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River Partners Journal
Summer 2016 • Volume 13, Issue 2
Learning By Doing in the Race to Save Salmon from Extinction
River Partners is Crowdfunding for the Environment
New Investments in Coordinated Invasive Species Control in the San Joaquin Watershed
We’ve got a new look – tell us what you think
Contents 3 Message from the Board Chair: Efficient
Watering and Drip Irrigation
4 Learning by Doing in the Race to Save Salmon from Extinction
6 Update: The California Riparian Restoration Handbook 7 Years Later
8 Developing Partnerships to Support Arroyo Toad Recovery in San Diego County
9 New Investments in Coordinated Invasive Species Control in the San Joaquin Watershed
11 Project Update: River Partners Completes Planting in San Diego County
12 River Partners is Crowdfunding for the Environment Cover photo shows the flooding of the
Willow Bend Restoration Project across the river from Princeton, CA
River Partners TeamExecutive TeamJohn Carlon, PresidentGerald Dion, VP Finance & OperationsMona Dagy, Executive Assistant
Development TeamCam Tredennick, VP Legal & New BusinessMike Cook, Regional DirectorMaggie Boberg, Regional Director
Operations TeamStephen Sheppard, Operations DirectorRuben Reynoso, Field ManagerFrank Reynoso, Field ManagerBill Jensen, Field ManagerGreg Arnaiz, Field TechnicianEligio Hernandez, Field TechnicianFrancisco Jaurgui, Field TechnicianAlfred Sweet, Field TechnicianFeliciano Degante, Field ForemanMarqus Cuison, Nursery Technician
Accounting TeamDeborah McLaughlin, Senior Accounting Mgr.Miranda Lamb, Staff Accountant
Projects and Partners TeamHeyo Tjarks, Restoration EcologistHelen Swagerty, Senior BiologistJeff Holt, Restoration BiologistMichael Rogner, Associate Restoration BiologistDr. Tom Griggs, Sr. Restoration Ecologist, Retired
Board of DirectorsKara Baker, KVB, Inc.John Carlon, Sierra Cascade Blueberry FarmRon Ginochio, Ginochio Farms Ken Grossman, Sierra Nevada Brewing CompanyAllen Hackett, Hackett FarmingMark Kimmelshue, Legacy AssociatesTom Lando, Lando and AssociatesJulie Rentner, Fmr. River Partners Dir. of Special Projs.Suellen Rowlison, R.N.Irv Schiffman, CSUC, Political ScienceMonroe Sprague, M.D.
New Board MemberJulie Rentner joined the Board in March. Julie worked for River Partners as the Spe-cial Projects Director until 2015 when she had her second child and decided to take some time off to raise the kids. She brings to the Board her talents in the technical aspects of restoration and a sincere love of riparian ecology. She currently lives in San Luis Obispo County with her husband and two babies.
(Above photo) Julie recently completed the California Agricultural Leadership Foun-dation’s intensive 17-month leadership training (Class 44). As part of that expe-rience, she traveled the Lower Zambezi River, learning about conflicts between people and the environment in Sub-Saha-ran Africa.
The California drought, along with the con-sequences of climate change, has put a major squeeze on the state’s water supply, particu-larly its disappearing groundwater. The effi-cient use of water has become a necessity and all sectors of the economy have been tasked with using water with conservation in mind.
I became personally aware of the impor-tance of water conservation when living in northern Israel on Kibbutz Ramot Menashe in the 1970s. I was taking a year off from teaching and my wife was hired there as a kindergarten teacher. My job in the kibbutz water meter factory was to test and calibrate refurbished water meters. Israel then suffered from a scarcity of water and the accuracy of water meters was a critical conservation mea-
tion system on the property. In those instanc-es in which there is limited water available or the topography is not conducive to furrow or flood irrigation, a drip system is used.
In its early years River Partners utilized a flat sub-surface product called T-Tape, irrigat-ing plants from below the surface. Root intru-sion into the lines along with other problems led the staff to switch to above surface drip tubing with in-line emitters inside the tubing.
