North Coast Watershed Assessment Program to provide information for better management

Cathy Bleier
Resources Agency

In 1999, the California Resources Agency and the California Environmental Protection Agency began developing an interagency watershed assessment program on the north coast. The purpose was to develop consistent, scientifically credible information to guide landowners, agencies, watershed groups, and other stakeholders in their efforts to improve watershed and fisheries conditions.

The agencies brought together five California departments—Fish and Game (DFG), Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF), Conservation’s Division of Mines and Geology (DMG), Water Resource (DWR), and the North Coast Water Quality Control Board (NCWQCB)—to identify the appropriate role and objectives of a state assessment program.. The resulting North Coast Watershed Assessment Program, or NCWAP, is designed to meet four goals:

1. develop baseline information about watershed conditions;
2. guide watershed restoration programs;
3. guide cooperative interagency, nonprofit, and private sector approaches to “protect the best” through stewardship, easement, and other incentive programs; and
4. better implement laws requiring watershed assessments such as Forest Practices, Clean Water and Porter-Cologne Acts, Stream and Lakebed Alteration Act, and others.

The program provides a process for collecting and analyzing information to answer a set of critical questions designed to characterize current and past watershed conditions. It will cover approximately 6.5 million acres of private and state lands within the 12 million acre North Coast Hydrologic Region.

NCWAP will not produce prescriptions, design projects, analyze cumulative effects of proposed projects, perform risk management, or recommend policy development or regulations. It will, however, provide a consistent, interdisciplinary foundation for voluntary stewardship and implementation of existing regulations.

Benefits to Landowners
The North Coast Watershed Assessment Program will support watershed protection and planning at the project level in several ways. It will provide information that small landowners could not easily obtain, such as landslide, sediment, and Timber Harvest Plan (THP) maps for all ownerships within a watershed. These products, when used in conjunction with site-specific assessments by the landowner, will improve his or her ability to design projects that mitigate potential watershed impacts and address limiting factors to salmonid recovery. We will also work with interested landowners to demonstrate the use of GIS tools and predictive models for project planning and cumulative effects analysis.

The program includes two DFG positions to identify immediate restoration opportunities and develop projects with interested landowners. NCWAP results will also be shared with State Water Resources Control Board and DFG grant programs (e.g. Proposition 13, 319 Clean Water Act, SB 271 Fisheries Restoration, and Coastal Salmon Recovery Programs). Project proposals that reflect NCWAP findings and restoration priorities will have improved chances of getting funded. Assessments can also be used for developing cooperative watershed-level salmon recovery plans that would benefit multiple landowners.

Assessment Questions
The North Coast Watershed Assessment Program is designed to answer the following critical questions for each river basin:

• What are the relationships between land use history and current vegetation and watershed disturbance?
• What is the spatial and temporal distribution of sediment delivery to streams from different sources and what is the relative importance of each source?
• What are the effects of stream, spring, and groundwater uses on water quality and quantity?
• What is the current role of large woody debris have in forming fish habitat and determining channel morphology and sediment storage?
• What are the current salmonid habitat conditions, and how do they compare to desired conditions (life history requirements and Basin Plan objectives)?
• Do current aquatic community populations and diversity reflect assessed watershed and water quality conditions?

These questions are similar to those guiding other watershed assessment programs. There are already well established protocols to measure many parameters for answering these questions which NCWAP will use whenever possible. The program will develop a manual of our methods that references other published sources. NCWAP will strive to answer assessment questions at scales ranging from the planning watershed up to basin level, as appropriate, but will need to adapt objectives, methods, and level of assessment based on individual basin characteristics, stakeholder input, existing data, and landowner cooperation for fieldwork.

Assessment Products
In responding to assessment questions, the North Coast Watershed Assessment Program will provide data sets and databases, maps and GIS data, topical reports, and an overall summary with recommendations for every basin. Products will include photos and maps of current land use, landslide locations and landslide risks, sediment distribution in streams, and 60 years of timber harvest history. NCWAP will compile data on instream channel and riparian conditions, fish populations, and water quality, and develop new data as feasible. It will analyze sediment transport and the effects of land use history on vegetation change, watershed disturbance and instream habitat. The Department of Fish and Game will then use all this information to analyze limiting factors for salmonid protection and habitat restoration.

The summary report for each basin will integrate all information to provide an overview of watershed function and condition. This report will include a discussion of the linkages between land use, natural processes, and limiting factors; priorities for restoration; key data gaps and monitoring needs; recommendations for cumulative effects analyses; and general management recommendations.

The North Coast Watershed Assessment Program will also work with local stakeholders to use models for predicting road runoff, riparian vegetation and woody debris recruitment, and other GIS tools. Data, maps, reports, and findings will be available free on CD from the Institute for Fisheries Resources’ through its KRIS tool and website, and on-line through the California Environmental Resources Evaluation System (CERES).

Public Input and Review
The North Coast Watershed Assessment Program is designed to be flexible. The departments recognize that many basins have significant data collection efforts underway. Therefore, the assessment team for each basin will work with landowners, local agencies, watershed groups, restorationists, and other stakeholders to refine assessment objectives and methods based on the unique characteristics of that watershed. We will specifically seek input on watershed problems and concerns; existing assessments, data, and studies; and opportunities to conduct fieldwork on private lands. Our initial scoping efforts in the Gualala River and Redwood Creek basins are developing strategies for coordinated property access requests, data and GIS protocol development; communication; coordination with local assessments and support for local monitoring objectives.

NCWAP has also contracted for independent scientific peer review and public review of our methods. The program will incorporate changes into our manual in response to these processes as feasible, and will document all comments. The Governor’s budget for next year includes funds for ongoing peer review of assessment products from each basin.

Benefits of Increased Interagency Coordination
The North Coast Watershed Assessment Program will provide a consistent set of methods, data, and interpretation for understanding watershed condition and protection needs that will be used by participating agencies and others. NCWAP is coordinating with DFG’s Basin Planners and with participating agencies’ THP review staffs. Agencies are also integrating new programs, such as NCWQCB’s Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program and DFG development of restoration project monitoring protocols, into NCWAP program planning. These coordination efforts will benefit both stakeholders and agencies by reducing interagency conflicts, improving confidence in agency decision-making, and expediting permit review and grant processes.

The State expects information about limiting factors, habitat conditions, and restoration priorities to be incorporated into National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) recovery planning for listed salmonids, including recognition of restoration activities identified in or precipitated by the assessment process. The assessments should also strengthen the scientific foundation for TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) development and implementation.

NCWAP has begun working with the Forest Service and BLM to explore how we can integrate our assessment with their efforts in mixed ownership watersheds. We will also share data with regional efforts by local government such as the Five Northern County Salmon Conservation Planning program.

Program Resources and Next Steps
The North Coast Watershed Program will provide over 50 new staff to the five participating departments. Every basin team will have at least six members, including two or more biologists and geologists and at least one forester and water quality or environmental specialist. There will be a lead contact person for each basin to answer questions, communicate progress, and coordinate team member activities as needed with residents and stakeholders.

It will take seven years to complete these baseline assessments. Program success will ultimately depend on the participation and input of stakeholders, program flexibility, and the development of credible, useful products for watershed planning and adaptive management. The State will also explore options for filling critical data gaps or supporting focused monitoring efforts. We look forward to working with all North Coast stakeholders to implement this program so that we can improve our ability to manage, protect and restore our watersheds.