North Coast resumes work on Proposition 50 water projects
Redwood Times
07/29/2009
A suite of projects designed to protect the health, economy and water supply while restoring the fisheries of the North Coast Region are back on track after payment was received for over $3.2 million in invoices that have been outstanding since the December 2008 bond freeze.
On December 17, 2008 the Pooled Money Investment Board (PMIB) suspended work on over 5,000 bond-funded projects in response to the State’s budget woes. This suspension had catastrophic effects on North Coast communities - some of the most economically disadvantaged in the state. The interruption in state funding increased the project costs, caused a wave of layoffs in small rural agencies and non-profits, and resulted in impacts to drinking water supplies and loss of water due to leaking, unfinished pipelines.
The North Coast IRWMP was developed by a coalition of cities, counties, special districts, non-governmental organizations, tribes, watershed groups and interested stakeholders from Del Norte, Siskiyou, Modoc, Humboldt, Trinity, Mendocino and Sonoma counties. The North Coast’s Proposition 50 grant proposal was the top-ranked proposal in the State and resulted in the award of $25 million in grants to projects throughout the region. The funding is supporting projects that provide greater water supply reliability, clean water, water recycling, habitat restoration and watershed planning.
In Siskiyou County, the Resource Conservation District worked for years building relationships with local landowners to remove an irrigation supply dam to benefit coho salmon. The dam was successfully removed, but the development of new alternative irrigation pipelines was interrupted by the bond freeze, leaving these farmers without irrigation water and the RCD and its contractors in dire financial circumstances.
In the Mattole River watershed, where bond funds are facilitating erosion control, stream flow enhancement, wildfire hazard reduction, and other projects critical to the survival of the river’s native coho and Chinook salmon runs, Executive Director Jeremy Wheeler of the Mattole Restoration Council expressed appreciation for the substantial support from his local community during these challenging times, “to navigate these straits, we have been supported by the local community and the patience of our contractors, and have realized how deep is the backing we can count on from the people we serve in promoting the cause of watershed recovery. In the last days of June, the State came through with what it owed us. We have now repaid our community bridge loans in full, and realize that through all of these struggles, we have become stronger together.”
North Coast Integrated Regional Water Management Plan (NCIRWMP) leaders, North Coast legislators and project proponents have worked diligently for the last six months to assure payment to non-profits, RCDs and local agencies implementing water supply, flood protection, and restoration projects.
