A Confluence of Perspectives and Experience
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Name In appreciation SERCAL gratefully acknowledges… CONFERENCE PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS WORKSHOP INSTRUCTORS Harry Oakes SERCAL 2009 President, WORKSHOP I 2009 SPONSORS ICF Jones & Stokes Dr. Vic Claassen Soil Scientist, UC Downingia—$2,000 Randi Paris CNGA Past President, USDA Davis DUDEK Encinitas Natural Resource Conservation Service WORKSHOP II ICF Jones & Stokes Sacramento Kevin MacKay Senior Restoration Integrated Environmental CNGA PRESIDENT Ecologist/Project Director, ICF Jones Restoration Services, Inc. David Amme East Bay Regional Park & Stokes Ta h o e C i t y District Steve Seville, PE Civil Engineer of Record, ICF Jones & Stokes Yellow-billed Cuckoo—$1,000 CONFERENCE COORDINATORS WORKSHOP III Delta Bluegrass Company Susan Clark Coy Richard King USDA NRCS, Stockton SERCAL Administrative Director Certified Educator in Holistic ESA Sacramento Julie St. John SERCAL Publications Management Hedgerow Farms Winters Director Kelly Mulville Rancher/Grazier, Pacific Coast Seed, Inc. Livermore Certified Educator in Holistic Wildlands, Inc. Rocklin Judy G-Scott Management CNGA Administrative Director Slender Orcutt Grass—$500 WORKSHOP IV AG-Renewal Weatherford, OK David Amme Wildland Vegetation California Invasive Plant Council SESSION CHAIRS Program Manager, East Bay (Cal-IPC) Berkeley SESSION 1 Kevin MacKay Senior Restoration Regional Park District California Native Plant Society Ecologist/Project Director, ICF Jones & Stokes Wade Belew Restorationist, Cotati (CNPS) Sacramento SESSION 2 Carol Presley, PE Pajaro River Creek Critters Cornflower Farms Elk Grove Regional Programs Manager, Santa Clara Valley English Garden Care Rancho Water District FIELD TRIP LEADERS Cordova SESSION 3 David Amme Wildland Vegetation TRIP A Island Press Washington, DC Program Manager, East Bay Regional Park Matt Gause Senior Ecologist, Restoration Resources Rocklin District Westervelt Ecological Services Rocky Mountain Bio-Products SESSION 4 Steve Seville, PE Civil Engineer of TRIP B Denver, CO Record, ICF Jones & Stokes Andrew Fulks Manager, Putah S & S Seeds Carpinteria Shelterbelt Builders, Inc. Berkeley SESSION 5 Michael Hogan Soil Scientist, Creek Riparian Reserve, UC Davis President, Integrated Environmental Restoration TRIP C SMP Services, Inc. Roseville Services, Inc. Kent Reeves Natural Resources WRA, Inc. San Rafael Division Manager, County of Yolo SESSION 6. Kent Reeves Natural Resources Student Sponsors— Division Manager, County of Yolo Parks & Parks & Resources Department $200 each student TRIP D Resources Department ICF Jones & Stokes Sacramento Harry Oakes SERCAL 2009 SESSION 7. Andrew Fulks Manager, Putah Jim Hanson, CNGA In honor of Jim President, Habitat Restoration Creek Riparian Reserve, UC Davis Planner, ICF Jones & Stokes & Marie Hanson SESSION 8. Carl Jensen Design-Build Tree of Life Nursery San Juan TRIP E Director/Landscape Architect, Wildlands, Inc. Capistrano Neal Funston Cornflower Farms John Coy Memorial Scholarship SESSION 9. Randi Paris Forester, Klamath Basin Fund Watershed Team, USDA Natural Resource Note: This Program Book was compiled by Susan Conservation Service Clark Coy, SERCAL Administrative Director, and Julie St. John, SERCAL Publications Director. Minor THURSDAY AFTERNOON IN SIERRA ROOM 1 19 session 1 Reclaiming the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta: Wetland Restoration in the Delta and Bay Region Chair: Kevin MacKay Senior Restoration Ecologist/Project Director, ICF Jones & Stokes Decker Island Habitat Improvement of planted woody species was measured would likely have improved the chances Project: an Overview at Completion. to assess the projects progress toward of meeting performance criteria and Chad Aakre, Restoration Resources, 3868 meeting performance criteria. Annual resulted in other benefits such as higher Cincinnati Avenue, Rocklin 95765, spring and fall monitoring results show habitat value and reduced maintenance [email protected]. that at the conclusion of establishment cost. (December 2008); the habitat Decker Island Improvement Project improvement project has exceeded Blacklock Restoration Project: 70 consists 5.57 acres of wetland restoration performance expectations for woody Acres Down… Terri Gaines*1, Kristin at the northeastern tip of Decker Island, survivorship and weed control through a Garrison2. 1California Department of near Rio Vista, California. Habitat design well designed and responsive irrigation Water Resources, Delta-Suisun Marsh involved concentric planting zones and plant care strategy, coupled with a Office, PO Box 942836, Sacramento radiating from the inside out within a variety of manual and chemical weed 94236, [email protected]. 