INSIDE:
California Watershed Education Day for Legislators on May 10
in Sacramento
Open Forum to Discuss Sustainable Funding Sources for Restoration
May 11 in Sacramento
Central Coast Road Decommissioning Field School scheduled for
May 16-18 Postponed till Summer
Mattole Restoration Council job posting: deadline May
Stream Restoration Success: Monitoring for Project Performance
and Management
Spring Run Chinook Watershed Symposium July 27-29 in Butte Creek
9th Annual Coho Confab August 25-27 at Point Reyes National Seashore
Fishery Advocates Seek Share of State Oil Revenue Windfall for
Restoration: SB 1125 Moving through the Legislature
California Watershed Education Day
for Legislators on May 10 in Sacramento
Investing in California's Watersheds... An Investment in our
Future
California Watershed Network, Salmonid Restoration
Federation, and the Sacramento River Watershed Program are hosting
the 5th Annual Watershed Education Day which provides a forum
for watershed practitioners to meet with their Legislators and
let them know that it pays to invest in community-based watershed
programs.The program will feature Mike Chrisman, the Secretary
of the California Resources Agency, Assembly member John Laird,
Director of Parks and Natural Resources of Yolo County, Julia
McIver,and many other legislative and non-profit representatives.
The event will take place:
- 7:30 am to 12:30pm
- Wednesday, May 10, 2006
- CalEPA Building
- 1001 I Street – Byron Sher Auditorium
- Sacramento, CA
The agenda and registration are all
online!
at
www.watershednetwork.org
Open Forum to Discuss Sustainable Funding
for Restoration on May 11 in Sacramento at the Sierra Room of the
Cal EPA Building 8:30-11:30 am
Watershed restoration work in California is facing a
hurdle: the imminent depletion of several state funding sources
that have been earmarked for the purpose. Numerous groups concerned
with watershed health have agreed in general that it would be extremely
helpful to devise a stable statewide funding mechanism for restoration,
which would provide a steady stream of support for this work. Although
that sentiment is broadly shared, three key questions have yet to
be resolved.
1. Would the funding be administered from a central statewide office,
or would priorities be set and funding decisions made at a regional
level? (If the latter, the state would be divided into 10 regions:
the nine RWQCB regions, with the Central Valley split into Sacramento
and San Joaquin regions.)
2. How would the funding be apportioned to those 10 regions? Three
options that have been proposed are: equal amounts to each region;
favoring areas near centers of population; or favoring the areas
where the state's water supply originates (watersheds of origin).
3. How would the money be raised? Ideas that have been floated include
a tax on toilet paper and a fee on bottled water.
Proponents of a State Watershed Program believe that the time has
come to convene an open forum of interested parties to discuss these
issues, in the hope of reaching a unified position for which support
can be built in the Legislature.
Central Coast Road Decommissioning Field
School scheduled for May 16-18 Postponed till July 18-20
Central Coast Salmon Enhancement and the Salmonid Restoration
Federation are hosting a Field School on July 18-20 in Arroyo Grande,
California. Course Instructors, Bill Weaver and Danny Hagans
of Pacific Watershed Associates will present - Culvert and Road
Drainage Practices to Protect and Benefit Salmon and Steelhead in
the Central Coast Region.
The three day course will include classroom material as well as
several sessions in the field. The following topics will be
covered in the course:
1) Proper ditch relief and stream crossing culvert installation,
with and without downspouts, flared inlets, trash racks, etc.
2) Proper installation of critical rolling dips or measures
to eliminate stream diversions,
3) Classroom and field methods to determine appropriate
culvert sizing for peak stream flows, sediment and woody debris
in transport,
4) Proper approaches for addressing potential road fill
and landing failures, as well as spoil disposal techniques,
5) Illustrate a variety of road bed and ditch drainage
approaches. These include when, where and how to convert insloped
and ditched roads to outsloped roads with or without a ditch, when,
where and how to construct rolling dips with and without rock, and
when, where and how to dispose of berms along roads,
6) How to properly excavate a stream crossing fill to
minimize post excavation erosion and sediment delivery to streams,
and
7) How to reduce roadbed width on excessively wide segments
of road.
