[0:00] All right. Well, good morning, everybody. Thanks for joining. Again, my name is Blake Adams.

[0:07] And thank you for joining us for this public webinar for the Kaia Valley Basin Groundwater

[0:13] Sustainability Agency. We're joined today by staff from Larry Walker Associates,

[0:21] who are on task to support this grant project that we have been awarded through CDFW.

[0:31] This is an hour-long session.

[0:33] At this current moment, just for a run of show, we have everyone muted,

[0:39] but there will be an opportunity at the end for discussion.

[0:43] But in the meantime, if you want to submit questions or comments

[0:46] or any technical issues through the chat, please do so.

[0:52] Yeah, and with that, I will let Audra, Ethan, and Christian take it away,

[0:56] introduce themselves and explain the goals for today.

[1:01] Great. Thank you so much, Blake. I appreciate it.

[1:04] Hey, everybody. My name is Audra Bardsley. I'm a senior scientist with Larry Walker Associates.

[1:09] We provide technical support to the UKIA Valley Basin GSA and are also assisting with

[1:14] technical support for the Interconnected Surface Water Groundwater Dependent Ecosystem

[1:20] Study. That's where we'll be talking about you today with you today at the webinar.

[1:24] So first, I want to thank everybody for taking time out of your schedule to be here.

[1:29] This will also be posted on the City of Ukaia's meeting website.

[1:34] So if there's anyone you think might be interested in seeing this content, please let them know

[1:38] that they can view it and then follow up with any comments or questions to Blake and

[1:43] to me.

[1:43] And our emails will be provided.

[1:46] With that, I will introduce quickly two of our key team members.

[1:50] Another Larry Walker associates project scientist, Ethan Brown, and then also from the biology

[1:58] side of this study, representing still water sciences, is Christian Broderick.

[2:03] And so we'll all be here to respond to your comments, field any questions.

[2:10] But before we do, we're going to kick it off to provide a sort of a status overview

[2:14] you of where we are in the project,

[2:18] where we're going,

[2:19] and how you might provide some input.

[2:23] And so with that, let me go ahead and share my screen.

[2:26] Hopefully everybody can see that.

[2:27] OK.

[2:29] All right, perfect.

[2:30] So again, this is a California Department

[2:33] Efficient Wildlife-Funded Restoration Grant project.

[2:37] So this project just kicked off in October 2025.

[2:42] So we're pleased to share with you

[2:43] some of the progress that we've made so far and also again solicit some input. There will be more

[2:50] opportunities to provide input in the future but we wanted to provide a public update at this stage

[2:56] as things are moving quickly and we've had some good progress so far. So to give you a sense,

[3:02] again I'm going to give you a bit of an overview of the project goals, the status where we're

[3:07] at as a team where we are in terms

[3:10] of identifying areas of interest for the study

[3:13] and deploying field equipment and surveys,

[3:17] and then also get some input.

[3:20] So you'll see there will be a couple

[3:21] of different ways that you can provide input.

[3:24] And so we're very happy to receive that

[3:26] and include it as a consideration moving forward.

[3:31] All right, so you've heard a little bit already

[3:33] about the study team.

[3:34] So the lead agency for this project is the Yucaya Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency.

[3:42] I took a look at the attendee list.

[3:43] Many of you are familiar with the GSA and the work that they do.

[3:47] General Manager here is Blake Adams, who you've probably seen at different meetings.

[3:53] And one of the key tasks for the GSA has been assembling a Groundwater Sustainability Plan

[4:00] to meet Sustainable Groundwater Management Act requirements.

[4:05] So this is a, excuse me, this is

[4:10] a medium priority basin.

[4:12] Many of you are aware.

[4:14] And so there are certain management actions and goals

[4:17] that the GSA needs to meet

[4:19] to hopefully achieve sustainability

[4:21] over a 20 year time horizon.

[4:24] And so this project actually works really nicely

[4:27] in concert with some of the corrective actions

[4:30] that Department of Water Resources recommended

[4:34] for the Groundwater Sustainability Agency

[4:37] in reviewing the GSP.

[4:39] And so we'll talk a little bit more about that.

[4:42] But for now, I do want to kind of reiterate,

[4:45] this is a team.

[4:46] So Larry Walker Associates is coming in

[4:48] as sort of leading the technical group,

[4:49] but we're working in partnership with the GSA,

[4:53] the other agencies that are members of the GSA.

