Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
May 8, 2008
5. Agencies, Programs, People -
Reservoir boating in peril
INSPECTION OF WATERCRAFT OR TEMPORARY BAN WEIGHED TO AVOID INVASIVE MUSSELS -
Tejon Ranch pact would allow 26,000 homes on the range -
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Reservoir boating in peril
INSPECTION OF WATERCRAFT OR TEMPORARY BAN WEIGHED TO AVOID INVASIVE MUSSELS
By Sandra Gonzales, staff writer
With invasive mussels infiltrating
Neither the Quagga or Zebra mussels have been found in county reservoirs yet, but local officials don't want to take any chances. The proposals are a pre-emptive strike against the threat.
At issue, though, is what to do and who will pay for it. And, at the center of it all are two entities, the Santa Clara Valley Water District and
Both have been in talks on how to develop an inspection process.
Under the water district proposal, the ban would last until the county can start a boat inspection program at all seven of its local reservoirs that allow boating.
"Now that we're moving into the summer months, more people are out boating," said water district spokeswoman Susan Siravo. The mussels usually spread on boats, she said, a concern because zebra mussels were recently found in
The mussels cling to hard surfaces, such as boat bottoms, anchors and hulls, damaging boats and clogging water intake structures. Both species of mussel are non-native aquatic mollusks that disrupt the natural food chain and release toxins that affect other aquatic species. They range in size from microscopic to the magnitude of a fingernail.
"We know people like to go from one reservoir to another," Siravo said. "There's a real sense of urgency, since Zebra mussels have been found so close to our reservoirs."
The possible ban will be discussed at the water district's Tuesday board meeting, which will be open to the public.
But
"The appropriate move to address the spread of Quagga and Zebra mussels is to immediately begin inspecting all boats launching in local reservoirs and to continue permitting active recreation," Kutras said. "In the end, it's their land and they can choose to ban boating, and I'm trying to be clear that they ought not to."
The cost of the program is expected to be up to $700,000, and both agencies believe the other should pay for it. Kutras is proposing a $7 fee to help defray the costs of the program at
Siravo said the financial responsibility rests with the county because the county handles the recreational aspect of the reservoirs and the water district doesn't get any of the revenues.
But county officials pointed out that if the mussels spread here, they could damage water district equipment, and that the district has more financial resources to pay for it than the county. "We're not doing this to facilitate recreation, we're doing this to protect the infrastructure of the water system," Kutras said.
Last year, 150,000 permits were issued for vessels to operate in the county's reservoirs. Some boaters don't like either idea.
"It's a delicate subject. Personally, I think, most of these regulations are going to make the activity of boating much more difficult to participate in," said Greg Smith, a boater who also works at West Marine in
http://www.mercurynews.com/localnewsheadlines/ci_9191077
Tejon Ranch pact would allow 26,000 homes on the range
By Louis Sahagun, staff writer
A coalition of environmental groups and a developer have agreed on a landmark plan to conserve 90% of the largest chunk of privately owned wilderness remaining in
The agreement ends years of debate over the fate of an untrammeled tableau of mountains, wildflower fields, twisted oaks and Joshua trees in the historic Tejon Ranch in the Tehachapi Mountains, about 60 miles north of Los Angeles.
The developer, the Tejon Ranch Co., has agreed to set aside 178,000 acres and provide an option for public purchase of 62,000 additional acres -- 49,000 to create a state park, 10,000 to realign a 37-mile segment of the Pacific Crest Trail through the heart of the wild lands and the rest to provide docent-led tours of sensitive habitat. It also will pull back development plans along some ridgelines considered crucial to the California condor.
In exchange, a coalition led by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, Audubon California, the Planning and Conservation League and the Endangered Habitats League will not oppose the company's plans to build three urban centers, including more than 26,000 homes as well as hotels, condominiums and golf courses at the western and southwestern edge of the ranch.
Those groups and others had threatened a campaign against development of the property, saying it would extend Southern California's suburban sprawl to the
The pact was the second major truce among environmental groups and developers in as many months in
In a prepared statement, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the success in reaching the Tejon agreement underlines how "we can protect
Some environmentalists expressed reservations about the accord, to be announced today. Ilene Anderson, a biologist and spokeswoman for the Center for Biological Diversity, said her group remains worried about habitat for the condor.
"So while we support significant open space," she said, "it's precedent-setting that critical habitat for a species just brought back from the brink of extinction would be written off for development."
Eight times the size of
Like
The 165-year-old ranch, first cobbled together by Edward Fitzgerald Beale, was owned for decades by an investment group led by former Los Angeles Times owner Harry Chandler and land developer Moses Sherman.
"For Southern California, this is the ecological equivalent of the
Permitting for residential and commercial development of the remaining 30,000 acres is expected to be easier with the agreement, although plans still must be approved by state and federal regulatory authorities, as well as
"Our vision has always been to preserve
Finding common ground between the nation's most powerful environmental groups and the Tejon Ranch Co. wasn't easy.
"We've come a long way from where we started," said Joel Reynolds, senior attorney and director of the Southern California Program of the Natural Resources Defense Council. "This was an extremely complicated deal, but also a once-in-a-lifetime conservation opportunity."
The agreement guarantees Tejon Ranch Co. the right to proceed with massive development projects near Interstate 5: Centennial, a planned community of 23,000 homes east of Quail Lake in northern Los Angeles County; and Tejon Mountain Village in southern Kern County, which will include a resort featuring spas and boutique hotels, commercial space, golf courses and 3,400 estate homes. The Tejon Industrial Complex in the
In each project, Stine said, "a whole set of design parameters will be reviewed by all parties to ensure that all development activity that takes place will consider all green opportunities into the future; that means transportation, building and landscape materials, water usage. Everything."
The agreement also creates an "independent Tejon Ranch Conservancy" composed of 12 members appointed by the company and its environmental partners to manage the preserved land in perpetuity. The company will provide about $800,000 a year for seven years to get the conservancy off the ground. Later, it will be funded through transfer fees from the sale of residential properties.
"It's not enough to simply set aside land," Reynolds said. "We also need an entity whose focus is restoration and conservation."
Tejon Ranch remains a vast wildlife stronghold where deer, elk, bobcat and wild turkey flourish. Canyon bottoms are full of oaks. Along old lumber roads edging the brows of hills, flocks of wild pigeons rise. On the uplands, pine and cedar hold their own, and golden eagles ride warm air currents from coastal mountains to the Sierra.
Graham Chisolm, director of conservation for Audubon
4 ridgelines spared
A key to unlocking the stalemate was the developer's agreement to pull back from four of five northern-facing ridgelines, including one hemming scenic Bear Trap Canyon, that are prime foraging grounds inside critical California condor habitat.
"By removing the potential obstacles that have plagued similar development efforts in California, we'll be able to move ahead with the entitlement processes on our current development projects in a much more timely fashion," said Michael H. Winer, portfolio manager for Third Avenue Management, Tejon's largest shareholder, and a member of its board of directors.
The company had been seeking an "incidental condor take permit" from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which would have relieved it of liability in the event that its projects were linked to the death of any of the endangered raptors. However, the company recently determined that such a "lethal take permit" was no longer needed given the reconfiguration of development plans under the agreement.
Reynolds, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said he was satisfied that the condor would be protected under the new plan.
"The condor is a very high-profile species, and there's been significant public investment in its recovery," he said, "and throughout these negotiations an enormous amount of attention was paid to ensuring that this agreement would be consistent with its recovery, and we believe it does so."#
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tejon8-2008may08,0,25201.story
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