April 23, 2013

April 25 Watershed Council Meeting Reminder
Just a reminder that the Watershed Council will meet this Thursday, from 6:00 – 8:30 pm, at the Oak View Community Center, 18 Valley Road in Oak View. Members of the public are encouraged to attend. Here is the agenda.We’ll be talking about the lack of rain the last two winters. Speakers include:
Steve Wickstrum, Casitas Municipal Water District general manager
Shana Epstein, Ventura Water general manager
Bert Rapp, Ventura River County Water District general manager
Toby Moore, Golden State Water Company’s chief hydrogeologist
Mike Hollebrands, Meiners Oaks Water District general manager
Jerry Conrow, Ojai Basin Groundwater Management Agency board chair
Greg Schnaar,  Daniel B. Stephens & AssociatesThe Bren students will also be making their final presentation on their Ventura River project.Hope to see you there!
April 30 Open House on the Los Padres National Forest
Land Management Plan Amendment

The US Forest Service has released a proposed amendment, and related Environmental Impact Study, to their 2006 land management plans for the Los Padres National Forest and several other southern California forests. Just about half of the Ventura River watershed lies within the Los Padres National Forest. The most important issue regarding the Los Padres National Forest land management plan amendment and our watershed is whether or not Wilderness Areas should be expanded. The Dry Lakes IRA (Inventoried Roadless Area) and the White Ledge IRA are the primary areas of concern in our watershed. Here is a map that shows these areas, and a link to the Forest Service’s website on the land management plan amendments.

Thanks to Supervisor Steve Bennett’s initiative, there will a local opportunity for members of the public to get their questions answered about the proposed amendment. An open house will be held on Tuesday, April 30, from 5:30 – 6:30 pm, at the Ventura County Government Center Hall of Administration, Third Floor Multipurpose Room, 800 S. Victoria Ave. 93009.

Sue Exline, District Ranger for the Ojai District of the US Forest Service, is available to answer questions about the amendment at 805/646-4348 x307 or skexline@fs.fed.us.

Here is a NEW Watershed Council map (!) of the watershed showing the extent of the US Forest Service lands. Click on the map to download the pdf.


Comments on Bren School WEAP Modeling Project
Daniel B. Stephens and Associates (DBS&A), one of the technical consulting firms that has done considerable work in the Ventura River watershed, took the time to provide the Bren students with a professional review of their Ventura River watershed project final report, “Sustainable Water Use in the Ventura River Watershed“(dated March 2013). The WEAP model, which underlies much of the students’ project, has been used as a tool at many levels of government and management, and has a number of supporters in the watershed. I’m passing on DBS&A’s comment letter in the spirit of advancing our understanding of the model and the complexities in using it as a tool for evaluating watershed management scenarios.
The Bren students have become valued members of the Watershed Council; we couldn’t have asked for a more enthusiastic group. The Council has benefited from the questions asked by this student effort and from considering the relative benefit of using the WEAP model to look at different watershed management scenarios. Keeping in mind the technical complexities of the groundwater and surface water in this watershed, which the experts are continuing to study for better understanding, and that the students worked on this project for less than a year and their focus was on different management scenarios using WEAP, it should be viewed as such. We appreciate the students’ review of these management scenarios and understand that the project report was not designed to assess all of the technical complexities of the groundwater in the watershed. We certainly appreciate the students’ project and its insight into potential management options.