AMERICAN RIVER WATERSHED GROUP

July 15, 2004


The meeting of the American River Watershed Group (ARWG) meeting was called to order by Rich Gresham, Placer County Resource Conservation District (PCRCD) at 10:15 a.m. at Placer County Water Agency’s “American River Room” located at 144 Ferguson Road, Auburn.

Present: Rich Gresham, PCRCD District Manager, Stan MacDonald and Stewart Feldman PCRCD Directors, and Katie Maloney, PCRCD Sr. Admin. Assistant; Kevin Roberts, Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) Biologist; Ed Horton, Placer County Water Agency (PCWA); Rich Johnson USFS Foresthill District Ranger; Cliff Heitz, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) District Conservationist; Mark Egbert, El Dorado County & Georgetown Divide RCDs; Marilyn Jasper, Clover Valley Foundation and Sierra Club; Gary Palhegyi, GeoSyntec Consulting; Bob Fratini, Pacific, Gas, & Electric; Liz Mansfield, El Dorado Irrigation District Watershed Coordinator; Bill Templin, American River Watershed Coordinator; Tom Amesbury, Sierra Forest Communities Institute.

Subcommittee Reports:
Rich Gresham reported that although there is no longer funding for an Alliance Coordinator, the Alliance remains active and is reviewing its future mission, role, and structure.

Stewart Feldman reported that July 21st a consortium of fire entities will be exploring fire safe activities in the Granite Bay area.

Rich Johnson noted the importance of fire safe collaboration and encouraged continuation of Alliance efforts. He stressed the importance of establishing evacuation routes and shaded fuel break strategies when developing community fire safe plans and noted their lack in the documents he has reviewed.

Stewart reported the Placer County Hazard Mitigation Committee is holding meeting under the direction of their Office of Emergency Services (OES) and that Robin Yonash has been providing the committee with pertinent information.

Rich Johnson stressed the importance of the county developing a plan in collaboration with the Foresthill, Iowa Hill, and other forest communities.

Rich Gresham noted the need for OES, the Fire Chiefs Association, and the Alliance to develop a good fire safe plan with components that address evacuation, fire safe strategies, and public education and outreach efforts. He requested that Rich Johnson participate in the Alliance effort. He noted that pertinent information, already been collected, has been passed on to the county for use in their planning efforts.

Project Updates:
Rich Gresham reported the contract is under review by attorneys at the state level before it can be sent to Sierra College for review then back to the state for final approval. All four prospective project candidates have been updated as to the status of the project and all four are still interested in the project.

Business:
  1. Introduction of Bill Templin, American River Watershed Coordinator:
Bill Templin introduced himself and reviewed his background that includes having worked for US Geological Survey. Bill has a strong background in water issues and he passed around a press release meant to introduce himself and his new coordination effort to the watershed’s communities.

Bill reported he has been attempting to meet with stakeholders individually and is familiarizing himself with his workplan that will guide his efforts for the next three years. Bill passed around copies of a PowerPoint presentation and a tri-fold pamphlet he has developed outlining his workplan to help stakeholders understand the goals and objectives of his effort. He stressed he is working to develop a network of contacts and a list of potential projects.

Rich Gresham reported there is a plan to place regular updates in the media to publicize ARWG efforts. The group shared media contact information with Bill.

Rich requested ARWG members make time to meet with Bill, get acquainted, and discuss with him their issues of concern.

  1. Pacific Gas &Electric (PG&E) Watershed Lands Management Plans & Divestitures:
Rich Gresham introduced Bob Fratini of PG&E and stressed the PG&E divestiture could provide project and restoration opportunities both within and outside of the watershed.

Bob Fratini reviewed the PG&E Settlement Agreement and Land Conservation Agreement including the following points:




Bob reviewed locations of watershed lands, land conservation commitments, and public use facilities. Permanent conservation easements/FEE Simple donations would restrict development and protect/preserve/enhance beneficial public values.
Donations would be made to organizations whose ownership will ensure protection of beneficial public values and might include public entities and qualified non-profit conservation organizations. Lands required for hydroelectric operations are excluded from consideration for FEE simple donation.

The process for the easement and land donation plan includes PG&E, Pacific Forest & Watershed Lands Stewardship Council (Stewardship Council), CA Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), FERC, and other regulatory bodies.

The Stewardship Council will recommend conservation objectives and develop criteria for ultimate land disposition, implementation, and monitoring plans. The Stewardship Council governing board includes among others the following members:
The Stewardship Council will make decisions by consensus (non-objection) if consensus can not be reached, arbitration will ensue. Additional information can be found on PGE’s website at: www.pge.com .

Bob fielded questions from the group and noted that as the Stewardship Council forms and moves forward they will be interacting with the public.

Rich Gresham noted the PG&E divestiture has been brought to the attention of the CA Association of Resource Conservation District’s (CARCD’s) Forestry & Fuels Management Committee and Bob will be making a presentation to the committee at their next meeting.

Rich reviewed opportunities for partnering on projects and conservation planning, including a proposed project to build upon restoration efforts already implemented by the /Granite Bay Flycasters at PG&E owned Bear Valley Meadow by restoring the stream’s meander through the meadow.

Bob Fratini indicated he will keep the group abreast of developments and the group thanked Bob for his presentation.

  1. Overview of Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Practices within the American River Watershed:
Cliff Heitz apologized for missing the last two meetings due to his workload that included getting current EQIP projects underway.

Cliff distributed background information on Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) programs. NRCS resulted from the restructuring of the Soil Conservation Service to expand its programs past assistance to commodity crop growers.

In the past, assistance for private forest landowners was addressed through the Forest Incentives Program, administered by NRCS, but restricted by limited funding that addressed only production issues.

The early 1990’s brought about program changes in the Farm Bill and resulted in the inception of EQIP. The new program allowed for a wide variety of practices to meet resource needs including water, soil, air, plants, and animals.

Cliff reviewed past efforts of ARWG member and PCRCD Director Stan MacDonald to address fire safety issues and fuels reduction by chairing the “Local Working Group” that helps guide the local EQIP effort.

The “healthy forest/fuel load reduction” component of EQIP first started in Meadow Vista in conjunction with the development of a watershed plan for that specific community. One of the major resource concerns identified in that document included the health of forestland and the threat of wildfires. This effort also resulted in the use of the term “healthy forest”. A few years later the healthy forest/fuel load reduction efforts were expanded to include a Foresthill Road “healthy forest’ demonstration site and the Michigan Bluff Shaded Fuel Break.

Implementation funding for healthy forest practices in the county this year will be around $470K. These practices include brush clearing, tree thinning, limbing, forest re-planting, wildlife enhancement, watering, erosion control, and invasives management. In the last five years approximately $1.150K from EQIP and $60K from Prop 204 funding has been spent on private forestlands in the county. Landowners have contributed an additional $415K to on-the-ground projects for a total of $1.625K spent on private forestlands. The majority of this funding has been spent within the American River watershed.

Rich thanked Cliff for the information and suggested that it would be helpful if the group had a GIS map depicting where EQIP projects are being implemented.

  1. Open Discussion:


  1. Next Meeting and Adjournment:
The next meeting will take place on August 19th. The meeting was adjourned at 12:15 p.m.

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