Class is limited to 30 students. Cost is $100 and includes meals,
lodging and materials. Scholarships are available. Contact Connie
O’Henley at Central Coast Salmon Enhancement – 805-473-8221 for
more information or to register for the class.
Check out the SRF web site to download a registration form
http://www.calsalmon.org/training/ccfs06.htm
Work Opportunity: Invasive Plant Program
Coordinator with the Mattole Restoration Council
The Mattole Restoration Council, based in Petrolia, Humboldt
Co., Calif. seeks a Program Coordinator for our Invasive Plant
Program, an effort to oversee the eradication of non-native invasive
plants throughout the Mattole watershed. The objective of
the Invasive Plant Program is to protect and restore Mattole grassland
and forests, and their biological diversity through the eradication
and control of nonnative invasive plants such as broom, Japanese
Knotweed and other noxious weeds. The Program Coordinator
will manage invasive plant eradication projects, generate new
project ideas, communicate with landowners about noxious weeds,
and continue successful education outreach efforts.
We are looking for a Program Coordinator who can make a minimum
one-year commitment to working for this program. Initially, the
position will be up to 25-40 hours/week, with the opportunity
for seasonal full-time field work. On-the-job training will
be provided. Work will include road and stream surveying,
project inspection, landowner communications, and other tasks
as needed.
We are looking for candidates with:
· Ability to conduct
rigorous backcountry field work in adverse conditions
· Ability to communicate
effectively with landowners and land managers
· Strong work ethic
and a commitment to learn and apply new techniques
· Familiarity with basic
arithmetic, report writing and record-keeping
· Familiarity with native
and invasive plants, and plant ecology/botany
· Attention to detail,
patience in communications, and legible handwriting
· Valid drivers license
and automobile
· Ability to coordinate
and supervise work crews
Pay depends on experience. Position includes partial benefits.
Work will be performed at MRC offices in Petrolia and Whitethorn
and at field sites throughout the Mattole River watershed, and
may require occasional travel beyond the watershed as well.
Application Deadline is May 25, 2006. To apply, send a
cover letter and resume to Mattole Restoration Council, attention
to Program Director, P.O. Box 160, Petrolia, CA 95558 or fax to
(707) 629-3577. For more information about the Council and its
programs, see our website, www.mattole.org
or call MRC at (707) 629-3514.
Stream Restoration Success: Monitoring
for Project Performance and Management: July 7 in Petaluma
Habitat enhancement and management are increasingly
important in stream conservation and restoration efforts throughout
California. Over the last three decades, many miles of streams
have been restored in north coast watersheds. This one-day workshop
will capitalize upon lessons learned through that effort.
Participants will become familiar with options for monitoring
site change and receive qualitative and quantitative feedback
on project success. Speakers will share results from their monitoring
of restoration projects that build and advance our overall understanding
of stream restoration and habitat management.
Confirmed speakers and topics include:
Barry Collins (CDFG) – Multiple Needs for Science-Based Restoration
Monitoring
Matt Kondolf and Shannah Anderson (UC Berkeley) – National River
Restoration Synthesis Study
Tom Leroy (Pacific Watersheds Associates) – Effectiveness Monitoring
of Road Decommissioning Projects
Thomas Gardali (PRBO) – Abundance Patterns of Landbirds in Restored
and Remnant Riparian Forests
Michael Lennox (UC Coop. Ext.) – Correlating Habitat Trajectories
to Revegetation Method
Randall Jackson (UW Madison) – Assessing Plant Community Development
Kenneth Tate (UC Davis) – Managing Sensitive Riparian Habitat
Over Decades
Kathleen Morgan (Gualala River Watershed Council) – Cooperatively
Monitoring Project Performance
DATE & TIME: Friday, July 7, 2006, 8:30am – 4:00pm
LOCATION: Luchessi Center, Petaluma (320 McDowell Boulevard
– Take East Washington Exit off
Highway 101 and head east to McDowell. Turn left and proceed to
second traffic light. Turn Right
into parking lot)
FEE: $30.00
Please save the workshop date and RSVP to Kathy Perry at (707)
565-2621 (ksperry@ucdavis.edu). Do
not hesitate to
contact David Lewis (djllewis@ucdavis.edu)
or Michael Lennox (mlennox@ucdavis.edu)
with questions.
