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Urban Streams Restoration Program

Home Urban Streams Home Funded Projects 2004–2005 Grant Cycle
Funded Projects, Spring 2005 Grant Application Cycle

$4.575 Million, Prop 40 funds, Fiscal Year 2004/2005



Sponsor/Cosponsor Stream County Funding Project Description
City of Santa Rosa/Committee for Restoring Santa Rosa Creek Santa Rosa Creek Sonoma $200,000 This project is the final link to a multi-phase effort (funded previously by DWR) to return a concrete rip-rapped, trapezoidal flood control channel into a functioning ecosystem and downtown amenity. Funded activities include removing the existing concrete armor that lines the creek banks and channel to improve geomorphic function and increase flood capacity, re-establishing aquatic and riparian habitat, and connecting restored reaches upstream and recovering habitat downstream. The community has been actively engaged in the project with over 150 volunteers providing monitoring, maintenance and painted murals.
City of Pacifica/San Pedro Creek Watershed Coalition San Pedro Creek San Mateo $529,000 This project will restore 1,900 linear feet of San Pedro Creek where channel incision has caused bank failure and blockage of steelhead from upstream spawning grounds. The project will remove 600 feet of box culvert, re-slope the streambank to increase flood capacity, adjust the stream gradient, and remove a non-functioning fish ladder. Native riparian vegetation, large woody debris and streambed gravel will be placed to provide habitat and channel substrate. Project partners include the California Conservation Corps and the Coastal Conservancy. The project has input, cooperation and support from citizen groups, nearby homeowners, and the local community.
The Placer County Flood Control and Water Conservation District (PCFCWCD) / Dry Creek Conservancy (DCC) Secret Ravine Placer $300,000 This project will implement a multi-objective flood management project along two reaches of Secret Ravine in Rocklin. It will attenuate flood flows in Roseville downstream by restoring the natural values and functions in upstream reaches of the creek using an easement purchase, channel reconfiguration, and streambank stabilization using revegetation and bioengineering techniques. It will also improve public access and provide for interpretive signage. Along with volunteers from several non-profit community groups, students and teachers from the Sierra College will participate in planning, implementation, and monitoring of the project.
The Town of Truckee and the Truckee River Watershed Council Trout Creek Nevada $300,000 This project will focus on restoring a highly altered and disturbed section of Trout Creek which flows through downtown Truckee. The project will increase flood protection and restore fish and wildlife habitat by removing concrete and reconfiguring a section of channel using bioengineering techniques and native revegetation, and has significant community education and involvement to promote stewardship along five reaches and 7,000 feet of the creek. DWR will provide $300,000 for design and partial implementation of the larger project.
Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District/ Inland Empire Bicycle Club Murieta Creek Riverside $278,000 The project will continue construction of Phase 2 of the four-phase Murrieta Creek Flood Control, Environmental Restoration, and Recreation Project, an 8.5 mile multi-use greenbelt channel located in southwest Riverside County. The project is being constructed in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) and the Cities of Murrieta and Temecula. Phase 1 at the lower end of the project is complete. Phase 2 will reduce flooding and erosion, restore habitat and provide for public recreation along an additional 11,800 feet. It includes creation of an expanded channel cross-section that incorporates both floodplain terracing and a permanent riparian habitat corridor within the channel section. This project is supported by the community, which will participate in debris removal, observation point construction, interpretive sign placement, and a possible stream docent program.
City of Yreka/Yreka Greenway Committee Yreka Creek Siskiyou $300,000 The overall project includes the acquisition of several parcels located in the flood plain of Yreka Creek, resource assessment activities to develop a floodplain restoration plan, and the actual restoration of 3 acres of barren backfill to a natural looking and functioning floodplain consistent with the City of Yreka's stream greenway plan. Applicants have secured additional funding and have obtained the cooperation of Caltrans and the Department of Fish and Game for their restoration plan. This project has strong community support and is highly visible to the public from Interstate 5. Providing $300,000 will allow for acquisition of a parcel in the floodplain adjacent to City property and for a portion of the cost of resource assessment and restoration design necessary to complete the project.
Mendocino County Resource Conservation District/Navarro Watershed Working Group Robinson Creek Mendocino $183,197 The Robinson Creek Phase 2 Restoration project is a continuation of a project initiated in 2002 with grant funding from USRP. The project will focus on protecting houses and other structures by restoring natural riparian processes through bank stabilization, bio-engineering techniques, removal of invasive vegetation and replanting with native species. Through a series of workshops and community education events, the project has already received regional recognition. Along with DWR, the Coastal Conservancy and other funders have provided money for this project.
Sacramento Watersheds Action Group/City of Redding Sulphur Creek Shasta $300,000 Sulphur Creek Restoration Project Phase III will reduce flooding and erosion and restore stream function and morphology. The project will include about 1400 linear feet of channel work, including a lower section near the Turtle Bay Arboretum and an upper section encompassing the Middle reach and east fork of Sulphur Creek. It will increase capacity, stabilize streambanks, and install bio-engineered structures that improve fish passage and habitat. The restoration design will accommodate new development proposed in the surrounding area, improve utility access, and protect a redevelopment site from flooding and erosion. The project will promote the preservation and appropriate public use of open-space lands within the community. Community support for the project is strong and includes students of several schools, the Rotary Club and other public agencies and private citizens.
