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City penalty a positive for rabbit -
Manteca proposes spending $204,000 to restore habitat
(Note: Rife with Language Deception, the reader is asked to read with
the mind rather than the emotions.)
September 16, 2005
By Melanie Turner, Bee staff writer mturner@modbee.com
or 209-239-2152
The Modesto Bee
Modesto, California
To submit a Letter to the Editor: mvasche@modbee.com
The endangered riparian brush rabbit and other wildlife that rely on
vegetation that has all but disappeared along streams and rivers in
the Central Valley may see an important piece of that habitat
restored, thanks to the city of Manteca.
The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board on Friday is to consider the city's proposal to pay part of a $478,000 waste-discharge violation penalty by funding a habitat-restoration project. Manteca has offered to pay $204,000 toward the creation of habitat for the rabbit along an abandoned levee west of Modesto. The city would still owe the remaining $274,000 to the state. The proposal calls for planting blackberry, creeping wild rye, mugwort and other low-growing native plants that the rabbits use to hide from hawks and coyotes. The levee, in the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge, is mostly barren. In some places it's covered with less dense nonnative weeds. Because the levee is so bare, at least 10 rabbits drowned last year in a spring flood, said refuge manager Kim Forrest. Refuge managers hope that by planting brush on the sides of the levee, rabbits will be safer in the future. They live in habitat in between levees, Forrest said. When water poured into their habitat last spring, there was no place for them to go. Instinctively, they won't seek higher ground if it's bare because that would make them easy pickings for predators, she explained. Manteca's project, to be built by Chico-based River Partners, not only is unique, but expensive, Forrest said. Unlike restoration projects in the floodplain, the 6,000 native levee plants will require drip irrigation. She said the project also will aid songbirds that have suffered reduced populations. State law allows the city to spend a certain portion of its waste discharge fine on an environmental project, said Phil Govea, a senior engineer for Manteca. He said the city sought out a local effort. Manteca was fined for failing to meet deadlines for reports and studies aimed at meeting pollution limits, and also for exceeding its waste discharge limit. "Was there a detrimental impact to the environment?" Govea said. "We argue no." He said the city was a victim of "poor legislation." According to Jim Marshall, a water resources control engineer for the state water board, even when the city was being fined for exceeding discharge limits, its treated wastewater met state standards. The problem was the water did not meet the city's discharge limit for trihalomethane, a byproduct of the treatment process. The water board last month slightly increased the city's limit, ending the fines. Manteca will eliminate the problem by 2007 when a $22 million treatment plant upgrade is completed, Govea said. Meanwhile, all of this has meant that the riparian brush rabbit might get some needed help. Though the endangered rabbits have proved to be resilient, survival has been a challenge recently, Forrest said. A 1,400-acre fire in the refuge last summer scorched their habitat. Then last spring, floods invaded their home. Fire interrupted rabbit count Refuge officials are not sure how many rabbits have survived. They were set to do a population count last fall, but instead scrambled to repair damage caused by the fire. "We don't know how many, but we've seen babies," Forrest said. The Manteca project is small compared with other restoration projects on the 9,658-acre refuge. It would be two miles of native plantings. By comparison, a $3.9 million CalFed project, due to be completed later this month, restored 800 acres of riparian forest and wetlands at the refuge. Cottonwood and willow trees planted three years ago are now 30 to 40 feet tall. More plantings will begin this fall on a 511-acre riparian and wetland restoration project, paid for with a $1.75 million grant from the state Department of Water Resources. Manteca's project is within the 511 acres, formerly owned by the Vierra family. David Vierra's family farmed the land for more than 30 years. They sold the land to the federal government after their farm was caught in a 100-year flood in 1997. "It was getting more floods all the time," Vierra said. "As far as we're concerned, with the way the river goes up and down there now, we'd just rather not be there." The Vierra family is one of six landowners who have sold their properties to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, for a total of 6,678 acres. The rest of the refuge, close to 3,000 acres, is in conservation easements owned by the Gallo and Mapes families. Most riverside vegetation lost More than 90 percent of the valley's historic riverside vegetation has been lost, said Eric Hopson, assistant refuge manager. Certain birds and mammals need a dense forest of oaks, cottonwoods, willows and brush along waterways in order to survive, he said. The Manteca-funded project may be small, but Forrest said it's a real "boon" in a giant push to get the riparian brush rabbit off the endangered species list. The refuge is building something of a reputation when it comes to helping wildlife make a comeback. The Aleutian Canada goose, once considered extinct, came off the endangered species list in 2001 in large part because of the refuge. And a small gray songbird thought to have disappeared from the Central Valley 60 years ago, the least Bell's vireo, was spotted nesting in an area of restored habitat along the river in June.
Copyright 2005, Modesto Bee.
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