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Bulletin Board
Sausal Creek
The restoration of Sausal Creek, which wanders down from Shepard and Palo Seco canyons to the flatlands of Fruitvale and industrial Alameda, will be the subject of a $35,000 watershed-awareness project administered by the S.F. Estuary Institute but directed by the citizens who live near the creek (see calendar). The project follows a similar Institute-led effort to restore the San Leandro Creek watershed, which resulted in a booklet that outlined points of natural and cultural interest along the creek, a science fair, several creek clean ups, citizen monitoring of water quality conditions and a stormdrain stenciling project. Unlike the San Leandro project, which was confined to a section of the creek, this effort will stretch the length of Sausal Creek, which takes in economically and culturally diverse neighborhoods. The new project will try to involve volunteers and educate residents from all these neighborhoods. Both creek programs are funded by the Alameda County Public Works Agency. (510)231-9539 ext. 566
Bay Area Dredging
Bay area dredging emerged from mudlock this fall marked by flocks of shorebirds, deepened harbor channels and fresh reams of purple prose on the subject. In the North Bay at Sonoma Baylands - a recently completed wetland restoration using material dredged from the Oakland Harbor and Petaluma River - thousands of gulls, ducks, stilts, avocets and sandpipers thronged to the new mudflats topped with standing water. Meanwhile 55 miles outside the Golden Gate, the first bargeful of port mud to be dumped in the ocean in over a decade was released at the region's brand new offshore disposal site this November. And up in the downtown office towers, government staff have promised to burn the holiday oil to get a much-anticipated draft Environmental Impact Statement/Report on a long-term strategy for regional dredged material management to print this January. (415)744-1979
South Bay Metal Study
A new south bay study targets nine metals and hopes to determine which are significant contributors to stormwater pollution from Santa Clara County, which have controllable sources, and which do not. The study, slated to begin sometime after the New Year, will help fulfill a provision in the county's recently renewed NPDES permit for stormwater discharge requiring a "metals control plan." Known South Bay concentrations of the nine metals (cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, nickel, mercury, silver, selenium and zinc) led the State Water Board to list the extreme South Bay as an impaired water body under the Clean Water Act in 1986. (408)927-0710 ext.2721
Water Sales
A huge proposed water sale hundreds of miles to the south could be the most important development of the season for the Bay- Delta, says Assemblyman Richard Katz. The San Diego County Water Authority is considering a century-long water deal to acquire 500,000 acre-feet of water from the Imperial Irrigation District. The authority now buys all its water from the Metropolitan Water District, a Delta diverter. Katz, a long-time proponent of laws to create a free market for water, says the sale could not only do much to alleviate the pressure on the Delta but also serve as a model of cooperative water sales and alleviate fears about the motives behind water marketing proposals. San Diego spokesman Maurice Luque says benefits to the Delta were one of the key attractions to the deal. But the Metropolitan Water District has announced its own plans to acquire Imperial Valley water and responded to the San Diego plan by saying it was suspending plans to build a new pipeline to San Diego, according to press accounts. San Diego Water Authority board members characterized Metropolitan's moves as an effort to stall their sale, according to a press release. A May 1996 vote by the San Diego Authority on the water sale is planned.
Property Rights
A national property rights show-down won't focus on 12.5 acres of scattered rainwater-fed seasonal wetlands in Newark owned by the Cargill Corporation. On October 30, the Supreme Court refused without comment to consider Cargill's latest appeal challenging federal regulatory power under interstate commerce law over development of isolated wetlands used by migratory waterfowl. But the question of whether use by feathered travelers should put isolated wetlands under federal protection based on this law remains unresolved, says Cargill's Jill Singleton. "In a global sense the controversy is still alive,'' she says, adding that Cargill would still like to see federal regulatory power and use of civil penalties in this arena clarified. The Army Corps' John Eft says the Supreme Court refusal means that federal protection of isolated wetlands, particularly seasonal pools in the Santa Rosa area, wouldn't change. FH
Watery Wall Calendar
The pictures on a watery wall calendar mirror his organization's hopes for a long-term strategy for the Estuary, according to David Behar of The Bay Institute. Behar says the Institute's new full-color pin-up evokes an ecoystemwide approach to environmental management by capturing the bays, rivers, delta, creeks and wetlands of the Estuary from its headwaters high in the Sierra to its ocean outpouring at the Golden Gate, and by matching these photographs with text on the natural riches of the watershed and the impacts of dams, droughts and other factors. (415)721-7680
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