california regional water quality control board … · watershed restoration project . chronology...

CALIFORNIA REGIONAL WATER QUALITY CONTROL BOARD LAHONTAN REGION

MEETING OF NOVEMBER 15-16, 2017 SOUTH LAKE TAHOE

ITEM 8

LAHONTAN WATER BOARD SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAM PILOT PROJECT UPDATE – FOCUS ON THE MIDDLE MARTIS CREEK WATERSHED RESTORATION PROJECT

CHRONOLOGY

October 10, 2013 The Water Board identified the Truckee River Watershed Council (TRWC) as an appropriate entity for implementing a SEP pilot program.

February 12, 2014

The Water Board adopted Resolution No. R6T-2014-0014 authorizing a region-specific Supplemental Environmental Project Program (SEP Program).

The Water Board also adopted Resolution No. R6T-2014-0015 authorizing a SEP pilot program with the Truckee River Watershed Council. The purpose of the SEP pilot program is to evaluate the SEP Program prior to full implementation throughout the region.

July 9, 2015

The Water Board was provided a status report regarding the Truckee River Watershed Council SEP Pilot Program (SEP Pilot Program). Based upon the update, the Water Board agreed that Water Board staff should continue pursuing SEP Program partnerships with interested third parties.

September 11, 2015

The Water Board Executive Officer approved a change order for the SEP Pilot Program to include a portion of the Merrill Davies Meadow and Stream Restoration Project. Expanding the scope of the SEP Pilot Program was made possible due to program efficiencies realized while implementing the original SEP Pilot Program.

October 2016 -Current

The SEP Pilot Program was largely completed in the fall 2016. Projects performed very well during one of the wettest periods on record for the Truckee River watershed.

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BACKGROUND The Water Board approved a SEP Program for identifying, approving, and implementing SEPs when they are included as a part of administrative civil liability settlements. The SEP Program provides guidance to Water Board staff and dischargers in developing SEPs that further the Water Board’s expressed priorities consistent with the State Water Board SEP Policy. The SEP Program supports establishing partnerships with independent third parties (partner organizations) to identify projects that may qualify for SEPs, manage SEP payments from dischargers, and implement SEPs.

The SEP Program includes criteria for identifying appropriate independent third parties and processes for developing partnership agreements. The SEP Program also establishes criteria for evaluating and identifying projects as potential SEPs. The resolution adopting the SEP Program directed Water Board staff to delay full implementation of the SEP Program until a pilot program with the Truckee River Watershed Council (TRWC) is completed and evaluated.

To initiate the TRWC SEP Pilot Program (SEP Pilot Program), the Water Board approved an agreement between the Water Board and TRWC at its February 12, 2014 Board meeting. The Water Board used the remaining funds from the Northstar Mountain Properties SEP Escrow Account to fund the SEP Pilot Program. The SEP Pilot Program has been monitored by Water Board staff through review of quarterly status reports prepared and submitted by TRWC. The SEP Pilot Program continues to be implemented without problems.

ISSUES • Has the Truckee River Watershed Council met the goals established by the Water

Board in completing the SEP Program Pilot Project?

• Should the Water Board’s SEP Program be fully implemented throughout the entireLahontan Region?

DISCUSSION

In 2014, the Water Board and the Truckee River Watershed Council (TRWC) entered into an agreement to complete three restoration projects with $704,000 -$741,790 in funding through a SEP pilot program. Through project efficiencies, TRWC was able to complete the three projects and elements of a fourth restoration project with the funding. The projects, below, constitute the TRWC SEP Pilot Program (SEP Pilot Program):

Elizabethtown • Sediment delivery to Middle Martis Creek reduced• One (1) acre of meadow habitat restored• 1,000 feet of road re-contoured and revegetated• Seasonal drainage reconnected

Dry Creek • 14 acres of meadow habitat restored

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• 4,500 feet of stream channel restored• Soil erosion reduced

Merrill Davies – Jammer Chair/Site 8 • Five (5) acres of meadow and riparian habitat restored• Over 500 feet of stream channel reconnected with floodplain• Erosion eliminated along 500 feet of incised channel

Middle Martis Creek • 40 acres of meadow habitat restored and enhanced• One (1) mile of intermittent channel restored• Erosion reduced along 1.5 miles of existing channel• Two (2) acres of riparian vegetation improved• Risk of infrastructure damage due to flooding reduced

Resolution No. R6T-2014-0015 directed Water Board staff to provide an evaluation of the SEP Pilot Program upon its completion and prior to fully implementing the Water Board’s SEP Program established by Resolution No. R6T-2014-0014. Staff provided the Water Board with an interim evaluation of the SEP Pilot Program in July 2015, even though the SEP Pilot Program was not fully completed. Based upon the information provided during the interim evaluation, the Water Board directed staff to move forward with developing partnership agreements with interested parties that met the SEP Program’s Partnership Organization criteria.

