Do You Own Land Along Dry Creek?

Options for Responding to County’s "Permit to Enter" Requests

Those of you who own land with frontage along Dry Creek have probably been asked to sign a document entitled “PERMIT TO ENTER” from the Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA). This entry permit relates to the significant Biological Opinion (“BO”) regarding threatened salmon and steelhead species in Dry Creek, which opinion was released by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in September 2008. The BO has two important components that significantly affect Dry Creek:

1. NMFS requires the SCWA to perform stream restoration work in and along Dry Creek to enhance the fisheries rearing habitat so as to avoid adverse impacts on critical habitat and appreciably increase the survival of endangered and threatened salmon and steelhead species in Dry Creek.

2. The SCWA will investigate the feasibility of constructing a pipeline to deliver water from Lake Sonoma directly to the main stream of the Russian River ("Bypass Pipeline”). This would result in much of the flow from Lake Sonoma bypassing Dry Creek altogether.

The DCVA will not take a position regarding the Biological Opinion until more information is available.

A number of DCVA members have expressed concern about the fact that the “Permit to Enter” forms that have been sent out to landowners do not differentiate between entry respecting possible stream restoration work and entry respecting the possible construction of the proposed Bypass Pipeline. The DCVA Board suggests the following to address that concern. You essentially have four options; namely:

1. Allow access respecting both the potential Dry Creek stream restoration work and the potential Bypass Pipeline;

2. Allow access only for studying possible Dry Creek stream restoration work;

3. Allow access only respecting a possible Bypass Pipeline; or

4. Don’t allow access for either purpose.

If you choose to allow entry for both purposes, then the Permit to Enter form that you received will probably allow that. If you choose to allow entry only for one of the two purposes, then the Permit to Enter form must be modified to make that clear. This can be accomplished by advising the SCWA that you want a revised “Permit to Enter” form that only allows entry for one of the two purposes. We suggest that you contact Kevin Campbell at the SCWA (telephone 526-5370; fax 544-6123) for that purpose.

If you choose not to allow access for either purpose, then don’t sign the Permit to Enter.

Sincerely,

EDWIN W. WILSON

President, DCVA

cc: Kevin Campbell

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