Registration
Name: __________________________________________ Affiliation:
___________________________
Address: ________________________________ City: ______________
State: _________ Zip: ________
Phone: ____________________(cell): ____________________ E-Mail:
___________________________
Please make checks out to U.C. Regents and mail to the
following address:
UCCE Sonoma County – Stream Restoration Success
133 Aviation Blvd., Ste. 109, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Spring-Run Chinook Watershed Gathering
in Butte Creek July 27-29
Butte Creek contains one of the last self-sustaining
populations of Spring-Run Chinook in California. SRF will offer
a three-day symposium for property owners, local restorationists,
and agency biologists and staff to participate in workshops on
fish monitoring and identification techniques, to tour and understand
restoration projects, and to increase their capacity to positively
impact the recovery of Spring Run Chinook in California.
To download a registration form, please click here: http://www.calsalmon.org/pdf/BioRegForm06.pdf
9th Annual Coho Confab at Point Reyes
National Seashore August 25-27
Salmonid Restoration Federation, Trees Foundation
and Salmon Protection and Watershed Network will Host the 9th
Annual Coho Confab August 25-27, 2006 at Point Reyes National
Seashore in Marin County
Salmonid Restoration Federation, Trees Foundation and Salmon
Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN) will sponsor the 9th
annual Coho Confab August 25-27, 2006 at the Clem Miller Education
Facility in the beautiful Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin
County. The Confab is a hands-on symposium focused on exploring
the restoration of our local watersheds and learning techniques
to enhance the recovery of critically endangered salmon and steelhead
and their habitats.
The Confab brings together community members, landowners, activists,
scientists, students, and restoration ecologists for a weekend
of innovative skills-building workshops, hands-on tours of restoration
projects, community networking, and fun.
Participants will learn an array of cutting-edge restoration techniques,
including road decommissioning, biotechnical streambank stabilization,
water quality monitoring, native plant propagation, underwater
fish identification, and more.
Workshops include:
- Underwater fish identification in Lagunitas Creek with Eric
Ettlinger who is an Aquatic Ecologist with Marin's Municipal
Water District.
- Maureen Roche from the Mattole River offering her popular
workshop entitled, “Tales from a Hidden World,” where participants
will have a chance to snorkel and see coho salmon.
- Jim Harrington, aquatic bioassessment pioneer, will teach
how macro-invertebrate sampling can be used as a tool for assessing
creek health.
- Native plant collection and propagation with Circuit Riders
Productions Inc.
- Fish rescue and relocation with SPAWN.
- Brannon Ketchum from Point Reyes National Seashore will lead
a tour of the new Giacommini Wetlands restoration project where
participants will learn about and assist with invasive species
removal.
- The Confab will also include a Bioengineering workshop where
participants will have an opportunity to build organic structures
with native materials to help stabilize eroding banks led by
the local RCD.
- Jim Locke, a local geology professor from Marin College will
teach “Salmon Population Response to Geologic Factors.”
- David Lewis from UC Cooperative Extension will lead a Tomales
Bay Watershed Management workshop and sustainable farm tour
that addresses water quality priorities and techniques.
- Bird response to riparian restoration with Point Reyes Bird
Observatory.
