Also In This Issue:Hayfork Basin Trails & Fuel Breaks ..3Northwest Regional California

Fire Safe Council Meeting...............4Bridge Site Development .................5DG Giveaway Day ............................6Wildfire Awareness Week ................7

Trinity County Resource Conservation District Spring Issue 20041

continued on page 2...

Recommended Trinity River Release Schedule for Water Year 2004By: Doug Schleusner, Executive Director, Trinity River Restoration Program

Scientific studies conducted over thelast 10 years on the Trinity Rivershow that re-establishing a morenatural hydrograph that varies fromyear to year is important to thesuccess of the on-going restorationefforts. Variable flows of sufficientsize can clean spawning gravels,build gravel/cobble bars, scour sandout of pools, provide adequatetemperature and habitat conditionsfor fish and wildlife at different lifestages, control riparian vegetation,and perform many other ecologicalfunctions. The basic intent of a flowschedule is to mimic the snow meltpattern of a given water year type.This means that flows (releases fromLewiston Dam) generally start toincrease near the end of April andlast from 1 to 3 months beforeramping down to summer baselevels.

Each year the U.S. Bureau ofReclamation determines the wateryear type for the Trinity River basedon the amount of water that hasflowed into Trinity Lake fromOctober 1 to April 1, and theadditional amount of water expectedfrom rainfall and snowmelt for therest of the year (through September30). On April 7, the final runoff

Spring Releases (6000 cfs) in May 2002

forecast established 2004 as a “wet”water year within the Trinity Riverbasin.

The Record of Decision (ROD) signedin December 2000 established thefollowing volumes bywater year type. InDecember 2002, a U.S.District Court cappedannual releases at dryyear volumes(regardless of wateryear classification)pending completion of aSupplemental

Environmental Impact Statementrequired by litigation, but a recentdecision by the Ninth Circuit Court ofAppeals allows for the release of theNormal Year flows this spring.

Spring 2004 Vol. XIII No. 2

Trinity County Resource Conservation District

ConserConserConserConserConservvvvvaaaaation Almanaction Almanaction Almanaction Almanaction Almanac

2Trinity County Resource Conservation District Spring Issue 2004

...continued from page 1

Water Year Type Water Volume for Trinity River (acre-feet)Critically Dry 369,000Dry 453,000Normal 647,000Wet 701,000Extremely Wet 815,000

scheduled bridgereplacements, 2)maximize Chinooksmolt production byproviding optimalrearingtemperaturesthroughout the

mainstem river system, and 3)achieve substantial geomorphicbenefits by flushing largeaccumulations of fine sediment thathave been deposited over the pasttwo years, move and redepositgravel, and scour 1-2 year oldriparian vegetation that has re-encroached along the channel’s edge,all of which will improve habitatconditions throughout the system.

The recommended release schedulewill achieve these objectives.Lewiston Dam releases will begin toincrease on May 4th from 300 cfs to6,000 cfs on May16th and continue atthat level until May 25th. The flowswill then ramp down to 2,000 cfs byJune 18th and hold at that level, untilabout July 9, finally reaching thesummer base flows of 450 cfs on

TMC Approved Release Schedule for WY 2004Revised 4-28-04 for a Normal Year Water Volume

(Releases from Lewiston Dam to the Trinity River, CA)

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

25-Apr-04 5-May-04 15-May-04 25-May-04 4-Jun-04 14-Jun-04 24-Jun-04 4-Jul-04 14-Jul-04 24-Jul-04

Date

Rel

ease

(cfs

)

The Trinity River RestorationProgram staff, also established in theDecember 2000 ROD, has theresponsibility of developing the annualinstream fisheries release schedule forLewiston Dam. The Trinity RiverFlow Evaluation Study (TRFES)provides the scientific basis forscheduling the variable annualinstream flows, including specific,measurable flow related restorationobjectives and annual hydrographsby water year type. Staffrecommendations also incorporateadvice from technical representativesof the Trinity Management Council(TMC) and Trinity AdaptiveManagement Working Group(TAMWG). Specifically, thesescientists and resource specialistsagree that this year’s restorationpriorities should be: 1) Complete

July22. This represents a total volumeof 647,000 acre-feet compared to453,000 acre-feet released last year.

