Watershed Groups

Big Chico Creek Watershed Alliance
08/06/08

The Big Chico Creek Watershed Alliance (BCCWA) is currently involved in 7 grant-funded projects.

These include:
An Arundo donax and tamarisk invasive plant eradication project in Lindo Channel and Big Chico Creek above Five Mile Recreation Area
The fifth year of a water quality citizen monitoring program at numerous locations within the Big Chico Creek watershed
A project to restore wetlands and increase flood capacity at a 20-acre former gravel mining quarry site owned by the city of Chico
A streambed excavation and streambank stabilization project on Big Chico Creek west of Hwy 32
Preparing environmental review, obtaining environmental permits and developing grant funding for the Iron Canyon Fish Ladder rehabilitation project in Upper Bidwell Park
A Spanish and French broom eradication project in the Big and Little Chico Creeks upper watersheds
A watershed and groundwater educational outreach project with the County of Butte

More information about these projects and and many other BCCWA activities is available on their web site www.bigchicocreek.org.
Little Chico Creek Watershed Group

Nani Teves (watershed coordinator)
379 E. 10th Ave.
Chico, CA 95926
(530) 892-1227
nanibay@hotmail.com

08/06/08

LCCWG is currently involved with:

Working with the City of Chico and the S.W. Neighborhood group to restore the 9th St. and Hazel greenway to a native riparian plant learning garden, and build a great bus stop.

A watershed outreach and education project with Butte County

A Tuscan Headwaters Project through the Northern California Regional Land Trust focusing on easement information as well as capacity building for LCCWG.

Commenting on S.W. Chico Neighborhood Plan to ensure the protection of the riparian buffer.

Supporting the Broom Education and Eradication Program (BEEP) in Forest Ranch.

Participating in a watershed education booth at fairs and festivals.

Butte Creek Watershed Conservancy

The Butte Creek Floodplain Management Plan is continuing its investigation of potential storage sites for approximately 36,000 acre-feet of floodwater. Current investigation is focused on lands east of Hwy 99, near Hamlin Slough. Currently discussions of changes in scale of study from Butte Creek Watershed Floodplain Management Plan to Butte County Local Hazard Mitigation Plan to Butte County Floodplain Management Plan are on going. This program is primarily partnered with the Butte County Department of Public Works.

Cherokee Watershed Alliance

The Cherokee Water Quality Investigation is well underway. There are two concurrent water quality-monitoring programs ongoing in the Cherokee watershed. The first is a citizen water-monitoring program. 10-15 volunteer stakeholders have been trained by Dr. Dave Brown of CSU Chico to take monthly samples of the tributaries of the Cherokee. Monitoring sites are on the Cherokee Canal, Clear Creek, Dry Creek, Gold Run Creek and Cottonwood Creek. In addition, Dr. Brown is conducting a higher standard water quality-monitoring program focusing on trace metals, nutrients and fecal coliform. Preliminary monitoring data do not show any specific areas of raised concern. An additional monitoring site is being suggested for the Paradise area, where stakeholder concerns over algae blooms have been recently raised. The Paradise monitoring site has yet to be determined.

The Cherokee Watershed Alliance is continuing its outreach efforts. The Butte County Rice Growers Association and the Butte County RCD have become signatures to the Cherokee Watershed Alliance’s Operating Statement. The Mechoopda tribe is also supporting additional partnerships and program education.

In partnership with the Butte County RCD and the NRCS, the Cherokee Watershed Alliance is hoping to have a field workshop on the non-point source water quality concerns for horse owners. Paddock and pasture management will be highlighted. This program is tentatively scheduled for May 11, 2004.

April 13, 2004 the Cherokee Watershed Alliance is hosting Toccoy Dudley of Northern District, Department of Water Resources to give a presentation of groundwater issues and recharge areas in the Cherokee, April 13th, Butte College 6pm. This meeting is open to anyone interested.