[4:57] And we also have, like I said,

[4:58] Christian from Stillwater Sciences. We have Daniel B. Stevens and Associates. It's going to be

[5:03] supporting us with database management, data management. And then we're also working with

[5:08] some local partners, UC Cooperative Extension, Mendocino County, and the Mendocino County

[5:14] Resource Conservation District in order to do land on our outreach and then some of the field

[5:20] support that we'll need.

[5:24] All right. So just to make sure we're all on the same page about

[5:27] what area we're talking about as the scope of this study. And we start

[5:33] describing that. So we're looking at the upper Russian River watershed really

[5:38] focusing sort of upstream north of Hopland and that Hopland gauge. So you

[5:45] can see here in the map depicted the boundary of Yucaya Valley basin. So it's

[5:50] a sort of grayed out shaded area with a dark black boundary. Then you can

[5:54] the gray is the larger upper Russian river watershed. Now because this is being carried out by the

[6:01] groundwater sustainability agency and is inherently very focused on groundwater interaction with surface

[6:07] water, we're really focusing on reaches of tributaries in the main stem where we think

[6:14] there's some interaction with groundwater. So this means well maybe upper reaches of the

[6:19] tributary are very important for habitat for spawning of key species and the

[6:25] like. Our focus will really be on tributary reaches within the basin

[6:31] boundary and not too far outside the basin boundary where we think there

[6:35] are still some groundwater influence. And so the purpose of this webinar again

[6:40] is to provide you all a bit of an update. Some of this some of you may

[6:44] have heard already through our different outreach activities but to get

[6:47] everybody up to seat in a basic way and then again to receive comments. Like Blake

[6:52] was indicating there's going to be opportunity to do that at the end of

[6:57] this hour. We're going to have a live poll that you can take and then of course

[7:01] you can always follow up by email to me and Blake. And again this is a non-

[7:08] Brown Act compliant meeting so we do ask that there's no conversation or

[7:13] discussion among attendees. So we do have an opportunity at the upcoming

[7:20] February 11th Technical Advisory Committee meeting, I believe that's from

[7:24] 1 to 3 p.m., where there will be opportunity for discussion among

[7:28] tech members, additional public comments, and the like. So this is really

[7:32] informational to the attendees and then for attendees to provide comment

[7:37] and input to the technical team.

[7:41] All right.

[7:42] So with that, let's talk about some of the study goals.

[7:45] As you might have gathered from a title of the study,

[7:48] we're really going to be focused on characterizing

[7:51] interconnected surface waters.

[7:53] So place is where there's exchange

[7:54] between surface water and the groundwater aquifer,

[7:58] whether those are periods where there's

[7:59] groundwater influence to streams and the means

[8:02] down Russian River, where maybe we have periods

[8:05] of disconnection or we have actually infiltration or losing reaches of these

[8:10] streams. We want to get a handle on kind of where this is happening over time

[8:16] periods looking at time series and then thinking about how it's different across

[8:21] different parts of the basin. There are a lot of data gaps that were

[8:25] identified in the groundwater sustainability plan and so this is not

[8:30] intended to be a comprehensive look covering all of the different tributaries

[8:36] it will be selective but it will be an improvement on our current

[8:40] understanding and I think that'll be a big benefit coming out of this study. So

[8:46] in addition to kind of better understanding those hydrological

[8:50] conditions we're hoping to also map and get a handle on the groundwater

[8:56] water-dependent ecosystems.

[8:57] So that's gonna mean riparian vegetation

[8:59] and then also different aquatic species

[9:01] like steelhead, for example,

[9:03] that are dependent on getting stream

[9:06] or stream reaches with an influx

[9:08] of that nice cool groundwater-drived base flow

[9:12] during certain periods

[9:13] or pools to sustain them over summer.

