At its June 5 meeting in Sacramento, the Conservancy approved projects including steps toward removal of two obsolete dams; improvements to and expansions of the California Coastal Trail, San Francisco Bay Trail, and Bay Area Ridge Trail; as well as efforts to improve fish passage, remove invasive plants, and improve public access along the coast.

San Clemente Dam Removal
The San Clemente Dam, built in 1921 on the Carmel River, has outlasted its usefulness and become a safety hazard. Its original reservoir capacity of 1,425 acre-feet has been reduced to 125 acre-feet by sediment that has built up behind it. Studies have shown that the dam could fail during an extreme flood or earthquake. Studies have also found that the dam can be removed without major negative impacts on the landscape.

To help prepare final plans and permits for the project, the Conservancy authorized up to $6 million, half in Proposition 84 money and half from California American Water, which manages the dam, supplies water to the Monterey Peninsula, and is a key partner in the dam-removal project. The dam’s removal will not only resolve safety concerns, it will restore passage to more than 25 miles of steelhead spawning and rearing grounds.

Toward Matilija Dam Removal
The Matilija Dam Ecosystem Restoration Project continues to move forward, with dam removal scheduled for 2010. To help prepare downstream areas for the impacts of restored stream and sediment flows, the Conservancy approved $4.5 million in Proposition 50 funds to the Ventura County Watershed Protection District for two preconstruction projects.

About $3.5 million will be used to acquire the nine-acre Matilija Hot Springs property on the north bank just below the dam, for use as a staging area for the heavy construction work during dam removal. Afterwards, the site will be improved for public recreation, habitat, and open space. The rest of the Conservancy funds, about $1 million, will be used to design changes to two downstream bridges. The Camino Cielo Bridge is to be replaced with a new 150-foot long bridge, and the Santa Ana Boulevard Bridge is to be widened by adding another pier and bridge cell opening. With other funds, the District will remove invasive Arundo donax from 1,100 acres along the river and install two new wells downstream at Foster Park for the City of Ventura’s water supply, which may be affected by increased turbidity from restored sediment flow in the undammed river.

This is one of the largest dam removal projects in the country, and one of the largest ecosystem restoration projects ever undertaken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers west of the Mississippi River.

Pulling back at Surfers Point
Ever since the Matilija Dam was built 60 years ago on the Ventura River, storm waves have been eating away the beach at Surfers Point, at the river mouth. Sediment that used to flow downriver and replenish the beach each summer has been held back by the dam. In some places, the land has eroded as much as 60 feet, damaging a bicycle path and parking lot. Now, in one of the state’s first "managed retreat" projects, the City of San Buenaventura (Ventura) will relocate the path and parking lot inland, then stabilize the shoreline by spreading cobblestones and covering them with sand and restoring native sand dune habitat. By moving the facilities inland, the City aims to maintain public access to Surfers Point even as sea levels rise. Eventually, as the Matilija Dam comes down (see item above) the natural processes that shrink and expand the beach seasonally should return.

The City will replace the old parking lot with two new lots: one paved with permeable recycled asphalt and the other, to be used primarily for overflow parking by the nearby county fairgrounds, with a grass-pave surface. Runoff from the lots will flow into bioswales along the edges of the lots, then through an underground stormwater treatment system before it enters the estuary. The funds will also enable the City to expand the picnic area at Surfers Point, add benches and bicycle parking spaces, and create a space for art installations and interpretive signs.

The Conservancy will contribute $1.5 million toward the total project cost of $7,056,000, and another $1.5 million will come from federal transportation funds, $500,000 (pending) from the Ocean Protection Council, and $172,500 from the City. Funding sources for the remaining $3,383,500 are yet to be determined.

San Diego Canyon Trails
The City of San Diego has envisioned an open space network of parks, canyons, river valleys, habitats, beaches, and ocean as a guiding principle for its future. Significant links in that network will grow from the Conservancy’s grant of $150,000 in Proposition 84 funds to the San Diego River Conservancy for planning new trails and improving old ones in canyons that drain to the San Diego River in the heart of the city.

The project will create a system of trails connecting several upland neighborhoods to the San Diego River and across it on a new footbridge. It will also enhance habitat throughout the system. Access will improve to the new Fenton Parkway MTS station, Mission Valley Public Library, San Diego Chargers football stadium, and a park to be constructed nearby. Eventually the network will link to riverside trails running to Ocean Beach and the California Coastal Trail. Although it is in an urban area, this stretch of the river has a lush band of willows with a canopy of mature trees where the endangered least Bell’s vireo nests.

Full Access to Wave Organ
The Exploratorium will improve access to the Wave Organ, a unique acoustic sculpture at the end of a jetty in the San Francisco Marina Yacht Harbor, using $204,000 in Proposition 84 funds approved by the Conservancy. Built of stone and marble from a Gold Rush-era cemetery, the Wave Organ offers great views of the downtown skyline, the Bay, the Marina waterfront, and the Golden Gate Bridge. It invites visitors to sit on a stone bench, place their ears against the ends of PVC or concrete pipes, and listen to waves slosh and gurgle at the pipes’ other end. That experience has not been available, however, to people who cannot navigate stone steps. The Exploratorium, an interactive science museum, installed the sculpture in 1986. It will now replace the stairs with a ramp and improve the 720-foot access path that leads from the parking lot to the Wave Organ.

