LAKEPORT >> Lake County Water Resources Department provided an update on efforts to improve water quality and flow circulation in a meeting in then Board chambers Thursday.
Angela Depalma Dow provided a presentation on how the department coordinates programs with government agencies and Tribal Communities to protect water bodies. Depalma Dow is a water professional who manages programs to protect the water bodies. She discussed low flows in streams, habitat loss, barriers preventing fish reaching upstream during spawning season. Poor watershed management during the late 19th and early 20th centuries instigated problems. The prevailing sentiment was development was progress. noted DePalma Dow. Hydromodification is the alteration of the natural flow
of water through a landscape and often takes the form of channel modification. It is a leading source of impairment in streams, lakes and other water bodies.
“We’re talking about stream straightening that contributes to the loss of habitat and flows,” DePalma Dow said. “Creeks originally meander, going around lots of space in an S-shape.” But the meander S-shapes have been systemically cut off (during development); the channels straightened, with the thought of improving flow and reducing flooding. The goal is to move the water as fast as possible off the land so people can have the resultant space for development and settlement. One result can be a loss of habitat, especially against the shoreline according to DePalma Dow.
“Adobe Creek is not a good place for the Hitch (minnow) to hang out along the side of the creeks as the sediment accumulates,” she said. “You add a lot of additional flood risks, and the water is going to go over the side of the banks so, you have to maintain that channel and remove all the sediment,” Depalma Dow cautioned. She then cited the example of how by April, winter rains have accumulated substantially but then rising temperatures begin to dry out the channels. Newly hatched eggs are exposed on dry beds and are not likely to survive.
“So, we have a system like this in Cole Creek, hydro-modified channels and Cole Creek goes all the way around the base of Mount Konocti,” DePalma Dow said. “An area like this has lots of issues that started with hydromodification, straightening the channels that’s very undersized for what it needs to accommodate. Meanwhile, not to ignore the flood impact, and accessibility for the community to get to their houses and out to the roads.”
Yet in the meantime, California Department Fish & Wildlife are busy updating their hitch barrier mapping and prioritizing that since they cannot do all planned projects at once and so, (they) prioritize the high impact ones. This would include the Kelsey Main St. Bridge, which has a county weir installed, which is of vital importance to the community. This structure is comprised of a low-head dam; a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of lakes, ponds, and reservoirs, and mitigate against flooding by diverting water away from an area.”
She further explained, among other topics about how Spring Valley historically gets a lot of water that sits there until June. Anytime there’s water that exists like this location, the Hitch will be attracted to this particular abundance. Yet an area like this has some issues that started with some type of hydromodification and the straightening of the channels according to DePalma Dow. She then turned her attention to in-stream barriers, which some of the co-presenters referenced. She cited the fish ladder at the Adobe Creek at Spring Hill. This is a full cement bridge with a culvert, so the flow is really strong, and the fish cannot easily get upstream to spawn.
“There is a fish barrier actually, removed and restored, a fish ladder in lower Seigler Canyon Creek, in Lower Lake that was put in, she said. “This is an example, of what a restored fish ladder looks like,” Depalma Dow pointed out referring to a screen. Once the Hitch spawn, juveniles follow, from the creek and congregate in the shore zone. So, they need a lot of variety in the shore zone for refuge and food sources. The shore zone is constantly changing and is important to Hich recovery she noted. Appropriate engineering on Clear Lake is essential to 90% of all the projects executed there. One of the first projects there was to improve stream habitat. A Caltrans mitigation fund for $250,000 was provided for the Clover Creek Diversion off Elk Mountain Road and there is a lot of vegetation and sediment there. This area is conducive for prolific blackberry growth which traps increasing sediment. And one initiative they are tasked with from the Wildlife Conservation Board, is to get rid of the blackberry/sediment propagation. Recent mapping of Middle Creek and Scott’s Creek by the U.S. Geological Survey and UC Davis was done. Their initiative produced photos that substantiate the number one contributor to materials in Clear Lake are originating from Scotts Creek, not Middle Creek as previously presumed.
A generous grant funded by the Army Corp of Engineers will allow the vital Hitch habitat to move to Clear Lake. In partnership with Tribal EcoRestoration Alliance and Bullfrog Diving Underwater Services, which can access $350,000 of that grant to remove primrose in Cache Creek, followed by planting Tule. It is one of the places the Watershed District manages. It is there to provide recreation and flood protection.
There’s funding from the Wildlife Conservation Board. The aim is to find a way to adjust Highland Springs Reservoir, so it can store more water. The goal would be to provide recreation and allow flows to go down Highland Creek to Adobe Creek, to maximize the habitat flows for Hitch during spawning and migration season and thus provide ground water recharging, indicated Depalma Dow.
