The Creek and Watershed Signage Program is active again!
We want your input! Please take this Watershed Signage Survey.

Contra Costa County watersheds are home to over one million people as well as countless riparian and wildlife habitats. Strategically designed and positioned signs featuring information about creeks, watersheds, and wildlife can be effective educational tools that convey conservation principles and help community members have a better sense of place.

The Current Signage Program

Based on the success of previous creek and watershed signage projects (see below for more info), the Contra Costa Resource Conservation District (CCRCD) has initiated a new watershed signage program, funded by the Contra Costa County Fish and Wildlife Propagation Fund, to facilitate the replacement of damaged signs and introduce new, redesigned signs across Contra Costa County watersheds, complete with English and Spanish text. The CCRCD will facilitate the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the signs.

Once the signs are printed, the CCRCD will facilitate installation of the signs with active and interested grassroots groups across the County, following recommendations outlined in the Southern Sonoma County Resource Conservation District’s Creek Signs: Guide to Developing a Local Watershed and Creek Signage Program (Hill, 2007).

A Brief History of this Signage Effort

In the early 2000s, the Forum collaborated with the CCRCD to create signs to increase public awareness of creeks and watersheds. Cities and the County installed over 800 creek and watershed signs along roads and trails by creeks throughout the County. That signage program was funded by the Contra Costa County Fish and Wildlife Propagation Fund.

In the early 2010s, various community stakeholders including the Forum and the CCRCD launched a successful initiative to install 50 watershed signs across Contra Costa County. The initiative’s mission was to use signage to educate the public about the presence of waterways and wildlife in and around their communities while also encouraging collective stewardship of and accountability for these natural resources.