The SEP Pilot Program is now largely completed, with only some monitoring, adaptive management, and administrative tasks remaining. Water Board staff finds the SEP Pilot Program to be successful in program administration, project implementation and benefits to water quality. All four projects performed very well through the 2016/2017 winter and spring runoff seasons. For example, the Middle Martis Creek Restoration Project successfully returned flood flows for the first time in approximately 150 years to the creek’s historical floodplain/meadow area located on the north side of Highway 267. In doing so, the threat of infrastructure damage to the highway, roads, and trails due to flooding was significantly reduced. Jen Mader with Northstar-at-Tahoe described the project and its results as “a true workhorse.”

Water Board staff has also been testing and learning through SEP Pilot Program implementation. Staff has been incorporating the following key SEP Pilot Program components into the two Partner Organization agreements that have been completed since the July 2015 Water Board update and the two additional Partnership Organization agreements that have been prepared for Water Board approval.

1. Partner Organization agreements include language to update their SEP lists on aregular (2-year or more frequent) basis.

2. A template project submittal form has been developed to include minimuminformation. Organizations whose project submittal forms include the minimuminformation may be used in lieu of the Water Board’s form.

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3. Any overhead amount beyond project management costs must be identified and willbe subject to Water Board review.

4. Delegating authority for approving SEP change orders that do not result in fundingincreases to the Executive Officer allows for easy SEP up-scaling.

Water Board staff has also informally observed that the SEP Pilot Program has been meeting SEP Program goals, including: (1) reducing the time and resources Water Board staff expends working with a discharger to identify, develop/design, and implement/manage a SEP; and (2) SEPs being identified and developed through a transparent, stakeholder-based, public process, rather than the historical development process that occurred during confidential settlement talks between a discharger and the Water Board’s Prosecution Team.

The results of the SEP Pilot Program provide a solid basis for Water Board staff’s recommendation to continue moving forward with fully implementing the Water Board’s SEP Program across the region. The lessons learned from the SEP Pilot Program have also assisted Water Board staff with identifying and implementing program improvements that are or will be further increasing program effectiveness and efficiency.

PUBLIC OUTREACH/INPUT This agenda item was posted on the Water Board’s web site and made available to those that are on the Water Board’s Board Meeting Agenda Lyris List, as part of Water Board staff’s routine agenda item development process.

PRESENTERS Eric J. Taxer, Lahontan Water Board staff Beth Christman, Truckee River Watershed Council

RECOMMENDATION This is an informational agenda item and no formal action is requested, although Water Board members may provide direction to staff.

ENCLOSURE ITEM BATES NUMBER 1 Water Board staff presentation 8-7

2 Truckee River Watershed Council presentation 8-19

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ENCLOSURE 1

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Agenda Item No. 8Lahontan Water Board SEP Program Pilot

Project Update – Focus on the Middle Martis Creek Watershed Restoration Project

Lahontan Water Board MeetingSouth Lake Tahoe

November 16, 2017

Eric J. Taxer, P.E.Senior Water Resource Control EngineerCannabis UnitLahontan Water Board

HISTORY

• February 12, 2014:– Resolution R6T-2014-0014 (SEP Program)– Resolution R6T-2014-0015 (SEP Pilot Program)

• July 9, 2015 – Interim Evaluation

• September 15, 2015 – Change Order

Item No. 8 Lahontan Water Board SEP Program Update 2

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SEP PILOT PROGRAM

• Elizabethtown Meadows Restoration

• Dry Creek Restoration

• Merrill Davies – Jammer Chair/Site 8

• Middle Martis Creek Wetlands Restoration


SEP PILOT PROGRAM

• Funding Approved = $704,000 - $741,790

• Spent to Date = $660,484.74


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Program Goals Met

• Reduced Water Board time/resourcesdeveloping and managing SEPs

• Transparent, stake-holder/public SEPdevelopment process

• Successful restoration of aquatichabitat/water quality/water resources.