However, the relatively short period in which we irrigate makes the use of drip irrigation an efficient but sometimes costly undertaking. For example, in the Colusa State Recreation Area Habitat Restoration Project, where the terrain precluded flood irrigation, we used twenty miles of quality drip hose with a 20-year lifespan and then took it up after the three-year irrigation period ended. We try to reuse the drip line if it isn’t too damaged or else it is recycled.
Israel now has a sufficient water supply but continues to require the refurbishment and calibration of water meters. The years of scarcity led it to develop a water culture that is reflected in its present water related practices. California may now be facing years of scarcity and time will tell whether or not this will lead to the adoption of a sustainable water culture that shapes its water related practices.
Irv SchiffmanBoard of Directors ChairCSUC, Political Science (Retired)
Message from the Board ChairEfficient Watering and Drip Irrigation
New EmployeeCam Tredennick joined River Partners’ Development Team in February 2016. A JD with an MPA from USC, Cam brings a lot of talent in environmental law and conservation real estate transactions to our staff. Cam previously worked with the Western Rivers Conservancy in Davis, where he lives.
www.riverpartners.org
The Journal is published by River Partners, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public benefit corporation.
Our mission is to create wildlife habitat for the benefit of people and the environment.
Unless otherwise specified, all photographs were taken by River Partners staff.
Journal Editor: Julie Rentner
Journal Design & Layout: Chuck Lundgren
The Journal has a new look!Tell us what you think. Email us at [email protected].
“People don’t realize how critically important riparian woodlands are to wildlife. [River Partners is] restoring some of the most important and beleaguered habitat in California.”— Kim Forrest, wildlife refuge
manager of the San Luis National
Wildlife Refuge Complex
sure. By law, domestic and commercial water meters had to be refurbished and calibrated every three years.
My years in Israel also introduced me to many different kinds of water saving mea-sures, from the reclamation of sewage for agricultural purposes to the pervasive use of drip irrigation, particularly drip irrigation made by the Israeli firm Netafim (a Hebrew word meaning “to drip”).
Netafim is also the drip irrigation product frequently used by River Partners in those instances where drip irrigation is appropriate. Because River Partners irrigates for only three years, when undertaking a restoration project we generally utilize the existing flood irriga-
Labeling plant ID locations along drip irrigation
Boardmembers Ken Grossman, John Carlon, Monroe Sprague, and Irv Schiffman survey a project site.
2 River Partners Journal River Partners Journal 3
Learning by Doing in the Race to Save Salmon from Extinction
On a cool, foggy, February morning I walked out into our native grass planting at Willow Bend, a 175-acre habitat preserve owned by River Partners. I’ve been to this site a bazillion times, but this time was different, I was wear-ing waders. Forty acres of the site was under three feet of water after the Sacramento River had jumped its banks in January. The heads of last year’s grasses were just breaking the surface of the still water.
I was surveying the native bunch grasses – which are perennial and long lived – to see how they were surviving after being sub-merged for weeks. The north field the Willow Bend is bowl-shaped, and after the river crests, the site becomes a lake until the water that spilled into the bowl percolates or evaporates, which can take up to two months.
As I waded across the field I kept noticing minnows darting away from me. Later, I saw three fish, each about a foot long, swimming together. I wondered what species they were.
After my grass survey was done, I waded back toward shore, and when I was in just inches of water I noticed a dead minnow at the water’s edge. It was still brightly colored, so it couldn’t have been dead for long. On a hunch, I carried it to the car and placed it in my water bottle.
Back in Chico, I swung by the office of one of our fish expert partners, FishBIO and showed the minnow to two fisheries ecol-ogists. One of them dipped a plastic spoon into my water bottle and grabbed the fish.
The moment it broke the surface both of the biologists yelled one word at the same time: “Salmon!”
This 2-inch long fish was a fall-run Chi-nook salmon. They pulled up dozens of photos and taught me how to identify young salmon in case I saw any more in the field.
I’d seen dozens of minnows in the water, all about the same size and shape. Could they all have been salmon? And if I saw dozens while I was just walking around, how many did the 40-acre pond hold? And what about the three bigger fish that I saw?
