Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
April 23, 2009
3. Watersheds –
Healdsburg ready to put money into downtown Creek
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Seeking flood protection improvements for Butte County west of the Feather River
The Gridley Herald
Suit keeps state out of trout business
The
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Healdsburg ready to put money into downtown Creek
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat – 4/22/09
By Clark Mason
For decades, Foss Creek in downtown Healdsburg has been regarded as more drainage ditch than creek.
But three sets of donors have stepped up with almost $100,000 total to help restore a portion of the waterway to its natural condition.
The money will be put to work clearing out invasive plants along the creek and replacing them with native species.
“Foss Creek is a real asset to the future of the well being of this community,” said City Councilman Mike McGuire. He said the project is part of a larger vision of restoring the creek, opening it up to the public and extending a nearby walking trail and bike path the length of town.
The City Council this week approved a contract with Russian Riverkeeper to manage the Foss Creek project. Riverkeeper is a conservation group that advocates for clean water and healthy rivers.
The funding of approximately $98,000 is coming from several sets of benefactors, including the Wetzel family, vineyard owners Barbara Grasseschi and Tony Crabb, and the owners of h2hotel.
The project focuses on 1,200 feet of creek running from the north end of the Cerri site at
The tree-lined, banked stream wends its way between a parking lot and the back of the Healdsburg Hotel and Bear Republic Brewery, before disappearing into a culvert beneath a parking lot for 180 feet.
McGuire, who helped coordinate the participation of donors, said the creek has suffered for decades, similar to the neglect waterways have experienced in other communities.
Only in more recent years has Foss Creek been viewed as a valuable ecosystem, a visual and community asset.
McGuire noted that several new or planned housing projects near Foss Creek are designed to face it.
“Long gone are the days in Healdsburg where development has turned its back on the creek,” said McGuire. “Foss Creek has caught the attention of local residents and visitors, and also Rainbow Trout that are making their way up the creek on an annual basis.”
The project is seen as a way of restoring habitat for fish, pond turtles and other species, such as birds, raccoons and possums.
“It’s part of a larger project to improve Foss Creek overall and for a trail to go through the area,” said Don McEnhill, program director of Russian Riverkeeper. “We want a trail next to an aesthetically pleasing wildlife-filled Foss Creek, as opposed to a drainage ditch where everyone’s dumpster backdoor faces the creek with nasty stuff and rats.”
“We can make it a gem that flows not only through the downtown ... but all the way up,” said Crabb, owner of the “biodynamic” Puma Springs Vineyards in
Another benefactor, the Wetzel family, owns Alexander Valley Vineyards Winery and has been involved in a number of philanthropic causes, including funding improvements at
The h2hotel, affiliated with the Healdsburg Hotel, is a 36-room inn under construction on the bank of Foss Creek using some of the highest environmental guidelines.
The work on Foss Creek will begin in May, but continue over several years to ensure the invasive species — Himalayan blackberry, Periwinkle, Privet and Smilo grass — do not re-establish themselves.
Native trees, including oaks, alders, walnuts and upright willows, will be planted to help fill in the riparian canopy.
Hundreds of volunteers will be enlisted, but the money will help pay for shovels, irrigation and other equipment, along with work supervisors, insurance and permits.#
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090422/articles/904229908
Seeking flood protection improvements for Butte County west of the Feather River
The Gridley Herald – 4/22/09
The
"Every winter and spring, rainfall and melting snow result in often-destructive stream flows coming off the mountains into the rivers. Before we began building levees and dams, Sierra runoff would form deep pools on much of the Valley floor, taking months to drain into
— David Kennedy, water engineer and former head of the State Department of Water Resources.
The first organized responses to seasonal floods were simple dirt levees, generally built by farmers to protect their crops and farm properties. The early settler's levees were often no more than berms of loose dirt, sometimes built over old lake beds. Today's levees are frequently built on top of those older leaky foundations of porous, unstable and sandy soils.
After major floods in the early part of the 20th century, the US Army Corps of Engineers constructed a comprehensive and connected set of levees and bypasses (or overflow channels) to contain the river runoff. Eventually, dams were also built that act as shock absorbers, storing sudden storm water surges to avoid overtopping levees.
Despite efforts to ward off inundation, levee breaches in 1917, 1955, 1986 and 1997 have resulted in major flooding that have affected the region, resulting in dozens of deaths and millions of dollars in property damage.
Many
Levee restoration proposal to be discussed on April 23
Earlier this year, staff of the Sutter Butte Flood Control Agency proposed looking at whether the Agency should begin levee rehabilitation efforts along a stretch of west Feather River levees from Yuba City north to the Thermalito Afterbay.
