Watersheds

To an extraordinary degree, the waters of the Yuba, Bear, and American watersheds are co-mingled from headwaters to mouth through tunnels and canals between basins. These watersheds are fully interconnected, yet the watershed groups remain focused on land use, fire issues, and water quality within their own watershed boundaries. Currently, the watershed groups do not address quantity and flow conditions determined by interbasin exports and imports. Likewise, the public agencies and corporations responsible for the facilities do not focus on interbasin effects but instead address their watershed jurisdictions with an exclusivity that fails to represent the integrated reality of the basin. Yet it is the cumulative management of the Yuba, Bear, and North Fork American that establish quantity and flow conditions, which determine anadramous fishery suitability, habitat health, recreational values, and water quality. Therefore, for the conservation community to succeed in restoring degraded resources in the Yuba, Bear and American watersheds through the hydropower relicensing process, representatives of private and public entities, watershed groups, and advocacy groups must engage in a coordinated discussion. This discussion should facilitate understanding of and ability to address cross-basin issues and how they will impact each individual FERC relicensing process and affected watershed resources.

In order to prime the dialogue on the interlinked Yuba, Bear, and American watersheds, the Foothills Water Network began to compile Conservation Community White Papers. In this way, we intend to examine how the conservation community’s sub-watershed issues and interests can be integrated into a region-wide movement to change the course of water and energy management in the Sierra Foothills. White Papers 1, 2, and 3 reflect an integrated view. We welcome you to examine these ideas and contribute others to advance this work. Conservation Community White Papers have been issued from the following groups: