6A Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012
Indian Valley Record
Yellow Creek to get restoration treatment
Alicia Knadler
Indian Valley Editor
aknadler@plumasnews.com
Yellow Creek and the Hum-
bug Valley are to be the newest
recipients of the pond-and-plug
restoration treatment, possibly
as soon as this fall.
Plumas County Planning Di-
rector Randy Wilson signed a
negative declaration after re-
viewing project plans and pub-
lic comments in January.
Comments did not change
the design, he wrote, though
they did result in some clarifi-
cations and a re-circulated
document.
Five more comments were
received after that, but he said
they raised no significant new
effects.
No appeals of his decision
were made to the Plumas
County supervisors, so the
work to get permits and bids
in place continues via Plumas
Corporation and the Feather
River Coordinated Resource
Management group.
While officials in the man-
agement group claim public
comments were taken into
consideration during the final
plan preparations, local ex-
perts are not so sure.
Michael Kossow, owner of
Meadowbrook Conservation
Services, said project planners
basically blew off their con-
cerns.
Kossow concluded the Red
Clover Creek fish migration
corridor had altered and be-
come disconnected due to the
pond-and-plug treatments.
"I believe pond reaches im-
pair fish migration," he wrote.
"This is especially true for
young-of-the-year rainbow
trout that rely on free flowing
water to disperse their popula-
tions.
"Competition from other
fish that do well in ponds may
also be a problem young-of-
the-year rainbow trout en-
counter while trying to occu-
py the altered habitat."
Kossow first began his
"fishy" relationship with the
Yellow Creek area in 1964,
when newly constructed For-
est Service and logging roads
made fishing access easy..
-:'Over thenext 15 years he
w'itnessed meadow and stream
degradation due to hundreds
of miles of roads and skid
roads being added.
Wilson requested a response
be made to Kossow before he
would sign the declaration.
Resource management
group project manager Leslie
Mink replied that while most
of the pond-and-plug project
areas are not trout fisheries,
there are some exceptions,
like Red Clover and parts of
Last Chance Creek.
"Studying the response of
fish populations to these pro-
jects is an ongoing effort," she
wro'te. "It has proven to be
more difficult than one might
think because of the difficulty
of sampling ponds in the post-
project condition.;'
Red Clover Creek has
shown a dramatic increase in
trout productivity, though,
she added.
Fish migration shouldn't be
an issue, since grade control
structures are built specifical-
ly to allow fish passage.
Fish migration and the
Whirling disease affecting the
Wild trout fishery concerns
"Little is known about how
all of the native fish that in-
habit the Yellow Creek water-
shed use the free-flowing
stream system during their
entire lifecycle a.nd how the
project may impact them,"
Kossow wrote.
Kossow, who has been
studying rainbow trout migra-
tion in the greater Feather
River watershed for 30 years,
first became concerned about
this issue after walking lower
. Red Clover Creek this past
summer. .,, :
Red Clover Creek isiike:the
flagship project for the man-
agement group and was one of
the only creeks that didn't
blow out in the flood of 1997.
New, anger hours to serve you better!
PORTOLA MEDICAL CLINIC
IS NOW OPEN:
Man. & Wed. 8:00 am - 7:00pro
Tues., Thurs. & Fri. 8:00 am- 5:00 prn
Saturdays 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
N
Please call 832.6600
to schedule your appointment.
wild rainbow trout population
in Yellow Creek were con-
cerns of California Fish and
Game Environmental Pro-
gram Manager Jeff Dron-
gensen, who offered the de-
partment's support of the pro-
ject.
The department is one of
several agencies and organiza-
tions that are members of the
resource management group.
Kossow still believes that
the project will be a huge
waste of time and money, un-
less other issues in the water-
shed are addressed, such as
the roads arid grazing.
"All this tinkering is very
expensive," he wrote. "What
happens when beaver move in
and change the original de-
sign?