2California finger shaped depression created by management techniques. Herbaceous Department of Water Resources, excavation for levee stabilization. absolute cover of installed plugs within Environmental Information and Planning Interior freshwater marsh transitioned to the seasonal marsh habitat zone did not Branch, [email protected]. shallow sloped seasonal marsh leading to meet performance expectations mainly steeper sloped riparian woodland and The Department of Water Resources due to competition with adjacent native grassland. Installation of 1,793 woody (DWR), in cooperation with the and non-native vegetation for sunlight; species and 3,446 herbaceous plugs California Department of Fish & Game however, other factors, such as plug occurred during the fall of 2005 and (DFG), U.S. Bureau of Reclamation installation density and habitat spacing, 2006. During the four year establishment (USBR), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service were also likely significant. Alignment of period, absolute percent cover of (FWS), and the Suisun Resource design specifications and natural herbaceous species and percent survival Conservation District (SRCD), has ecological processes, such as succession, continued session 1 Reclaiming the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta continued implemented the Blacklock Restoration Recommended Best Management managed wetlands, sediment enhanced Project in Suisun Marsh. Since the Practices for Reversing Subsidence on wetlands, modified agricultural property was acquired in December Delta Islands. Brad Hall*1, Brady practices, and supplemental and 2003 using CALFED ERP and Suisun McDaniel1, Robert MacArthur1, Keane enhanced access infrastructure. Island Marsh Preservation Agreement funds, Sommers2, and Edward Schmidt3. flooding and development of wetlands is these agencies have worked together to 1Northwest Hydraulic Consultants, West a key component of the subsidence develop and implement a plan to restore Sacramento 95691. 2Nevada Irrigation reversal program identified in this these 70 acres of diked, managed marsh District, Grass Valley 95945. 3California report. For the purposes of this plan, to tidal wetlands. Tidal restoration is a Department of Water Resources, shallow flooding of the lowest areas with major component of the Habitat Sacramento 95814. minimal groundwater cycling of the Management, Preservation, and islands is recommended, thus The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Restoration Plan for the Suisun Marsh minimizing dissolved organic carbon Delta serves a variety of functions (Suisun Marsh Plan) currently being loading to the adjacent Delta channels. critical to the everyday life of many developed, In addition, CALFED ERP The flooding and wetland Californians. Among other uses, the identified a goal of 5,000–7,000 acres of implementation should occur Delta serves as a water source, an area of tidal restoration in Suisun Marsh. This immediately after construction of cross agricultural development, a critical project is the first tidal restoration to be and perimeter access roads. As the 20 habitat for numerous species, a implemented in Suisun. On October 4, wetlands in the islands accrete the water recreational resource, and a home to 2006, a 61-foot-long breach was level on the islands will be increased, many Californians. As development in constructed in the preferred breach increasing the net wetland area of the California continues, infrastructure ages, location along Little Honker Bay. In islands and increasing the overall rate of and demands change, the Delta system addition to the constructed breach, a island accretion. The construction of as it is now exists appears to be natural breach occurred 400 feet to the subsidence reversal BMPs will occur in unsustainable. Delta levees are at risk of west in mid-July 2006. The project goals three phases of access infrastructure a catastrophic failure. Delta islands have and objectives are to 1) restore the area implementation, wetland development subsided to a depth of 20 feet below sea to a fully functioning, self-sustaining and growth, and site accommodation to level in some places. This report marsh ecosystem created through accreted wetlands. Phases may be examines the subsidence problem and restoration of natural hydrologic, completed at the same time on multiple proposes a suite of Management sedimentation and biological processes; islands. Time periods for project Practices (BMPs) to address the 2) increase the area and contiguity of implementation for the four Delta problem. Additionally a site specific plan emergent wetlands providing habitat for Islands analyzed herein are is offered to address the subsidence tidal marsh species; and 3) assist in the approximately 5 years, whereas the time problem on Sherman, Jersey, Webb, and recovery of at-risk species. Knowledge period for attaining island accretion Twitchell Islands. The plan presented expected