Document based on recent information. Contact District for specific information and plan updates.
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REGION:   BAY DELTA
LOCATION:   SACRAMENTO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

ADDRESS:   9701 Dino Dr. #170, Elk Grove, CA 95624

PHONE:   (916) 714-1104 ext. 112
FAX:   (916) 714-1117
EMAIL:   Tina.Lunt@ca.usda.gov

MEETINGS: 11:30 a.m., 2nd Tuesday of even numbered months, location varies

DISTRICT SIZE:  197,440 Acres.
    Primary Land Use: Rural-Agricultural

YEAR DISTRICT FORMED:  March 13, 1956

MISSION STATEMENT:

The Sloughhouse Resource Conservation District is committed to assisting landowners, within the Cosumnes River Watershed, with erosion and flood control problems, water quality issues, and watershed outreach and conservation education with respect for private property rights.

WATERSHED PROJECTS:  

The Sloughhouse RCD's Long Range and Annual Plan now identifies four major areas of concern: flooding, watershed outreach and conservation education, water quality, and private property rights and regulation awareness.

Associated with these issues, listed goals now include:

• Improve flood management within the district boundaries
• Provide landowners with opportunities to be involved in the flood management planning process
• Give landowners enough information about watershed processes to allow them to make wise and informed planning decisions
• Increased stakeholder awareness about watershed processes
• Provide local students with watershed and conservation educational activities
• Reduce impacts of erosion and sedimentation in the Cosumnes River and Deer Creek watersheds
• Improve regulation awareness among ranchers and farmers
• Promote private property rights

Increasing concerns by agencies and individuals over the quality of California watersheds has launched statewide efforts to assess overall watershed health. In an effort to provide for a coordinated assessment and restoration effort within the Cosumnes Watershed and at the recommendation of the Governor's Flood Emergency Action Team, Sacramento County and the Sloughhouse RCD formed the Cosumnes River Task Force (CRTF).

The CRTF is developing a Watershed Planning and Flood Relief Investigation Plan and enlightening agencies and individuals of the problems within the watershed. The CRTF will next begin the implementation of restoration projects suggested by the U.S Army Corps of Engineers Reconnaissance Study with resources identified through the ongoing Natural Resources Conservation Service Resources Inventory.

Current watershed projects and proposals are:

• Cosumnes River Task Force-Watershed Planning
• Cosumnes River Outreach and Education Program
• Riparian Habitat Conservation Program
• Watershed Protection Program

For program details and information on how you can become involved, please review the Current Projects List, the Long Range Plan and the Annual Work Plan.

IMPORTANT AGRICULTURE:  

The top ten leading agricultural commodities in Sacramento County include:

• Wine grapes
• milk
• Bartlett pears
• ornamental nursery stock
• corn for silage
• processed tomatoes
• turkeys, cattle and calves
• rice
• asparagus, bell peppers, artichokes
• Chinese vegetables, green onions
• bean sprouts, melons, cabbage, lettuce
• miscellaneous vegetables

DISTRICT OVERVIEW:

In Sacramento County, RCDs have effectively worked to coordinate repairs to levees, obtain grant funds, initiate watershed wide planning efforts, obtain federal financial assistance to implement conservation measures, sponsor education projects for landowners, teachers and students, and many other projects. We will provide assistance as available, with respect for our neighbors rights and needs.

The Sacramento County RCDs support the locally led conservation process. The conservation needs assessment and conservation action plan developed during the locally lead conservation effort, form the basis for carrying out the local stakeholders' conservation action plan and its identified programs, including USDA's conservation programs.

The products of the locally led process will provide USDA and the conservation districts with community conservation needs, resource concerns, priorities and recommendations regarding programs which can be used as tools to address those needs. The major resource issues and needs for Sacramento County are flooding, water quality, water availability, agricultural land preservation, conservation education, urban stream restoration, weed management, and land subsidence.

CRITICAL RESOURCE CONCERNS:  

Natural Resource Issue #1 - Flooding:
Over the past three decades, the health of the Lower Cosumnes Watershed has become a growing concern to agencies and individuals. And nothing could have brought this concern to the forefront more than the catastrophic flood event of 1997.

On January 2, 1997 the Cosumnes River Watershed experienced the most extensive flood event in recorded history. Water flows exceeded the estimates of a 100-year storm event. Levees constructed in the early 1900's primarily for agricultural purposes failed to provide adequate protection for either agricultural property or new community development.

Twenty-four levees broke resulting in the inundation of eighty homes and 24,000 acres of agricultural land including orchards, vineyards, ranches and farms. Estimates of financial losses by the Agricultural Commissioner in Sacramento County alone reached $10.5 million to row, field and croplands, $2 million to orchards and vineyards and $.5 million to pasture and rangeland.

The Cosumnes River, at a length of just 80 miles, is neither the longest nor largest river system in California. However, it retains a special significance as the last untamed, free flowing river system west of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The river has a natural flow regime, drying up in drought years and flooding in wet years. Flora and fauna located along and in the river and on the associated flood plains have evolved to not only survive, but also actually depend on these fluctuations (American River Conservancy, 2000).