[9:17] And then finally,

[9:18] complementing these much more field-focused activities

[9:22] will be update and improvements of the integrated hydrologic model. So this was

[9:29] developed as part of the groundwater sustainability plan process and this

[9:33] provides a really good opportunity to update the model, recalibrate it with

[9:38] new information, so that it can better represent surface water-ground water

[9:43] interactions in the face of things like climate change, changing management of

[9:48] the Coyote Valley Dam and the like. And so again big benefits we see coming out

[9:55] of this study are filling some of those big data gaps that were identified in

[9:59] the GSP and addressing some of Department of Water Resources recommended

[10:05] corrective actions surrounding the status of understanding for

[10:10] interconnected surface waters. And again beyond that we think there could

[10:18] be opportunities for this to help other agencies identify, say, restoration opportunities in

[10:26] the future. But restoration in and of itself isn't necessarily the specific goal of this

[10:32] project. All right. So now that you have a better idea of some of the goals, the scope

[10:42] geographically of where the study will take place, let's talk more about the study

[10:46] design and approach very briefly. So this is a very high level look. It's some of the key activities

[10:52] that will be taking place as this study gets going and field work is completed. So I already

[10:58] mentioned the modeling component and this table is really focused on what will be happening

[11:02] in the field on the ground to gather more data and fill those data gaps that I just mentioned.

[11:08] And so again, we will be targeting both sections of the main stem of the upper Russian river

[11:16] and select tributaries.

[11:18] So we'll talk more about how we're determining which tributaries to focus on and how you

[11:23] can provide some input.

[11:24] So this will entail sort of as we mentioned before, biological, hydrological, so understanding

[11:30] water levels and streams versus the groundwater aquifer, discharge measurements, stream morphology,

[11:37] the shape of streams and geochemical, so using different tracers that are naturally occurring

[11:43] in the environment to complement those other measurements and understand when different

[11:47] sections of stream or river are likely needing groundwater or losing groundwater, losing

[11:52] to the groundwater table I should say.

[11:54] So again, this is going to take place over a series of about two years and will involve

[12:00] multiple visits per year, particularly during the dry season.

[12:05] So just to give you a sense of the kind of frequency we're thinking.

[12:10] All right.

[12:11] So I mentioned the fact that select tributaries will be targeted.

[12:15] So how do we figure out which tributaries should be the focus of this particular study effort?

[12:21] And so the team has started out working with the GSA, working with TAC members to

[12:28] receive one-on-one input, in order to start screening all of the major tributaries that

[12:34] or identified in the Operation River Basin

[12:37] to get sort of a preliminary area of interest list.

[12:41] We're also getting some tribal input

[12:44] and today hoping to get some community input as well.

[12:47] And other opportunities like at the TAC meeting

[12:49] coming up in February.

[12:51] So from there, we want to sort of get together

[12:53] a list of tributaries that everybody feels

[12:57] pretty comfortable then prioritizing.

[13:00] And so there are a variety of different factors

[13:02] we'll take into consideration.

[13:03] We'll talk about that in more detail towards the end of this presentation, but we're thinking

[13:08] things about like, is there habitat in this location along a tributary?

[13:16] Have there been key species identified in those locations?

[13:20] What are some of the key watershed characteristics?

[13:22] Are those amenable to the study?

[13:24] And then also, is there access?

[13:26] That's going to be really, really important as partnership with landowners in order

[13:30] to gain access and of course do so safely. So again once we get this list of sites that we think

[13:38] is a good starting point, then prioritization will happen and land on our outreach. Again,

[13:44] local partners are absolutely essential to the success of this study.

[13:51] All right.

[13:53] So now that you have a bit of an idea about what the overall goals are,

[13:57] how some of these data might be collected,

[14:00] the general frequency,

[14:02] let's take a quick look at the near term timeline.

[14:05] So thinking about what has happened

[14:07] since sort of kickoff of the study took place

[14:09] in October 2025 and looking into the spring.

[14:13] And so you can see that we have had some communication

[14:18] about the study at a previous TAC meeting in October.

[14:21] We've been working closely with Blake and GSA staff

[14:25] in order to develop our approach and timeline.

[14:28] And then again, in December we worked hard to engage

[14:31] with the different technical advisory committee members

[14:33] in one-on-one meetings where we just received input

[14:36] from them and ideas and sort of got some more local input

[14:40] which was very helpful.

[14:42] And then now we're hosting this public webinar

[14:45] to share some of our initial summarized areas

[14:50] of interest and receive some feedback.

[14:51] So next steps again will be sharing additional information at the upcoming

[14:56] TAAC meeting and conducting some field reconnaissance.

