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About the Amador-Calaveras Watershed Planning Project

The project has three main components: the planning process and project oversight, the regional assessment of best management practices and policy recommendations, and the watershed plan. The outcomes of the project are listed below.

Project Outcomes:

Increased coordination between land use planning, water management, and watershed protection efforts;

Assessment of watershed conditions, land use policies and development trends in relation to water resource protection;
Locally applicable Best Management Practices for “water-wise” land use planning and site-design;
Policy language that translates recommended BMPs into policies appropriate for insertion into planning documents; and
Supplemental outreach and educational opportunities, and planning tools to support policy adoption and implementation.

PART I - PLANNING PROCESS AND PROJECT OVERSIGHT

This is a collaborative and stakeholder driven project. LGC will work with project partners to establish stakeholder involvement, develop plan oversight – Stakeholder Advisory Committee and Technical Working Group – and to initiate outreach and education efforts.

Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) & Technical Working Group (TWG)

The SAC will provide vision and oversight to the planning process to ensure that project outcomes are locally relevant and useful. SAC members will be asked to assist in project scoping, review project materials, and provide guidance in education and outreach for the project. SAC will meet twice per year throughout the project (four meetings total).

TWG members will be determined by SAC and will work more closely with LGC team to assist in developing project deliverables by reviewing project materials, providing input, and sharing data. TWG will meet quarterly.

PART II - REGIONAL ASSESSMENT, BMPs AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

The project depends on developing a sound understanding of local conditions and needs on which to base effective Best Management Practices (BMPs) and policy solutions. We will profile regional watershed and land use conditions through collection and assessment of natural resource data, and review of land use policies and development trends and compile a Regional Watershed Assessment. Data and information for this profile will be obtained from existing planning and management documents, and other sources. This will allow the project team to rapidly assess existing conditions in the watershed with an eye for issues related to land use and development.

Concurrently, we will review relevant policies to assess current planning practices as they relate to water. Combined, these assessments will provide a regional profile of threats, issues, and opportunities from which BMPs and related policy language can be developed.

This information, and the collaboration between project partners, will be essential to the next step in the planning process: identifying planning and design BMPs and policy recommendations that translate those practices into effective policy language that local jurisdictions can use.

PART III – THE WATERSHED PLAN

The information and analysis, management measures, and policy recommendations created in the project will be combined to create the watershed planning document. The document will also provide a brief narrative of the project process and goals, introduce project partners, and provide background about water and land use, describe watershed conditions related to regional development issues, outline locally effective BMPs, and provide a policy template that communities can use to implement the BMPs.

Project partners will present the completed plan to local jurisdictions, organizations, and other stakeholders to support adoption of the plan and its recommendations. LGC will work with project partners to provide educational opportunities to ensure broad understanding of the plan, the issues it is addressing, and the measures it proposes.

