Minutes - Central Sierra Watershed
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Articles by the Central
Sierra Watershed Management Committee |
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| Fifty Ways to Save Water | Noxious Weeds |
| Air Pollution | Fractured Rock and Hydrologic Cycle Diagrams |
| Drip Irrigation in your Garden | Water Saving Tips for home and business |
| Drought Tolerant Plants | Septic Systems |
| Erosion and Sediment Control | Dirty Water |
| Fire Safe - Fire Clearance | Yellow Star Thistle |
Please mark your 2008 calendars
| January 30, 2008 February 27, 2008 March 26, 2008 April 30, 2008 May 28, 2008 June 25, 2008 |
July 30, 2008 August 27, 2008 September 24, 2008 October 29, 2008 Nov./Dec. combined on December 3, 2008 |
The mission of the Central Sierra
Watershed Committee is to promote the quality, quantity, and aesthetic
values of our water resources through the conservation and restoration of
our watershed. CENTRAL SIERRA
WATERSHED COMMITTEE 9:00 AM 1.
Introductions: 9:03 2.
Mission Statement Read
by Tom W. 3.
Review of Minutes/Agenda No
changes at this time. 4.
Updates, Handouts & Extra information for Committee Public
Comment §
For rodent control in Madera County; the Agricultural
Department sells bait at their cost. Also
they assist customers in the legal use of pesticides including building bait
stations. §
Upcoming Events: April 1, 2008 – 8:00 am to 4:30 pm at the Harvest
Hall, Modest California Watershed groups and other public organizations
within the CALFED area involved or interested in non-native species (NIS)
projects are invited to attend a one-day symposium on NIS management. The
symposium will focus on the control, prevention, and eradication of NIS. In
addition, specific attention will be given to funding opportunities and
permitting issues. Registration:
Pre-registration is encouraged. The symposium is free; however, there
is a $10.00 fee for lunch. Participation is limited to 100.
Contact: Lisa Alamo, Exec. Director East Stanislaus RCD, 209-491-9320 X 121 or lisa.alamo@ca.nacdnet.net April 2 at 5:00 PM at Yosemite Gateway of Realtors
office in Oakhurst - Due
to poor turnout at the last Valley Blueprint meeting in Oakhurst, they have
scheduled another. Registration starting at 5pm and presentation starting at
5:30pm. April 2 & 4 – NRCS Envirothon at the Wonder
Valley Resort near Kings River. This
is an annual High School event that includes teams from all of California.
The teams compete in Aquatics, Forestry, Wildlife, a Speech contest,
and more. The subject for this
year is Recreational Impacts on Natural Resources. April
8 - at 5:30 pm - at the
Midpines Community Center (6364 A Hwy 140, next to the Fire Station)
The Upper Merced River Watershed Council invites you to a
presentation by Ted Selb, Deputy General Manager of the Merced Irrigation
District (MID), on the re-licensing process for the New Exchequer and
McSwain hydropower facilities on the Merced River.
The five-year process leading up to the re-licensing of these dams is
carried out by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and begins
in the next year. Dan Pope, MID Hydroelectric Project Manager, and Jim Lynch, FERC
Re-licensing consultant with Devine Tarbell & Associates, will accompany
Mr. Selb. April 10
at 7:00 PM - Jack Laws presents “Exploring the Sierra Nevada as a
Naturalist and as an Artist.” Sponsored by the Yosemite Area Audubon
Society, the program will be held at the Mariposa Methodist Church parish
hall on 6th Street between Highway 140 and Bullion Street in
downtown Mariposa. Laws spent
six years creating his pocket-sized field guide to more than 1,700 species
of plants and animals in the Sierra.
The book includes an impressive 2,710 original watercolor paintings
by the author. Jack will share his experience and knowledge of Sierra Nevada
natural history. Copies of the field guide will be available for purchase,
and a book signing will follow Laws’ talk. Laws’ presentation is open
and free to the public, although donations to defray program costs and to
support Audubon’s local activities are welcome.
Refreshments will be available April 11,
2008 – NRCS/RCD Youth Workshop at the San Joaquin Experimental Range, Hwy
41 - The goal of this workshop is to provide information while emphasizing
the importance of our natural resources.