The bridge construction schedule isbeing modified to accommodate therecommended releases. The primaryeffect on the construction schedule isthat instream work cannot commencebefore mid-July 2004, resulting in acompletion date of November 15 ratherthan September 15. Even so, bridgeswill be capable of passing higher flowsin 2005 if allowed by the courts.

This year’s release schedule wasreviewed by the Trinity ManagementCouncil (TMC) on April 14 and againthe week of April 26th. After it wasapproved, it was forwarded to theBureau of Reclamation’s Central ValleyOperations Office, which will operatethe Trinity River Division as closely tothe proposed schedule as technicallyfeasible. The daily release schedule isavailable on the Reclamation’s websiteat: www.mp.usbr.gov/cvo/.

The figure below illustrates the releaseschedule for the available 647,000acre-feet of water.

3Trinity County Resource Conservation District Spring Issue 2004

Local Group Takes Action on Hayfork Basin Trails and Fuel BreaksWhen is a recreational trail also aline of defense against wildfire?When the Hayfork Action Team sawthe opportunity to rebuild and repairthe trail system in, and around, theHayfork area. They quickly realizedthat these old trails, roads or jeeptrails not only provide importantrecreation, but meet a critical need toprovide fire access into areas with noaccess, or would provide fuel breaksidentified in the Fire Safe Council’sFire Management Plan.

The Hayfork Action team has nowcompleted the first of a two-phaseproject administered by theWatershed Research and TrainingCenter in Hayfork. Crew members,all from the Hayfork area, receivedtraining in trail maintenance, rockand log construction of water bars,retaining walls, causeways, chainsawand crosscut saw use, trail planningand layout; working under tryingconditions; personal and crewrelations and many other valuableworkplace job skills. The project hasrestored a portion of the historicaltrail system around Hayfork forrecreational use and provided fireaccess and fuel breaks in areas that

were hard or impossible to get towith vehicles.

The 6-person crew worked for 10weeks to complete 5.3 miles of foottrail maintenance, 3.7 miles of roadbrushing, 8.4 miles of jeep trailbrushing, under the direction of a USForest Service trail supervisor fortraining, layout, project supervisionand support (pack stock, vehicles).The project was implemented in the

Tule Divide Drainage with theobjective of linking trails to roads toprovide loop systems for access byrecreational groups or fire crews.Trail rider groups out of the IndianValley Station, hikers, and mountainbikers periodically use these trails.

Training provided during the first yearwill enable the crew to operateefficiently and with less supervision asthey begin Phase 2 during the summerof 2004 with funds from the TrinityCounty Resource AdvisoryCommittee. Depending upon thecondition of trails currently beingsurveyed, approximately 26 miles oftrail work is planned for this year.

For more information about thisproject or to see a map of theproposed 2004 trail system or thedraft Hayfork Area Trails MasterPlan, please call the WatershedResearch and Training Center at (530)628-4206.

Main Tule Trail -- Before

Main Tule Trail -- After

4Trinity County Resource Conservation District Spring Issue 2004

Trinity County Fire Safe Council Hosts Regional WorkshopWho would have thought thatover 50 people would convergeon Weaverville to attend thefirst Northwestern CaliforniaRegional Fire Safe CouncilMeeting? Well that’s just whathappened when the TrinityCounty Fire Safe Council(TCFSC) opened the doors tothe Weaverville Fire Hall onApril 3rd to host this first-evergathering of fire safe councils.Representatives from Fire SafeCouncils (FSCs) big and smallcame from all over northernCalifornia to share their experiences inhelping their communities be more firesafe. Three members from theCalifornia Fire Safe Council were onhand to learn about the challengesfacing some of the State’s most ruralfire safe councils in Del Norte, ElDorado, Humboldt, Mendocino, Modoc,Siskiyou, and Trinity counties. Thecountywide fire safe councils werejoined by members of smaller, but noless effective, community-level FSCsfrom Avenue of the Giants, Diablo,Klamath River, Lake Head, LowerMattole, Mt. Shasta Area, Orleans/Somes Bar, Old Shasta and SalmonRiver.

