WILDLAND FIRE ACTION: The Siskiyou Count Board of Supervisors possesses
the constitutional regulatory authority protect the general public from substantial
hazards to health and safety. Earlier in the year, the Siskiyou County Board of
Supervisors passed a resolution declaring fuel conditions on local National Forests to
pose a public nuisance and ordered abatement of those conditions. The Board of Supervisors
just recently passed a follow-up resolution demanding that the U.S. Forest Service
monitor, track and annually report carbon emissions from fire on national forests in the
county; (2) annually track and report projects in the wildland urban interface (WUI) to
reduce fuel conditions; and (3) develop strategies to reduce National Forest fuel loads in
Siskiyou County.
Ironically, at the same time the federal 9th Circuit
Appellate Courthad just shot down the President’s Healthy Forest Initiative, which
promoted "hazardous fuels reduction" by
exempting logging projects up to 1,000 acres and prescribed forest burns up to 4,500 acres
from environmental review. Contributing to the irony is the fact that Senator Dianne
Feinstein has just introduced her bill S. 2390 – the Fire-Safe Communities Act,
which will offer matching
grant funds to local cities and counties to adopt enforceable ordinances on private lands
to require fuel reduction; fire resistant construction;
zoning; firefighting protection; road, bridge and culvert standards.
http://thomas.loc.gov/ Apparently, Congress continues to assume that the problem of
catastrophic fire lies exclusively with private landowners and does not recognize its own
contribution in failing to reduce fuels on federal lands by legislating a program of
responsible management policies.
SCOTT VALLEY GROUNDWATER: California counties’ jurisdiction over
groundwater use has been supported by the case Baldwin v. County of Tehama (1994.) Siskiyou
County has in place a Groundwater Ordinance, asserting its jurisdiction on this issue. http://ordlink.com/codes/siskiyou/ The state does
not currently regulate the use of groundwater.
Public informational meetings continue on the Scott Valley
groundwater study plan being written under the guidance of the Siskiyou Resource
Conservation District (RCD) for Siskiyou County at the request of the North Coast Regional
Water Quality Control Board in its Scott River TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) Action Plan
for temperature pollution. Review of the comments by tribes, environmentalists and others
is an interesting read and reveals much about the conflict over local resource use. http://groundwater.ucdavis.edu/Publications/GW%20Study%20Plan%20Comments%20Digest%202007-11-21.pdf
SHASTA VALLEY GROUNDWATER: With
the approval of the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors, the Shasta Valley RCD has been
working with the Department of Water Resources on gathering groundwater data in the Shasta
Valley. The RCD recently came before the Board to advise and seek consensus on pursuing an
AB 303 grant to conduct public outreach on the report.
Indications from initial Phase I data gathering seems to indicate
that there are at least eight groundwater hydrologic sub-areas in Shasta Valley that
operate at least partially independent of each other. Other findings appear to indicate
that in some areas of the valley, groundwater is the primary source of surface flows and
in some areas irrigation with surface flows is a significant contributor to groundwater
recharge. This could mean that, without better knowledge of the hydrologic system, efforts
to improve groundwater efficiency and conservation in certain areas or provide for
groundwater supplement to intstream flows may have unintended consequences.
For instance, where groundwater recharge is partially dependent upon
irrigation with surface water, decisions must take that into consideration or homeowners
may be left without a reliable water source or with a contaminated well.
The Shasta Valley RCD has identified “data gaps” in our
understanding of groundwater and the hydrologic system in the Shasta Valley and has
developed a summary of those needs in eight areas: Gazelle/Granada; Little Shasta;
Montague; Plutos Cave area; Weed; Yreka, Yreka –East; and the Debris Flow area. |