[15:00] So that we can start really tackling the site prioritization and then start reaching out to landowners

[15:06] and local partners who are willing to work with us to allow for instrument installation and monitoring

[15:13] to take place on their properties. And then we're hoping by sort of spring that we can have

[15:21] instrumentation in place, so sensors, monitors that will be operating over the duration of the study

[15:28] so we can begin data collection.

[15:30] That's really one of the key pieces of this study.

[15:34] All right.

[15:36] So again, let's talk a bit about the areas of interest

[15:38] that are on our list so far

[15:41] and how you might feel about them

[15:44] and we might think about them

[15:45] and we'll tee up at the end of this presentation

[15:47] for you all to provide some input.

[15:51] And so in order to develop this preliminary list,

[15:54] you can see the creeks highlighted here

[15:57] in the map that I'm displaying.

[15:58] So they cover different parts of the basin, sort of some more in the south,

[16:04] some more in the north. We have some east and west representation. So we went

[16:09] through and reviewed GSA documents, comment letters, where the monitoring

[16:14] network had coverage, what the model showed in terms of areas that have

[16:18] data gaps. We also went through state and federal databases that provided

[16:22] its information on biology, habitat, ecology for the area,

[16:27] tried to find any information that

[16:29] was present about historical studies, fish counts,

[16:32] fish surveys, restoration efforts that

[16:34] had been undertaken in this watershed area,

[16:37] and also, of course, having these one-on-one TAC meetings.

[16:41] So we did successfully speak with all but one

[16:44] member of the TAC.

[16:45] So we felt quite pleased with that

[16:48] and definitely still open to having more conversations if needed and we got

[16:54] some good feedback that was very helpful. We also just yesterday had a

[16:58] meeting with the Pinoleville Polo Nation, we gathered some input and we're

[17:03] hoping to have a couple more meetings to receive information moving forward.

[17:07] And so the outcome of that and where we are right now is that tributaries

[17:12] of interest, again, we're looking mostly at reaches that we think have

[17:17] of some groundwater interaction or dependence

[17:20] being Forsythe, Ackerman, Robinson, McNabb,

[17:26] Mill and Morrison.

[17:28] So again, you can see some of the geographic distribution

[17:31] across the basin and the valley here.

[17:35] And we're hoping that from this list

[17:37] of approximately six tributaries

[17:40] that we'll be able to actually deploy instruments

[17:43] and have field surveys at probably three to four sites.

[17:47] And so we're also, as I mentioned, going to be performing some investigation of the main SEM and our target is for about four sites distributed through the main SEM.

[17:58] But those are to be determined because that will be somewhat contingent upon what tributaries end up being targeted after we go through the prioritization and landowner outreach process.

[18:10] and there's a little bit better public access along the main stem compared to tributaries.

[18:17] That gives you a sense for how many sites this study will be targeting.

[18:23] All right, so I mentioned the fact that we have right now these six sites that we've identified as,

[18:29] sorry tributaries that we've identified as sort of areas of interest where we think there could be some reaches

[18:34] along those tributaries that could be potentially good candidates for this investigation.

[18:40] So what our intention is, once there's sort of buy-in from the TAC, we receive a bit more input from the attendees at this webinar.

[18:52] Anyone else who wants to comment is go through and rank the different identified tributaries according to these different factors.

[19:04] This is a lot of information, but the main thing we wanted to share was that we have,

[19:09] again, much like that Venn diagram I showed in the beginning, we have ecological considerations,

[19:16] we have sort of watershed characteristic, hydrological considerations incorporated here in the geomorphic

[19:23] and hydrologic considerations, and then we also have feasibility.

[19:27] Again, community partnership is going to be so important for actually being able

[19:30] to get on the ground, carry out this investigation, and then also, of course, health and safety.

[19:36] And so our hope is that we can go through and systematically rank after collecting some more

[19:41] information through sort of these preliminary field surveys and observations, talking

[19:46] to more, talking to more locals, and then also receiving additional feedback and performing

[19:54] some additional desktop exercises, we can go through and rank and have a priority

[19:58] list and that priority list will inform how we approach landowner outreach. So

[20:05] what we're going to do next is allow all the attendees the opportunity to sort of

[20:11] express which tributaries they think are the top two in their mind and which

[20:19] factors are maybe the top two most important in their mind. So I'm going

[20:22] actually pause here and hand it over to my colleague Ethan who is going to share a survey.

