Public comment period extended on lower summer flow plan in Russian River, Dry Creek

Bowing to pleas from constituents, Sonoma County supervisors agreed Tuesday to add four months to the public comment period for a voluminous technical report on plans to permanently reduce summertime flows in the Russian River and Dry Creek.

The new deadline for public comment on the nearly ?3,600-page Fish Habitat Flows and Water Rights Project is Feb. 14, 2017, allowing a full 180 days for public comment. The original ?60-day period was supposed to close Oct. 17.

The Board of Supervisors, sitting as directors of the Sonoma County Water Agency, also scheduled two additional public hearings next month, one each in Guerneville and in Cloverdale, providing opportunities for residents in rural river communities to provide input on the six-volume draft environmental impact report for the official record.

“I heard from people and agencies throughout the county about the need to extend the time period,” said board Chairman Efren Carrillo, whose district takes in the lower Russian River, an area dependent on tourism. “This is a complicated project and environmental document.”

The Sonoma County Water Agency, which manages releases from Lake Mendocino into the Russian River and from Lake Sonoma into Dry Creek from late spring to early fall, is under orders from federal wildlife officials to cut in-stream flow rates so they more closely approximate natural conditions.

The intent of reduced flows is to improve nursery habitat for imperiled coho salmon and steelhead trout, both listed on the federal Endangered Species Act. Restricting releases from Lake Mendocino also will help preserve a cold water pool for release during the fall chinook salmon migration, water agency staffers said. But a plan in development for the past six years and unveiled by the water agency in August has drawn criticism because of fears that drastic reductions in the water flow will hurt river recreation and potentially harm water quality with the kind of algae bloom that last year raised concerns about toxicity.

A standing-room-only crowd attended the board’s Sept. 13 public hearing, the only public hearing planned at the time. Many speakers worried aloud about the impact on the region’s economy, which is largely reliant on summer tourism and water recreation.

Residents also complained that supervisors, who sit as directors of the Sonoma County Water Agency, had allowed too little time for stakeholders to digest the report fully and too few opportunities for oral input from citizens unable to attend a daytime meeting because of work and/or because they live at a distance from Santa Rosa.

The newly scheduled public hearings will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16 at the Cloverdale Veterans Memorial Hall, ?205 W. First St. Fourth District County Supervisor James Gore will serve as official hearing officer. A second public hearing will be held at 6 p.m. the next day, Nov. 17, at the Guerneville Veterans Memorial Building, ?16255 First St. Carrillo will be official hearing officer for that event. Information about the proposal and copies of the draft EIR are available online at scwa.ca.gov/fish-flow/ at the Sonoma County Water Agency and at the Central Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Cloverdale, Windsor, Guerneville and Ukiah libraries.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com.