Mission: The Valley Women’s Club is dedicated to community action, awareness and leadership in environmental, educational, social, and political concerns that affect the health and welfare of the San Lorenzo Valley and our community.
Mission: The Valley Women’s Club is dedicated to community action, awareness and leadership in environmental, educational, social, and political concerns that affect the health and welfare of the San Lorenzo Valley and our community.
Environmental CommitteeThe Environmental Committee works to protect the watershed and to educate the public on forestry issues, erosion control, hazardous waste, recycling and other issues. We also monitor government policies and procedures. Events Roadside Cleanup, Highways 9 and 236: Quarterly
ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS Spring 2009 Large Instream Wood Policy Finally Reaching Board of Supervisors
Working on the issue, along with us, is the Lompico Watershed Conservancy (Kevin Collins), Friends of Soquel Creek (Ned Spencer), and a skilled Fishery Biologist (Don Alley) whose San Lorenzo River Salmonid Enhancement Plan is the guiding standard for the health of the River. We have received support from NOAA-NMFS (relating to the Endangered Species Act), the State Department of Fish and Game, the City of Santa Cruz, a Senior Environmental Scientist (Dave Hope) who is also a Certified Professional Soil Erosion and Sediment Control Specialist designated by the Superior Court as an Expert on Log Jams (1983-1986) when he worked for the County of Santa Cruz, and an instructor in aquatic biology and fisheries who has studied Santa Cruz County streams since 1972. (Some of their letters are at the end of this article.) Hammer-Marcum Award recipient, Kevin Collins, summed up the issue for the Board of Supervisors in a letter also signed by VWC Environmental Committee Co-Chair Nancy Macy -- as they review the newly proposed policy on the issue. John Ricker, Water Resources Division Director of the Santa Cruz County Environmental Health Services, authored the proposed policy. Ricker has years of experience and education in this field and helped author the original Watershed Management Plan for the San Lorenzo River, back in the late 70’s. Kevin’s letter said in part, “Of all the actions Santa Cruz County could take to improve the chances for salmon and steelhead, nothing comes close to the opportunity to simply allow fallen trees and other large log and root ball objects to remain undisturbed in our streams…. Many human impacts need to be addressed; water diversion, erosion, destruction of standing riparian trees, and pollution, but the simple retention of these logs, would produce a dramatic positive effect for our vanishing salmon. They are icons for the last of a wild Santa Cruz. The County must start to follow the law and stop destroying this wood. The logjam program must become wood monitoring, protection and management when necessary. …All California Resource Agencies and the NOAA-National Marine Fisheries Service emphasize the importance of this in-stream wood in their policy guidelines. The presence of logs in streams is usually irrelevant to public safety. The general public misunderstanding of this issue is pervasive and drives a destructive response to what is a normal stable stream system function… trees strengthen banks and hold soil in place during high stream flows. During very high flows, that flood normally dry land and threaten bridges, riparian trees slow floodwaters and capture floating debris that would otherwise form big logjams during the storm. Especially in watershed tributaries, in-stream wood and logs capture floating debris during storms and can prevent it from moving downstream to form logjams at bridges and roads. Often logs armor stream banks against erosion and removing them will destroy property….” Kevin quotes from a letter from the Dick Butler with National Marine Fisheries Service: "NMFS strongly encourages the County of Santa Cruz to discontinue removal of LWD from County streams except in the obvious situations where life and infrastructure are immediately threatened. Furthermore, NMFS suggests that the County of Santa Cruz adopt all five of the Large Woody Material Recommendations (Section 4.2) outlined in the San Lorenzo River Salmonid Enhancement Plan (Alley et al., 2004) for all County Streams. Adoption of these recommendations will help ensure long term maintenance and recruitment of this extremely important habitat component."… He summed up with, “Our intent is to help persuade the Board of Supervisors that past County behavior concerning the logjam program is unnecessary, destructive to critical wildlife habitat, and illegal. It is our hope that the County will begin to act in a rational thoughtful manner that is protective of our streams and wildlife. Santa Cruz County is our home. We live here because this place affords us the great pleasure to live with nature in a community that respects and protects its wildlife and irreplaceable natural heritage. Read John Ricker's Complete Letter Read Kevin Collin's Complete Letter Please add your voice to the Board of Supervisors in support of a rational, scientific approach to this issue.