[20:33] I'm going to show quickly one more item Ethan actually and then I will pass it on over.

[20:40] So what we've done is we've set up a online polling system where attendees can log on

[20:48] And again, you'll see a really simple series of two surveys where you can indicate those top two for the tributaries and the factors.

[20:57] And again, this is just going to be a very simple way to sort of get a sense for where interest lies from community members and interested parties.

[21:06] And then you can provide more detailed feedback.

[21:10] there's also the option to say other. If you feel there's a factor that is not

[21:14] being considered or a tributary that you think should be on this list and want to

[21:20] share why, there's also the opportunity to do that. So this is not a decision

[21:24] making point. This is not anything where it's a hard and fast, you know, pivot

[21:33] that we'll make, but we're going to consider all this information as we

[21:36] move forward. And so again, I'm going to hand it over to Ethan, and we'll put this in the chat.

[21:41] But if you can navigate over to menti.com and enter this code, that will take you to the set

[21:48] of two surveys that we've set up for you to complete, and we'll be able to share the

[21:53] live results with this group.

[21:58] Thanks, Audra. Actually, if you want to leave your screen

[22:01] shared just a little longer, we'll give people some time to navigate over there.

[22:07] And I did put this information in the chat, too.

[22:10] I'll share my screen that will take us over to the Mentimeter questions,

[22:16] just so you know you're in the right spot.

[22:18] But you'll be answering these questions through your Internet browser windows.

[22:37] And I do see that there was a question in the chat from Glenn McGority

[22:42] regarding ranking of all the trips for their potential water volume contribution.

[22:47] Not directly. One of the factors that is included is kind of persistence of summertime flows.

[22:57] So that will be considered, but absolute volume is not directly considered.

[23:04] We do take into account other things too, like kind of lateral connectivity to the hyena.

[23:17] of being collected? Where are there data gaps in the model or the monitoring network for

[23:22] the GSA? Where do maybe partner agencies or others in the basin already collect data?

[23:28] All of those elements would be considered, but not strictly total water volume, I think.

[23:34] And certainly other teammates, please speak up if you have other comments on that.

[24:03] Did

[24:03] we lose Ethan?

[24:11] Those look, Audrey, like we've lost Ethan for the moment.

[24:16] Okay.

[24:17] You should be able.

[24:17] I can also potentially log on if needed, but let me see.

[24:22] Hopefully he'll rejoin us in just a moment.

[24:52] You think everyone, please bear with us as we get our team member logged back on.

[24:57] It looks like he should be joining in just a moment.

[25:01] And there he is.

[25:03] So I'm going to go ahead and promote him to panelists.

[25:06] Next, you should be rejoining us.

[25:27] Can you hear me?

[25:30] Do you want to stop sharing your screen and I'll try that again.

[25:39] Yes, I can stop sharing my screen.

[25:41] And I apologize Glen, I just saw your comments.

[25:45] I think that's a good piece of feedback and we will, there is somewhat limited information

[25:54] on flow for some of the tributaries.

[25:57] But I do think through talking to local folks

[26:00] and then doing some field reconnaissance,

[26:02] that can be something that we do at least characterize.

[26:05] So we understand what the spread

[26:07] of the relative size of the tributaries are

[26:09] as we go through prioritization process.

[26:12] I think that's a good comment.

[26:49] Okay, so it seems like results are in.

[26:53] We'll switch to the next question here

[26:56] and have you guys answer that one as well.

[27:02] We would definitely ask if you indicated other on either one of these two surveys,

[27:09] please do let us know what you think the alternative should be if you have an opinion there.

[27:29] Whoops, and you guys are actually allowed to select two answers for this question as well.

[27:34] We wanted to broaden that breach a little bit.

[27:39] so the two most important factors contributing to a tributary score.

[27:54] We'll say again hydrologic nexus is sort of where does this location fit in terms of existing monitoring

[28:00] networks or efforts, areas where there are maybe data gaps indicated from the monitoring network

[28:07] or the model, things like that. Sort of how does it fit within our existing understanding

[28:13] and efforts to monitor?

[28:28] Okay, so we just got a question from Chris Watt in the chat

[28:31] But asking whether the focus of the ISW project is solely on the effect on species, also look

[28:38] at where impacts on flow may be the most significant.