Back at the office we placed calls to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
They visited the site but determined that the grassy vegetation and size of the pond made a fish rescue logistically problematic. Besides, the Department lacks the resources to perform fish rescues on the thousands of acres of disconnected floodplains that line the Sac-ramento River, so the rescue did not happen.
Over the next couple of weeks, as the pond water level went down, I found 18 more dead “minnows”. All 18 were salmon.
Then another storm came. The site flooded again.
We wanted to know exactly when the property flooded. So when we heard about the storm coming we mounted time-lapse
Several deceased juvenile Chinook salmon, like the one pictured below, were left stranded on the floodplain after flood waters receded.
Years ago, this was a great thing. The food web on floodplains – if you’re a salmon – is an all-you-can-eat buffet. As the water warms, it becomes thick with tiny plants and animals on which the young salmon gorge. Many studies (including one led by River Partners) have shown that salmon grow far faster on the floodplain than they do in the river.
The reason this is important is that the single biggest factor that predicts a salmon’s fate once it reaches the ocean is how big that salmon is. If they get fat on the floodplain on their trip to the sea, then they are more likely to survive. Which means more make it back to their home streams in order to spawn.
At least that is how it used to work.Now, because of dams, diversions, and
revetment, they have become hazardous to salmon. At Willow Bend, for example, those cameras we mounted to capture the flooding were right along the river’s edge. But we knew they were safe, that the bank wouldn’t erode in the flood because that bank is armored with rock revetment. Like many miles of the
Sacramento River, this bank was armored decades ago to keep the river from mean-dering onto the farm. As the water – and the salmon – spill over that revetment it erodes the ground behind the armor, creating the lake that is disconnected from the river once the river stage drops.
The salmon were out on the floodplain getting fat, just as their genetics programmed them to do. That’s the good news. The bad news is that they were trapped. And because of the way our rivers are managed, there are other “Willow Bends” everywhere you look. Luckily, there is a fairly straight-forward fix for this. The temporary lakes just need a drain back to the river.
The way it would work at Willow Bend is that a channel would be bulldozed from the low point in the field to the river. It would need to be armored where it met the river to keep it from filling in or eroding. And the problem would be solved.
But we want more than just to solve the problem. We also want the salmon to be able to get fat on the floodplain. This means that it needs to stay flooded for at least four weeks at a time in order to give those little salmon time to gorge and grow. There are two ways
Michael RognerAssociate Restoration Biologist, Sacramento Valley
(Right) This shows the initial flooding in January 2016 of the Willow Bend project.
cameras in two trees at Willow Bend to photograph the water coming on to the site. Using time stamps from the photographs, we next gathered data for the same time from the nearest river gages. From this we were able to calculate the exact height the Sacramento River needs to be in order for the site to flood. Checking historical gauge data it turned out that the site had flooded in fourteen of the past fifteen winters.
These juvenile salmon trapped in the lake at Willow Bend were acting exactly the way the salmon experts would expect them to. When rivers rise, the salmon which are too small to swim in the floodwaters get pushed around and end up on the river edges, and disproportionately close to the surface of the rushing floodwaters. Then, when the river jumps its banks, the fish get washed onto the floodplain.
to do this. 1) Release way more water from the dams, or 2) capture the water on the flood-plain when the river is naturally flooding.
Releasing a ton of water from reservoirs isn’t a viable option, especially considering our current drought, but capturing the water when rivers flood is easy. That channel we bulldoze at Willow Bend? Just install a rice box or some other water control structure at the end, and we can hold back the water. If we can implement this relatively minor fix, those “minnow” salmon can continue to use Willow Bend to get fat, only now they’ll be able to get back to the river. In the coming months, we hope to implement this fix at Willow Bend and at the other properties we own and manage. Hopefully we’ll learn as much through those projects as we learned in the first two months of 2016!
(Right) The floodwaters had receded by March, thus stranding the salmon.
The salmon were out on the
floodplain getting fat, just as their
genetics programmed them to do.
That’s the good news. The bad
news is that they were trapped.
