The Colusa County Resource Conservation District (CCRCD) has taken the leadership role in the Colusa Basin Watershed, addressing holistic watershed health and facilitating stakeholder input in addressing watershed-wide natural resource issues. CCRCD is currently developing a management plan for the Colusa Basin Watershed and we are seeking stakeholder input throughout this process.
The Colusa Basin Watershed spans an area of approximately 1,045,445 acres, or 1634 square miles. The watershed extends from the Cache Creek watershed in upper Yolo County to the lower Stony Creek watershed in Glenn County and from the Sacramento River westward to the ridge crest of the Coast Range foothills. A watershed of this size encompasses many natural resource issues, and the purpose of the Colusa Basin Watershed Management Plan is to address those issues that are of greatest importance to the people that live and work in the watershed.
Working with our partners at the Glenn and Yolo County RCD’s, the Colusa County RCD is taking a community-based watershed management approach. This approach facilitates productive dialogue among local stakeholders within the watershed to establish a clear set of management goals and develop collaborative, innovative solutions to achieve those goals. During the planning process, we will strive to balance agricultural, environmental, economic, and social concerns, while taking into consideration other watershed management work being done at the local, regional and state levels.
To date, we have finalized the mission, vision, goals and objectives of the Colusa Basin Watershed Management Plan, based on stakeholder input. We are currently in the process of interviewing a variety of stakeholders that live and work in the watershed to help us determine appropriate actions to achieve the Plan’s goals and objectives.
The eight goals that will be addressed in the Plan are:
Goal 1: Protect, Maintain and Enhance Water Quality
Goal 2: Promote activities to ensure a dependable water supply for current and future needs
Goal 3: Preserve ag land and open space
Goal 4: Manage invasive plant species
Goal 5: Reduce destructive flooding
Goal 6: Enhance soil quality and reduce erosion
Goal 7: Preserve and enhance native habitat
Goal 8: Address Unknown Future Affects of climate change
If you have an interest in any or all of these goals, the CCRCD Watershed Coordinator would like to hear from you and set up an interview. Interviews can be conducted in person, by phone or by email. During the interview process, stakeholders are asked a set of questions for each goal that they would like to address. To become involved in the process, or if you have questions, please contact:
Mary Fahey, Colusa County Resource Conservation District Watershed Coordinator
530.458.2931 x117 | email: mary.fahey@ca.usda.gov
For more information on the Management Plan and the Colusa County RCD, please visit our website at: www.colusarcd.org