Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
February 09, 2009
3. Watersheds –
The smallest dams on Putah Creek
The
| State's freezing of bonds impacts local watershed projects | | | |
| The |
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The smallest dams on Putah Creek
The
By AMY BOYER
Beavers are one of the first mammals in the
Some of the earliest European explorers of the
By the time of the Gold Rush, beavers were rare enough to have
Historically,
The dams serve other animals as stream crossings, and you can sometimes see their scat on the dams.
Putah Creek in summer is a dam-worthy creek, but river beaver will simply hole up in banks, piling up sticks over the air hole of the den. In all cases, beavers are highly territorial and mark their areas by piling up mud and marking the mud pies with their scent.
Within their dens are close-knit families. Two adults mate for life. Both male and female build dams and lodges, and both take care of the kits, raising one to six kits per year.
The youngsters stay with the parents for two years, with the yearlings helping with dam maintenance and kit-care, in between playing with each other.
Hope Ryden's delightful book Lily Pond: Four Years with a Family of Beavers describes beavers nuzzling each other, grooming each other, giving kits rides on their backs, and seemingly talking to each other in the beaver lodge during long dark iced-in winter days. When mature, the beavers take off along their stream or even cross-country, searching for a suitable site with plentiful forage-and for a mate.
Beavers' architectural tendencies are innate, with beavers raised in captivity competently building dams, lodges, and even canals (to ease transporting sticks) without parental training, but they likely learn finesse during their two-year apprenticeship. Ryden says they are leisurely workers, but little by little they can build big.
I have seen a structure in
Ecologically, beavers are major players. A typical pattern on many streams is that beavers dam a stream, creating a pond where sediments settle; water-loving animals and invertebrates follow; beavers use up forage and move on; dam breaks, pond dries up, leaving richer bottom land for plants to colonize; forage grows back, beavers return.
According to Van Vuren, this pattern doesn't seem to hold for Putah Creek. However, beavers' choice of plants can have a strong influence on forest structure-and on restoration efforts. Beavers will eat a wide range of non-woody plants, but they require woody plants as well.
Local beavers have a strong preference for cottonwood. "They love them. It's like a buffet," says Andrew Fulks, UC Davis Putah Creek Riparian Reserve Manager. They also like willow, and the easiest way to see beaver evidence is to walk along near the creek's summer channel looking for willow branches that have been neatly sheared off near the ground, as if pruned with loppers.
According to Fulks, "Other riparian trees, like ash, box elder, valley oak, and shrubs like elderberry may get some incidental browsing, but generally are left alone." The answer for restorationists is to cage favored plant species.
Fulks notes that beaver pruning may actually be beneficial: "The willows in areas further from the creek have less access to water in the ground, and I've found that those that have been browsed and re-sprout have better survival. ... I suspect the reason they survive better after cutting down is that by removing the top growth you reduce the amount of water use, which works to their favor in a drier environment." He stresses that he hasn't actually researched willow survival rates.
Beavers and humans often have different ideas about what should be dammed and where.
A beaver damming an irrigation canal or denning in a levee bank can be a nuisance or even a danger. But beavers in streams and rivers increase wetland areas and can improve groundwater recharge, according to an article in Science News.
Fulks agrees: "Beaver are a natural part of the ecosystem, and I'm happy they are out on our creek!"#
http://www.dailydemocrat.com/news/ci_11662503
| State's freezing of bonds impacts local watershed projects | | | |
| The Written by Elizabeth Larson |
| In December the California Department of Finance froze use of the Pooled Money Investment Account (PMIA) for general obligation bond-funded programs and projects, according to a report from the California Watershed Coalition. The coalition estimates that the state's action has halted $660 million a month in loan servicing for bond-funded infrastructure projects, and resulted in lack of reimbursement for some projects and thousands of layoffs. The particular bonds whose funds have been frozen include 13, 40, 50 and 84, said Greg Dills, watershed coordinator for the East Lake and West Lake Resource Conservation Districts. There's also the matter of grants running out, specifically those that support the county's watershed groups and activities, said Dills. He said he's not seen bond funds actually frozen before. “ “Locally it's just devastating,” he said. Two Proposition 50 grants the county has support three watershed assessments and the Clear Lake Basin Management Plan. Dills said his staff is in the 11th hour on the basin management plan, which they had planned to finish in June. He said no one has been able to tell him if they'll be able to get an extension for completing the assessments and the plan, which he called “key documents for being able to get other funds to implement projects.” Dills also recently received official notice from the state Department of Water Resources to stop work on an assessment grant. Projects and funding build on one another, Dills said. The Westlake District is very small, with only three staff members as it is, said Dills. Lack of funding going forward could impact the additional three to four staffers that do seasonal work for the district. Pam Francis, deputy director of She said the division has been working on Proposition 50 and 84 grants; those and another grant account for $56,000 in funding that the county may have to cover so far this year, an estimate which Francis said is “very conservative.” Some of the money they've been awarded may not be able to be used by the sunset dates because of the state's actions, which means the county will lose those funds, said Francis. The grant funding Water Resources receives goes to such projects as eradicating the invasive plant Arundo donax – the giant reed that resembles bamboo that is commonly seen around the county. The county received about $181,000 three years ago for that work. Francis said that grant is now coming to a close. There also are Proposition 50 assessments, which are snapshots of what the county's three main watersheds look like, said Francis. “It's really just to collect everything we know about these three watersheds at this point in time.” That work is meant to help in understanding the health of watersheds. Francis said a very important component in those assessments is completing the Clear Lake Basin Management Plan, because the lake can't be separated from the watersheds. One department staffer works full-time on that grant, and Francis said they've managed to keep her working by covering her salary from the division's funds and not from a grant. The county may or may not be reimbursed for that. Francis said Brent Siemer, head of the county's Department of Public Works – which includes Water Resources – made the decision that the assessment and the plan were important enough that work on them needed to continue. The county also is applying for Proposition 84 funds to support an integrated regional water management plan which extends beyond the county's political boundaries, said Francis. It would cover Upper and Lower Cache Creek and Putah Creek, and is a cooperative effort with Yolo, Solano, The regional water management plan also is a project listed in a memorandum of understanding the county reached late last year with Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, said Francis. “This is a big deal,” she said. Receiving additional Proposition 84 funds are hinged on the plan being completed for the area and giving the state an idea of how the funds will be spent, said Francis. Also hung up now are flood corridor grants covering the Middle Creek area. Francis said the county needs the grants to purchase properties from two separate owners who are in flood prone areas. “The citizens of the state need to become a little more irate and give their legislators a piece of their mind,” said Francis, expressing her frustration over the state's budget crisis. She added, “There are people losing their jobs out there just because these legislators are trying to posture.” Francis said the county may have to make cuts in the future if the funds aren't restored. “There's going to be a lot of financial pressure put on at some point in time,” she said.# http://lakeconews.com/content/view/7301/764/ |
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