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Calm seas,
Writer, naturalist, mentor
Catherine French
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We are given only so many days, make each one count.
Begin forwarded message:
From: CDFW News <noreply+feedproxy@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: March 22, 2018 at 6:07:12 PM PDT
To: cfrench1366@xxxxxxx
Subject: California Fish and Wildlife News
Reply-To: CDFW News <CDFWNews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
California Fish and Wildlife News
Wildlife Conservation Board Funds Stream Flow Enhancement Projects
Posted: 22 Mar 2018 04:43 PM PDT
At a March 22 meeting, the Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) approved
approximately $33.1 million in grants for 22 projects to enhance stream flows
to benefit fish and wildlife habitat throughout California. The Legislature
appropriated funding for these projects as authorized by the Water Quality,
Supply and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014 (Proposition 1). A total of
$200 million was allocated to the WCB for projects that enhance stream flow.
A total of $38.4 million—including $5 million designated for scoping and
scientific projects—was allocated to the WCB for expenditure in Fiscal Year
2017/18 for the California Stream Flow Enhancement Program. Projects were
chosen through a competitive grant process, judged by the WCB, California
Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the State Water Resources Control
Board. Guided by the California Water Action Plan, funding is focused on
projects that will lead to direct and measurable enhancements to the amount,
timing and/or quality of water for anadromous fish; special status,
threatened, endangered or at-risk species; or to provide resilience to
climate change.
Funded projects include:
A $4.8 million grant to The Wildlands Conservancy for a project to enhance
stream flow on Russ Creek by reestablishing channel alignment to provide
continuous summer base flows suitable for fish passage. The project is
located on the southern portion of the Eel River Estuary Preserve in Humboldt
County, approximately four miles west of Ferndale.
A $693,408 grant to the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District for the purpose
of dedicating a portion of the District’s diversion water rights to instream
flow use that will benefit fish and wildlife by increasing habitat for
salmonids and special status species in the Mad River. The project is located
on the main-stem Mad River in the Mad River Watershed with releases coming
from Matthews Dam at Ruth Reservoir, approximately 48 miles southeast of
Eureka and 53 miles southwest of Redding.
A $726,374 grant to Mendocino County Resource Conservation District for a
cooperative project with Trout Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy and the
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to reduce summer diversions and improve
dry season stream flows for the benefit of Coho salmon and steelhead trout.
The Navarro River watershed is located approximately 20 miles south of Fort
Bragg.
A $5 million grant to the Sutter Butte Flood Control Agency for a cooperative
project with the Department of Water Resources and CDFW, to improve roughly
7,500 linear feet of existing channels to connect isolated ponds. This will
provide fish refuge and eliminate potential stranding. This project’s design
was funded by the Stream Flow Enhancement Program in 2016. The project site
is within the Sacramento River watershed and is less than one mile southwest
of the town of Oroville, on the east side of the Feather River.
$609,970 grant to the University of California Regents for a cooperative
project with the University of Nevada, Reno and the Desert Research
Institute, to expand monitoring, scientific studies and modeling in the
Tahoe-Truckee Basin. The results will guide watershed-scale forest thinning
strategies that enhance stream flow within an area that provides critical
habitat for threatened species. The project is located in the central Sierra
Nevada mountain range, primarily on National Forest lands in the Lake Tahoe
Basin and Tahoe National Forest.
A $851,806 grant to the Sonoma Resource Conservation District for a
cooperative project with the Coast Ridge Community Forest and 29 landowners,
to install rainwater harvesting tanks and enter into agreements to refrain
from diverting stream flow during dry seasons. The project area consists of
29 properties within the coastal Gualala River, Russian Gulch and Austin
Creek watersheds, which discharge to the Pacific Ocean approximately 40 miles
northwest of Santa Rosa.
A $5.3 million grant to the Alameda County Water District for a cooperative
project with the Alameda County Flood Control and Water Conservation
District, California Natural Resources Agency, State Coastal Conservancy and
the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to modify flow releases in Alameda Creek and
construct two concrete fish ladders around existing fish passage barriers.
This will provide salmonids access to high value habitat upstream of the
project location, approximately 17 miles north of San Jose and 22 miles
southeast of Oakland.
A $3.9 million grant to The Nature Conservancy for a cooperative project with
U.C. Santa Barbara and the Santa Clara River Watershed Conservancy to remove
approximately 250 acres of the invasive giant reed (Arundo donax), which will
save approximately 2,000 acre-feet of water annually for the Santa Clara
River. The project is located in unincorporated Ventura County approximately
two miles east of the city of Santa Paula and three miles west of the city of
Fillmore, along the Santa Clara River.
Details about the California Stream Flow Enhancement Program are available on
the WCB website.
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