4 River Partners Journal River Partners Journal 5
The California Riparian Restoration Hand-book (Handbook), prepared by the Riparian Habitat Joint Venture in 2008, responded to a strong need for experience-based guidelines for cost-effective, large-scale riparian habitat restoration. This type of restoration has been developing throughout California since the 1980’s and was pioneered in the Sacramento Valley by retired Senior Ecologist, Dr. Tom Griggs. Tom authored the Handbook and shared that “the Handbook was a way to succinctly tie together 20 years of experience and lessons learned in the field and were intended to help those that were planning or funding large-scale restoration projects.”
Since its publication, the Handbook has been used in a variety of ways to improve the efficiency of habitat restoration by practi-tioners, provide a learning tool for ecology students, and educate managers of funding programs and flood control agencies. It’s been cited as a reference in the NRCS Conservation Practice Standard for Riparian Forest Buffer, which provides technical information to field offices and landowners. It serves as a lesson in environmental studies classes at CSU, Sacra-mento. Lastly, the Handbook is a reference in more than a dozen planning documents supporting DWR’s Central Valley Flood Protection Plan. The Handbook provided the backbone for over $40 million and 4,000 acres of riparian habitat restoration implemented by River Partners alone! With dozens of spe-cies on the brink of extinction that are reliant upon riparian habitats (more than any other habitat type in California), the utility of the Handbook cannot be understated.
During the last seven years, we have learned a lot about restoration success, ecolog-ical response to disturbance in restored areas, wildlife response to restoration, and inter-actions between restored habitat and other societal values in the river corridor (such as farming, flood management, water supply, and carbon sequestration). For example, we have learned how to assess opportunities to allow floodwater attenuation and encourage floodplain reconnection to provide foraging
habitat for dwindling salmon populations on the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. We experimented with efficiently cultivating dozens of additional plant species to build our planting palette and provide the habitat diversity and resilience needed to ensure that restored habitats can adapt to our chang-ing climate. Finally, we have observed the effects of unseasonal flooding and prolonged drought that favors invasive weeds– high-lighting the need to aggressively establish dense native plant cover quickly, and to implement comprehensive weed monitoring and management over time.
The Handbook has been available in its full version free of charge to all visitors to River Partners website since it was published. If funding permits, River Partners would like to share its lessons learned since 2008 in an updated California Riparian Habitat Restoration Handbook. Sharing experiences in a format that can be used by restoration planners, implementers, regulators, program managers, and project managers will provide an amplified “ecological lift” for our precar-ious riparian ecosystems across the western US. Updates will include additional informa-tion and data regarding flood management and riparian ecosystem function, additional lessons learned in coordinated weed manage-ment, and Case Studies from across California, including Southern California’s coastal areas. If you are interested in helping River Part-ners gather the needed funds to update this important resource, please contact Jerry Dion at [email protected].
You can download the Handbook at http://www.riverpartners.org/documents/Res-toration_Handbook_Final_Dec09.pdf .
UPDATE: The California Riparian Restoration Handbook: 7 Years Later
“Some of the greatest advances in riparian restoration ecology have been made through the hard work of adaptive management in the field. The Handbook provides a great collection of lessons learned to help planners make better decisions about riparian habitat restoration across the state.”
— Terri Gaines, California Dept. of Water Resources
Helen SwagertySenior Biologist, Sacramento Valley
Before (2006)...
The top photo is from 2006 just prior to planting riparian forest along the floodplain drainage swale on the 695-acre Bear River Setback Levee Project. The bottom photo was taken at the swale this year. The floodplain drainage swale was created to allow floodwater from the Bear River to slowly flow back into the river as the water recedes. This gives native fish critical access to the floodplain, and also a safe way to get back into the river.
