What:
Local Watershed Group: French Creek Watershed Advisory Group (formed in 1990 at urging of State Board of Forestry)
Where:
Scott River, Siskiyou County, Klamath Bioregion
Why: Major Watershed Issues (originally):
Ä Over 60% of this 21,000 acre watershed is underlain by decomposed granitic (DG) soils, making it highly vulnerable to erosion and sedimentation of salmon habitat.
Ä Conflict among ownerships over management, particularly in addressing cumulative watershed effects; high potential for environmental lawsuits and appeals.
Who: Membership:
Siskiyou County (Road Department)
USDA- Forest Service
Fruit Growers Supply Company
Sierra Pacific Industries/ Timber Products
Roseburg Resources Company
Calif. Dept. of Forestry & Fire Prot
Siskiyou Resource Cons. District
Marble Mountain Audubon Society
State Water Resources Control Board
North Coast Reg. Water Quality Board
USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service
French Creek Drainage Property
Calif. Dept. of Fish and Game Owners Association
Dennis Pendleton, U.C. Davis Extension - Facilitator
Sari Sommarstrom, Watershed Consultant, Etna - Coordinator
What: Goals:
1. Reduce the sediment yield in the French Creek watershed and reduce, as much as feasible, the potential for negative cumulative watershed effects.
2. Develop a cooperative, ongoing planning process for resource management of a watershed with multiple ownerships.
How: Actions by group to date:
(Continues to meet formally 1-2 times per year)
1. Developed PROCESS to work together: subcommittees, lunches, field trips, newsletter.
2. Adopted the content of what to do through several plans (in 1992), and landowners have already implemented much of these plans:
Ä Road Management Plan: over $500,000 spent towards road improvement in past few years - over 38 miles of unsurfaced road recontoured and rocked, 4 miles of road put to bed, many miles of road closed to wet season use, and 20,000 trees planted on cut and fill slopes; County Road rock wall and rock mulch on cut and fill slopes.Program NarrativeÄ Fire and Fuel Management Plan: advocates optimum slash treatment, and fire prevention & education. Controlled burning being evaluated as tool.
Ä Monitoring Plan: measures the success of erosion control projects, building on 1989 "baseline" data.
The Problem
Lots of sand in the stream was the original complaint. Over 60% of the French Creek watershed's 20,584 acres is underlain by decomposed granitic (DG) soils, notoriously erodible. In fact, geologists have nicknamed DG soils the "hemophiliac" of soils: they look normal and productive on the surface, but once scratched, they bleed continuously and require great efforts to stem the flow. Unfortunately, excessive granitic (sand-sized) sediment has harmed the spawning and rearing habitat of salmon and steelhead in French Creek and downstream in the Scott River. This drainage has historically provided prime habitat for coho salmon and steelhead (both species proposed for listing as threatened under the Endangered Species Act) as well as the commercially valuable chinook salmon.
The French Creek watershed was selected in 1990 by the State Board of Forestry for a cooperative watershed process because of: 1) its significant sediment contribution to the Scott River sub-basin and, 2) prevailing conflict among the federal, timber, and residential ownerships over management, particularly in addressing cumulative watershed effects. The potential was particularly high for environmental lawsuits and appeals of timber management activities, as logging was perceived to be the cause of the stream filling up with sand over the past few decades. The situation was ripe for a fresh approach.
The Process
During the initial years, we developed a process to work together, with bimonthly meetings, consensus decisions, non-working social lunches, small subcommittees, and field trips.
Stakeholder Representation: Representatives from 13 organizations actively participated. Landowners included: U.S. Forest Service, Fruit Growers Supply Company, Sierra Pacific Industries (now Timber Products), Roseburg Resources Company, Siskiyou County Road Dept., and the French Creek Drainage Property Owners' Association. Other viewpoints were added by the California Dept.of Fish and Game, California Dept. of Forestry, State Water Resources Control Board, US Soil Conservation Service, Siskiyou Resource Conservation District, and the Marble Mountain Audubon Society.
Community Outreach: The French Creek watershed community was involved through its property owners' association of about 100 members. Also, a newsletter and public field trips informed them of the group's progress. A volunteer tree planting effort (see Newspaper article) involved about a dozen owners in developing "ownership" of the solution, as well as cost-share funding by 15 residential landowners for rocking their bare driveways.
Interdisciplinary Approach: The group's membership included various professional disciplines: forestry, geology, fisheries biology, soil science, civil engineering, resource management, and resource planning. In addition, several other useful specialties were represented: road management, construction, and education. Through joint discussion, field trips, social time, and data analysis, the members came to mutual understanding of the problem and the solution.
The group adopted the content of what to do through several plans (in 1992):
Ä Road Management Plan: Roads (cut & fill slopes, surface) were found to produce about 62% of the sediment. Over $500,000 was spent (only 1/5 grant funds) towards road improvement in past few years - over 38 miles of unsurfaced road recontoured and rocked, 4 miles of road put to bed, many miles of road closed to wet season use, and 20,000 trees planted on cut and fill slopes; rock breast wall & rock mulch placed by County on large roadcuts, 4 miles of private driveways rocked.Innovative Non-Regulatory Action: Timber owners and the U.S Forest Service were threatened with additional regulations to prevent and correct serious sedimentation problems. California's forest practices are often determined in court battles, yet a better choice was available here. Everyone at the table could agree that roads were the main culprit of nonpoint source pollution, and once the solutions were also agreed upon, voluntary work began. Sharing of rock sources and equipment enabled the County Road Dept. to affordably correct the #1 problem road. The largest timber owner, Fruit Growers Supply Company, began aggressively treating its roads. No one waited for government grants. They just worked on their piece of the problem.Ä Monitoring Plan: measures the success of erosion control projects through instream evaluation, building on 1989 "baseline" data for sediment levels in pools and gravels, as well as fish numbers. Joint annual monitoring effort performed by members.
Achievement of measurable goals
The Goal: "To reduce the sediment yield in the French Creek watershed and reduce, as much as feasible, the potential for negative cumulative watershed effects."
We determined that the best monitoring method was a new technique called "V*," which measures fine sediment in pools. Our results show significant reduction in sediment stored in pools, from 32% in 1992, to 10% in 1993, 8% in 1994, and 11% in 1995. According to Dr. Tom Lisle of the US Forest Service's Redwood Science Lab., French Creek is the only one of 50 monitored streams to show such significant and sustained reduction in V* measurements in northern California. This watershed is also the only one with a partnership working cooperatively to fix the longterm sediment problem.
The positive monitoring results are a welcome reward for everyone's intensive road management efforts. Our video, "The French Creek Watershed Story: Moving Mountains to Keep a Mountain from Moving," offers a visual description (17 minutes) of all of the above.
