MADERA -- The future of a 253-square-mile
foothill watershed in Madera and Fresno counties will be discussed
this month at a public meeting, the first step in a far-reaching focus
on land management of the slopes that drain water into the San Joaquin
River.
About 2,500 landowners are encouraged to attend the Millerton Area
Watershed Coalition meeting at 6 p.m. May 23 in the Friant Depot. The
coalition's funding includes $102,000 from the CalFed Bay-Delta
Watershed Program and $60,000 from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation,
which operates Friant Dam.
"The coalition is a forum for local participation ... in
watershed-related issues," said coalition program coordinator
Steve Haze.
"That watershed is a working landscape."
About 15% of the watershed -- 25,000 acres of the two-county area
-- is under state or federal control. Government agencies will likely
participate in the study.
In Madera County, where 179 square miles of the study area are
located, the coalition is expected to include the Board of
Supervisors, Planning Commission, Water Committee, Coarsegold
Conservation District and North Fork Chamber of Commerce.
Madera County Water Committee chairman Denis Prosperi and Board of
Supervisors Chairman Frank Bigelow were willing to participate. But
after recent county challenges blocked a joint federal-state effort
for an underground water bank eight miles southwest of Madera, there
was caution.
"We want to be involved and know what's going on,"
Prosperi said.
"We don't know where they're going, so how can we take a
position at this point? We've asked a million questions about what
they're going to do."
Prosperi said the water committee will support the coalition if it
benefits the county. But county officials want answers to numerous
questions, including who benefits if the plan produces more runoff.
Bigelow grazes cattle on his O'Neals ranch in the study area. He
was concerned about CalFed involvement in the Millerton Area
coalition.
CalFed is a federal and state task force trying to balance
California's water supply while restoring the Sacramento-San Joaquin
River Delta. The Millerton coalition is part of CalFed's involvement
with Bay-Delta water quality.
"The [Millerton] organization is evolving under CalFed ...
into a community-led collaborative effort," Haze said. Local
control over water is what the "outreach" seeks, he said.
Both counties last month decided to form their own task force and
invited Merced County to join in discussions relating to the San
Joaquin River.
Good watershed management includes both quality and quantity of
water. Long-term watershed management seeks a balance.
Vegetation-clogged slopes don't percolate and filter rain and snow
runoff. But slopes "slicked" by high-intensity fires result
in erosion and torrents of water containing ashes and carbons, said
Madera County Supervisor Gary Gilbert of North Fork, one of the
communities involved in the watershed study.
Less intense, managed fires mixed with protection from
out-of-control blazes is ideal. Reducing fuel on the slopes reduces
the chance of smoky wildfires. But air pollution restrictions limit
the use of controlled fires, said Gilbert, a retired California
Department of Forestry planning official and former Madera County fire
chief.
The area involved in the new study ranges from land at a 400-foot
elevation up to 3,500 feet. There are 300 miles of rivers and streams
draining into 26 miles of the San Joaquin, the boundary between Fresno
and Madera counties. Friant Dam holds up to 525,000 acre-feet of
water, with 98% of the stored Millerton Lake water released into the
Friant-Kern and Madera canals.
The reporter can be reached at cmcarthy@fresnobee.com
or (559) 675-6804.
