November 7, 2022 — The Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution proclaiming a local emergency related to tree mortality last week. The Board also agreed to prioritize one water project per district and hire a consultant to organize what it will take to carry out the projects.
Supervisor John Haschak noted that trees are dying off at an alarming rate in all the county’s ecosystems, due in large part to increased aridity and bark beetles. The bark beetles, which have long plagued fir trees, are now also making inroads in redwood and hardwood forests, which haven’t been stressed by the infestation until recently. He summed up what he hoped to accomplish with the resolution.
“Not only do we need to replant trees, but we also need to create healthy forests,” he said. “That’s one of the critical issues in combating this tree mortality, is that our forests are stressed, not only from the aridity, the drought, but also from overcrowding and some of those other issues. So we need to look at the holistic approach of how do we manage these forests, and how do we create healthy forests? So if we can get grant funding to do that and focus on those kinds of issues, that’s what we’re trying to get.”
Haschak added that he expects the resolution will bring the county in line with neighboring jurisdictions and the rest of the state, which in 2014 declared a tree mortality emergency. The declaration eight years ago stated that “the scale of this tree die-off is unprecedented in modern history;” and predicted that it will contribute to wildfires that will release thousands of tons of pollutants and be beyond the capacities of the firefighting systems in place.
Supervisor Ted Williams had a provocative and still unanswered question about dead standing trees. “Supervisor Haschak, do you think it’s a good idea to continue poisoning trees, given that we already have so many dead from natural causes?” he asked.
“Are you talking about Measure V?” Haschak asked. Williams clarified that he was, and Haschak replied, “Well, we weren’t looking at that issue in this. We were looking at this global tree die-off that’s happening, whether they’re poisoned or not.”
Elizabeth Salamone, the general manager of the Russian River Flood Control and Water Conservation Improvement District, offered a comment on how forest health is connected to water quality.
“We need surface water and groundwater sustainability in order to support the forests,” she declared. “And there will be, and is, grant funding that supports nature-based solutions, which need to happen across many sectors, across many agencies, a lot of collaboration in that, so that water-based issues can work hand-in-hand with the reforestation.”
Salamone was on hand to offer her services to help collect data from the county’s 42 water agencies, after Supervisor Glenn McGourty presented on the five top priority water projects for a consultant to take up with a water agency, once the consultant is hired and the agency is up and running. An exact price tag for the agency remains elusive, but the county is working on a draft memorandum of understanding with the UC Cooperative Extension office, in hopes of taking some of the burden off of county staff. The extension plans to start recruiting for a hydrology and climate change advisor starting early next year.
McGourty started with the first district, where he reported that a joint powers authority is working to consolidate the water districts of the Ukiah Valley. This is in keeping with the goals of the state water agencies, which he says have funding available for the purpose.
In the second district, he cited groundwater recharge, which would divert some of the Russian River’s overflow onto a flood plain, where, theoretically, it would infiltrate the water table. He suggested Riverside Park on the eastern end of Ukiah for a pilot project.
He said the priority for the third district was mapping the groundwater basins, and reported that Round Valley has already received funding to start the task.
He suggested more reservoirs for the fourth district, including floating solar panels to reduce evaporation and provide some power.
For the fifth district, he said the top priority is the long-wished-for modernization or replacement of the wastewater treatment plant, which has a price tag of $4 million and is still in the conceptual design phase.
Williams said the projects were not the final list, but that the Board asked for it to make sure that any funds for water projects were spread equally around the county. “Glenn came to us with a request for money,” he recalled; “and I think we said, it looks like it could all go to, say, the Potter Valley Project, and we need to make sure there’s improvements all throughout the county. There’s water problems everywhere, and the request was that Supervisor McGourty come back with a plan that provided a project in each district.”
The Potter Valley Project, while not forgotten, remains uncertain. “You think we have trouble figuring our budget out,” McGourty said, after recapping the current state of affairs. ”This is something that’s a much bigger puzzle.”
Chantal Simonpietri, a private environmental consultant, had a process question. “I participated in the advisory group that was to form the water agency,” she said. “I don’t know where that ended up. We spent a lot of time on calls with a very well-paid outside hired consulting group to facilitate that process. What I appreciated about that, though, was that it was truly a stakeholder-driven process and full stakeholder input. And my concern with this is…where is the stakeholder process that went into informing that these are the five priorities, like one per district?”
McGourty acknowledged her points, saying, “Remember, this isn’t a total list. These are just things that were kind of prioritized that I picked up from numerous drought ad hoc meetings that Supervisor Haschak and I convened last year and this year, and also involvement with the Ukiah Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency and the Mendocino Inland Water and Power Commission. So it is stakeholder driven, but just not in an organized way.”
The Board voted unanimously to approve the five proposed projects, hire a consultant, and outline the staff time needed for each project. Haschak expressed reservations before the vote.
“We spent $307,000 on a consultant who should have done this work that we’re talking about now,” he recalled. “That’s why I’m hesitant to go the consultant route. But if that’s what we need to do, that’s what we need to do. We need a water agency. We have needs. And we need to be active in this grant game with the state.”