City of Arcata/Arcata High School Eco Club Jolly Giant Creek Humboldt $95,500 This project will re-align and restore approximately 900 feet of Jolly Giant Creek in the City of Arcata. It will reduce flooding and improve in-stream habitat by realigning the creek into a wider naturalized channel and replanting the riparian area with native vegetation. This is the last vacant parcel of any size along the creek and the surrounding area is slated for re-development. The project is a cooperative effort between the city, the Eco Club, the Arcata Volunteer Fire Department, BJB associates, and community groups. The new channel will increase capacity by about 8 times and is a continuation of work that the Urban Streams Program previously funded on this creek.
Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation/Sonoma County Water Agency Laguna de Santa Rosa Sonoma $169,606 This is a citizen based project that involves removing invasive species and debris, and restoring riparian vegetation along a 5,000 foot reach of channelized urban stream. Revegetation efforts will focus on a 1,000 foot section where bank-to-bank invasion of Himalayan blackberry threaten to choke stormwater flows and increase flooding in the surrounding area. Bioengineering will be implemented along sparsely vegetated streambanks threatened by erosion. The project is part of a larger cooperative effort by SCWA and the Cotati Creek Critters to implement more bank bioengineering projects as an alternative to rip-rapping along the Laguna and all tributaries in the entire basin.
City of Cupertino/Santa Clara Valley Audobon Society Stevens Creek Santa Clara $401,000 This project will convert an under-utilized urban park into more passive open space and restore habitat for steelhead. It includes demolishing and removing low-flow automobile crossings, removing a diversion dam, and relocating park and recreation facilities away from the creek banks. A downstream section of the creek will be returned to its historic creek alignment. The streambanks will be stabilized by enhancing the existing sycamore-oak riparian forest. The restored stream section will also serve as a cold pool management zone for summertime rearing of steelhead, supported by upstream Santa Clara Valley Water District releases. The project has strong community support and the local chapter of the Audobon Society will be involved with avifauna monitoring.
The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency (SAFCA)/Sacramento Valley Conservancy (SVC) Robla Creek/Magpie Creek Diversion Canal Sacramento $324,983 This project includes channel reconfiguration, erosion control along an existing flood control levee, and restoration of native habitat along a diverted and channelized section of Magpie Creek. Funds will also assist in the development of habitat enhancement and stewardship plans, as well as an education element for Robla Creek. this project is located in an economically disadvantaged area and will provide stewardship and educational opportunities to local residents and school-aged children.
Alpine County/Alpine Watershed Group Markleeville Creek Alpine $128,987 This project is the first phase of a larger effort to restore an 800 foot reach of Markleeville Creek adjacent to and beneath the CalTrans Highway 89 bridge in Markleeville, located in economically disadvantaged Alpine County. The overall project is a highly collaborative effort by local, state, and federal groups and agencies to relocate structures subjected to repeated flooding, remove damaging floodwalls, reconfigure the channel and reconnect it to the historic floodplain, regrade, stabilize and revegetate banks using bioengineering methods, support on-going community stewardship and education, and improve habitat and water quality. This grant will cover analysis, assessment, design and limited implementation funds for a demonstration project.
Solano County Water Agency-Lower Putah Creek Coordinating Committee/Putah Creek Council Lower Putah Creek/Dry Creek Yolo $345,440 As part of a larger collaborative effort, this project will implement bank stabilization and natural stream function restoration along Dry Creek and Lower Putah Creek in Winters. It will continue and improve work funded by the USRP in 1992 and 1994 on Dry Creek, which stabilized eroding banks threatening nearby residences, by repositioning rock weirs to more effectively divert high velocity flows toward mid-stream, away from eroding banks. Additionally, the project will realign the low flow channel of Putah Creek to its pre-1997 course, away from a rapidly eroding bank threatening to undermine an adjacent road.
Greater Golden Hill Community Development Corporation/City of San Diego Thirty-Second Street Canyon Creek San Diego $158,219.75 This project includes activities to restore an urban ephemeral stream in a coastal canyon within the Chollas Creek watershed. It includes funds for planning and assessment, as well as removing fill, restoring natural contours, and improving hydrology and ecology upstream of a culvert to reduce potential property damage and erosion. The project also includes a small amount of funding for design and feasibility of creating subsurface retention basins upstream in the canyon, which could be applied to this and other canyons that contribute flows during flashy storm events. It has strong community support and has influenced a change in local management of access trails and revegetation of disturbed areas. This project will support watershed management practices in San Diego's canyons to reduce downstream flooding, improve water quality and restore habitat.
Mountains Restoration Trust/City of Calabasas Dry Canyon Creek Los Angeles $281,000 The proposed project will remove undersized culverts, terrace and lay back slopes, and plant native vegetation to address flooding, bank failures and lost riparian function and habitat caused by creek crossings, diversions, and control features installed to control flows in Dry Canyon Creek. This Project is a continuation of the master plan for the Headwaters Corner Project. Acquisitions, preliminary planning, and some implementation were partially funded under the grant awarded to Dry Canyon Creek by the USRP in 2001-2002. Volunteers will assist in planting riparian habitat and participating in educational activities to learn about stream care on their own properties. The project also benefits the Native American community by providing a location to sustainably harvest plant materials used for traditional basket-weaving.
City of Malibu/Save Our Coast Las Flores Creek Los Angeles $280,000 The applicants were previously awarded a grant of $555,000 from the USRP in 2001, which provided funding for the baseline analysis and the conceptual restoration plan for Reaches 1-5 and detailed designs for Reach 2 and partial implementation of Reach 2 restoration. Critical project objectives include: exotic plant species removal and control, increased native riparian vegetation diversity, bank stabilization, improved flow conveyance and capacity, improved aquatic habitat (including in-stream habitat for steelhead), integration of long term management programs for invasive vegetation control and consideration of other future land-uses such as the proposed public access. This grant will allow for completion of Reach 2 implementation.