Santa Ana Watershed Association 2010 Annual Report
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Santa Ana Watershed Association SAWA 2010 anta Ana Watershed Association Santa Ana Watershed Association 2010 Annual Report anta Ana Watershed Association Mission Statement The Santa Ana Watershed Association will develop, coordinate and implement natural resource programs that support a sustainable ecosystem and social benefits from the San Bernardino Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. Goals 1. Provide leadership in cooperation with other agencies, organizations and private citizens to invest the watershed constituency in stewardship of their natural resources. 2. Assist in the development, implementation, and monitoring of effective processes to improve watershed quality and protect beneficial uses of soil, water, biological, and other natural resources of the Santa Ana River Watershed, including, but not limited to: • Habitat restoration • Biological monitoring • Invasive plant management • Management of endangered species 3. Provide dependable and accessible scientific information to support decisions for further management actions. 4. Develop an educational program to disseminate information on the natural resources of our watershed to the public. 2 Santa Ana Watershed Association 2010 Annual Report anta Ana Watershed Association Promoting a Healthy Santa Ana River Watershed for Wildlife and People or nearly 15 years, the the Santa Ana River Water- away from decades of tradi- nually toured through the wa- FSanta Ana Watershed As- shed Program, continuously tional mitigation dictating that tershed. Photographic docu- sociation (SAWA) and its restoring natural functions and impact compensation was to mentation of work progress is partners have been promot- resources of the river and its occur within or very near the collected in each project area ing a healthy Santa Ana River tributaries. project area. Orange County and there are regular site visits watershed for the wildlife and The most notable collabo- Water District contributed $1 by each RCD, by the OCWD, the people who inhabit it. The rating agencies include the million to a fund that was the and by regulatory agency rep- watershed spans nearly 3,000. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers beginning of today’s efforts resentatives. SAWA or the square miles and ranges in el- (USACE), U.S. Fish & Wild- to restore the function of the local RCD is responsible for evation from 11,500 feet to sea life Service (USF&WS), Cali- Santa Ana River. contract and contractor over- level through five distinctive fornia Department of Fish and The Watershed Program is sight. life zones. The watershed lies Game (CDFG), and the Re- staffed by the partnering agen- A major goal of SAWA is in one of Earth’s 25 Biodiver- gional Water Quality Control cies. At monthly meetings, to restore the natural function sity Hotspots—areas rich in Board (RWQCB). The Water- project plans and accomplish- of the watershed through the flora and fauna that are threat- shed Program formally began ments are discussed. Project enhancement and restoration ened by human activity. in 1995, with the signing of a goals are specified in multiple- of the native riparian commu- SAWA is governed by a five- landmark agreement between year work plans that are com- nity. This is accomplished by member board comprised of the OCWD, USACE, and the piled by SAWA with input from the removal of exotic species one representative each from U.S. Department of Interior the other partners. The work and the management of exist- four resource conservation for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife plans are reviewed by the vari- ing resources, including both districts (RCDs) within the Service. This agreement al- ous partnering agency boards habitat and wildlife species. watershed, and one from the lowed OCWD to conserve wa- and the regulatory agencies The largest threat to the ripar- Orange County Water Dis- ter behind Prado Dam but also for their input and eventual en- ian habitat within the Santa trict. The four RCDs are the recognized the need for water- dorsement. Changes and addi- Ana Watershed is takeover Inland Empire RCD (IERCD), shed restoration by allowing tions are made through staff- by invasive species, notably the San Jacinto Basin RCD a portion of the project miti- generated amendments. The Arundo donax. This exotic (SJBRCD), the Riverside-Co- gation to occur in the upper work items and components of plant is highly aggressive and rona RCD (RCRCD) and the Santa Ana River watershed, the plans are largely dictated has invaded much of the wa- Elsinore-Murrieta-Anza RCD many miles from the project by responsibilities inherited tershed, out-competing native (EMARCD). site. Mitigation was required with the funding and the long- vegetation and having