The way we manage our natural resources such as soil, water, air,
plants, and animals is critical in determining our present and future
welfare. The conservation and
wise use of these resources found on our croplands, grasslands, and
woodlands are key elements in keeping our lands and society productive. April 19, 2008 – 10:00 to 4:00 in Auberry at the
Intermountain Nursery Earth Day Celebration – “Waterwise Landscaping”
- Booths, bands, food, etc. April 27 – 10:00 to 6:00 - 2008 Earth Day Fair –
Located in North Fork There will be booths, music, food and drinks,
cultural activities, etc. April 26 & 27 – Mariposa Agri-Nature Trail is
holding the “Weekend in the Country” contact www.mariposaagtour.com
for more information. April 29 – 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm – Oakhurst Senior
Center (on 425B) – “Living Among the Oaks with the Danger of Wild
Fire” Coarsegold RCD and Sheriff John Anderson will be putting on a
workshop about fire in the foothills. One subject that will be addressed
will be how to build Wildfire Safe Homes.
May 8 & 9 – Bureau of Land Management will team
up with local groups to conduct a 2 day event for elementary school kids to
show the historical use of the land. This
will include kids from four schools and will be held at the area near
Ahwahnee on the Fresno River on Road 600. §
Ahwahnee Park Letter This issue
was readdressed from February, when it was requested of CSWC to submit a
general letter of funding support to Madera County for timely repair to the
dam. Concerns were addressed
regarding the generalization of the funding, and after discussion it was
decided that the letter should be sent as drafted.
SJVRC&D will be excluded from the letter due to the park being
out of their designated congressional area of representation. 5.
Sierra Nevada Adaptive Management Project
Presentation by
Anne Lombardo, SNAMP Public
Participation Team It
is important to know how vegetation treatments to prevent wildfire will
affect fire risk, wildfire, forest health, and water. A team of university
scientists has agreed to act as an independent third party, monitoring the
effects of vegetation management treatments implemented by the Forest
Service in two areas in the Sierra Nevada. Results will be used to improve
forest management in the future. The
SNAMP project involves resource agencies, the public, and the University
Science Team. Each group has differing but interrelated roles and
responsibilities. The Forest Service will be planning and implementing
treatments, while the University Science Team will be independently
monitoring and studying the effects of the projects on four important
categories: wildlife (specifically the Pacific Fisher and spotted owl), fire
and forest health, water quality and quantity, and public participation. The
public will be invited to provide feedback on the entire process.
The study in this area is focused in Cedar Valley, Yosemite, and Fish
Camp and is a seven year study that is about one and a half years into the
study. Nine Pacific Fishers
have been found so far. It
was recommended that the Upper Fresno River Watershed Assessment coordinate
with this project so that the data obtained can be integrated into the
Assessment. It was also suggested that the results of the water quality and
quantity studies get integrated into the County’s Integrated Regional
Water Management Plan. 6.
Madera County Water Advisory Commission – Update The
Water Advisory Commission met on March 19 and also had a special meeting on
March 8 in Oakhurst. Their main
project currently is the review of the Integrated Regional Water Management
Plan. They will be having
another special meeting in to review this plan on April 7 at 10:00 AM to be
followed by their regularly scheduled meeting on April 16 at 2:00 PM. The
Board of Supervisors are still accepting applications for a fifth Water
Commissioner, there are currently four of the five districts being
represented. 7.
Project
Updates q
Integrated Regional Water Management Plan – Jeannie Habben The County has completed the first draft of the IRWMP (800+
pages). They have had three
community meetings; one in Oakhurst on March 8, a second in Raymond on March
13, and a third in the Valley in conjunction with the M.C. Water Advisory
Commission on March 19. When
these were completed, all public comment was due into the County by March
21. Another couple of special meetings will be held to discuss
the changes made in the plan. These
will be held on April 7 with the M.C. Water Advisory Commission with the
draft presented to the Board of Supervisors on April 14 for review and
possible approval. It has been
discussed that the county should get a second extension from the state to
give public comment more time (through June).
Some of the issues that have been discussed with this plan are: -
Add a section
on making the plan a “living document” -
Governance
and plan management -
Review of
sections involving shared wells and subdivisions -
Address in
more detail: climate change, flood control, & watershed management -
Limiting
parcel sizes -
MID’s right
to bank water -
Farm watering
techniques were not addressed It
was discussed that there is the possibility of working with the Center of
Collaborative Policy through the Department of Water Resources to assist in
developing the stakeholder process in Madera County for the Integrated
Regional Water Management Plan. They would assist with areas such as:
accountability, time lines, updates and new sections, and updating current
sections. Working with this group will assist in broadening the stakeholder
input on water policy in Madera County. q
Fresno River Watershed Assessment Grant – Jeannie Habben Fresno
State has begun the studies for this project and has brought in some
graduate students to do some of the studies.
