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Dry Creek Habitat Enhancement Demonstration Projects

Updates and what's happening now

• Download flier on Dry Creek Habitat Enhancement Demonstration Project
• Download Conceptual Design Report (July 2012)
• Thousands of redwood logs and root wads are needed to create habitat for the demonstration project. Loggers from Sonoma and Mendocino counties are delivering these logs and root wads to a staging site near Warms Spring Dam.
• Construction of the Water Agency’s first phase of the demonstration project was completed at Quivira Vineyards and Winery property in November.
• Construction of the Corps project (below Warm Springs Dam) began in September. The company that is designing the project will also be doing the construction.

View more construction photos on the Water Agency's Facebook Page...

Watch a video of December 2012's high flows in Dry Creek. Principal Program Specialist Dave Manning tells us why fish like the new backwater channel located at Quivera Winery.

Background

The Russian River Biological Opinion (issued in 2008 by National Marine Fisheries Service) requires the Sonoma County Water Agency (Water Agency) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to provide hiding places and refuge in Dry Creek for young coho salmon and steelhead trout. While the cold, clean water in Dry Creek is ideal for salmon and steelhead, the water moves too fast for young fish to thrive. The Biological Opinion requires that six miles of habitat be constructed in the 14-mile long creek. The first mile of enhancements, which includes logs, boulder and thousands of native plants, must be complete by 2014.

Download map

Download Conceptual Design Report (July 2012)

The Water Agency is working with a willing group of Dry Creek landowners on a one-mile habitat enhancement demonstration project. The purpose of the project is to demonstrate to regulators, landowners, and local decision makers the feasibility of Dry Creek habitat enhancements on a smaller scale and, in particular, to determine how they could be constructed, what they may ultimately look like, and how effective they are before implementing the full six miles of habitat enhancements on Dry Creek. The project is centered on Lambert Bridge, near the middle of Dry Creek.

On November 15, 2011, the Water Agency Board of Directors approved the demonstration project and the environmental document (described below) analyzing the project.

• Press release on Dry Creek Habitat Enhancement Demonstration Project
• Dry Creek Habitat Enhancement Demonstration Project Presentation to Board, 11/15/2011
• Dry Creek Habitat Enhancement Demonstration Project - Flier (PDF)

Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration for the Habitat Enhancement Demonstration Project

The Sonoma County Water Agency (Water Agency) is the Lead Agency under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for the proposed Dry Creek Habitat Enhancement Demonstration Project (Dry Creek Demonstration Project). The Water Agency prepared an Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration (Initial Study) for the project in accordance with CEQA. The Water Agency’s Board of Directors approved the Initial Study on November 15, 2011.

Full Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration of Environmental Impact Report, including Appendices (PDF, 25MB)

• Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration of Environmental Impact Report, no appendices (PDF, 5MB)
• Appendix A: Notice of Preparation and Comment Letters (PDF, 1MB)
• Appendix B: Special Status Species (PDF, <1MB)
• Appendix C: Plants Observed (PDF, <1MB)
• Appendix D: 60 Percent Design Report (PDF, <1MB)
• Appendix E: Mitigation Monitoring Plan (PDF, <1MB)

Contact Us

Please contact us with questions or to report any concerns:

• Oscar Martin, Water Agency onsite construction manager, 707-975-5684, Oscar@scwa.ca.gov
• Carlos Hernandez, USACE Engineer & Project Manager, 707-431-4550, Carlos.R.Hernandez@usace.army.mil