Dealing with a 70% reduction in scrap value income has already resulted in fewer days of service in Boulder Creek and cuts in employee work hours and support for all the recycling centers. To add to the challenge, the County has informed us that our contracts will have a 20% budget cut for the next fiscal year. Unlike the other departments in the County, the Solid Waste Division of Public Works has always been entirely self funded through tipping fees for those using the dump – both members of the public and commercial trash operations. For the past two years there has been a precipitous drop in Solid Waste income, since the volume of trash has dropped due to ordinances forbidding recyclables to be dumped as trash. This was already causing reductions in planned improvements at the Ben Lomond Transfer Station, including a pole barn to provide shade and protection from rain for the recycling area and a needed baler replacement. With the economic downturn hitting the County hard, the volume of trash has plummeted further and so the cuts are even deeper. We are committed to maintaining the highest level of service possible as reductions are implemented. Everyone employed by the Recycling Centers at every level will be hit with a pay cut; one part-time employee has been laid off; Boulder Creek’s reduction was to be temporary but will now continue through the ’09-2010 fiscal year. (Please do not leave materials there on Tuesdays and Thursdays when the site is closed!) Other cuts will not be as visible but will put additional pressure on our employees, so please honor their efforts and compliment their dedication whenever you see them. They will be dealing with fewer supplies, reduced maintenance of equipment and working alone when a co-worker is ill or cannot make it to work. Learn to sort your materials into our containers, and bring them when the site is open so we can process them and reduce the amounts stockpiled overnight. Since everyone is suffering in this Recession, we are dealing with increased theft attempts. If you see anything untoward when you pass a recycling center, please take note and call the Sheriff. Whenever possible, please have GreenWaste take your papers and low-grade plastics. Bring us the aluminum cans, the #1 and #2 plastics, and glass bottles. Even if you request your CRV reimbursement, these materials have some value and will help us get through this down time. Donating them, of course, will help even more, but no one should feel reluctant to regain their deposit. Many thanks for your support. Recycling Your Fluorescent Bulbs—Do It! Now that we’ve replaced most of the incandescent bulbs in our homes with fluorescents, how do we dispose of them properly when they burn out? Because of the bulb's mercury content, tossing them in the trash is illegal. However, the county estimates as much as 90 percent of the bulbs end up in the landfill anyway. To try to reduce that figure, PG&E is partnering with 13 local businesses where you can drop off your fluorescent light bulbs for free disposal. SLV Fluorescent Drop Offs: Scotts Valley Fluorescent Drop Offs: County Tackles Green Building Program While trying to keep the permitting process as simple as possible, the County of Santa Cruz Planning Department is working to establish green building requirements for new building and remodels. They are proposing a check-list with such requirements as wrapping pipes, insulation, energy star appliances, porous driveways and pathways, and other innovations. The County is a part of a Green Building Taskforce, joining with the Cities of Santa Cruz and Watsonville and other entities, to try to coordinate their efforts. Contact Mark Deming in Planning with your suggestions. VWC Environmental Committee Plans Support for Quail Hollow Projects You’ll be interested to learn that, under the leadership of Quail Hollow Ranch Park’s Lee Summers, there are exciting plans for pond improvement (removing invasives!), creating a series of demonstration models for sustainable living, and supporting the VWC’s children’s environmental program. The VWC Environmental Committee will be actively involved in each of these. VWC member Ann Williams has been a Quail Hollow volunteer for a long time; she brought the Park’s need for help with the pond improvements to the Environmental Committee’s attention. New VWC member, Tracy Maxwell, another Quail supporter, has been brainstorming an extensive proposal for sustainable living demonstrations at the Ranch, supported by Lee, who is now bringing the proposal to her superiors in the Parks Department. The proposal is innovative and exciting and could provide inspiration and education to an expanded audience. Dusty Gipson, finding new ways to involve young children in environmental understanding, is turning to Quail as the site for her new plans. You will be kept informed of these projects, and are invited to help! Contact Lee Summers at Quail Hollow Ranch County Park and let her know you’d like to be involved, or contact the VWC Environmental Committee since we’ll be working closely in support of these plans. Take a minute to google the Park and you’ll see what many things it has to offer. The March/April Activities Guide is out too (see the VWC website), and includes a bird watching hike and a look at the reptiles and amphibians of the Park on March 1, a French Broom removal effort on March 7, and many hands-on activities later in the month, including a presentation on non-toxic vertebrate pest control (read “deer” and “gophers,” “voles” and “ground squirrels”) on March 22 from 1-3 pm. Quail Hollow Ranch Park is a treasure, and we can all help see that it is maintained and preserved, and we can enjoy the many benefits it offers. Earth Day Booth in April The Environmental Committee is planning to join the Earth Day activities along the San Lorenzo Benchlands in Santa Cruz, with an information booth. The event is on Saturday, April 18th, 11-4. Anyone wanting to help distribute native tree seedlings, and to get the word out about our activities is encouraged to contact the Committee at 338-1728.
The Environmental Committee is deeply disturbed about Pacific Gas and Electric's Vegetation Control Program as it impacts public safety, biotic resources, water pollution, stream bank stability and riparian forests. With information gathered by several members, Kevin Collins is completing a formal report about our concerns. These include damage to stream bank stability, stream shade, arboreal habitat, and salmonid impacts including water temperature, sediment and large in-stream wood recruitment removal. For instance PG&E contractors eliminate all vegetation under poles that support fuses and transformers even in locations that are directly over streams, on inner stream banks, or drain to streams in short distances. No effort is made to do erosion control on the stripped soils with gravel or other non-flammable ground cover. Other concerns include public safety problems from their tree cutting, indiscriminant destruction of healthy trees, cutting wider distances than required, dumping slash instead of chipping it – a fire hazard -- and the total lack of oversight for PG&E’s actions. The full report, with photos and specific examples, will be on the website by mid-March. It will be presented to our elected officials and to PG&E, in order to motivate a more measured and respectful treatment of our trees and riparian corridors.
Home | Back To Top |
|||||||
|
For over two years the VWC Environmental Committee has been working with the County to improve its handling of citizen requests to remove trees, logs, stumps, when they fall into a creek or river. This “Large Instream Wood,” or “Large Woody Debris” (I don’t like the word debris!) has been proven again and again, in studies across the country, to be extremely valuable to fish and wildlife, and to the health of the waterways – and, contrary to popular belief, has minimal impact during times of high rains and flooding. It needs to be left where it is!