drastic SAWA conducts environ- to offset inundation of habitat term commitment for follow- impacts on the wildlife. Re- mental management projects, in the Prado Basin due to water up. Annual achievements and moving Arundo is difficult and working collaboratively with conservation. Two of the ma- audits of expenditures are re- complex, requiring multiple governmental agencies, orga- jor federal regulatory agencies ported each year. treatments and intensive moni- nizations, and private citizens. were convinced enough of the In addition, the partnering toring. SAWA implements facets of river’s degradation to break agencies and regulators are an- 3 Santa Ana Watershed Association 2010 Annual Report Promoting a Healthy Watershed continued... SAWA’s comprehensive Habitat restoration, primar- Some of the mitigation fund- removal efforts throughout eradication efforts include ily through Arundo control, is ing sources did not specify the watershed. In some cases, identification and mapping of the current focus of the Wa- acreage requirements but did mitigation projects are as- exotic species, initial biomass tershed Program because most provide adequate funding for signed to a specific property in removal, post treatment, and of the funding obtained was treatment of several hundred the watershed. intensive biological surveying earmarked for Arundo control. additional acres and more im- Work is performed either during all stages of eradica- The work with endangered portantly, for long-term re- directly by SAWA, or through tion. Most importantly, SAWA species and other wildlife is treatment. Beginning in 2002, one of the RCDs. In the latter monitors the removal areas necessary for compliance with there was an additional $9 mil- case, an individual RCD per- long after the Arundo has been the regulatory permits to do lion for Arundo control due to forms a piece of work, autho- eradicated to ensure that native the Arundo work. Funds are a successful grant application rized through the annual work vegetation and wildlife are re- obtained from grants and miti- for Proposition 13 funds. plan and within the budgetary covering and that there is no gation of projects on the river, By early March 2003, SAWA constraints dictated therein. return of the invasive species. and the Watershed Program became a 501(c) (3) nonprofit That RCD then invoices SAWA These intensive monitoring took on the funds and the miti- organization, and changed and it is paid out of the fund. efforts are required to prevent gation responsibilities. from fiscal year to calendar Approved work is confined to re-growth that can lead to total The projects providing funds year. In January of 2004, the activities specified in cur- re-infestation over time and to included the Seven Oaks Dam, SAWA established an In Lieu rent grants and to maintenance prevent any impacts to native Prado Water Conservation, Fee Program with the Corps obligations. The trust fund species. Highway 71 Improvements, for invasive species removal. must be kept at a level that will The Nature Conservancy Norco Bluffs Stabilization, This program gives develop- yield enough operating capital (TNC) originally managed the Santa Ana River Flood Con- ers the option to mitigate for to continue long-term Arundo watershed fund and the resto- trol, Environmental Protection impacts in locations other than maintenance and other follow- ration work in the upper water- Agency Grants, and several the project site. The funds up responsibilities. shed. In 1996, the RCDs came mitigations that have been or- generated by this program are SAWA projects are designat- together as SAWA, which then dered because of construc- used to support invasive plant ed and approved by the Board included the East Valley, In- tion impacts in the watershed. of Directors in a long-term land Empire West, Riverside- workplan. This plan is carried Corona, and San Jacinto Basin In MeMORIAM out with a focus on ongoing RCDs. Moses Timothy Romo, 1961-2010 maintenance and enhancement The Watershed Program fo- of river system function, even- cus is dictated by the respon- tually leading to whole water- sibilities that come with the shed health. The work plan public funds provided to miti- develops projects that further gate for typically large federal these goals. projects. These include control Work accomplished on the of invasive species, particu- ground through SAWA is done larly giant reed and cowbirds, by SAWA staff and the part- targeted for their interference nering agencies. The invasive with river function and re- species removal to date was source abundance; increas- originally accomplished by the ing wetlands and open space; individual Resource Conserva- managing endangered species tion Districts within their geo- toward recovery; and public graphic spheres of influence. involvement. Arundo control More recently, long-term