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Amador-Calaveras Watershed Planning
3/29/07 - Amador-Calaveras SAC Meeting Notes: The group discussed challenges to and relationships between water management, land use planning and watershed protection in Amador and Calaveras counties. Many concerns centered around the implications and potential impacts – to water and other community values – of growth and development. The group agreed that growth was coming to the area and it was noted that the right kind of development could be part of the solution to local problems. However, many participants felt that local communities lacked the capacity to effectively plan for new development while protecting water resources and maintaining community character. The group identified ineffective policies, economic challenges and constraints (insufficient resources), insufficient coordination and collaboration, and lack of education/awareness as barriers to gaining the capacity needed for effective planning and management efforts. Participants also identified opportunities for supporting local planning efforts (especially general plan updates) with clear, practical and integrated policy ideas. The group stressed that solutions need to be economically viable, fit local values and conditions, and should cover both water quality and supply issues related to development in the region.
Amador – Calaveras Project Data and Information Inventory: This document has a list of papers, documents, and plans of background information that are relevant to the project. Links to the documents are included.
3/29/07 - Amador-Calaveras SAC Chart Notes: Flip chart notes taken at the Stakeholder Advisory Committee meeting.
Storm Water Management Program Regional Work Plan 2006-2007: Central Valley Region 5: California Department of Transportation - April 2006 - Contents: 1) Introduction, 2) Department Personnel and Responsibilities, 3) District Facilities and Water Bodies, 4) High-Risk Areas, 5) Implementation Activities.
Planning for the Future: A Sierra Nevada Land Use Index: Sierra Nevada Alliance - June 2005 - Table of contents: 1. Introduction, 2. Change in the Sierra Nevada—the 1990s, 3. Growth and Development: The Fragile Reality of “Open Space," 4. Communities Can Protect Natural Areas and Manage Rural Sprawl, 5. Landowners and Local Land Trusts Taking Action to Preserve Agricultural Land and Open Space, 6. Nevada: Three Counties’ Impacts on the Sierra, 7. Conclusion & Recommendations
Our Built and Natural Environments: This US EPA publication summarizes the research on the relationship between the built and natual environments, as well as current understanding of the role of development patterns, urban design and transportation in improving environmental quality.
Smart Growth for Clean Water Report: This report, produced by the Trust for Public Land and the National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals (NALGEP), identifies five smart growth approaches that can improve water quality: land conservation, waterfront brownfields revitalization, urban and community forestry, low impact development, and watershed management
National LID Clearinghouse: This website has been developed through a Cooperative Assistance Agreement under the US EPA Office of Water 104b(3) Program in order to provide a web-based clearinghouse that allows researchers, practitioners, and program managers to collaborate and efficiently disseminate and share information with local governments, states, builders, developers, stakeholders, and environmental groups. The administrative and technical information available through this clearinghouse will be useful to permit writers, local government officials, watershed managers, and stakeholders.
North Coast Storm Water Coalition: The Coalition's goal is to facilitate the prevention of storm water pollution in Humboldt County by educating residents about stormwater runoff and its effects on water quality in local streams, rivers, Humboldt Bay and the ocean.
MIT Stormwater Biofiltration System: MIT mitigates stormwater runoff through a biofiltration system that includes vegetated swales and underground reservoir.
Calaveras County 2001-2009 Housing Element: Adopted May 9, 2005 - The Atypical Calaveras County resident has a median age of 44.6 years old, is female, lives with one (and often two) other related individuals in a household which earns a median household income of $41,022 (for a 4-member household) or a $47,379 median family income (for a family of four). The typical resident occupies a home with a mortgage in a single-family residential stick-built structure constructed in 1981, and is one of 37,550 individuals residing within the unincorporated area of the county in the year 2000 (one of 40,554 individuals living in the unincorporated and incorporated county). To meet the needs of this typical Calaveras County resident and all other residents of the unincorporated county, now and in the future, the county has prepared this 2001-2009 Housing Element.
Water Resources Education: University of Wisconsin Extension web site that serves as a gateway to educational programs and publications
Choices for Growth: Quality of life and the natural environment: A publication of Texas NEMO and others that discusses and displays the three strategies for a healthy environment: preserving open space, encouraging compact growth, and controlling urban stormwater runoff.
Truckee Meadows Regional Stormwater Quality Management Plan: TMRSQMP is a collaborative effort of the cities of Reno, Sparks and Washoe County. This site includes handbooks on construction site BMPs, low impact development, and structural controls design.
Puget Sound Online: Low Impact Development: Information on low impact development in the Seattle area.
Stormwater Engineering Group: North Carolina State University's team of faculity, students and off-campus Extension faculty. Research areas of interest include stormwater management, watershed and economic impacts of stormwater practices, and low impact development.
TERC Stormwater Management Training Module: This training module provides on-line training for personnel responsible for stormwater management.
StreamStats: A web-based tool that allows users to obtain streamflow statistics, drainage basin characteristics, and other information for user-selected sites on streams.
A Browner Shade of Green: The New Water Rules and the Next Chapter of Sprawl: Lisa Nisenson - June 2007 - Stormwater mitigation rules are supposed to help protect the environment, but the current regulations also end up encouraging sprawl over urban redevelopment.