Deer Creek Watershed Conservancy

http://www.fsl.orst.edu/geowater/PEP/calfed/savage/index.html

Holly Savage, Watershed Coordinator
P O Box 307
Vina, CA 96092
(530)839-2105

deercreekwatershed@gmail.com

www.deercreekconservancy.org.
Update pending

Lower Feather River/Honcut Creek Watershed

Mel Thompson, Watershed Coordinator
Mary Thompson, Education & Outreach
2360 Cox Lane
Oroville, CA 95966
(530)532-4226
mmt@oroville.com

The area covered by the LFR/HC watershed includes Oroville up to Forbestown Road, across Oroville Dam and up towards Cherokee, down around Thermalito lakes and past Gridley to the county line. The LFR/HC Watershed Group realizes the importance of protecting and enhancing the quality of water in the Lower Feather River, as it is a vital resource to the local community, as well as downstreamwater users. It is important to not only educate the communityon the importance of our rivers and streams, but to also facilitate actions that will contribute to improved water quality.

The LFR/HC Watershed Group is currently involved with the following project:

Tuscan Headwaters Outreach Project with Northern California Regional Land Trust. This is a two year project that began in September 2008

Residents are also encouraged to contact the watershed coordinators to share their concerns and ideas on topics such as:

Wildfire Fuel Management

Reducing Wildfire Fuel using prescribed grazing

Wildfire and its effect on water quality

Open land Preservation

Oak Woodlands Preservation

Controling invasive weeds

Flooding and Soil Erosion

Erosion on small ranchettes

Welands and wildlife habitat easements in the valley area

Protecting Riparian Habitat

Existing Conditions Report: Little Chico Creek

Outreach and Education:

The Department finalized contracts to receive grant funds through the Prop 50 CALFED Watershed Grant Program for the Butte County Watershed Modeling and Education Project for the Lower Tuscan Aquifer in April 2008. This project will develop a physically based model to estimate the annual run-off over a range of precipitation years from the Big Chico Creek, Little Chico Creek, Butte Creek and Cherokee Creek Watersheds into the groundwater aquifer systems of Butte County. This watershed model will provide further inputs for the recently completed Butte Basin Groundwater Model. Principal Investigator Dr. M. Levant Kavvas of UC Davis was hired to carry out this work.

In addition to the development of a watershed model, five local watersheds are being funded to participate in a Watershed Outreach and Education Program through this grant. Big Chico Creek Watershed Alliance, Little Chico Creek Watershed Group, Butte Creek Watershed Conservancy, Cherokee Watershed Alliance and Deer Creek Watershed Conservancy are all being funded to develop an outreach plan focused on current watershed-related and groundwater related issues, most especially those issues faced by stakeholders overlying the Lower Tuscan Aquifer. The consulting firm of MMC was selected as the contractor to develop and implement outreach materials including the pre and post stakeholder survey, which will not only provide information on current knowledge levels, but will assist staff and the watersheds in tailoring outreach materials to best inform the public. CirclePoint, an established environmental services firm, was hired to oversee this project.

The mission of the Big Chico Creek Watershed Alliance is to protect and enhance the ecological integrity and economic vitality of the Big Chico Creek watershed through cooperative efforts. In partnership with landowners, interested citizens, government agencies and private enterprise, we work to foster education, understanding, sustainable land management, and ecosystem and water quality restoration and conservation. The Little Chico Creek Watershed Group was established in 1998 to address specific issues of the Little Chico Creek Watershed. Little Chico Creek is a tributary to Butte Creek. The Butte Creek Watershed Conservancy was established to protect, restore and enhance the cultural, economic and ecological heritage of the Butte Creek Watershed through cooperative landowner action. The mission of the Cherokee Watershed Alliance is to foster partnerships that will contribute to the integrated long-term cultural, economic, and environmental health of the watershed through active community participation. The Deer Creek Watershed Conservancy is a non-profit organization made up entirely of landowners who own land within the Deer Creek watershed. The Conservancy joined together with resource managers to protect the unique ecological values associated with the Deer Creek watershed. The Conservancy focuses its attention on conserving the natural resources of Deer Creek through sensitive stewardship practices. The Conservancy also serves as a forum for communication and group action within the Deer Creek watershed.