The idea for this regional workshopgrew out of the Fire Wise workshop thatwas held in Fortuna last November.Local Fire Safe Council members IngridLandis (Post Mountain PUD), Scott

Eberly (Trinity ResourceConservation & DevelopmentCouncil) and Kelly Sheen (TrinityCounty RCD) attended the Fortunaworkshop. Fire Safe Councils inrural areas can feel isolated and itwas realized that there is a need forregional networking among Fire SafeCouncil representatives to fostercross training, and collect informationfor the California FSC to strengthenits support for local councils.

The purpose of the meeting was to1) support regionalized networkingamong Fire Safe Councilrepresentatives, 2) foster cross-training in the variety of Fire SafeCouncils functions, and 3) collectinformation for the California FSCto strengthen support for county andlocal FSCs.

Fire Safe Councils vary significantlyin how they are structured, howlong they have been operating,how involved their communitiesand government may be, and thenumber and types of projects thatthey implement. They also havemany similarities – a mission toeducate residents on how tomake their communities saferplaces to live, make their forestshealthier, and to workcooperatively to implement high-priority fuels reduction projects.

Each fire safe councilsummarized its work, andhighlighted its primarychallenges. Many issues wereraised during the two daysincluding permitting issues,getting communityinvolvement, funding, projectplanning and prioritization,workforce, agency support,landowner agreements,treatment prescriptions,monitoring, and maintenance ofprojects once they have beencompleted.

The RCD and USFS led participantson a tour Sunday afternoon thatfeatured several fuels reductionprojects that have been high prioritiesof the Trinity County Fire SafeCouncil to protect the community ofWeaverville. Stops included theConservation District’s Oregon Streetroadside shaded fuel breaks anddefensible space project, the OregonMountain fire, and a project along aForest Service road that treated aplantation with a machine called amasticator.

This workshop was a good start atbuilding partnerships among state,county, and local fire safe councils.The group identified opportunities towork together, support needs from theCalifornia Fire Safe Council, a list ofeffective communication andnetworking strategies, and the need towork together to affect public policyregarding fire safe issues.

The generous funding from theCalifornia Fire Safe Council,Collaborative Learning Circle, and theSiskiyouFSC sponsored this meeting.Barracks were provided by the USForest Service and CaliforniaDepartment of Forestry and FireProtection. Meeting space wasgraciously provided by the WeavervilleFire Department.

Trinity County Resource Conservation District Spring Issue 20045

RCD Working With the Trinity River Restoration ProgramThe Trinity River RestorationProgram will be taking some big stepsin the next year or so – replacing fourbridges between Lewiston andDouglas City to allow higher springflows to be released from LewistonDam during wetter years (See Page 2of this Issue), and stream bank(riparian) and wetland restoration atdemonstration sites near Junction City.

The RCD entered into an agreementwith the Restoration Program tosupport the restoration andenhancement of approximately 44sites along the Trinity River that areimportant parts of the overall plan torestore the river for anadromousfisheries (salmon). In some cases,like the bridges, the vegetation alongthe banks of the river needs to beremoved to allow for the constructionof the new bridges, but done so inways that minimize the erosion of thebanks and disturbances to wildlife.The District crew was able tocomplete the removal of the willows,cottonwoods and alders with a softertouch than would be possible withheavy equipment – and they were ableto collect plant material that will besaved for replanting the banks afterthe bridge construction is completed.

Dr. Bob Sullivan, the Wildlife Biologistfor the Restoration Program inWeaverville, guided the timing of thisspring’s work to prevent disturbingmigrating birds that nest in areas alongthe river.

The District is working closely with staffat the Weaverville Office of theRestoration Program and projectscientists to design the first of therestoration sites – one near Junction Citythat is independent of the releases fromLewiston Dam – that should be

constructed in2005.

