As a review SSTU has received the following funds for work on Secret Ravine.
TU EAS grant for $7000, $1400 from NCCFFF, $300 from Fly Fishers of Davis and a promised $1300 from the IFFF. In addition there was an additional $1000 sent to SSTU a couple of weeks ago from TUCA which is a refund of GRO funds donated by my wife and myself.
The original EAS Grant specifies that we are working on SR in two locations to stabilize stream banks and minimize sediment into SR in order to protect spawning habitat for anadromous fish, specifically Central Valley Steelhead and fall run Chinook salmon. SR is a 10.3 mile long trip to Dry Creek and contains some of the best remaining habitat in our region. This has been documented and confirmed by others within the fisheries community.
We have completed work at the first of two sites. This site sustained damage in December during a high water event. Unfortunately the willow cuttings had not had time to root and stabilize the bank so we suffered damage which had to be mitigated to the best of our ability.
During the course of working on repairing the damage I discussed the idea of a hydrologist consulting for us on our work with Gregg Bates and John Williams in order to inform our current work as well as position us for future funding. As a reminder John has been the project lead from the City. The hydrology consulting proposal was discussed in some detail in the recent email exchange where the board granted permission for us to fund the proposed work by Waterways, a hydrology and engineering firm with extensive experience in the area.
I received a contract from Waterways which was reviewed and approved by Brian Johnson of TU. I have signed and returned the contract to Waterways and will make sure it is posted to the Google Drive as well. Waterways was able to conduct their site assessment a few days ago in conjunction with some other work they had scheduled in the Truckee area. The anticipated completion date for the report is roughly 6 weeks. Once we receive the report I will distribute it to the board for review and discussion.
The head of Stormwater for the City is named Delyn Ellison-Lloyd. She is John Williams' boss. Gregg, John Williams and I have met with her and discussed pursuing grant funding for work on SR. There are a couple of possible grant opportunities we can pursue and they look to be quite competitive. More on that as it develops.
During the site survey by Waterways we discussed the second project site and asked for their thoughts on our proposed course of action. Brent Zaccariah, the engineer in charge of the project, thought the overall approach was reasonable. The biggest issue we have to solve is 4WD exclusion at the site.
John Williams from the City has begun some of the invasive plant removal at the site. I need to get organized and schedule work days with John to get things going on the second site. The grant funding from NCCFFF has an expiration of the end of August though I can ask for an extension. The funds from TU have a completion date of 31 December.
Thanks for the support for this project. I will write this up for the website and will also send it to Sam Davidson for TUCA communications.
Please let me know what questions you may have.
Kind Regards,
Kevin