zone 7 Water Agency. The program is a unique community engagement opportunity that renews and enhances urban stream and riparian (streamside) habitats in the Livermore-Amador Valley and re-establishes the connection between people and the arroyos in their own backyards.

These streams provide many benefits to the people who live in the area. They are an integral part of the community’s water supply system, help protect neighborhoods from flooding, and help counteract pollution. Still, our arroyos can be so much more. The vision behind Living Arroyos is that our urban streams can be beautiful, natural spaces that provide habitat for an abundance of native plants and wildlife. We see a future in which people are drawn to urban streams as places to relax, rejuvenate, and connect with nature.

The ACRCD serves as the implementation partner of the program. Community members and Living Arroyos interns are the backbone of the labor force that carries out the work of restoration and ongoing habitat management.

What area is served by Living Arroyos?

The program area boundary is the city limits of Dublin, Pleasanton, and Livermore, and includes the unincorporated lands around the Chain of Lakes. Program activities will focus on the more than 45 miles of streams managed by the agency partners. See the Project Area map for more detail.

What’s the overall plan behind Living Arroyos?

Riparian ecosystems do not conform to political boundaries, which makes collaboration an essential component of effective watershed management. The Living Arroyos Program is at the heart of a partnership between the local water agency and city government to manage, enhance, and renew urban streams. Living Arroyos partners benefit by sharing costs and leveraging unique resources, aligning community vision of the watershed, avoiding redundancy and achieving long-term management goals.

The real key to making our program a success is partnering with the people in the communities where we work.

Program goals:

• Engage local residents in hands-on stewardship of natural resources while they experience nature close to home.
• Increase public awareness of important watershed issues.
• Improve habitat and water quality of local streams while maintaining and enhancing both public safety and regional flood protection.
• Strengthen public/private partnerships within the community.