[28:42] I think for this effort and because of the data gaps that we mentioned for the basin,

[28:50] we're aiming to identify locations where we can get information ideally on both factors.

[28:58] some kind of the hydrologic watershed function side and also on the organism

[29:05] side and riparian vegetation side and again if anybody feels differently from

[29:13] our team please speak up but I think the goals are hopefully hit both and we

[29:19] think if we identify ultimately three to four locations that should hopefully

[29:25] be possible.

[29:29] And again, we may get unexpected results. That's definitely a possibility.

[29:36] Okay, depletion and consideration. Ah, okay, so we had a follow-up question from Chris,

[29:40] asking if that's the case, should areas with the highest potential for depletion be a consideration?

[29:48] That is an interesting question. I think as I consider that potential for depletion

[29:57] Might also sort of correspond with areas.

[30:00] That still do have some persistent summer flow, which is one of the factors that's considered,

[30:06] because if there is flow persisting into the dry season, and we think that perhaps groundwater

[30:13] is contributing to that base flow to an extent that there's more potential for altering the hydrology

[30:20] there if conditions in the basin change or climate changes, for example. So I think the hope

[30:29] Is that somewhat captured?

[30:31] But I think that's still good feedback and something to consider.

[30:34] The other thing is that we're hoping that through improving – and then, Christian, I'm going to pass it after you –

[30:39] through improving the model, too, we'll start to get a better understanding of where and what areas are more vulnerable to depletion.

[30:48] Christian, please.

[30:48] You just said what I was going to say, which is that the model, which is kind of going to

[30:54] come at the end of the study, as a sort of culmination of the study, would it be the best

[31:00] place to answer that part of the question?

[31:02] So that's something that,

[31:05] unless folks have some informed guesses, otherwise that's

[31:13] something that we probably wouldn't know necessarily with a lot of confidence until

[31:17] the settings. Well in Chris did note that we could consider areas with high

[31:22] summer ground water extraction and that can definitely be at least something we

[31:28] consider and take a look at because we'd also think about main stem

[31:35] application of that concept to main stem site selection and we do have

[31:41] information about the location and some of the pumping for public supply wells.

[31:50] We have some improved understanding of where agricultural wells are located through the

[31:57] effort for well inventory, and we're going to be working on that.

[32:02] So that is a good consideration, thank you for bringing that up.

[32:05] And that is certainly something we can take a look at as we go through and rank.

[32:09] Thanks Chris.

[32:13] I'm just I'm just jumping in just for time management we have 22

[32:18] minutes remaining in the session so just for just keeping us honest there. Great

[32:25] thanks so much Blake and after this we're opening it up for conversation so

[32:30] that actually sounds great.

[32:33] Yeah I think we might be there Audra looks like most

[32:36] people have weighed in here and really interesting. Just kind of live look, first look at some

[32:44] of the results. There's definitely some obvious areas that have risen to the top for the majority

[32:52] of folks. So we will log these results moving forward and I will stop sharing and pass

[33:01] it back.

[33:04] We'll have an update. Yeah, thanks so much, Ethan. And we'll have an update on the prioritization approach at the TAC meeting that's coming up on February 11th.

[33:16] All right. So thank you everybody so much for taking time to share your thoughts. And we are actually, as I said, moving on to the last portion of this presentation.

[33:29] So really, this is opening it up to receive comments or feedback.

[33:34] We already heard a bit from some attendees about some things they think

[33:39] could possibly be considered as we go through prioritization.

[33:42] We really appreciate that.

[33:44] And so, again, I think Blake is able to shift everyone over so that

[33:49] they're able to raise their hands and speak.

[33:51] It's one way.

[33:52] If you want to provide a comment in the chat, please do so,

[33:56] just like Chris did and Glenn did. Other options are again emailing Blake and me.

[34:02] Now there's a follow-up if you think of something else you'd like to share.

[34:06] And again, for anyone you think would like to view this presentation,

[34:10] they can head over to the City of Ukaia meetings website and view a recording.

[34:17] So it might take a little time to get this uploaded, but that'll be there.

[34:20] And again, they can absolutely email us with any input.

[34:24] And I know I said this many times at this point, but we do have that upcoming technical advisory committee meeting on the 11th from 1 to 3.

[34:32] And this will be one of the topics that's covered.

[34:36] All right.

