Carmel River Watershed Assessment and Action Plan 2016 Update Carmel River Watershed Conservancy The Carmel River Watershed Assessment and Action Plan 2016 is an update to the 2005 Watershed Assessment and Action Plan for the Carmel River developed by the Carmel River Watershed Conservancy and many stakeholder agencies, non-profits and individuals. In 2004 the Conservancy received a $250,000 grant from the State Water Resources Control Board to conduct a thorough assessment of the watershed, which was completed and published in 2005. A major contribution came from the Watershed Institute of the California State University at Monterey Bay (CSUMB), with teams led by Drs. Doug Smith and Fred Watson. In addition, the Conservancy’s Acting Executive Director at the time, Clive Sanders, performed many of the tributary creek assessments with assistance from CSUMB graduate students. It is also a compilation of the 2005 Plan with the assessments that were conducted to support the 2005 Plan as well as other assessments and local planning documents conducted since then. As such, it incorporates text, graphics and data from many documents, which we did our best to acknowledge in context and in the references section, but it behooves us to list those principal resources up-front as well. We are very grateful for the contributions of the many researchers, agency staff and scientists that give this document a firm foundation for understanding the complexities, values and needs of the Carmel River Watershed. Environmental and Biological Assessment of Portions of the Carmel River Watershed. 2004. Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. Physical and Hydrologic Assessment of the Carmel River Watershed. 2004. CSUMB Watershed Institute (Smith, Newman, Watson & Hameister). A Vision Plan for the Carmel River Parkway. 2005. Kasey T. and S. Peterson for the Big Sur Land Trust. Wetland Habitat Types of the Carmel River Lagoon. 2006.CSUMB Watershed Institute (Casagrande). Carmel River Lagoon Enhancement Project: Water Quality and Aquatic Wildlife Monitoring, 2005-6. 2007. CSUMB Watershed Institute (Larson, Watson, Casagrande, and Pierce). Carmel River Lagoon Enhancement Project: Water Quality and Aquatic Wildlife Monitoring, 2006-7. 2007. CSUMB Watershed Institute (Perry, Watson, Casagrande, and Hanley). Proposed Scope of Work to Conduct Habitat Typing, Identification and Implementation of Priority Projects to Enhance California Red-Legged Frog habitat in the Carmel River Watershed. 2007. Coastal Watershed Council and Ecosystems West Consulting Group. Monterey Peninsula, Carmel Bay, and South Monterey Bay Integrated Regional Water Management Plan. 2007. Water Management Group. Supplemental Carmel River Watershed Action Plan. 2007. Phillip Williams and Associates with Ecosystem Management International. Carmel Lagoon Water Quality and Steelhead Soundings: 2007. CSUMB Watershed Institute (Anderson, Clark, Croyle, Maas-Baldwin, Urquhart, & Watson). Ten-Year Summary of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District’s Bioassessment Program on the Carmel River. 2010. Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. The Carmel River Bird Conservation Plan. 2013. Point Reyes Bird Observatory and Big Sur Land Trust. ________________________________________________________________________________ Carmel River Watershed Assessment and Action Plan: Update 2016. Shihadeh, Rami; Christensen, Thomas; and Carmel River Task Force members. Resource Conservation District of Monterey County, Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, and Carmel River Watershed Conservancy. Monterey County, CA. CARMEL RIVER WATERSHED ASSESSMENT AND ACTION PLAN UPDATE 2016 Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Purpose of and need for a watershed management plan ............................................... 5 1.2 Goals & objectives ....................................................................................................... 8 1.3 Watershed management planning history ..................................................................... 8 1.3.1 Stakeholder involvement in the watershed management plan ............................... 9 1.3.2 Related studies and management actions in the watershed .................................. 13 1.3.3 Projects in the watershed...................................................................................... 14 1.4 Overview of the watershed ......................................................................................... 14 2. SYNTHESIS OF WATERSHED CONDITIONS .............................................................. 17 2.1 Historical watershed conditions .................................................................................. 17 2.1.1 Cultural history .................................................................................................... 18 2.2 Land use ...................................................................................................................... 18 2.2.1 Growth trends ....................................................................................................... 22 2.2.2 Land Use Analysis Summary ............................................................................... 23 2.3 Climate ....................................................................................................................... 23 2.3.1 Climate change ..................................................................................................... 25 2.4 Geology and soils ....................................................................................................... 26 2.5 Geomorphology .......................................................................................................... 30 2.5.1 Mainstem and tributaries ...................................................................................... 32 2.5.2 Lagoon and estuary .............................................................................................. 33 2.5.3 Carmel River State Beach .................................................................................... 34 2.6 Erosion and sediment.................................................................................................. 34 2.6.1 Erosion ................................................................................................................. 35 2.6.2 Sediment .............................................................................................................. 36 2.7 Contributors of erosion and sediment ......................................................................... 39 2.7.1 Fire ....................................................................................................................... 39 2.7.2 Landslides ............................................................................................................ 40 2.7.3 Flooding ............................................................................................................... 42 2.7.4 Infrastructure and channel modifications ............................................................. 45 2.7.5 Dams .................................................................................................................... 45 2.7.6 Floodplain development ....................................................................................... 48 2.7.7 Roads.................................................................................................................... 49 2.7.8 Bridges and creek crossings ................................................................................. 49 2.7.9 Bank revetment .................................................................................................... 51 2.8 Water Supply .............................................................................................................. 52 2.8.1 Water resources monitoring ................................................................................. 52 2.8.2 Water Supply Management .................................................................................. 53 2.9 Water extraction ......................................................................................................... 55 2.9.1 State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) Order 95-10, Order WR 2009-0060 and Order WR 2016-0016 .......................................................................................... 56 2.10 Surface and ground water hydrology .......................................................................... 57 2.10.1 Surface water hydrology ...................................................................................... 57 2.10.2 Ground water hydrology ...................................................................................... 64 2.10.3 Lagoon dynamics ................................................................................................. 66 2.11 Water quality .............................................................................................................. 69 2.11.1 Surface water quality condition in the mainstem and lagoon .............................. 71 page 1 January 17, 2017 2.11.2 Groundwater quality condition in the watershed and aquifer .............................. 77 2.11.3 Benthic macroinvertebrates (BMI) ...................................................................... 78 2.12 Vegetation 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