[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 11/6/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

November 6, 2007

 

3. Watersheds

 

LOWER COLORADO RIVER WATERSHED PROTECTION

Officials dedicate protective areas as part of Colorado River conservation project - Yuma Sun

 

FLOOD CONTROL:

Editorial: Don't kill the beavers - Contra Costa Times

 

 

LOWER COLORADO RIVER WATERSHED PROTECTION

Officials dedicate protective areas as part of Colorado River conservation project

Yuma Sun – 11/6/07

By Darin Fenger, staff writer

 

Endangered plants and animals surely applauded Monday when officials dedicated six new protective ponds, all part of a massive conservation project along the Colorado River stretching from Yuma to Lake Mead.

The Imperial Ponds Conservation Area Project near Martinez Lake represents 360 acres of the Lower Colorado Multi-Species Conservation Program, a 720,000-acre program winding through three states that is scheduled to unfurl over the next 50 years.

"This is a conservation program that's accomplishing a lot, not just for the environment, but also accomplishing a lot for our water and power customers and the people that rely on the Colorado River," said Commissioner Robert Johnson with the Bureau of Reclamation. "This is probably the most important resource - both economically and environmentally - in the region that it serves."

Johnson traveled here from Washington, D.C., to attend a special pond-side dedication ceremony Monday. The event featured speeches by numerous dignitaries and agency representatives, and ended with a tour of the project and the opportunity for people to try their hands at planting aquatic plants.

The local project includes a four-acre forest of cottonwood and willow trees, while a 12-acre marsh will be created in 2008 after currently unmanaged and overgrown saltcedar trees are removed. But the stars of the project are the six ponds created to provide habitat for several species of local fish and wetlands plants.

Overall, the Lower Colorado Multi-Species Conservation Program reflects a comprehensive plan developed by the Department of the Interior and state, local and private entities from Arizona, California and Nevada. The program's goal, according to a news statement, is to work toward both recovering endangered species and preventing more animals and plants from making the list. The geography involved ranges from federal and state to tribal and privately owned lands.

The Lower Colorado Multi-Species Conservation Program amounts to the largest, longest-term partnership between federal and state agencies to restore species along a river system, according to a news statement.

Officials estimate that the overall program will cost $1 billion once completed. The local portion will cost an estimated $6.5 million. #

http://www.yumasun.com/news/program_37649___article_news.html/conservation_colorado.html

 

 

FLOOD CONTROL:

Editorial: Don't kill the beavers

Contra Costa Times – 11/6/07

 

STATE AND MARTINEZ OFFICIALS need to look for a better solution to the flood risk posed by a downtown beaver dam than killing the animals that built it.

 

On Wednesday, the City Council will consider a staff recommendation to destroy the beavers because their handiwork blocks an Alhambra Creek drainage channel designed to protect downtown shops during heavy rains.

 

The two adult beavers, who have three or four offspring, have been there for about a year. They have become a noontime destination for workers and visitors in the city. And children are making field trips to see the creatures and their dam.

 

Surely we can find a better way to co-exist with animals in urban areas than simply killing them. Surely we can set a better example for the children who have watched the beavers build their homes in the creek.

 

City administrators are right that the dam poses a flood risk. The city has spent $9.7 million in the past decade to stop water from pouring over the creek banks. But the dam could be taken down without killing the animals.

 

First, more serious consideration should be given by state officials to allowing relocation of the animals. There should be some place in the vast open spaces of the Delta where the animals could live in harmony with nature.

 

Second, consideration should be given to allowing the beavers to stay. Yes, the city and community volunteers would have to regularly remove the animals' dam. But that's better than killing them.

 

The council meeting is at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Martinez City Hall. For the sake of the beavers, and for the sake of the children who benefit from seeing nature in action, let's put on our thinking caps and come up with a solution.  #

http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_7383814?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com&nclick_check=1

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