[34:37] And as of now, all participants are allowed to talk.

[34:42] You will need to unmute yourself if you wish to.

[34:46] So, to start, we look at, I'm seeing Chris Watt has raised his hand.

[34:52] So, yeah, model the way, Chris, just unmute yourself and go ahead.

[34:59] Yeah, that would be quick.

[35:00] Yeah, thanks for the presentation.

[35:02] Appreciate the hard work you guys are doing on this.

[35:05] And I know you're under a tight timeline and have limited resources,

[35:08] which is kind of the nature of my question.

[35:10] It seems to me that this project may unintentionally spend grant resources on stream reaches, which are unlikely to be affected by dry season groundwater pumping or significant lowering of the water table.

[35:27] So I think there needs to be a cross check with the tributary characteristics against

[35:37] areas that are expected to have higher groundwater pumping and that needs to be a factor.

[35:44] To me, it doesn't make sense to select a tributary for study when it hasn't been checked to see if

[35:52] it is likely to be affected by groundwater pumping based on our knowledge to date.

[35:57] Thank you.

[36:00] Thank you, Chris.

[36:01] I think that is a good consideration.

[36:04] And some of this is, again, the challenge of data gaps, but I think that's a clear

[36:10] way cross-checking against our understanding of current groundwater demands within the

[36:16] basin, the locations of those, the intensity, again, within our understanding or current

[36:20] understanding.

[36:21] That seems like a very reasonable thing to do.

[36:24] Appreciate that feedback.

[36:30] All right, and I apologize, everyone.

[36:32] I saw Glenn McGarty's hand for...

[36:35] I don't know Blake if you saw that first, too.

[36:36] Yeah, I saw Glenn's hand go up first,

[36:38] and then we have Steve and Maple's second.

[36:40] So, Glenn, why don't you go ahead

[36:42] and unmute yourself and have the mic.

[36:44] Perfect. Are we okay?

[36:46] We can.

[36:48] So, just to follow up on what Chris had to say,

[36:50] I think about Gibson Creek and Doolin Creek

[36:52] going right across, you know,

[36:54] some of the most heavily pumped areas and there is significant water that flows

[36:58] through those. The city of Ucaja has expressed interest in acquiring those

[37:04] watersheds and I just wondered where you think they fit in priorities. I've

[37:10] actually seen salmones in those creeks and I just wondered if that's

[37:15] something that is overlooked or why you didn't consider them to be more

[37:20] closely studied. So as of now those were not included in the areas of interest

[37:26] due to indications that there were fish barriers at some key locations within

[37:36] each of those streams. So they were not included. If you feel very differently and

[37:41] have other descriptions of the salmonella observations, please do share

[37:48] But due to those facts, we decided that they were not in the top six and based on discussion with other folks.

[37:57] Christian, I don't know if you have any other input you want to share there.

[38:03] No, I think that was basically when we talked in our conversations with people that didn't

[38:12] really come up as important GDE streams, I think we could – I don't think it would

[38:20] be a problem to add them to our ranking system and put them in the same pot with everything

[38:30] else and because they're doing the ranking is relatively painless. I think we can definitely

[38:37] add them and put them in the same scoring system as everything else and see where they come out.

[38:44] The lateral connectivity I think was the longitudinal connectivity was the main thing.

[38:55] But our understanding of that right now is mostly anecdotal as well.

[38:59] So we'd have to dive into that a little bit more.

[39:02] That makes sense because those water sheds have been very heavily and negatively altered,

[39:09] like going through tunnels and those sorts of things.

[39:11] But I have seen fish, so I know they're there.

[39:19] Yeah. I mean, I think that that would make sense to add one to the list.

[39:30] Great. Thank you.

[39:31] And

[39:34] next up we have Steven Mables, who's got his hand raised. Go ahead, Steven.

[39:38] Hi, thanks Blake. Thanks, Adjo. Christian, this is really, really great to see this work sort of unfold.

[39:46] I just wanted to follow up on Chris Watts' comment about where to allocate our focus on stream reaches that are likely to be impacted by groundwater pumping.

[39:57] I just wanted to mention that the the USGS study and the associated GS flow model that has been

[40:04] underdeveloped for the better part of a decade has finally been published and the model files are

[40:10] available along with the paper, the journal article and the supplementary material. So

[40:18] as part of that study they did a streamflow capture analysis where they analyzed throughout

[40:24] at the entire watershed, the relative impact of groundwater

[40:28] pumping on surface water.

