Millions allocated toward Butano Creek restoration

The Butano Channel Restoration and Resiliency Project will not only bolster one of the most ecologically significant watersheds in the area, it will also benefit nearby residents and businesses often inundated by flooding, said Kellyx Nelson, executive director of the San Mateo County Resource Conservation District, or SMCRCD. The district is leading the $6.4 million project and Nelson noted she’s pleased a collaborative push is making these improvements possible.

“The fact that we have a number of projects moving forward that do not pit environmental benefits against public safety or economic benefits is really exciting. Here’s an opportunity to do a series of projects that are good for everyone — the wildlife, the businesses, the residents, the tourists. And I think we should continue to find those opportunities to do these kind of win-win-win projects,” Nelson said.

County, state and federal representatives have been advocating for the Butano Creek project with a similar mix of funding slated to support it. On Friday, July 14, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, is announcing it’s recommending a $1.4 million award from its 2017 Coastal Resilience Grants program. Last month, the state solidified a $4 million contribution and the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors may soon consider offering $1 million.

Board President Don Horsley, whose district includes the coast, said the restoration has the potential to help reinvigorate the dwindling Coho salmon population. Pescadero, which translates to fishmonger in Spanish, was once a hotbed of opportunities for fishermen. Now, they’ve been fortunate to find one sighting of juvenile Coho in the lagoon. Mass die-offs of threatened steelhead trout are also known to occur in the nearby lagoon when water quality drops.

A county priority

In learning more from meeting with the community and the conservation district, Horsley said restoring the area has been a priority. 

“We are really on the threshold of a major accomplishment,” Horsley said. “You’re protecting endangered species, helping the potential regeneration of Coho salmon, you’re dealing with water quality so you don’t end up with extraction from that watershed, and you’re dealing with flooding. It’s a great win for the environment and it’s a marvelous spot. It’s one of the largest watersheds on the coast.”

The project involves dredging nearly 45,000 cubic yards of sediment while re-establishing an 8,000-square-foot stretch of the historic Butano Creek just before it converges with the Pescadero Creek and nearby lagoon. The dredged sediment will also be reused to restore 28 acres of degraded marsh in an area that supports endangered and threatened wildlife, according to the conservation district. 

The rate of sediment buildup has been accelerated by generations of human intervention in the area. Portions of the creek are now almost completely blocked, preventing spawning salmon and steelhead trout from moving upstream. Poor water quality in the nearby Pescadero Lagoon can also lead to mass fish die-offs as oxygen levels drop and temperatures rise.

“There are issues with fresh water circulating throughout the watershed. It’s making sure there’s enough oxygen in the water for the fish, so the fish at certain times of year aren’t suffocating and dying or swimming into old channels that don’t go anywhere,” Nelson said. Dredging Butano “is a benefit for a number of endangered and threatened species by restoring access to fresh water for an entire watershed.”

Farmers would dredge the creek in years past, but that ceased once it was transferred to a state nature preserve, Nelson explained. With the creek filled and floodplains taken over, water often spills over blocking the town’s main thoroughfare Pescadero Creek Road. But those floods aren’t just a matter of rainfall, it’s because there’s too much sediment trapped in the creek, she said.

Sediment was once able to move more freely and deposit in floodplains. But as the area developed into an agricultural and tourist destination, the natural habitat was altered to make way for roads and homes. Still, Nelson was careful not to cast any type of blame, instead emphasizing that “part of our approach is that we recognize and honor that people live there and that there are businesses, communities, families, homes and there’s a natural preserve.”

“Our mission is to honor the value of all the different landowners in the system,” Nelson said.

Multiple projects

But it’s a mission they couldn’t accomplish alone or with a single project. Nelson was careful to temper expectations, noting the one-time dredging is probably not a long-term fix. Instead, additional restoration projects will bolster the entire watershed to help sediment deposit in areas aside from the creek and improve water flow, she said.

One example is the recent restoration of the Butano Creek farm floodplain, which will help hold back nearly 150,000 tons of sediment over the next decade. Now, Nelson said they will work on securing permits from a variety of regulatory agencies and hope to begin dredging in late summer or early fall of 2018 or during the same time period the following year.

She noted NOAA and California State Parks have been invaluable partners, as has Horsley and state as well as federal advocates.

U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, represents the rural town and urged NOAA to allocate funding for the restoration project.

Not only would it help reduce fish kills and support protected species, it “will also enhance coastal resilience by re-establishing the creek channel, offering relief from the chronic flooding of Pescadero Creek Road, which causes tremendous hardship in the rural town of Pescadero,” Eshoo wrote to NOAA officials in support of the federal funding.

State representatives also worked to ensure California’s budget allocated $4 million in support.

Assemblyman Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, said in a statement that the funding will address “annual flooding that, due to decades of sediment build-up in the marsh, shuts down the main road into Pescadero after even the smallest rainfall.”

Aside from the local representatives, Nelson noted the coastside community’s historic knowledge, input and guidance have been invaluable.

Butano, “deserves the attention it’s getting,” she said. “It’s getting it, and it’s needed it for decades.”

samantha@smdailyjournal.com

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Twitter: @samantha_weigel