"Where will the mainte-
nance and monitoring money
come from as more and more
projects are constructed?
"The Plumas Corporation
has created their own bureau-
cracy."
Flood concerns
Ken Roby, retired Forest
Service fisheries biologist,
raised concerns as well.
He focused some of his ex-
pertise on the flood-control
claims made in the plan,
though most of his concerns
were washed over.
"As I stated in my initial
comments, portions of Yellow
Creek downstream of the pro-
ject area maintain floodplain
connectivity at present," he
wrote. "How then, is flood-
plain inundation upstream at
the project area going to im-
prove protection of People and
i
Hopes are that the restoration project along 6,396 feet of
Yellow Creek and an unnamed stream channel in Humbug
Valley will restore full hydrologic function and improve water
quality and habitat for wildlife and coldwater fish, like the wild
rainbow trout. The pond-and-plug method will be used, as shown
on the design map,. even though some local experts still have
reservations about its effects. Graphics courtesy Plumas Corporation
Cultural and Development
Group and the Native Ameri-
can Heritage Commission.
McCombs, with review by
Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
archaeologist James Nelson
and Army Corps of Engineers
archaeologist Erin Hess,
deemed the project would not
• impact any native sites;
rather, it would actually re-
duce artifact loss from creek
.erosion.
"Lab analysis of sample
toolstone was particularly m-
teresting, with the obsidian
geochemically sourced to Kel-
ly Mountain in Plumas Coun-
ty and to Buffalo Hills in
Wash0e County, Nev.," Mc-
Combs wrote. "The results
added .to a growing database
on the very active obsidian
and basalt procurement net-
work in effect prehistorically
in Plumas County."
Although scientifically un-
clear, the Mountain Maidu
creation story begins in
Plumas and Lassen counties,
and there is no oral history of
migration as there is in many
other Native American tribes.
property?"
The overall performance of
the pond-and-plug projects
continues to increase their
confidence, replied Mink.
"We also continue to learn
lessons that translate back in-
to design modifications," she
added.
In other words, the benefits
of restoration were deemed
worth the risk.
Their designs at the bottom
of the restoration project are
made to withstand maximum
stress, she added, though
"most project •decisions are
made without exact certainty
of the impacts."
Damage-resistant design
modifications built into this
plan include not planting wil-
lows on plug surfaces and us-
ing sedge mats instead.
The willows seem to concen-
trate flows, she wrote, while
the mat configurations retard
flows.
She also found a mistake in
the flood protection data and
said they might have overstat-
ed flood protection claims,
Cultural heritage concerns
The. restoration project gen-
erated a 269-acre heritage sur-
vey in Humbug Valley in 2008,
according to Diane McCombs,
of McCombs Archaeology,
Native American consulta-
tion was provided by author
and Maidu Summit Consor-
tium member Beverly Ogle,
the Greenville Rancheria of
Maidu Indians, the Maidu
Read more about it
For more information about
the Humbug Valley-Yellow
Creek Meadow Restoration
Project, visit feather-river-
crm.org, and click on Docu-
ments for Public Comment,
then scroll down and click on
the pertinent document links.
Interested people may als0
call Mink at 283-3739.
FIRE
DAMAGE?
WATER •
DAMAGE? .... i
We've got the experience to
handle your job from start to finish.
We work with all
insurance companies.
Our professional services
a!so include:
New homes and additions;
remodels; decking; garages; fences;
kitchen, bath & closet remodeling;
roofing repair and replacement;
window replacements; door replacements
and much, much more.
• Have some small projects
that need to be done, call us!
All Work Guaranteed • Free Estimates • Licensed & Insured
Serving the area's construction
' =,=:ATTY
Eastern Plumas Health Care
"People llelping People"
480 FIRST AVE., PORTOLA, CA 96t22
CONSTRUCTION
SINCE 1984 .
needs fo r 28 years!
General Building Contractor
Calif. Lic. #453927
(s3o) z83-2oas
t
