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Tag: National Marine Fisheries Service

Construction Starts on Two Dry Creek Fish Habitat Projects

Posted on by david

(Healdsburg, CA) During the next week, construction will start on the first phase of a six-mile habitat enhancement project in the Dry Creek Valley. The purpose of the project, which is being conducted by the Sonoma County Water Agency (Water Agency) in cooperation with private landowners and by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), is to provide habitat for endangered coho salmon and threatened steelhead and Chinook. During the first phase of this multi-year project, an estimated 560 tons of boulders and 202 trees, root wads and logs will be used to create backwaters, side channels and shady habitat for the young fish that live in Dry Creek during the summer.

“This is a massive enhancement project that will provide big benefits for fish on the brink of extinction in our area,” said Sonoma County Supervisor and Water Agency Director Mike McGuire. “Dry Creek Valley farmers deserve tremendous thanks for their partnership and willingness to move this project forward.”

“We are excited to be starting construction on a project that should provide immediate help to the coho and steelhead raised at hatcheries at Warm Spring Dam and released into Dry Creek and its tributaries,” said Lt. Col John Baker, commander of the USACE San Francisco District. See the dozens of unique habitat models at fishiding.com

The habitat enhancement is required by National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to help restore endangered and threatened fish to the watershed. The first phase of Dry Creek habitat enhancement involves two projects, as follows:

• The Water Agency Dry Creek Demonstration Project is centered on Lambert Bridge and is nearly one-mile in length. Construction in 2012 will take place at Quivira Winery and Vineyards. The Laytonville-based firm Bio-Engineering Associates is conducting the work at Quivira, which will be complete by mid-October. Work on the majority of the Dry Creek Demonstration Project will take place during 2013.

• The USACE project (known as the “Reach 15” project, for its location directly below Warm Springs Dam) is 1,400 feet long and is located on property owned by USACE. Contractor Services Group is overseeing construction which will take place through mid-October and during summer 2013.

Elements of the projects include bank stabilization to reduce erosion, boulders and anchored log jams to provide refuge and to slow the water, constructed backwaters and side channels to give the young fish places to escape summer and winter high flows, and native plants to reduce erosion and create shade.

“The habitat enhancements fit into Quivira’s holistic approach to grape growing and wine making. By improving Dry Creek, we improve the health of the land, helping both people and fish,” said Quivira Winery representative Ned Horton.

The majority of work on the Water Agency’s Dry Creek Demonstration Project will occur in 2013, and involves several landowners including Amista Vineyards, Dry Creek Vineyard, Rued Winery, Seghesio Family Vineyards and Yellow Dog Vineyards. The demonstration project also includes individual landowners Doug Lipton and Cindy Daniels, Carole and Geno Mascherini, Peter and Marian Van Alyea and Ron Wolmer.

When complete, the Dry Creek Demonstration Project and Reach 15 Project will serve as the first mile of habitat enhancement of the six miles required in NMFS’ Russian River Biological Opinion. The Biological Opinion was issued in 2008, and requires the Water Agency and the USACE to improve habitat for juvenile coho and steelhead in Dry Creek as an alternative to reducing summertime flows in the creek. (The high velocity of water flowing in Dry Creek in the summer was found by NMFS’ biologists to be detrimental to the survival of young coho and steelhead.)

“By breaking ground for this project the agency partners and landowners are reaching an important milestone on the road to conservation of our Russian River coho salmon and steelhead. This investment will not only benefit our fisheries, but is also an investment in the overall health of our watershed,” said Dick Butler, National Marine Fisheries Service.

Since nearly all of the 14-mile Dry Creek is privately owned, the required six miles of habitat enhancement is dependent on cooperative landowners. The demonstration project and the Reach 15 project will allow landowners, the Water Agency, the USACE, NMFS and California Department of Fish and Game to observe how enhancements work on a smaller scale.

“The coho broodstock program and stream enhancement projects in the Russian River watershed, including these important projects in Dry Creek, contribute greatly to coho salmon conservation. By enhancing and creating this habitat, we are improving conditions for coho and providing people more opportunities to enjoy and participate in coho habitat restoration successes,” said Scott Wilson, Acting Regional Manager, California Department of Fish and Game.

Dry Creek residents who notice any problems or who have immediate concerns regarding construction issues are urged to contact the Water Agency public information officer, Ann DuBay at (707) 524-8378, ann.dubay@scwa.ca.gov , or the USACE onsite engineer, Carlos Hernandez at (707) 431-4550 orCarlos.R.Hernandez@usace.army.mil.

Laytonville-based Bio-Engineering Associates specializes in construction of creek restoration and habitat enhancement features that also help reduce erosion. Several of the firm’s projects have been on major creeks located within vineyards.

Contractor Services Group, located in West Sacramento, is a full-service contracting company with experience in conducting large-scale restoration projects.

To learn more about NMFS’ Biological Opinion and Dry Creek requirements go to http://www.scwa.ca.gov/drycreek/. For additional details on the demonstration project, go tohttp://www.scwa.ca.gov/files/docs/projects/rrifr/DryCreek-Habitat.pdf.