Luke Wang from Fresno State has already started created layers for
the map that is to go on-line with the final project. The County has transferred oversight of the project to the
Planning Department from the Environmental Health Department (still under
the Resource Management Agency). The RFP for the Project Manager and Project
Consultant were posted with a submittal date of March 12.
The County received two applications for the Project Manager position
and three for the Project Consultant position.
After discussion, the consensus was that if applications were
received from qualified applicants, Planning should move forward with
accepting a bid from those received, rather than reopening for further bids,
so that the project would stay within designated timelines. q
Madera County Levee Maintenance Plan/Project – Elissa Brown Progress is being made a little at a time on this project.
The Task Force is starting to work on Public Outreach so Jeannie H
has ordered 500 of the newly produced brochures from Team Arundo del Norte
for Arundo education. These
brochures will be sent to area landowners with other information funded
through a grant from San Joaquin Valley RC & D who is also providing
many hours of volunteer time through their Administrative Assistant. The
next step the County has been approved to start on is rodent control in the
Levees. They are looking for
assistance from community groups and kids in the community to assist with
the distribution of flyers and the assembly of the PVC pipe units for the
rodent baiting. Wild Link was suggested for this project. The County is
continuing to do research on encroachments on the Levees to see where the
issues are and then they will have a large community meeting to explain the
whole process: why, where, how, etc. All
of next years Flood Control dollars have been allocated so more funding is
being researched. Elissa B is working on the 2008
Urban and Agricultural Water Use Efficiency (WUE) Grant Program grant
application which is due in mid-April.
Funding from this grant would be used to eradicate the Arundo, and to
thus reduce the unnecessary evaporation from the Chowchilla Water District
channels. There has been a committee to assist her with mapping, measuring,
and other strategic issues to write the grant.
The County IT department has been brought in to assist with aerial
mapping of the Arundo in the waterways to see if this can be done without
having to walk all 75 miles. The County has received approval from Fish and
Game and the SJVAPCD to do a demonstration burn project on two miles of the
sloughs. This project will decide if it is more economical to burn and then
spray the Arundo as a means of eradication. q
Yosemite/Sequoia Resource Conservation & Development –
Helen George The Y/S RC&D has two new VISTAs in their office: Beth and
Peter. One is working on the Ag
Nature Tourism projects and the other is working on computer projects
searching for grants, etc. Yosemite/Sequoia
RC&D received two Strategic Opportunity Grant Category II awards from
the Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC). One
is for $49,999. to edit and reproduce "Welcome to the
Foothills..." for Mariposa, Madera and Fresno Counties, and to create
it for Tulare County. The other
is for $20,000. to put on Agri./Nature Tourism Business Development
Workshops in Fresno and Tulare Counties, and provide follow-up business
development counseling for participants. We
assisted with the SNC tour on March 12th and attended their quarterly
business meeting at Bass Lake on the 13th.
Their
quarterly meeting will be held on April 10 at Lush Meadows Clubhouse in
Mariposa. They are no longer
working on the Soil & Water Conservation Conference or the State
Association of Resource Conservation & Development Council’s
conference because both were postponed until next year due to budget
constraints. q
Upper Merced River Watershed – Anne Steel The watershed staff is pleased to announce that the Sierra Nevada
Conservancy has awarded a grant for the creation of The Merced River Center!
This project is a collaboration between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
and the Upper Merced River Watershed Council/Mariposa County Resource
Conservation District. The visitor center at Briceburg, owned and managed by
the BLM, is a historic building adjacent to the river that provides an ideal
setting for introducing visitors and residents to the watershed, its natural
and human history, and its diverse ecosystem. The center will be renovated
and equipped to provide river and watershed education and interpretation, as
well as meeting space for watershed and community gatherings. They
are also currently working on their non-profit status and getting their feet
wet in the FERC re-licensing process. q
San Joaquin River Stewardship Council & Assessment –
Steve Haze It
was reported that this project is now in the outreach portion of the
process. This watershed covers
two counties and has some challenges of having some very remote areas. Steve H is the Project Manager and is working on contacting
stakeholders in eastern Fresno County while Jeannie H is Assistant Project
Manager and is working on contacting stakeholders in eastern Madera County.