They believe that this effort would provide significant protections against catastrophic flooding. This work, called the Early Implementation Project (or EIP for short) would take place before the US Army Corps of Engineers completes a comprehensive multi-year parallel effort called the Feasibility Study.
The staff of the Agency believes that the EIP's restoration and rehab efforts could be completed by mid 2013, and might provide protection at the 100-year storm (or possibly higher) level to most of the residents of the Yuba City Basin from 7 to 10 years faster than the Corps program. The EIP focuses on the stretch of levees north of
FEMA is setting new flood insurance requirements for
The US Congress requires that all federally guaranteed home loans be insured against flood damage in risky areas. FEMA provides insurance, which is sold by local insurance agents. The Flood Control Agency recommends that anyone living behind levees purchase flood insurance.
When FEMA has reason to believe that flood dangers may be greater than previously thought, the agency sets new rules and flood insurance rates by issuing "flood maps." After Hurricane Katrina, FEMA is remapping most communities behind levees.
In the past, FEMA mostly looked at the height of a levee to determine flood risk. Now, unless a levee is also proven durable to withstand the so-called "100-year flood," FEMA will require flood insurance (as will many private lenders).
So far, FEMA has issued flood maps for the southern portions of Sutter County, (see Flood Insurance page) but has indicated that they will remap parts of Butte County (including Biggs and Gridley) in the spring or summer of 2009, and northern portions of Sutter County (including Live Oak and Yuba City) in the fall of 2009. There is a year-long period for comment and review of the preliminary maps, after which the maps become "effective" and insurance is mandatory.
The difference in before and after price of flood insurance is big: About $350 per year currently, and the increase in rates for homes that are added to Special Flood Hazard Area maps ranges from $1,350 to $3,500 per year.
Many
Suit keeps state out of trout business
The
By Peter Ottesen
Many Sierra streams and lakes open Saturday for the start of trout fishing season. Anglers, however, will have to research which high-elevation waters will be stocked with rainbows, browns and brook trout, and which will not be planted by the Department of Fish and Game because of a lawsuit.
What normally would be a delight for anglers and families who traditionally pursue trout on opening day has become a confusing bureaucratic and litigious debacle. People simply don't know where trout will be stocked and which waters will be left fishless.
For example,
"We basically shut down planting trout in rivers and lakes because of the lawsuit," said Don Ward, manager of the American River Hatchery in
By contrast, the eastern Sierra, which includes Mono and Inyo counties, will receive full trout allotments from Fish and Game's Bishop headquarters. Lakes and streams in the central Sierra from Tuolumne to Kern county, will be stocked by the
Fish and Game information officer Harry Morse confirmed many waters normally stocked by the DFG will not be planted this year because of a court order limiting the agency where it can stock hatchery-reared trout. The court order resulted from a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and Pacific Rivers Council against the DFG. The court ordered DFG to complete an Environmental Impact Report that examines the impacts the stocking program has on a list of 25 amphibian and fish species presented by the plaintiffs before any hatchery trout can be released.
Morse said DFG is on schedule to complete the EIR by January 2010, so trout stocking in many favorite waters will be eliminated this season, even roadside places for kids to fish such as Murphys Creek,
Alpine County has taken fish planting into its own hands. The chamber of commerce and Alpine County Fish and Game Commission are not under the jurisdiction of the lawsuit and will plant trout they purchased from a private hatchery in hopes of sustaining the local economy.
"We'll have maximum trout in the water for opening day," said Dave Kirby at Woodfords Station on Highway 88. "Our private stocking program will insure that 9,000 pounds of rainbows will greet anglers who try their luck in the
Kirby said Indian Creek Reservoir was planted Monday, though other impoundments such as Caples, Red and Silver lakes will not be stocked by either the county or DFG.
Indian Creek Reservoir is a good bet for float tube fly fishers who drag wooly buggers. The reservoir is low and rising slowly.
The road to
Jim Reid at Ken's Sporting Goods in
"We've been very lucky," Reid said. "The lawsuit didn't single out any
DFG has stocked rainbows and browns into Bridgeport Reservoir, Upper and
"We've had light snow this year so roads to lakes and streams are open," Reid said. "Everything is fishable, and the runoff is light, even in the
Reid said Bridgeport Reservoir is low but boaters can launch at Falling Rock Marina or at the public access known as "bath tub" at the base of the dam. DFG released rainbows and the Bridgeport Fish Enhancement group privately planted browns in late fall, after fishing season closed. Those fish will average 21/2 to 3 pounds for the opener.#
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090422/A_SPORTS03/904220339
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