Hello everyone,

Another week is nearly over at the Cosumnes River Preserve and I am happy to say that things are progressing quite well on the Badger Creek Restoration Project. Though, everything is moving forward at a rate which still fits our timeline, I often have the feeling that I am sliding down the blade of an ever-sharpening knife. So far, I have managed to avoid any metaphorical life-threatening wounds.

Our team of biologists finished up their thirty days of trapping, and while they produced some interesting data, as expected, no giant garter snakes were trapped during this cycle. The yellow water primrose in Horseshoe Lake has continued to progress at an astonishing rate. As of my last visit on Tuesday, there were no areas of open water left within the lake. It is rather impressive, yet ultimately quite upsetting, that this lone weed has managed to consume nearly all available water in a 155 acre lake. The photo below was taken just a few weeks ago and in that time the primrose, has now covered the last visible areas of water on the surface.

I am currently working on the numbers to see if it is more advantageous/cost effective to have a helicopter spray the site instead of the highboy or tow behind tractor rig as originally planned. I have contacted local contractors and am waiting for the estimates to come in so we can reach a final decision.

On the positive side of the equation, the joint NEPA/CEQA document I wrote for the project is entering the last days of the public review period, and to this point we have received little to no resistance regarding the proposed restoration. However, I have been warned that comments often come towards the end of the review period, typically on the last day, so the minor celebration for reaching another completed stage will have to wait until next week. If anyone has interest in reading the document (and I say this with a certain level of sarcasm given your busy schedules/lack of desire to read a 70 page environmental document) it can be found using the link below. While much of the content (air quality, water quality, cultural resources, etc.) may seem dull/long-winded/unnecessary, it may be of benefit to those who will have to write documents like this in the future.

http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/ca/pdf/folsom/cosumnes_river_preserve1.Par.80515.File.dat/BadgerCreekRestoreInitialStudyFonsiEA_Appendix_Reduced508c.pdf

Next week I will be meeting with potential contractors who will be bidding on the earthmoving/excavation work which will start (if all goes well) in early September. I hope everyone is having a great time out there in the field (wherever you may be). Since my photos of the project have been admittedly lackluster in this and previous posts, I thought I would leave you with a couple of photos of some of the splendid daily interactions/observations we have here at the Preserve.

Crayfish ready to throw down

Short-eared owl (Asio flammeus)

Great horned owl (Bubo virginianus)

Hello everyone,

It has been a grueling yet wonderful few months here at the Preserve, and I am happy to say the my first joint NEPA/CEQA document is complete and currently out for public review. In my nearly four years here working for the BLM (first in Pathways Program and now as a CLM Intern), I have written several small Environmental Assessments, but this current document was far more complex, time consuming, and rewarding. I have now also just submitted my first round of permit applications for Section 404, and 401 of the Clean Water Act, along with a State Lake and Streambed Alteration Permit and Incidental Take Permit.

The goal of the project I am managing is to restore habitat for the state and federally listed “threatened” giant garter snake (GGS)(Thamnophis gigas). The project area contains two separate but connected units which will require varying levels of excavation, grading, scraping, and other earth-moving activities to restore a lake (which is infested with the highly invasive weed yellow water primrose (ludwigia hexapetala), and an area of ruderal agricultural land (~25 acres) back to habitat for GGS.

Badger Creek Restoration Project vicinity. The Horseshoe Lake site is outlined in yellow. The Bjelland Unit site is outlined in purple.

Reduction of open-water within the Horseshoe Lake Unit

August, 1998: 52.85 acres of open water

August, 2005: 11.34 acres of open water

August, 2013: 2.83 acres of open water

In the coming weeks I will be moving forward with the permitting process, meeting with contractors for the earthmoving/excavation work, responding to public comments on the NEPA/CEQA document, and getting to work on ordering the seed mix and plants for the upland/wetland restoration which will follow the initial phases of the project. I will provide more updates as I move forward, and I am excited to join many of you in Chicago in just a few days for the CLM Workshop!

Patrick

Hello everyone,

It has been an interesting few weeks here at the Cosumnes River Preserve, a wonderful 50,000 acre conservation partnership in California’s Central Valley. I began working here in the Federal Pathways Program in 2011 and thought my time here was ending when I graduated in January. As I was wrapping up my projects and prepping my resume, a co-worker and former CLM intern informed the staff that he was leaving to take a new position in his home state of Iowa. This as it turned out was very fortunate timing for me (though I will miss working with him, great person and great employee) as I was able to take over his position as the Project Manager of a giant garter snake restoration project that is scheduled to begin in late summer of 2015.

After graduation I had the month of February off and used that time to do some travelling. My wife and I went to Park City, Utah for a week, then did some backpacking in the beautiful Desolation Wilderness, and finished with a trip to the Big Island in Hawaii. Needless to say there was a brief struggle in returning to work, but I have jumped in head first and am moving forward with the Badger Creek Restoration Project here at the Preserve.

Though it has only been a few weeks, I am already getting some excellent (and not so excellent) introductions to the wonderful world of state and federal permitting. I have written a few NEPA documents in the past, mostly for small projects/actions here at the Preserve, but this new project is a significant step up in complexity. I am currently working on wrapping up a joint NEPA/CEQA document that will cover both the state and federal requirements necessary to obtain proper permits and complete the project. This should be finished in the next few days (the previous CLMer had already completed a good portion of the document) and we will begin the review process. I will have much more to discuss in the coming weeks regarding the process but I thought I might end with a brief description about what we are doing at Badger Creek (I just realized that this post may end up looking like a Tarantino movie by the time it is over, introduction last?).

The Badger creek restoration project involves two separate but connected parcels of preserve lands that will be restored to provide habitat for the federal and state listed threatened giant garter snake (Thamnophis gigas). The western parcel, known as Horseshoe Lake, is infested with yellow water primrose which will treated and/or mechanically removed to restore open-water foraging habitat. The eastern parcel, the Bjelland Unit, currently exists as ag land with a channelized portion of Badger Creek running along the southern property boundary. This parcel is going to be recontoured to create wetland and upland habitat which connects to the Horseshoe Lake Unit. The final product will be an additional 1.5 miles of restored habitat, and restored connectivity to the existing Badger Creek population of giant garter snakes. I am very excited to be working on this project and will check back in soon with an update.

Patrick