HomeMy Public PortalAboutPublic Comment - Richard Anderson (2)1
Subject:Comment for Agenda Item 6 -- Groundwater-Related Proposals for the Conservation and Open
Space Element
Attachments:Groundwater-Related Proposals for COS Element.pdf; Southern Martis Valley Groundwater Trends
1990 - 2015.pdf
Dear Chair Gove,
Attached are three proposals for the Truckee General Plan's Conservation and Open
Space Element. These proposals are submitted jointly by seven organizations: Mountain
Area Preservation, SOSGlenshire, the Truckee River Watershed Council, Trout Unlimited,
California Trout, the Tahoe Truckee Fly Fishers, and California Fly Fisher magazine.
Because General Plans are, in part, educational documents, the first proposal is to add a
paragraph that notes the importance of groundwater for both development in our area
and for local ecosystems.
The second proposal is to add one or more policies that help protect the natural resource
values that groundwater influences.
The third proposal is a request to prepare a comprehensive plan for the management
and protection of sensitive biological resources like wetlands and the Truckee River and
its tributaries. The General Plan has been calling for this action, shown as COS-3.A in
the current draft, for too many years. With a worsening climate and continued
population growth, we need to stop kicking this can down the road and finally implement
this Action.
We believe these proposals reflect community values, have the benefit of simplicity, and
lack controversy. We very much appreciate your consideration of them as you move the
General Plan forward to adoption.
Cordially yours,
Richard Anderson
Publisher, California Fly Fisher
for MAP, SOSG, TRWC, TU, CalTrout, TTFF
BTW, also attached is a graph that was sent to Town council members in February,
which shows troubling trends in groundwater elevations at the southern end of Martis
Valley, where a large percentage of groundwater pumping occurs. It's unknown whether
similar trends might be happening within Truckee itself, but the graph nicely illustrates
the effect that we seek to prevent.
You don't often get email from calflyfisher@sbcglobal.net. Learn why this is important
2
Groundwater-Related Proposals for
Truckee’s General Plan
From Mountain Area Preservation, SOS Glenshire, Trout Unlimited,
California Trout, Tahoe Truckee Fly Fishers, Truckee River Watershed Council,
and California Fly Fisher magazine
August 12, 2022
Wetlands and riparian areas are important ecological resources in and around Truckee. Drought, of course, is an obvious threat to these water-dependent places, but they are also under threat from the increasing demand for water to serve our growing community.The Town of Truckee’s General Plan has guiding principles that call for the preservation of “the Truck-ee River corridor, its tributary drainages, and riparian habitat” and the protection of “sensitive biolog-ical resources” that include “streams and wetlands.” Similarly, the Town’s 2020 Climate Change Adap-tation Plan has goals and strategies to “protect and restore native habitats and species” and “enhance ecosystem services,” such as those provided by wetlands, rivers, and meadows. However, both the General Plan and the Climate Change Adaptation Plan are mostly silent on the threat to surface waters and wetlands posed by groundwater pumping. (The same is true for the Martis Valley Groundwater Management Plan that has been adopted by local water purveyors.)Given that existing and future development in and around Truckee has the potential to reduce ground-water levels and surface waters that local ecosystems need to remain healthy, our organizations request that the Town clarify wetland and surface-water-related text and policy as part of the General Plan update and that the Town also begin implementing one of the General Plan’s long-standing conserva-tion-related Actions. Specifically,1) Update the Conservation and Open Space Element to explicitly recognize groundwater-depen-dent ecosystems as an important aspect of Truckee’s environmental resources. We ask that a third paragraph be added to the Water Resources discussion (page 7-10) that will highlight groundwater-dependent ecosystems and provide a basis for additional policy. Here is an example of a paragraph that fulfills this purpose:Water supplied to existing and new development in Truckee comes almost entirely from the Martis Valley Groundwater Basin. Groundwater pumping during periods of high demand and low recharge (summer and autumn) has the potential to harm beneficial uses provided by groundwater-dependent ecosystems and groundwater-influenced surface waters. Protection of these beneficial uses from groundwater pumping is an objective of the State of California through its Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, signed into law in 2014.
page 1
2) In Goal COS-3 (page 7-15), add one or more policies to help protect the natural resource values of groundwater-dependent ecosystems and surface waters. We request that at least the following two policies be included in the Conservation and Open Space Element:
COS-3.__
Impacts to Groundwater-Dependent Ecosystems and Surface WatersWhen reviewing development proposals, consider the effect of summer and autumn water demand on groundwater-dependent ecosystems and surface waters. [An alternative would be to include this text as a sixth bullet in policy COS-3.1.]
COS-3.__
Protection of Groundwater-Dependent Ecosystems and Surface Waters in PlansInclude the protection of groundwater-dependent ecosystems and surface waters as a Town objective when participating in planning efforts that might affect these natural resources, such as when updating the Martis Valley Groundwater Management Plan. These policies also help achieve the wetland and habitat protection goals of the Climate Change Adaptation Plan.3)Implement the Conservation and Open Space Element’s Action COS-3.A (page 7-17). This Actionwould prepare a “comprehensive plan for the management and protection of sensitive biologicalresources such as wetlands, riparian corridors, and critical habitat areas.” Such a plan is especiallyimportant given the pace at which Truckee is growing and the recurring and potentially worseningimpact of drought on our sensitive biological resources. Local agencies need to better understand thelocation of these resources, their character and beneficial uses, and their susceptibility to impact fromgrowth in water demand and from land development. Action COS-3.A also helps implement the near-term, high-priority strategy 7.1 of the Climate Change Adaptation Plan, which is to “identify sensitiveareas and those that provide ecosystem services and develop policies which ensure their protection.”
Supporting organizations:
page 2
212036 WY15 Groundwater Monitoring 2015 Balance Hydrologics, Inc.
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Deep Groundwater Well (near
NorthStar at Tahoe Golf Course)
Deep Groundwater Well (near
Truckee-Tahoe Airport)
Semi-annual deep groundwater elevations, Martis Valley, Placer County,
California, January 1980 through October 2015. Groundwater elevations began to fall
below the long-term averages beginning in 2007.
Figure 12.