... and after (2016)
Bear River Setback Levee Project
River Partners Journal 7
The Arroyo Toad (Anaxyrus californicus) was once a widespread inhabitant of arid riparian systems in California ranging from Monterey County to Northern Baja Mexico including river systems that drain into the Mojave Desert on the eastern side of the mountain ranges in Southern California. As its common name implies, the Arroyo Toad inhabits low gradient, intermittent streams and rivers characterized by open braided channels with large areas of sandy sediment deposits that are subject to periodic and often intense flooding. These river systems are common to the arid areas of California and provided significant areas of habitat for the toad. However, the toad has been extirpated from large areas of its original range as a result of urbaniza-tion and agricultural land uses, vegetation encroachment and habitat changes and flood
control projects that have channelized stream systems and impounded wa-
ter sources needed by the toad for survival. As a result, the Arroyo
Toad is now a federally endangered species in both the United
States and Mexico. The Arroyo Toad is a reclusive nocturnal
species that borrows into stream sides and terraces during the day and becomes active at night to forage and breed. The toad is de-pendent on shallow pools and slow moving water for breeding, egg laying and larval development. Low gradient arroyos provide this availability in flood disturbed areas from the first significant rain events and continue to provide suitable habitat until the water disappears in the spring and summer. During the drier periods of the year, the toad takes advantage of the extensive terrace systems and sandy substrate to dig burrows into the cooler and moister soils and enter a period of dormancy, called estivation, where they remain inactive and lower their metabolic rate until the rainy season returns. While in this period of dormancy, toads are susceptible to a wide array of additional threats including off-highway vehicle use, trampling and preda-tion. As a result, the once widespread range of Arroyo Toads has been reduced to 25-35% of its historic range.
Working with local Arroyo Toad research-ers with the US Geological Survey and other
We are excited to announce that River Part-ners and our project partner the San Joaquin River Parkway Conservation and Trust, Inc. have been awarded competitive grants from the Bureau of Reclamation’s San Joaquin River Restoration Program and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Watershed Restoration Grant Program to expand the multi-benefit San Joaquin River Weed Con-trol and Jobs Creation Project.
Since its start in 2011, this project has been mapping, prioritizing, and treating problem-atic noxious weeds along 150 miles of the San Joaquin River from Friant Dam near Fresno to the river’s confluence with the Merced River – all the while employing local workers to sup-port the local economy. To date, more than 430 folks have been employed by the project,
treating more than 780 acres of exotic invad-ers such as giant reed (Arundo donax), perenni-al pepperweed (Lepidium latifolium), thistles and salt cedar (Tamarisk spp.). The funds driving this project have come from a variety of partners, and often come from competi-tive programs eligible to the entire state. By successfully competing for funds, this project is improving the environment and bringing hundreds of thousands of dollars into the San Joaquin Valley to chip away at two big prob-lems: weeds and unemployment.
When we first conceived of this project nearly 7 years ago, we had no idea how many challenges we were facing, not from the extensive infestations of undesirable plants (we had a healthy respect for the scale of that challenge), but from the daunting challenge of finding and managing a workforce across such a large geography with the levels of efficiency that such an ambitious project re-quires. We learned quickly that partnerships with Federal and State agencies, NGO’s, and of course the local landowners could help us solve employment and workforce manage-ment challenges as much as they have helped us solve scientific restoration challenges across the entire Central Valley. Partnering with the Fresno EOC Local Conservation
Developing Partnerships to Support Arroyo Toad Recovery in San Diego County
Corps and the California Conservation Corps has allowed this project to access crews of tal-ented and motivated young people who are just developing a sense of caring about their local environment, and who need enriching employment experiences. As Sharon Weaver, the Executive Direction for the San Joaquin River Parkway Conservation and Trust, Inc. put it, “Our partnerships have added value to every aspect of this project. River Partners has specific scientific expertise; the River Parkway Trust has on-the-ground presence and relationships with many local landown-ers, and the Fresno EOC Local Conservation Corps is providing education and job-training opportunities for local youth. It’s a winning combination of resources and talent.”
New Investments in Coordinated Invasive Species Control in the San Joaquin Watershed
Partners in the fight against riparian weedsUS Bureau of ReclamationUS Fish and Wildlife ServiceNational Fish and Wildlife FoundationCalifornia Department of Fish and WildlifeCalifornia Conservation CorpsCalifornia State ParksPrivate landowners
Giant reed was once planted along ditches and waterways to stabilize the banks from erosion. We now know that it has the opposite effect by exacerbating large-scale erosion during storm flows. Treating this weed benefits water quality, wildlife populations, and public safety. The above photo shows California Conservation Corps labor crews have been learning about river restoration while pulling a paycheck for four years.