The pre project survey was administered in September, and the results have helped shape discussion topics for the upcoming Rural and Urban Outreach workshops, as well as providing focus for outreach materials. Please review the results to see where we need to provide more education to the general public:

1. Does the water supply in the home where you live come from surface water? From groundwater? Or are you not sure? (Asked of 600 Adults)

	20%	Surface Water
	44%	Groundwater
	36%	Not Sure

2. Do you have your own well? (Asked of 480 whose supply comes from groundwater or who are not sure)

	25%	Yes
	74%	No
	2%	Not Sure

3. What is an aquifer? An underground lake? A water-bearing layer of the earth? An underground stream? Or something else? (Asked of 600 Adults)

	21%	Underground Lake
	35%	Water-bearing Layer
	15%	Underground Stream
	8%	Other
	20%	Not Sure

4. How does groundwater get into the ground? From rain falling on the land? The flow of streams? Through storm drains? Through irrigation water moving through the ground? Water sinking through soil layers? All of these ways? Or none of these ways? (Asked of 600 Adults)

	1%	Rain Falling
	5%	Flow Of Streams
	0%	Storm Drains
	3%	Irrigation Water
	13%	Soil Layers
	62%	All Of These
	2%	None Of These
	5%	Not Sure

5. What is a watershed? A building along a waterway? The land where all the water falls and flows in a given area? An instrument to measure weather patterns? Or something else? (Asked of 600 Adults)

	7%	Building Along a Waterway
	70%	Land Where Water Falls/flows
	4%	Instrument To Measure Weather Patterns
	8%	Other
	11%	Not Sure

6. Which of the following would you say is your primary or closest waterway? The Sacramento River? The Feather River? Big Chico Creek? Little Chico Creek? Deer Creek? Lake Oroville? Clear Creak? Dry Creek? Gold Run Creek? Cottonwood Creek? The Cherokee Canal? Butte Creek? Or Mud Creek? (Asked of 600 Adults)

	9%	Sacramento River
	36%	Feather River
	18%	Big Chico Creek
	8%	Little Chico Creek
	1%	Deer Creek
	15%	Lake Oroville
	0%	Clear Creek
	1%	Dry Creek
	0%	Gold Run Creek
	0%	Cottonwood Creek
	0%	The Cherokee Canal
	7%	Butte Creek
	2%	Mud Creek
	3%	Not Sure

7. Are you aware of any practices that can help protect watersheds? (Asked of 600 Adults)

	49%	Yes
	45%	No
	6%	Not Sure

8. Which one of the following best describes how you would define the term "watershed health?" That your local waterway has clear or fairly clear water? Wildlife activity at your local waterway? Plenty of woody debris in your local creeks? Fish in your local waterway? Only using biodegradable soaps around water? Not seeing trash at your local waterway? Lots of native vegetation growing along your local waterway? Or some other way? (Asked of 600 Adults)

	34%	Clear Or Fairly Clear Water
	15%	Wildlife Activity
	3%	Woody Debris In Creeks
	12%	Fish In Waterway
	3%	Using Biodegradable Soaps
	3%	Not Seeing Trash
	10%	Native Vegetation Growing
	6%	Other
	13%	Not Sure

9. Which of the following best describes how you learned about watershed health? From TV? The radio? The local newspaper? By attending a workshop? From information a child brought home from school? Or some other way? (Asked of 600 Adults)

	13%	TV
	4%	Radio
	11%	Newspaper
	2%	Workshop
	7%	Info From School
	46%	Other
	16%	Not Sure

10. Which of the following has an impact on watershed health? Wildfires? Erosion? Industries discharging waste into waterways? Runoff from roads and parking lots? Runoff from farms? Runoff from construction sites? The use of pesticides and fertilizers? Development? All of the above? Or none of the above? (Asked of 600 Adults)

	4%	Wildfires
	4%	Erosion
	6%	Industries Discharging
	1%	Runoff From Roads
	1%	Runoff From Farms
	0%	Runoff From Construction Sites
	0%	Pesticides And Fertilizers
	4%	Development
	74%	All
	1%	None
	5%	Not Sure

11. If your home is on ... (Asked of 600 Adults)

	71%	Less Than One Acre
	18%	1 To 10 Acres
	8%	10 To 50 Acres
	1%	More Than 50 Acres
	2%	Not Sure

12. How do you mostly use your land? Farming row crops? An orchard? Ranching? A small family ranchette? Forestry or silvaculture? Or some other way? (Asked of 54 who have at least 10 acres)

	0%	Farming Row Crops
	32%	An Orchard
	10%	Ranching
	19%	Family Ranchette
	3%	Forestry Or Silvaculture
	34%	Other
	2%	Not Sure

13. Do you know what a conservation easement is? (Asked of 600 Adults)

	40%	Yes
	56%	No
	4%	Not Sure

14. Do you think conservation easements are? Or are not? Important tools for maintaining watershed health? (Asked of 243 who know what conservation easements are)

	79%	Are
	8%	Are Not
	13%	Not Sure

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