- Estuarine Restoration
To learn more about this year’s Confab, to inquire about scholarship
opportunities, or to register for the Confab, please call SRF at
(707) 923-7501 or Trees Foundation at (707) 923-4377.
Fishery Advocates Seek Share of State Oil
Revenue Windfall for Restoration:
SB 1125 Moving through the Legislature
At the request of CalTrout, State Senator Wes Chesbro (D-Arcata)
has introduced Senate Bill 1125 which would establish a permanent
source of state funds for restoration of salmon and steelhead
trout. The measure seeks to dedicate a share of the more
than $200 million the state government expects to receive each
year from its oil and gas leases on state-owned tidelands and
ocean waters in Southern California.
SB 1125 would annually allocate:
· $10 million from these
revenues for salmonid habitat restoration;
· $5 million, for the
next ten years, for the Coastal Wetlands Account;
· $10 million to the
Marine Life and Marine Reserve Management Account;
· $10 million to the
Non-game Fish and Wildlife Program Account;
· $10 million to the
State Park System Deferred Maintenance account;
· $5 million to the
Wetlands and Riparian Habitat Conservation Account;
· The remaining amount
to the Natural Resources Infrastructure Fund.
SB 1125 comes at a time when funding to pay for resource conservation
is in great demand, but short supply. There is insufficient
funding for the Department of Fish and Game to meet its public
trust responsibilities. There is close to a $1 billion backlog
in state parks deferred maintenance. Commercial salmon fishermen
are sitting at the docks with idle boats and no fish. Essential
marine conservation work remains years overdue and key wetlands
restoration projects go undone due to a shortage of funds.
Chesbro’s new bill seeks to extend and expand a law originally
authored by former State Senator Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena)
nine years ago, Senate Bill 271. Before being elected
to Congress in 1998, Thompson used his clout as Chair of the powerful
Senate Budget Committee and authored SB 271 as a “trailer bill”
to the Budget Act of 1997.
It established the Salmon and Steelhead Trout Restoration Account
and created a dedicated source of revenue for financing salmonid
habitat restoration projects, requiring that $8 million from revenues
collected by the State Lands Commission (SLC) from tidelands oil
and gas leases be annually allocated to this account through 2003.
Funds deposited into the account are annually appropriated by
the Legislature in the Budget Bill for expenditure by the Department
of Fish and Game (DFG). SB 271 also established a citizen
advisory committee, appointed by the DFG Director to provide oversight
and make recommendations to the department on various grant and
expenditure proposals for the $8 million. Tom Weseloh,
CalTrout’s North Coast Manager, is a member of this advisory committee
now known as the Peer Review Committee.
As originally enacted, the 1997 legislation by Mike Thompson authorized
unspecified amounts of tidelands oil revenue to be made annually
available for other environmental and natural resource purposes:
DFG review and monitoring of projects subject
to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Land acquisition projects implementing Natural Community Conservation
Plans (NCCPs) in Orange and San Diego Counties.
Habitat Conservation Fund projects.
Non-point source pollution abatement programs
at the State Water Resources Control Board and California Coastal
Commission.
The Legislature subsequently extended and expanded the provisions
of SB 271 to authorize $2.2 million from tidelands oil revenues
to be made available to DFG for implementation of the Marine
Life Management Act (MLMA), plus $10 million to the State Department
of Parks and Recreation for deferred maintenance projects.
All of these provisions, including the $8 million for salmon and
steelhead trout restoration projects, become inoperative on July
1, 2006, and are automatically repealed as of January 1, 2007.
The use of tidelands oil revenue to pay for natural resource conservation
is an appropriate policy for the state to continue. The
Legislature embraced this concept when it enacted SB 271 in 1997.
SB 271, which is embodied in Section 6217 of the Public Resources
Code (PRC), set forth four areas of investment: salmon and
steelhead restoration; marine conservation; maintenance of our
parks; and a natural resources infrastructure fund for the Department
of Fish and Game, water quality, and regional conservation planning.