There will be notices going out in regards to all of the upcoming meetings
and workshops. The first are
the community meetings: April 17 at 6:00 will be in Shaver Lake and April 23
at 6:00 will be in North Fork. These will introduce stakeholders to the
project and invite them to get involved and attend the Team Building
Workshop on May 3. This
workshop will hopefully get people excited and engaged in the process for
the next 18 months. A few of the main partners for this project will be: the
California Water Institute, the Inyo National Forest, and the Sierra
National Forest. q
Chowchilla/Fresno Watershed – Jeannie Habben Jeannie H was a speaker at the bi-annual Office of Emergency
Service County meeting. This was a half-day conference on emergency issues
in the County. She did a
presentation on Arundo donax as an emergency issue based on its flood and
fire potential. The
presentation was about a half hour long with much participation from about
65 people present. Other speakers were Sheriff John Anderson on general issues,
also speakers on Fuel Breaks and fire clearing, and Ethanol Plants in Madera
County. Also on March 25 they held the
third Dairy Workshop held at Farnesi’s in Chowchilla.
There were 90 invitations mailed with many additional invitations e-mailed.
Invitations were sent to all dairies in Madera County, the Chowchilla
Red Top RCD, Madera RCD, and the San Joaquin Valley RC & D along with
the speakers in attendance. There
were 35 in attendance to the program that included Regulatory issues, Dairy
cattle barns of the future, writing a Comprehensive Nutrient Management
Plan, Agricultural Pumping Efficiency Program selling Biomass to PG & E,
and Phototrophic lagoon liquids processing. q
North Fork Community Development Council – Volney Dunavan They
held their monthly meeting on March 24 at the Mill Site. At the meeting they
elected three new members so they are now working with a full board.
There is a very positive feeling now and they will start moving
forward. q
San Joaquin Valley Resource Conservation & Development
– Sandy Wright The next
Council meeting is March 27 at 9am at the USFS Supervisor's office in
Clovis. A presentation will be
given by Self Help Enterprises on the rural community tour that was funded
by SJV for State Legislators to experience infrastructure delinquencies in
rural town water and septic systems. Elissa
Brown will be speaking about regional collaboration and capacity building.
California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley will be speaking
about their state funded collaboration of county issues. q
Coarsegold Resource Conservation District – Larry Ballew Their
next meeting is March 27 at noon at the Mill Site in North Fork. They will
be discussing all of their partners projects as well as their upcoming
“Living Among the Oaks” workshop. 8.
Pending Grants & Grant Proposals
DOC/CalFed Watershed Coordinator Grant Program No word from the DOC on the results of the grant application
for the Watershed Coordinator. There
should be an announcement at the end of March 9.
Legislative/Regulatory Updates California Volunteers announced a piece of legislation that
is important to all volunteer and service organizations in California. On
Wednesday, March 26th, the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations
Committee will hear SB 1345 (Ashburn). This legislation is intended to
permanently create a prevailing wage exemption for any work performed on a
public works project by a volunteer or service member.
10. Adjourn –
11:55.
Minutes
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
MEETING
MINUTES
Sierra Ambulance Bldg (Take a right at the Yarn Barn)
40755 Winding Way, Oakhurst, CaliforniaCoordinator/Facilitator:
Jeannie Habben
Larry Ballew – Coarsegold RCD
Christi Hansard – Oakhurst Citizen
Monica Davis – Picayune Rancheria
Steve Haze – Sierra RCD
Geoff Anderson – Dept. of Water Res.
Elissa Brown – Grant Writer
Dale Drozen – Demand Open Government
Jack Fry – Chowchilla Red Top RCD
Jenny Gabor – NRCS – Madera
Don Nielsen – Concerned Citizen
Chuck
Leavitt – Oakhurst Comm. Action Com.
Anne
Lombardo – S.N.A.M.P.
Anne
Steed – Upper Merced Watershed
Ron
Eng – CA Dept Food and Ag
John Reed – Madera Cnty Water Commission
Sandy Wright – San Joaquin Valley RC &D
Jeannie Habben – Facilitator & Chowchilla/Fresno River
Watershed
Tom
Wheeler – Coarsegold RCD/Madera County Board of Supervisors
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