[40:31] And of course, this is a regional study.

[40:33] It's not specifically focused on the Ukiah Basin.

[40:36] So there's some ticket with a grain of salt, of course.

[40:39] But I think this could be a useful tool, potentially,

[40:43] to figure out how to allocate focus

[40:48] on certain portions of the watershed

[40:51] on the groundwater basin.

[40:52] So I'll provide a link to that in the chat here.

[40:56] Thank you.

[40:57] Thanks so much for the comment and mentioning that.

[40:59] Laurel Ford is the paper a couple of days ago, and we were very excited to see that the regional model has been released.

[41:06] I know that we've spoken with Stoma Water about that and the timing.

[41:09] So that was really nice to see and also very timely for this investigation.

[41:14] So thank you so much for pointing that out and also highlighting the stream flow capture analysis.

[41:20] We will take a look at that and certainly be interested to have follow-up conversations.

[41:27] Great. Thank you so much.

[41:29] Thank you.

[41:48] I'm not seeing any additional hands raised this time.

[41:53] Do we have any, anyone else that would like to discuss suggestions, concerns, ideas,

[42:03] or additional questions for our technical staff?

[42:06] please feel free to just unmute yourself and speak it well.

[42:12] This is Laurel. I have a question.

[42:15] When you're talking about habitat and use of the stream by co-water fish,

[42:25] are you talking about just the section of it that's in the groundwater basin?

[42:29] because it's been pretty well documented that most of the rearing habitat, for

[42:36] example, or steelhead is upstream of that area. So I'm kind of curious what

[42:42] function you see the portions of these tributaries in the valley, you know, in

[42:48] the alluvial valley being documented through this study. Yeah, I think

[42:56] I think there's two things that these reaches could provide

[43:01] different types of, like it could be reaches that are both

[43:05] reaches of upstream and downstream passage or reaches where

[43:11] steelhead are, there may be some spawning occurring

[43:16] and then they grow and then they start to go upstream

[43:20] or downstream to where the app data is better.

[43:23] But one of the challenges we've faced in trying to put that together is just the lack of data and sort of the lack of recent data.

[43:35] I'm looking at the usage of these streams by different fish and there's been some, you know, in many of these reaches folks will say,

[43:45] well I've seen fish there or you know there you know there is a persistent there's a persistent

[43:51] flow in the summer sometimes and fish will use it and so we're just trying we're our our goals to

[43:59] sort of understand as best we can how the reaches within the within the groundwater basin

[44:08] are being used and and not and you know with a main focus on summer rearing because that's the

[44:14] main one tied to the groundwater, but also, you know, for other life stages of the fish

[44:23] as well,

[44:26] where groundwater could still be a little – could still be somewhat important.

[44:33] Thank you, Reynolds.

[44:34] Thanks for the question, Laurel.

[44:39] Blake, maybe we can stay on a little bit longer and just reiterate, please do reach out

[44:45] to me.

[44:46] Mm-hmm.

[44:47] And Blake, by email, I'll put our email addresses again in the chat.

[44:52] And if, you know, well, we'll stay on on the meeting a little bit longer if other questions come to mind. That sounds good.

[44:59] Yeah.

[45:00] We will try to get the webinar recording posted as quickly as we can. We're sort of reliant

[45:06] on Zoom and how quickly that is developed. It usually takes about a day, not much longer

[45:13] than that. So we will post that on the City of Ukaia's website under meetings. And if we

[45:22] have the ability, we will also forward that link to the participants as well so folks

[45:26] can quickly find that information.

[45:30] But if there's any other additional questions or comments or concerns, you can as always

[45:35] email myself and Audra, thank you, she just put the contact information in there.

[45:42] You can contact myself or Audra and we're happy to follow up.

[45:49] That's great.

[45:50] Thanks so much, Blake.

[45:54] And thank you all for joining us today.

[45:57] It looks like we're concluding today's presentation, and yeah, we'll be in touch.

[46:03] Thank you all.

[46:05] Great.

[46:05] Thanks, everybody.

Upper Russian River Groundwater Dependent Ecosystem and Interconnected Surface Water Study Webinar

Agenda

Transcript