Elizabethtown Meadows Restoration


Project Partner:Truckee Donner Land Trust

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Watershed Impacts• Logging skid trails

• Grading for residentialdevelopment

• Meadow disconnection

• Erosion feeds sediment toMiddle Martis Creek


Photo provided by TRWC

Restoration Outcomes

• Restore 1,000 feet erodinglogging road

• Reconnect ~1 acrewetland by restoring roadthrough meadow

• Reduce erosion from 0.5miles access road

Restored logging road



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Reconnected Meadow

April 19, 2016

September 6, 2017


Photos provided by TRWC

Dry Creek Meadow Restoration

Project partner:U.S. Forest Service – Tahoe National Forest(Randy Westmoreland, USFS Lead)


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Watershed Impacts

• Significant early-eralogging impacts

• Road erosion• Stream channel

alteration• Meadow degradation



Site 1• Historic logging

impacts – skiddingcreated gully

• Gully dewateredmeadow

• Meadow acreagereduced to ~2 acres


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Restoration Outcomes

• Restore flow to naturalchannels on meadow surface

• Fill existing gully

• Increase meadow area to14.5 acres

• Net gain ~ 12.5 acres


Vegetation Conversion Immediate

July 29, 2015 July 19, 2016


Photos provided by TRWC

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Merrill Davies –Jammer Chair

Project partner:

U.S. Forest Service


Watershed Impacts• Logging roads

• Skid trails

• Disconnected springs

• Captured drainages

• Aspen stand impacts

Eroded gully created by drainage capture



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Restoration Outcomes • 4.5 acres enhanced

habitat

• Filled over 500 feetof incised channel

• Constructed over150 feet of newchannel

Decommissioned road opens up floodplain



Middle Martis Creek Wetlands Restoration

Beth ChristmanTruckee River Watershed Council


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ENCLOSURE 2

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Middle Martis Wetlands Restoration

Update to LRWQCB By: Beth Christman TRWC

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SEP Success Story

• Middle Martis Restoration• Project Objectives• Project Outcomes• Next Steps

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Truckee River Watershed Council

We bring the community Together for the Truckee to protect, enhance and restore the Truckee River Watershed

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Here’s what we do

Restore

Prevent

Engage

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Here’s how we do it

Programs Policy

People

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Project Location

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Problems addressed

• Channel undersized formoderate flows

• Incision, erosion, andheadcutting in MiddleMartis Creek

• Meadow impacts• Highway flooding• Access road and trail

impacts8-25

TRWC’s Role

• Each landowneraddressing separately

• Problem too large forsingle entity

• TRWC identified rootcause

• Martis WatershedAssessment = context

• Brought landownerstogether

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Project Partners

• Caltrans• Northstar California/Vail Resorts• Northstar Community Services District• Truckee Donner Land Trust• Truckee Tahoe Airport District• Truckee River Watershed Council• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

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Solution

• Restore peak flows to north side of highway• Split flows at existing culvert• Maintain base flow on south side of Highway

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Project Benefits

• Restore/enhance 60 acres of wetland• Improve 1 mile stream habitat & 2 acres riparian

habitat• Improve water quality• Enhance fish and wildlife habitat• Reduce infrastructure impacts

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Project layout

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Flow Dispersal logs

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Beaver Dams

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R. Sresovich

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D. Shaw

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So… how did it work out?

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Little bit of flow D.

Shaw

October 11, 2016

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Little more flow…. E.

Swai

n

December 10, 2016

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A LOT of flow! B.

Hast

ings

January 9, 2017

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Overall performing well

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2017 and beyond

• Repair work completed Sept. 2017• Headcut repairs• Flow dispersal logs shifted

• Monitoring continues• Hydrologic• Vegetation• Avian• Greenhouse gas

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Thank you funders!

• Donors to theTruckee RiverWatershed Council

• Project Partners

• California Department of Fishand Wildlife

• Lahontan Regional WaterQuality Control Board

• The Martis Fund• National Fish and Wildlife

Foundation• Tahoe Truckee Community

Foundation

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Questions?

Beth Christman Truckee River Watershed Council 530.550.8760 x 1 [email protected]

www.truckeeriverwc.org

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