Press Release- March 4, 2005
Landowners participate in water quality improvement and fisheries protection project in the Cow Creek watershed
Western Shasta Resource Conservation District
6270 Parallel Road
Anderson , CA 96007
Contact: James Moller 365-7332 ext. 209
Date: March 4, 2005
PALO CEDRO — Landowners are working with various public agencies such as the, State Water Recourse Control Board, California Department Fish and Game, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Western Shasta RCD and others to improve water quality in the Cow Creek Watershed east of Redding. The SWRCB has issued a two year grant for the WSRCD to construct demonstration projects to improve water quality and fisheries protection in the Cow Creek watershed. Projects include tail-water retention pond construction, irrigation diversion fish screens and feasibility studies for converting open irrigation ditches to piped irrigation. All projects are being conducted on private lands with the cooperation of the landowners.
To help guide the projects a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) is being formed by the WSRCD. The TAC will advise on technical aspects of the project such as project goals and construction design. Any persons who are interested in serving on the TAC should contact the WSRCD office in Anderson.
Water Quality, a key element in watershed health, is a major issue in Shasta County and in the state. The Cow Creek Watershed group has identified issues of increased temperature and low flows in the summer months. Cow Creek water quality demonstration projects will maintain and improve water quality in the watershed and serve as examples for other watersheds.
Community members of the Cow Creek watershed are encouraged to become a member of the Non profit organization. Cow Creek Watershed Management Group board meetings are held at the Cedar Tree Restaurant in Palo Cedro every second Thursday of the month at 5:30pm.
We all live, work and play in a watershed. Watersheds provide water for drinking, irrigation, agriculture, industry, boating, fishing and swimming, and home for a vast array of plants and wildlife. A healthy watershed is vital for a healthy environment and a healthy economy.
A typical watershed is a drainage area whose boundary is defined by ridgetops, where water falling onto the ridge flows by gravity to a creek or river. Watersheds come in all shapes and sizes. The largest in Western Shasta County is the Sacramento River watershed, which begins at Mt. Shasta and flows to the ocean at San Francisco . Although the river begins as a trickle, it gets larger as water flows into it from dozens of smaller creeks, such as Cow Creek, Clear Creek and Cottonwood Creek. Each of these creeks is also in its own watershed.
If you hike up to the ridgetop of a watershed, in Cow Creek for example, you will see smaller creeks, called tributaries, flowing into the main stem of Cow Creek. These tributaries are also called sub-watersheds, such as Little Cow Creek, Cedar Creek, Oak Run Creek, Clover Creek, Old Cow Creek and South Cow Creek. A watershed may be small enough to have only an intermittent stream, but it takes the combined volume of water from each tributary and creek to create a river as great as the Sacramento .
Funding for this project has been provided in full or in part through an Agreement with the state Water Resources Control Board(SWRCB) pursuant to the Costa-Machado Water Act of 2000 (Proposition 13) and any amendments thereto for the implementation of California's Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Program. The contents of this document do not necessarily reflect the views and polices of the SWRCB, nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.
For more information about the Cow Creek Watershed and Watershed projects contact James Moller at the Western Shasta RCD office (530) 365-7332
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