SB 1125 would repeal the sunset on Public Resources Code section
6217, making this provision permanent.
Prior to 1997, most of the money collected from state tidelands
oil leases was deposited as revenue in the state General Fund.
In the 1996-97 fiscal year, the state was receiving slightly less
than $100 million from this revenue source. Since
then, tidelands oil revenues have historically fluctuated from
a low of less than $25 million to nearly $200 million.
Due to the state’s deteriorating fiscal situation, in recent years
the Department of Finance under the administration’s of both Gov.
Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger have requested that the Legislature
suspend the operation of the SB 271 funding allocations and allow
all tidelands oil revenue to be deposited into the General Fund.
In the 2004 Budget Act, however, the Legislature agreed to again
suspend SB 271, but decided to “cap” the transfer to the General
Fund to $165 million because of an anticipated windfall in tidelands
revenues caused by escalating world oil prices. As
part of an agreement reached between the Governor and the Legislature,
after $165 million had been deposited into the General Fund, the
2004 Budget Act appropriated the next $26.2 million for the following
purposes in the specified order of priority:
$500,000 for the Marine Life Protection Act (law providing
for establishment of state “marine preserves”)
$10 million for implementation of the California Ocean Protection
Act (COPA) established by SB 1319 (Burton, 2004).
$2.7 million for the Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation.
$6.5 million for salmon and steelhead trout restoration
projects.
$2.5 million for the State Water Resources Control
Board to implement insteam flow guidelines for fisheries.
$4 million to continue operation of DFG fish hatcheries that
had been slated for closure.
Due to litigation between the State of California and the City
of Long Beach, however, there was insufficient tidelands revenue
received prior to the end of fiscal 2004-05 to fund all the line
item appropriations made in the 2004 Budget Act. The
allocation for salmon and steelhead trout restoration only received
partial funding. In the 2005 Budget Bill, the Legislature
provided $8 million from tidelands oil money for fisheries restoration
work, but Governor Schwarzenegger used his “blue pencil”to reduce
this amount to $4 million.
CalTrout also plans to work with Senator Chesbro’s office in an
effort to enact the provisions of SB 1125 as part of a package
in the 2006 Budget Bill. We’re hopeful because Sen. Chesbro
is the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee and fully appreciates
the importance of our salmon and steelhead fisheries to California.
In addition to CalTrout SB 1125 is currently supported by the
following organizations: American Land Conservancy, Cal Coast,
California Council of Land Trusts, California Parks Foundation,
California Waterfowl Association, Defenders of Wildlife, NRDC,
The Ocean Conservancy, Planning and Conservation, Sierra Club,
Trust for Public Land.
We encourage you to support SB 1125. When SB 1125 makes it through
the legislature letters to the Governor will be critical.
To view the latest updates with SB 1125 please visit the web site
listed below and enter SB 1125: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html
The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) Fishery Restoration Grants
Program (FRGP) has provided fisheries restoration funding since
1981. The Eel River has had hundreds of projects funded during
that timeframe. Since 1999/2000 $17,262,516 has been spent on
277 projects in the Eel River. Eligible project types include:
• Education (Public
& Technical)
• Fish passage
• Habitat acquisition
• Instream barrier
modifications for fish passage
• Instream habitat
restoration
• Riparian restoration
• Bank stabilization
• Watershed restoration
and upslope sediment reduction
• Monitoring
• Public involvement
• Watershed organization
support and assistance
• Assessment and
planning
• Fish screening
of diversions
• Water purchase/lease
• Water conservation
measures
• Water measuring
devices
For more information on approved projects, proposal solicitation
notices and additional funding visit the DFG Fishery Restoration
Grants Program site at:
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/nafwb/fishgrant.html
To visit the California Habitat Projects Restoration Data Base
(CHRPD) please see the CalFish web site at:
http://www.calfish.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabId=60