Suisun Creek Restoration
In Napa and Solano Counties, the California Land Stewardship Institute will use up to $350,000 in Proposition 84 funds approved by the Conservancy for three habitat improvement projects in the Suisun Creek watershed, with steelhead in mind. This 53-square-mile watershed is almost entirely agricultural, and in some places grazing and crop cultivation have stripped stream banks of plants that used to shade the water, lowering its temperature and helping to maintain flow in hot weather. For the past decade, conservation advocates and landowners have been working together to restore the stream corridor and prevent further disturbance.

On White Creek, a tributary of Wooden Valley Creek, a denuded 100-yard stretch that has been a steelhead spawning ground will be fenced off and planted with natives. On Wooden Valley Creek, which flows into Suisun Creek, plans will be made to remove a collapsed concrete stream crossing that blocks fish passage and replace it with a small bridge. Most of the funds will go toward removing the alien giant reed Arundo donax from a two- to five-mile stretch of Suisun Creek, and planting natives.

Coastal Prairie Study
Less than 10 percent of native coastal prairie habitat remains from Big Sur to the Oregon coast. With $639,000 of Proposition 50 funds approved by the Conservancy, Ocean Song Farm and Wilderness Center will develop a coastal prairie habitat enhancement feasibility study to map coastal prairie resources, find techniques to counter invasive species, and coordinate communication on regional coastal prairie protection efforts. Ocean Song will map and classify resources on 100,000 acres in Marin and Sonoma counties, study methods for treating velvet grass (Holcus lanatus) infestation, prepare volunteer training materials, and undertake other tasks to help efforts to conserve this drastically diminished habitat. The two organizations will have support from the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District and the U.C. Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory and Reserve.

Manila Dunes Habitat Protected
Friends of the Dunes will buy two properties totaling 53 acres on the North Spit of Humboldt Bay, next to the Humboldt Coastal Center, in the town of Manila, thereby filling the last gap in a network of about 1,000 acres of continuous protected dune habitat. Proposition 12 funds made the $700,000 purchase possible. The Wildlife Conservation Board is contributing $475,000, and the Conservancy approved the remainder needed, $225,000.

Statewide Trail Improvements
Conservancy funds will help add more miles to the Coastal Trail, Bay Area Ridge Trail, and San Francisco Bay Trail, and will also improve them through projects approved by the Conservancy in June. All construction activities are funded by bond moneys approved by the voters.

Coastal Trail
In San Mateo County, the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) will use $2.98 million to build and manage three miles of trail along bluffs near Half Moon Bay, from the existing Cowell Ranch Coastal Accessway south to a new parking area next to Highway 1. The trail will run alongside farm fields on land owned by the Conservancy, then over privately owned land on trail easements held by POST.

Del Norte County will use $641,000 to construct almost two miles of oceanfront trail just north of Crescent City. The project will improve safe public access along the beach and bluffs of Pebble Beach Drive by installing bike lanes and Coastal Trail signs and improving road crossings and parking areas for this highly popular coastal route.

Ridge Trail
Almost nine miles of trail will be built, reconstructed, or designed in six counties.

In Marin County, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy will reconstruct and extend a segment of the Dias Ridge Trail, just south of Muir Woods, using $385,000 from the Conservancy. The Parks Conservancy will improve the trail alignment and drainage to reduce erosion into Redwood Creek and improve safety for hikers and bicyclists. The rebuilt trail will be 2.4 miles long and extend from Panoramic Highway to the Golden Gate Dairy.

In Contra Costa County, the Muir Heritage Land Trust will build 1.4 miles of Ridge Trail, two miles of additional trails, and a parking lot on the Fernandez Ranch, north of the Briones Hills Agricultural Preserve. Some of the $515,000 approved by the Conservancy for this project will be used to stabilize failing creek banks and restore vegetation along creeks that run through the ranch. The Land Trust bought the 700-acre ranch in 2005 for $3.2 million, $1.125 million of which was from the Conservancy.

In Santa Clara County, the City of San Jose will replace a third of a mile of dirt path along the southwest bank of Penitencia Creek with an eight-foot-wide, all-weather trail that can accommodate bicycles and wheelchairs. The path is routinely used by residents traveling to transit stops, a local high school, the San Jose Flea Market, and nearby homes and businesses. The Conservancy provided $150,000.

In San Mateo County, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (PUC) will develop plans, engineering designs, and environmental documents for a new 4.7-mile segment of Ridge Trail in the upper watershed of Crystal Springs Reservoir, using $185,000 from the Conservancy. This trail will connect the 10-mile FifieldÐCahill Road Ridge Trail to the Phleger Estate in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Upper Crystal Springs watershed lands were closed to the public from the 1930s until 2003, when the PUC opened the Fifield-Cahill Trail to guided, small-group excursions by hikers, bicyclists, and horseback riders. The new trail will not require reservations or guides, and part of it may be accessible to wheelchair riders.

In Solano and Napa Counties, the Solano Transportation Authority (STA) will prepare a plan for regional trails, including the Ridge Trail, along and across Highway 12 between Interstate 80 and Highway 29 in the Jameson Canyon area. STA will develop an agreement among the local park and transportation agencies, Caltrans, and landowners about feasible routes, and will determine costs, the relationships of trails to State and local transportation projects, and a funding strategy. The Conservancy provided $55,000.

Bay Trail
The City of Oakland will construct two 450-foot trail segments along the Oakland estuary with $400,000 from the Conservancy. One will connect the Coast Guard Island Bridge to Union Point Park and will be wheelchair-accessible, as will the parking area that will be built to serve it. The other will run from Derby Street to Lancaster Street, behind the Oakland Museum Women’s Board warehouse.