Heyo TjarksRestoration Ecologist, Central Valley
partnering agencies such as the Wildlife Con-servation Board and the City of San Diego, we have identified locations and methods of habitat restoration for the toad in the San Dieguito River and San Pasqual Valley of San Diego County. Building on the expertise and research conducted on this species in the local area, the partnership has been evaluating different locations along the river that could provide the greatest benefit to toad recovery and working to identify the best combination of plant species for restoration areas.
Understanding the variety of habitat types used by the toad during its different life stages and seasons has shown us that successful toad habitat restoration projects must encompass a mosaic of different vegetation types and densities that take advantage of site-specific considerations, as well as the differences between historic and current hydrologic conditions. When combined with the control and removal of non-native species of plants, the goal of our toad habitat restoration proj-ect is to provide a suite of habitat types that maximizes usable habitat for all of the toad’s various habitat needs. Work is ongoing at this stage but it is hoped that this project can serve as a model for possible future habitat resto-ration projects for Arroyo Toads in Southern California.
Dave RobertsRestoration EcologistSouthern California
Terrace habitat that has been degraded by encroachment of non-native grasses in the foreground and invasive tamarisk in the background.
Native river bed terrace habitat used by Arroyo Toad for forage and breeding consisting of a mosaic of open areas, patches of mulefat and low growing forbes.
Photo: Chris Brown, USGS
River Partners Journal 9
River Partners completed planting on habitat restoration projects in Proctor Valley and Upper Otay Reservoir at the beginning of last winter, and site maintenance has been in full swing.
Over the winter, we worked on controlling non-native grasses and other invasive species on both properties, and native plants have begun to establish. The projects have been well received by the local community and recreationists and will continue to provide benefit to local residents and wildlife as plants continue to grow.
We’re planning on holding an open house with local residents soon to talk about the projects and what has already been achieved.
We’ve identified additional funding oppor-tunities for expanding efforts in the area and have submitted grants in partnership with the Urban Corps of San Diego to both expand control of non-native species and plant addi-tional oak trees.
Dave Roberts Restoration Ecologist Southern California
River Partners Completes Planting in San Diego County(Above) Members of the Urban Corps of San Diego County performing maintenance over the winter near Upper Otay Reservoir .
(Right) Signage installed near Upper Otay Reservoir to inform the public and nearby residents of the benefits of native habitat restoration.
(Right) Native plants establishing in milk cartons since being planted in November. Note significant control of non-native grasses around plants.
We’re working with Dr. Kristen Kaczynski of California State University, Chico to give her undergraduate students real world experience collecting ecological data at our restoration sites.
Undergrads at work
Western kingbird found on River
Partners projectWhile conducting Swainson’s hawk surveys at our Feather River Levee Setback Project, we found this first-of-season western kingbird. They are typically one of the first songbirds to reach the Central Valley during migration, arriving from their wintering grounds in Central America. They typically nest 15-30 feet high in cottonwoods and oaks, and some of our trees planted at this project in 2009 are getting tall enough for kingbirds to nest in.
The Calif. Conservation Corps is working hard at planting the Oak Valley Project near Riverside, CA. The 44 acre project will be riparian and coastal sage scrub habitat along San Timoteo Creek, a Santa Ana River tributary.
The CCCs planting in So. Calif.
Project Updates
Photo by Kevin Soils, Jr.
River Partners Journal 11
Creating wildlife habitat for the benefit of people and the environment.580 Vallombrosa AvenueChico, California 95926(530) [email protected] riverpartners.org
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Help Baby Salmon!They are trapped on their journey to the ocean.
Help River Partners in our initiative to fix a major fish trap on the Sacramento River. This trap captures and kills young salmon as they migrate downstream to the ocean. Together, we can make an important positive impact on an iconic species in need of help. Follow this link http://www.willowbend.causevox.com/ to help make a difference.
Every dollar helps.100% of your gift will go towards
saving these salmon.
