California Coastal Conservancy grants $2 million to Salt Riverproject
Board also grants restoration work funding for Martin Slough, Big Lagoon
Donna Tam
Times-Standard
05/20/2011
The California Coastal Conservancy approved $2 million in grants for the Salt River restoration project Thursday, allowing decades of planning to commence later this summer.
First District Supervisor Jimmy Smith said the funding -- which consists of $1million from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and $1 million from the conservancy's fund -- is one of the last pieces of the puzzle for the project.
”Today's decisions by the Coastal Conservancy puts us in the position to actually, physically work on the project, and that's a huge, huge step,” Smith said after a meeting at the conservancy's office in Oakland.
With the county's tightening budget, Smith said he and his wife decided to pay for their own travel expenses so that he could thank the conservancy governing board and its staff in person. The board also approved up to $315,000 in funding to acquire a 36-acre property for Martin Slough restoration work, and up to $15,000 for preliminary designs for the Big Lagoon County Park access enhancement project.
The Salt River project is being carried out by the Humboldt County Resource Conservation District, or HCRCD, and is estimated to cost between $12 million to $16 million.
According to a conservancy's staff report, the conservancy has been involved with the project since the late 1980s. The source of the conservancy's grant funding comes from Proposition 84 bond funding related to water quality and supply, as well as flood control, and river and coastal protection.
The project restores the Salt River channel, floodplain and marshland, while also managing the sediments gathered in the river bed.
If the Salt River is restored, it would also help move the water flow for Ferndale's wastewater treatment plant.
The first phase of the project, which involves wetland and upland restoration work on the 440-acre Riverside Ranch property and some channel excavation, is scheduled to begin late this summer and continue into next year. Phase two, which includes channel excavation and restoration, would begin in 2012.
HCRCD Executive Director Donna Chambers said the district is working with 40 individual land owners to complete the project. She said she hopes to engage local schools and Humboldt State University to utilize volunteers for the continued monitoring of the project. The district recently received approval of a grant from the California Department of Conservation to fund a coordinator position for the Salt River Watershed Council, a nonprofit consisting of land owners who will take over the management of the river in the future.
HCRCD ran into controversy in late March when the California Farm Bureau Federation filed a lawsuit against the project. The federation said it had concerns about the project's environmental impact report and raised questions about whether proposed mitigation efforts will do more harm than good. In April, the federation dropped the suit, saying it recognized the importance of the project to the Eel River Valley and did not want to interfere with the project's funding timeline.
Conservancy program manager Michael Bowen said staff and the bureau were able to resolve their concerns.
Chairman Douglas Bosco said restoration projects are often controversial, and taking care of the Eel River's health is long overdue. He said the river is an important source for steelhead.
”I hope that the next generation of political people will work on the Eel,” he said. “It certainly needs a lot of work, but this is a great start.”
AT A GLANCE:
Salt River Ecosystem Restoration Project:
The project restores the Salt River channel, floodplain and marshland, while also managing the sediments gathered in the river bed. The first phase of the project, which involves wetland and upland restoration work on the 440-acre Riverside Ranch property and some channel excavation, is scheduled to begin late this summer and continue into next year. Phase two, which includes channel excavation and restoration, would begin in 2012.
