June 6 Watershed Council Meeting
More Background Materials
The Watershed Council meets tomorrow, June 6, 2013, from 9:00 – 11:30 am, in the Topping Room of the EP Foster Library, 651 E. Main St., Ventura. Background materials were sent on May 31, and here are some additional materials.
Bill O’Brien, NexGen Engineering, will be discussing the recent WEAP Model training workshop held in the watershed. Here is his workshop summary for your review in advance.
We’ll be discussing which projects from our watershed to include in the update of the countywide IRWMP (Integrated Regional Water Management Plan), and since a big benefit of a project being in the IRWMP is qualifying for Proposition 84 funding, I thought it might be useful to see what type of projects the Department of Water Resources (DWR) has funded under Prop 84 thus far. Here is a document which contains such a list; the list happens to be included in a response memo from DWR to an inquiry regarding how much funding was allocated to Disadvantaged Communities (DACs) – the DAC context of the list is not relevant in this case, this is just the only such list I know of. The table of projects starts on page 4.
51% Protected Lands
The Ventura River watershed benefits from having 51 percent of its land area in protected status. Check out this new map, along with others in the Watershed Atlas on our website.
Bren Students’ Response to Comments on their Group Project
The UCSB Bren Students prepared this response memo regarding comments received on their Ventura River watershed group project from Daniel B. Stephens and Associates. For your information.
June 8, 2nd Annual Picnic at the River
Here is another reminder that the Ventura Hillsides Conservancy and Friends of the River are again hosting a community picnic on the Ventura River on June 8, 2013, from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. The event will be held on the Conservancy’s property in the Ventura River, south of the Main Street Bridge.
This year’s event will focus on exploring the Ventura River on the Ventura Hillsides Conservancy’s (VHC) new Willoughby Preserve. The public is invited to take a self-guided tour to witness first-hand the progress made in restoring the property over the past year. Informational exhibits will be stationed at areas throughout the preserve extolling the various benefits of the parkway plan. The theme of the event has been “reconnecting Ventura to the river in our backyard” and visitors can take advantage of new trail connections between the Ventura River Trail and Emma Wood State Beach.
More information can be found on VHC’s website.