Our Projects
PHAW is dedicated to protecting the Jackson Creek watershed.
Our current and past activities reflect this mission:
The Amador County Watershed Stewardship Program
The Amador County Watershed Stewardship Project is a new initiative of the
Amador Community Foundation, PHAW's fiscal agent. Through this Project, the Foundation is committed to bringing together all relevant public
and private stakeholders to enhance public awareness about watershed management efforts, increase public participation in the process of watershed
assessment, planning and restoration and to create incentives for public and private landowners to engage in land stewardship and pollution prevention
on their lands.
The Jackson Creek Watershed Management and Conservation Program
The first phase of this project is the Jackson Creek Watershed Management and Conservation Program. This Program was created in early 2007
as the result of a settlement agreement between the AWA and PHAW. The Jackson Creek
Watershed (a sub-watershed of the Mokelumne River watershed) encompasses approximately 38,433 acres (60.0 square miles) in Amador County.
The upper watershed includes the sub-basins of the North Fork Jackson Creek, Middle Fork Jackson Creek, and South Fork Jackson Creek
upstream of their confluences near the center of the City of Jackson. The program was initiated in 2007 to develop a common understanding of the
general opportunities, constraints, and strategies for natural resource protection, water conservation and integrated land and water
management in the upper portions of the Jackson Creek Watershed. The program will also assist landowners and cooperating resource agencies in
prioritizing stewardship actions and projects in the watershed and marketing the plan’s vision to outside agencies and prospective partners.
In early 2008, PHAW received $122,830 in matching funds from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy to help complete a watershed assessment
and project implementation plan that will:
create a unified and accepted understanding of current watershed conditions, trends, and linkages by integrating physical, biological,
archeological, economic and social elements
develop a water supply and management plan for the watershed
educate local stakeholders and inform local and regional land-use planning
strategically focus conservation efforts
maximize benefits and minimize impacts from infrastructure projects
There are a variety of social, economic, and environmental benefits that will result by improving the
health of the Jackson Creek watershed for individual landowners and the communities of Jackson and Sutter Creek. Implementation of the plan
will help address the following community and regional issues:
Preservation of the environment in the post-Amador Pipeline Project condition
Maintenance of fire suppression ability
Preservation of agricultural operations
Download the Upper Jackson Creek Watershed Assessment Survey
which has been designed to gather some basic data from local landowners about their parcels, their resources, and their interests.
New York Ranch Reservoir
In addition to the overall watershed assessment and plan, PHAW received $50,950 in matching funds to complete an
important site-specific
management plan for arguably the most important aquatic resource in the watershed, the New York Ranch Reservoir.
The New Ranch Reservoir is currently owned and managed by AWA as a regulating reservoir for managing flows through the Amador Canal
between Lake Tabeaud and Tanner Reservoir. With implementation of the new pipeline between Tabeaud and Tanner, the reservoir will no longer be
critical to the local water supply and AWA’s operations. This reservoir and adjacent lands not only support the largest perennial waterbody in the watershed
and the abundant and diverse wildlife that utilizes the area (including river otters, western pond turtles, brown trout, and an assortment of avian fauna), but support
high quality wetlands and riparian woodlands downstream via surface and subsurface flow. In addition, the Reservoir area also contains myriad cultural
resources from both Native American occupation of the site to historic dam infrastructure and appurtenances.
In partnership with PHAW, the Foothills Conservancy, and the Department of Fish and Game, AWA has developed a resource assessment and
management framework for AWA’s lands as well as downstream wetland and riparian resources. The focus of this effort has been conservation and
enhancement of biological resources and cultural resources, as well as development of an outreach plan focused on limited access for educational
purposes (cultural resources, water resources, ecological processes and restoration, etc) and passive recreation (bird watching, botanizing, etc).
Although the Draft Management Framework was completed in June 2007, AWA is currently funding intensive hydrologic data
collection in and around the reservoir to better understand and manage this resource in the absence of canal flows. AWA plans to significantly reduce
flows into the canal by the summer of 2008 and transfer the Reservoir and adjacent lands to CDFG (or another viable manager) shortly thereafter.
Immediate completion of a collaboratively developed implementation plan will be essential to protecting the existing resource both at the site and downstream.
Moreover, the implementation will provide the new manager with a publicly vetted blueprint for managing the site.
Sierra Nevada Conservancy Grant
PHAW's $173,780 Sierra Nevada Conservancy Strategic Opportunities Grant is designated for planning efforts
associated with the Jackson Creek Watershed Management and Conservation Plan. That project is consistent with the
conservancy's mission under Proposition 84 to administer funds to eligible organizations for the "protection and restoration of rivers, lakes and streams,
their watersheds and associated land, water and other natural resources."
The grant application included a resolution of support from the Amador County Board of Supervisors and city of Jackson. Before the grant was awarded,
Kim Carr, manager of the Mt. Whitney Area of the conservancy, which includes Amador County, visited the local area. She toured the watershed area
with Jackson City Manager Mike Daly, Sen. Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks) representative Dana Jorgenson, Jackson Creek Watershed representatives
Bill Condrashoff and David Evitt, and John McCaull of the Law Offices of John McCaull and Jim Robins of Alnus Engineering. Earlier in the day she
was given a tour of the Knight Foundry.
Read the news article