Natural Resource Issues # 2 - Watershed Outreach and Conservation Education
Watershed Outreach will be an extremely important component of the watershed planning process. Sloughhouse RCD intends to continue its support of outreach efforts within the watershed. Educating students will also be an important part of this effort. Sloughhouse RCD will support efforts to bring watershed and conservation education materials to local schools.

Natural Resource Issue #3 - Water Quality:
The U.S Army Corps of Engineers conducted a Reconnaissance Study of the watershed in 1999 to assess water and related land resource problems. Specific problems identified included levee failure and flooding; erosion and channel incision; excessive sediment transport and deposition degradation of the riverbed; constriction of the flood plain; isolation of the flood plain from the river channel; reduction of flows in summer and fall; and loss of aquatic and riparian habitat.

Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agency has identified the watershed as having a "serious water quality problem" and the California Unified Watershed Assessment has listed it as having the "highest restoration priority" (Environmental Protection Agency, California Unified Watershed Assessment, 1998).

The Sloughhouse RCD area has a significant erosion and sedimentation problem. This affects water quality in addition to threatening bridges and roads. Furthermore, local landfills endanger ground water quality. The Sloughhouse RCD would like to address these issues in the coming years

In recent years, the river channels have degraded significantly as a direct result of levee construction and decreased water flow and velocity. Decreased water flow, exacerbated by increased agricultural usage lowering the ground water table by approximately 60 feet (U.S Army Corps of Engineers, 1999; U.S Army Corps of Engineers, The Nature Conservancy, East Bay Municipal Utilities District and UC Davis, 2000 and Philip Williams and Associates LTD., 1997), has lead to increased sedimentation.

Increased sedimentation is not only degrading the water quality, but is also threatening the stability of bridges, bank vegetation, and levees constructed to protect adjacent properties. Increased sediment has altered stream morphology contributing to the loss of stream vegetation and salmon spawning gravel (U.S Army Corps of Engineers, 1999).

The Cosumnes River historically has supported large Chinook salmon runs. However, decreased fall flows associated with lowered ground water tables are thought to be, at least, partly responsible for recent declines in fish populations (Fleckhenstein, Suzuki & Fogg, 1999).

Reduced flows have allowed sediment to cement gravel beds making them unsuitable as spawning habitat (U.S Army Corps of Engineers, The Nature Conservancy, East Bay Municipal Utilities District & UC Davis, 2000). Other watershed animal life of special concern include the Delta smelt, splittail, vernal pool fairy shrimp, vernal pool tadpole, the giant garter snake, Swainson's hawk, bank swallow, western spadefoot, tri-colored blackbird, and the valley elderberry longhorn beetle (CA Department of Fish and Game, 2000).

Natural Resource Issue #4 - Private Property Rights & Regulation Awareness:
The growing number of environmental regulations have left farmers and ranchers guessing about what changes they are allowed to make on their land. The Sloughhouse RCD would like to address the regulation issues and the protection of private property rights in the coming years.

CRITICAL PARTNERSHIP NEEDS:  

It is apparent to all stakeholders that new strategies and management options need to be developed, understood, supported and implemented to accomplish resource goals proposed by various agencies and provide any long-term security for watershed landowners.

These efforts must also employ a process that recognizes the fragile nature of the watershed, the needs and input of local landowners, the need for protection of the public trust and is economically feasible.

Because a significant portion of the watershed is privately owned and will require commitment by landowners and other stakeholders to implement performable alternatives, outreach, education and coordination between them and various agencies and organizations will be key elements in the successful completion of Sloughhouse RCD goals.

Landowners interested in watershed management, erosion control or needing resource management technical assistance are invited to contact the District for details on current programs and services.

The District would also appreciate support, alliances, volunteers, technical assistance and additional funding for their critical resource projects and proposals. Alliances with the District on programs, projects and watershed activities are welcome.

Funding Partner Needed: Cosumnes River Outreach and Education Program

The Sloughhouse Resource Conservation District (RCD), in cooperation with the Cosumnes River Task Force (CRTF), proposes a comprehensive education program for members of the agricultural community. Hydrologists, geologists, engineers, and other environmental experts from CRTF's many education, government, and watershed-related agency partners will share information on the watershed's dynamic environmental processes with farmers, ranchers, and other interested parties. Primary focus will be on sound resource conservation and land management practices.

Providing sufficient funding is located, information will be distributed through a workshop, a watershed tour and development of a Flood Awareness and Preparedness Reference Guide to be published and distributed at no cost to its recipients.

CRITICAL OPERATIONAL NEEDS:  

Dramatic land use changes have occurred in Sacramento County during the last 20 years. This has forced changes in the programs and services offered by the NRCS and the RCDs. Previously, programs and services were directed only at agricultural interests. Today, programs are also directed at educating urban residents and small landowners.

Most rural agricultural programs have suffered a significant reduction in the level of services provided. The trend has been away from staff intensive services and will continue for the foreseeable future if budgets and staff continue to decline.

DISTRICT MAPS:    Boundary and Topography   PLANS:    Long Range Plan    Annual Plan For full page view, use More Data

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