Sonoma County Water Agency provides water supply, flood protection and sanitation services for portions of Sonoma and Marin counties. Visit us on the Web at www.sonomacountywater.org.

Ann DuBay

Public Information Officer
Office: (707) 524-8378
Mobile: (707) 322-8185
Email: ann.dubay@scwa.ca.gov

Residents fear shoreline project will smother reef

Posted on by david

Structures a home for sea creatures

Three acres of coquina and worm rock could be covered by a beach renourishment project.
Three acres of coquina and worm rock could be covered by a beach renourishment project. / Photos courtesy of Karen Holloway-Adkins

A new beach renourishment project is in the works for Brevard County, and conservation-minded residents are worried that trucking in the sand will bury a local treasure.

The Brevard County Mid Reach Shore Protection Project aims to dump 573,000 cubic yards of sand onto the 7.8-mile section of beach between Patrick Air Force Base and Indialantic. By adding up to 20 feet of beach, three acres of coquina and worm rock reef will be smothered.

But marine biologist Karen Holloway-Adkins knows the reef is more than just a pile of rocks.

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“Worm rock doesn’t get much credit. A lot of people don’t even know what’s out there.” said Holloway-Adkins. “It’s a full-on living reef.”

The large, cauliflower-shaped boulders are not rocks, but the protective sand structures secreted by colonies of bristle worms of the family Sabellariidae (pronounced “SAH—bell—AIR– I—dee”).

But the worms are just a small piece of the reefs’ complexity.

“The algae growing on the reef provides food for turtles and fish.

“The structure is excellent habitat for crabs, blennies, sheepshead, snook, pompano and more,” said Holloway-Adkins, who lives in Indialantic. “I’ve even seen an octopus under one of the ledges.”

Holloway helps run a nonprofit research company, East Coast Biologists, Inc., and was hired by the County to aid in an Environmental Impact Assessment for the project.

Her work revolves specifically around the green sea turtles which feed almost exclusively on the red, green and brown algae growing on the reef. She’s logged countless hours snorkeling the reefs in the Mid Reach zone — when the underwater visibility permits it.

“The juvenile greens will forage and hang around the intertidal zone, sometimes in less than two feet of water.”

The high-energy intertidal zone — the area dappled with small tide pools near shore — is threatened most by the filling project.

“Those pools are important for gamefish,” Holloway-Adkins said. “That’s where you’ll see schools of baby pompano. It’s an important nursery.”

The threat to gamefish and the local ecology has Space Coast fishing authority, Captain Rodney Smith, reeling with concern.

“It’s an extremely unique habitat because this reef is also part of the Indian River Lagoon estuary,” said Smith, a fishing guide for over 20 years and founder of Coastal Angler Magazine. “It’s all connected ecologically. It’s such a treasure.”

Smith conducts guided surf-fishing clinics and recognizes the significance of the reefs for the recreational fishery. As one who makes his living from the area’s natural splendor, he empathizes with business and home owners who are faced with protecting their assets on the beach.

“Change is definitely difficult,” Smith said. “But the quality of life drops during these projects, the beach as we love it is destroyed and the degradation to the habitat is profound.”

As far as the economics of the fill, Smith would like to see changes in how these projects are carried out. With Florida’s dynamic coastline of shifting sand dunes, replenished beaches can be stripped away by hurricanes and strong storms.

“Millions of taxpayer’s dollars are swept into the ocean in a day,” Smith said.

“It’s like throwing sand into a volcano. We need to reassess how we’re managing our beaches.”

Smith’s wish may somewhat come true.

Mike McGarry, the Beach Project Coordinator for Brevard, says that the Mid Reach project is a one-of-a-kind operation designed by the Army Core of Engineers.

“The Mid Reach project is vastly different from a typical beach renourishment. We’ve made sure a large weight has been placed on the environmental consequences.”

Sand will be harvested offshore, stockpiled in Port Canaveral and placed on the beach by dump truck. There won’t be any rusty pipes snaking through the sand from offshore pumping barges, as in previous filling ventures.

“Less than 10 percent of the rocks in the Mid Reach zone will be covered, allowing 90 percent of the habitat to remain,” McGarry said.

“We don’t discount that there won’t be an impact to the environment, but we’ve taken all the steps possible to minimize that impact.”

To mitigate for any damage to the reef that can’t be avoided, the county and the ACOE have devised an artificial reef system that will be placed in parts of the Mid Reach stretch.

Coquina rocks embedded in concrete-block grids will be laid by crane in 12-15 feet of water — after the fill is completed.

The reef habitat in the Mid Reach zone has been designated as an “Essential Fish Habitat” by the National Marine Fisheries Service, which requires the involved parties to take precautions to ensure the health of the ecosystem, including the design of these ‘mitigation reefs’.

But they’re still not the real, living thing.

And although keeping the surf-side infrastructure intact is vital to the area’s economy, Rodney Smith feels that healthy reefs are a part of our culture that can’t be bought.

“You can’t destroy a natural reef and then try to fix it,” Smith said. “They’re priceless.”

Written by
Matt Badolato
For FLORIDA TODAY
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