ITEM:

INFORMATIONAL ITEMS/STAFF REPORTS

 

24.

QUARTERLY CARMEL RIVER RIPARIAN CORRIDOR MANAGEMENT PROGRAM REPORT

 

Meeting Date:

October 15, 2012

Budgeted:

N/A

 

From:

Dave Stoldt,

Program/

N/A

 

General Manager

Line Item No.:

 

Prepared By:

Thomas Christensen and

Cost Estimate:

N/A

 

Larry Hampson

 

 

                            

General Counsel Review:  N/A

Committee Recommendation:  N/A

CEQA Compliance:  N/A

 

IRRIGATION OF RIPARIAN VEGETATION: The supplemental watering of riparian restoration plantings resumed for the summer season in 2012 at six Monterey Peninsula Water Management District (District) riparian habitat restoration sites.  The following irrigation systems were in use from April through September: deDampierre, Trail and Saddle Club, Begonia, Schulte, Valley Hills, and San Carlos at the Dow Property.  MPWMD uses a combination of drip and sprinkler systems, according to site conditions.

 

            Water Use in Acre-Feet (AF)

            (preliminary values subject to revision)

           

            January - March 2011             0.39 AF

            April - June 2011                    1.54

            July – September 2011            3.36

            Year-to-date                            5.29 AF

 

MONITORING OF RIPARIAN VEGETATION:   During May and continuing through September 2012, staff recorded bi-monthly observations of canopy vigor at target willow and cottonwood trees to provide an indication of plant water stress and corresponding soil moisture levels associated with groundwater extraction.  Four locations (Rancho Cañada, San Carlos, Valley Hills, and Schulte) are monitored bi-monthly for canopy ratings based on a scale from one to eleven. This scale evaluates characteristics such as yellowing leaves and percentages of defoliation (see scale on Exhibit 24-A).  A total of 12 willows and 12 cottonwoods at these locations provide a data set of established and planted sample trees that are representative of trees in the Carmel River riparian corridor. Soil moisture values are measured at all four sites using 18-inch and 36-inch tensiometers in the soil column.  Combined with monthly readings from the District’s array of monitoring wells and pumping records for large-capacity Carmel Valley wells in the California American Water service area, the District’s monitoring provides insight into the status of soil moisture along the riparian corridor.

 

Monitoring results for the 2012 monitoring season to date show that riparian vegetation is starting to show signs of stress.  However, District irrigation systems and shorter days will help keep vegetation below threshold stress values in the vicinity of large-capacity wells. The graph in Exhibit 24-A shows average canopy ratings for willows and cottonwoods in selected restoration sites in the lower Carmel Valley.  The graph in Exhibit 24-B shows impacts to water table elevations.

 

The types of monitoring measurements made during May through September 2012 are as follows:

 

            Monitoring Measurement                                        

 

            Canopy ratings                                                (See Exhibit 24-A for trends.)          

            Soil moisture (tensiometers)                                       

            Groundwater levels (monitoring wells)          (See Exhibit 24-B for trends.)           

            Groundwater pumping (production wells)

 

OTHER TASKS PERFORMED SINCE THE JULY 2012 QUARTERLY REPORT:

 

1.                  The Carmel River Advisory Committee met on August 2, 2012.  Minutes of the meeting will be provided in a future Board packet.

 

2.                  State Proposition 84 Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) Grant Program:  The City of Monterey and the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District (MPRPD) executed sub-grantee agreements with MPWMD totaling $330,000 and have begun work on their projects.  The City of Monterey project will evaluate alternatives to discharging stormwater from Monterey and Pacific Grove into the Pacific Grove Area of Special Biological Significance along the coast, which includes the Hopkins State Marine Reserve.  The MPRPD project is to carry out an assessment of the San Jose Creek watershed, which is immediately to the south of the Carmel River watershed and near Point Lobos.  MPWMD and Denise Duffy and Associates conducted the first general IRWM stakeholder meeting on July 25 to discuss regional objectives and priorities.

 

3.                  Sleepy Hollow Ford Removal and Bridge Replacement Project: District staff worked with the California Department of Fish and Game to execute a change to the grant agreement with CDFG to complete a constructability analysis and final design for the bridge.  The final design is due by December 1, 2012.

 

4.                  Schulte Road Bridge Replacement Project: District staff met several times with Monterey County Public Works Department to discuss streambank restoration at the site after construction activities removed vegetation upstream of the abutments.

 

EXHIBITS

24-A    Average Willow and Cottonwood Canopy Rating

24-B    Depth to Groundwater

           

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