The RCD waschosen to helpwith the streambank and wetlandrestorationprojects, becauseof its experiencedesigning andimplementinghabitatrestoration usingnative plants.The District will

assist in the overall design ofrestoration plans and the specificlayout for replanting sites. TheDistrict also has considerableexperience growing native plantsfrom locally-collected seed and willbe expanding its facilities to meetthe Restoration Program’s needs.The nursery will be expanded. TheDistrict will be working with theTrinity High School’s vocationaleducation program to providestudents hands-on experience withgrowing native plants in the HighSchool nursery and the District hasstarted an “orchard” for growingtrees like cottonwood and somelarger willow species. In fact, manyof the cuttings taken at the bridgesites have now been installed nearthe Hamilton Ponds on propertyowned by the State of California toget the orchard started.

Trinity County Resource Conservation District Spring Issue 20046

The RCD hosted its annualDecomposed Granite (DG) GiveawayDay at the Hamilton Ponds, nearLewiston, on April 24th. There werenearly 40 different vehicles that camefor this free material that will be usedfor a variety of projects including:road base for driveways, in gardensas a soil amendment, walking paths,backfill for foundations, generalleveling of lots, as well as horse,llama, and goat corrals.Over 250 cubic yards of DG sandwas given away to people fromLewiston, Junction City, Weaverville,Douglas City, and Hayfork.

Decomposed Granite Giveaway Day

This decomposed granite was dredgedfrom Hamilton Ponds last fall as partof the Trinity River RestorationProgram’s effort to reduce sedimentfrom entering the Trinity River. TheHamilton Ponds were constructed in1984 near the mouth of Grass ValleyCreek.

These ponds were designed to catchsand before it enters the channel of theTrinity River where it can bury gravelsthat are important salmon habitat. Theponds are dredged almost every year tomaintain their effectiveness in trappingthe decomposed granite. So look foranother DG Giveaway Day next spring.

Trinity County Resource Conservation District Spring Issue 20047

District Manager’s Corner--Pat Frost

WildfireAwareness WeekMay 10-16, 2004

The Trinity County Fire SafeCouncil is active in promotingdefensible space and fireprevention throughout theyear, but Wildfire AwarenessWeek is when we really needresidents’ help---before fireseason starts. Protect YourHome, Your Property, andYour Community fromWildfire.

√ Properly maintain alloutdoor plants by regularlyremoving dead branches,leaves and needles

√ Create a "defensible space"around your home byremoving all flammablevegetation at least 30 feet andreplacing it with fire resistantplants

√ Clear away flammablevegetation within 10 feet of allwoodpiles

√ Post your house address atthe beginning of the driveway,or on the house where it isEASILY visible from the road

Defensible Space is YOURResponsibility!!

When I came to the District in 1999one of the first things I receivedwas a two-page list of terms that Iwould need to know to do my job.Every field of work has its own setof words – plumbers and carpenterstalk in terms that may seem foreignto those of us who aren’t involvedin construction every day.

Those of us working in conservationalso have a vocabulary that isspecific to our work, and it is easyfor us to forget that not everyonewill have a working knowledge ofthese words, known as jargon. Iwas reminded of this recently whenI sat down in front of themicrophone in the studio at theKWCA radio station in Weavervilleto begin an interview about theDistrict. I had to think aboutwildfire prevention and the health ofour streams in terms that thelisteners would understand, not inthe terms that a forester or afisheries biologist would use.

The Conservation Almanac is muchthe same as that radio broadcast. Wehave to think about what we say andhow we say it. Sometimes there is noalternative word for a scientific term.So, starting with this issue, we willinclude some definitions or at least ourway of describing some of thesetechnical terms. This issue has someinteresting stories about the restorationof the Trinity River and we’ll startthere with the way I try to understandsome of these terms.

Hydrograph: You’ll find a graph onPage 2 that shows how the Bureau ofReclamation will release water fromLewiston dam. It shows amounts ofwater flowing down the river betweenMay and July. So you can think of ahydrograph as just that – the change inthe amounts of water in a stream overa period of time.

Cubic feet per second (cfs): Think ofyourself standing on the bank of astream that is one foot wide and onefoot deep and visualize that volume ofwater or a box that is one foot on eachside that travels past you ever second.One cubic foot of water is 7.5 gallonsof water.

Acre-foot: This is another way to lookat a volume of water. A parcel of landthat is about 208 feet square with onefoot of water covering that parcelwould be 1 acre-foot. 1 acre-foot ofwater is about 326,000 gallons.

