Evans and Simitian sustainable parks proposal gets budget approval

On Wednesdsay Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 2 voted to approve and adopt the staff recommendation amendments of the “Sustainable Parks Proposal” that was introduced May 8 by State Senator Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) and State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto).  

The budget proposal would keep open up to 50 state parks slated for closure this year while providing a stable and long-term funding solution that will keep all parks open.

As many as 70 state parks – including Anderson Marsh State Historic Park in Lower Lake – had been slated for closure beginning July 1, 2012.

The essence of the Sustainable Parks Proposal consists of providing assistance to nonprofit partners working for operating agreements for state parks and finding “new ways of working” in the parks, including allowing parks to become more entrepreneurial and allowing more personnel flexibility.

It also would access up to $173 million of existing funding sources over several years that may be appropriately used for park purposes.  

Annually, funds can be up to $10 million a year of existing funds collected the Motor Vehicle Account, $21 million from the Local Assistance Program and $10 million annually from the Clean Water Revolving Loan Fund, and $10 million from bond money.

The Sustainable Parks Proposal now waits for the Assembly Budget Committee to move ahead with their measure.

“Closing our state parks will not save the state money,” said Evans. “However, if the administration continues to move in that direction, this proposal would prevent closures this year and develop a solution-oriented and sustainable long term funding plan to keep parks in the public trust for generations to come.”

“These are hard times, filled with hard budget choices,” said Simitian. “But I continue to think that putting a ‘closed’ sign on 70 state parks is unacceptable. It’s fundamentally ill-conceived. We can do better.”

The proposal also would give Californians voluntary opportunities to support the parks. Under the proposal, Californians could purchase a specialty parks license plate for a fee and give a voluntary donation at the time of their vehicle renewal.

“This continues to be a solid proposal that will set the financial foundation for saving our parks,” said Evans. “In the short term, we will be able to keep most of our parks open this year, and in the long run, it will help make our park system stronger and more creative.”

Last May, the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) announced that 70 parks would close due to budget cuts.

Since then, nonprofit organizations and the public, as well as local and federal agencies, have stepped up efforts to find ways to fund the parks – many signing operating agreements with the state – and the number of parks slated to shut dropped to 54 last month.

Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association also is engaged in negotiations to operate Anderson Marsh, as Lake County News has reported.

To help encourage these community efforts, the proposal would also include extending liability coverage to local and nonprofit agencies that work in partnership to manage the parks.

Evans is the author of two bills complimentary to the Sustainable Parks Proposal. SB 974 requires transparency and public involvement in future closures and a planning process to reopen parks, while SB 1078 helps focus DPR on innovative revenue generation projects.

A full copy of the eight-point ‘Sustainable Parks Proposal,’ may be found below or at http://sd02.senate.ca.gov/ .

Evans represents the Second Senatorial District, including all or portions of the Counties of Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.

ENVIRONMENT: DFG sues U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect fish and wildlife around levees

On Wednesday, the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) sued the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) over alleged environmental law violations relating to levee maintenance policies.

On Feb. 7 DFG had issued its intent to sue over the Corps' levee policies, as Lake County News has reported.

DFG claimed in its lawsuit that the Corps failed to comply with the federal Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and federal Administrative Procedure Act when it adopted a national policy requiring the removal of virtually all trees and shrubs on federal levees. The Corps developed its national levee vegetation removal policy in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The Corps’ national policy fails to account for regional variations among levees, DFG alleged. As early as 1955, the Corps encouraged and even required the planting of trees and shrubs on California levees.

Studies conducted in 1967, 1999 and 2008 by California confirm that native riparian vegetation are compatible with flood control and that such vegetation can often act to minimize damage during a flood event.  

The Corps’ own studies from 1991 and 1999 also reportedly confirmed that post-damage flood rates for levees containing woody vegetation were lower than levees with no vegetation. DFG is confident that the Corps’ flood concerns can be met in a regional variation allowing this unique riparian habitat.

Only 5 percent of the Central Valley’s original riparian forest remains and the Corps’ new policy would eliminate it entirely.

 In addition to providing scenic beauty and recreational enjoyment for people, riparian habitat is essential for several endangered species including Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Valley elderberry longhorn beetle, riparian brush rabbit, Western yellow-billed cuckoo and Swainson’s hawk.

Approximately 1,600 miles of federal project levees along the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and tributaries are likely to be affected by the Corps’ policy.  

Several miles of federal levees in the Bay Area and Southern California would also be affected. Compliance with the new policy is estimated to cost the state up to $7.5 billion and divert funds from more significant levee deficiencies such as seepage and erosion.

Despite years of roundtable discussions between DFG, the Corps and other state, federal and local entities, DFG’s concerns over removing the riparian habitat remain unaddressed.

DFG’s mission is to manage California’s diverse fish, wildlife and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend, for their ecological values and for their use and enjoyment by the public.

WATER: Wet April boosts State Water Project deliveries

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) on Wednesday estimated it will be able to deliver 65 percent of requested State Water Project (SWP) water this year, up from the 60 percent delivery estimate – or allocation – announced on April 16.

Originally, DWR projected in November that it would be able to supply 60 percent of the slightly more than 4 million acre-feet of SWP water requested, but a dry December, January and February dropped that figure to 50 percent.

A wet March and above-average reservoir storage boosted the allocation back up to 60 percent in April, and today’s increase to 65 percent is due to April’s wetter-than-usual weather.  

A 65 percent allocation is not unusually low, the agency said.

Wet conditions last year allowed the SWP to deliver 80 percent of the slightly more than 4 million acre-feet requested by the 29 public agencies that supply more than 25 million Californians and nearly a million acres of irrigated farmland.  

An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons of water, enough to cover one acre to a depth of one foot.

The final allocation was 50 percent in 2010, 40 percent in 2009, 35 percent in 2008, and 60 percent in 2007, DWR reported.

The last 100 percent allocation – difficult to achieve even in wet years due to pumping restrictions to protect threatened and endangered fish – was in 2006, according to DWR.

April rainfall was 167 percent of normal in the mountainous area between the American River and Lake Shasta that produces much of California’s water supply.  The April rainfall total in the San Joaquin River basin was 137 percent of average.

Water content in this year’s sparse mountain snowpack was only 55 percent of normal on April 1, the time of year it’s usually at its peak.

Reservoir storage has been the one consistent bright spot in the water supply picture this year.  Lake Oroville in Butte County, the SWP’s principal storage reservoir with a capacity of 3.5 million acre-feet, is 99 percent full (116 percent of average for the date).  

Lake Shasta north of Redding, the federal Central Valley Project’s largest reservoir with a capacity of 4.5 million acre-feet, is 97 percent full (110 percent of average for the date).

Electronic reservoir level readings may be found at http://cdec4gov.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/products/rescond.pdf .