Riparian: This word refers to streambanks and usually is used when talkingabout the plants that grow along theedges of streams – plants like willows,alders and cottonwoods and theanimals that live amongst those plants.

I hope you enjoy this issue of theConservation Almanac and let usknow how we can improve ournewsletter. You can reach us at 530-623-6004 or you can email me atpfrost@tcrcd.net.

Trin

ity C

ount

y R

esou

rce

Con

serv

atio

nD

istr

ict

P.O

. Box

145

0W

eave

rvill

e, C

A 9

6093

TCR

CD

Boa

rd o

f Dire

ctor

s ar

eM

ike

Rou

rke,

Ros

e O

wen

s, P

atric

k Tr

uman

,C

olle

en O

'Sul

livan

, and

Gre

g Lo

wde

n.

The

RC

D is

land

owne

rs a

ssis

ting

land

owne

rs w

ith c

onse

rvat

ion

wor

k. T

he R

CD

can

guid

e th

e pr

ivat

e la

ndow

ner i

n de

alin

gs w

ith s

tate

and

fede

ral a

genc

ies.

The

RC

D p

rovi

des

info

rmat

ion

on th

e fo

llow

ing

topi

cs:

• Fo

rest

La

nd

Pro

du

ctiv

ity

• E

rosi

on

/Se

dim

en

t C

on

tro

l•

Wa

ters

he

d I

mp

rove

me

nt

• W

ild

life

Ha

bit

at

• Wa

ter

Sup

ply

an

d S

tora

ge

• So

il a

nd

Pla

nt T

yp

es

• E

du

cati

on

al

Pro

gra

ms

This

issu

e of

the

Con

serv

atio

n A

lman

ac is

fund

ed in

par

t by

gran

ts fr

om th

e Tr

inity

Riv

er R

esto

ratio

n Pr

ogra

m a

ndth

e C

alifo

rnia

Fire

Saf

e C

ounc

il

Trin

ity C

ount

yR

ESO

UR

CE

CO

NSE

RVA

TIO

ND

ISTR

ICT

Est

ablis

hed

195

6

Dis

tric

t Boa

rd M

eetin

gsTh

ird W

edne

sday

5:30

PM

Ope

n to

the

Pub

lic

TCR

CD

Offi

ceN

umbe

r One

Hor

sesh

oe L

ane

PO

Box

145

0W

eave

rvill

e, C

A 9

6093

Tele

phon

e(5

30) 6

23-6

004

FAX

623

-600

6E

-mai

l: in

fo@

tcrc

d.ne

tIn

tern

et: w

ww

.tcrc

d.ne

t

P

rinte

d on

Rec

ycle

d P

aper

The

Trin

ity C

ount

y R

esou

rce

Con

serv

atio

n D

istri

ct (T

CR

CD

) is

asp

ecia

l dis

trict

set

up

unde

r sta

te la

w to

car

ry o

ut c

onse

rvat

ion

wor

k an

d ed

ucat

ion.

It i

s a

non-

prof

it, s

elf-g

over

ning

dis

trict

who

se b

oard

of d

irect

ors

volu

ntee

r thi

er ti

me.

The

TCR

CD

Vis

ion

TCR

CD

env

isio

ns a

bal

ance

bet

wee

n ut

iliza

tion

and

cons

erva

tion

of o

ur n

atur

al r

esou

rces

. Th

roug

h ec

onom

ic d

iver

sity

and

eco

syst

em m

anag

emen

t our

com

mun

ities

will

ach

ieve

and

sus

tain

a q

ualit

y en

viro

nmen

tan

d he

alth

y ec

onom

y.

The

TCR

CD

Mis

sion

To a

ssis

t peo

ple

in p

rote

ctin

g, m

anag

ing,

con

serv

ing

and

rest

orin

g th

e na

tura

l res

ourc

esof

Trin

ity C

ount

y th

roug

hin

form

atio

n, e

duca

tion,

tech

nica

l ass

ista

nce

and

pro

ject

impl

emen

tatio

n pr

ogra

ms.