To Have Healthy Watersheds, We Need Healthy Forests. Steve Brink Vice President Public Resources California Forestry Association

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1 To Have Healthy Watersheds, We Need Healthy Forests Steve Brink Vice President Public Resources California Forestry Association

2 National Forests Managed by the Forest Service in California

3 Sacramento Stockton Modesto Merced Fresno Porterville

4 Topics for this Evening Snowpack and the Effect of Climate Change Condition of our National Forests Consequences of Overly Dense Forests The Rim Fire The Benefits of Thinning our National Forests to Create a Resilient Condition Evapotranspiration Rates The Water Shortage For Agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley

5 Our Largest Water Reservoirs Spring Snowpack 15 million acre-feet/year Dams Sacramento Valley 13.5 million acre-feet/year Dams San Joaquin Valley 11 million acrefeet/year Most of the Storage at less than 20% of Capacity

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7 Potential effects of warming temperatures on the Sacramento / San Joaquin watershed and the San Francisco estuary Noah Knowles and Dan Cayan, Climate Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography 7

8 The Effect of our Changing Climate In The Sierra Nevada Mountains Was a cold, dry place Since 1900 Has generally been warming And for the past several decades has generally had warmer winters leading to less spring snowpack followed by longer, drier summers

9 Yosemite Valley

10 Yosemite (Nutrients, Sunshine, Warmth and Water = Growth)

11 Stand Structure & Species Composition Changes over the 20th Century

12 Existing Condition of California s National Forests & Foothills

13 7 Million Acres on California s National Forests in this Overly Dense Condition

14 Annual Net Growth and Mortality; Sierra Natl. Forest MMBF Gross Growth Net Growth Annual Mortality 2011 Sold Vol. 7% of annual growth 2/3/2011 March 6, 2011

15 Grizzly Flat Wildland Urban Interface (20 miles southeast of Placerville) Collaboration with Firesafe Council; Grizzly Flat Community

16 Our Rural Communities are at Significant Risk

17 An Aggressive Increase in Pace and Scale Is Needed to Create Resilient National Forests March 2011 Forest Service Regional Forester s Ecological Restoration Leadership Intent Forest Health and Fuels Reduction Treatments needed on 9 million acres over next years

18 All Lands Network of Ridgetop Shaded Fuelbreaks Site-Specific Design; Approaching Crown Fire comes out of the Canopy to the Ground Fuelbreak wide enough that a suppression crew can safely enter and direct attack the ground fire

19 Same Tree Eldorado National Forest Project before and after Mechanical Thinning Part of Regional Forester s Leadership Intent

20 Desired Resilient Condition

21 Desired Condition for the Sierra Nevada s -- A Diverse Heterogeneous Landscape (Malcolm North, 2009)

22 Consequences of Overly Dense Conditions

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24 2007 Over 1 Million Acres (1%) of California Burned 2008 Over 1.4 Million Acres of California Burned

25 2012 California National Forests Burn 297,000 acres on track to burn the entire Forest every 35 years & incinerate it every 100 years

26 Wildlife Habitat Suffers

27 The Intensity is Becoming Overwhelming

28 33% or more of acres burned are now high severity

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30 Angora Fire, S. Lake Tahoe (2007) In California National Forests have 50% of the State s Productive Forest Land but experience 76% of the acres burned

31 Angora Fire, S. Lake Tahoe Wildfires in CA Contribute Nearly 50% of Annual Particulate Matter (ARB Climate Action Plan Update)

32 Wildfire - Largest Single Contributor to California Particulate Matter Air Emissions (215 Tons PM2.5/day) Federal Forest Resource Coalition

33 Suppression is not a given

34 NIFC

35 Runoff 2 to 1,200 times above pre-fire conditions; Hillslope erosion 5 orders of magnitude higher; Direct Impact on Water Quality

36 Due to the 2008 Piute Fire, 125,000 Cubic Yards into Lake Isabella

37 Then There Was The Rim Fire

38 The Rim Fire

39 Rim Fire Vegetation Burn Severity Map (98,000 acres out of 257,000 acres High Severity)

40 Rim Fire-Cottonwood Road (100% Dead)

41 Rim Fire Cherry Oil Road (100% Dead)

42 Rim Fire Bank Slough Before the Fire, the streamcourse was dry; no Vegetation Transpiring Water Anymore

43 Rim Fire Anticipated Runoff from Modeling is 4.5 times normal surface flow of any given storm event; it will be in the form of mud and debris

44 A Few Of The Benefits of Healthy Forests Reduce the size and intensity of wildfires, as well as, insect and disease outbreaks Improved wildlife habitat Recreation Benefits Wood Supply High Quality Water and Increased Water Supply

45 Evapotranspiration Rates What Thinning the Trees Could Mean for Water Yield 45

46 2.5 CFS Unit x Hour 45 Day Summer Period CFS Hour of the Day UnitB C1 UnitB A UnitB C2 UnitB B UnitB C3 UnitB C UnitB C4

47 Increased Water Yield Is One Benefit of Thinning & Maintaining Healthy Forests The Research Expert on Evapotranspiration is Dr. Roger Bales at U.C. Merced: Sustained, extensive treatments in dense Sierra Nevada forests could increase water yield by up to 16%. (Bales etal. 11/29/2011. Forests and Water in the Sierra Nevada: Sierra Nevada Watershed Ecosystem Enhancement Project)

48 16% of Additional Water Yield Means An Additional 1-2 Million Acre-Feet of Water Every Year

49 Water Shortage for Agriculture In the San Joaquin Valley 2013 was about 65% short of 4 million acre-feet requested So Just Thinning the National Forests is not the Whole Answer but a Major Step in the right direction

50 In Closing We Have to Return our National Forests to a Resilient Condition 1-2 million acre feet of additional water Healthy Watersheds would reduce sediment rates and provide high quality water Improved Wildlife Habitat A Healthy Forest for Recreation Enthusiasts A Reduction in Size and Intensity of Wildfires and the associated Wildfire Suppression costs 1,000 s of new jobs in our rural counties across northern and central California would be realized in increased pace and scale of actively managing California s National Forests 50

51 The Need For More Storage Warmer Winters Less Spring Snowpack

52 Friant Dam

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54 Temperance Flat Dam Location ($3 billion to build; 2.7 million acre-ft)

55 Proposed Fine Gold Reservoir up to 781,000 acre-ft

56 Yokohl Valley Reservoir (Pump Back) 450,000 acre-feet Capacity

57 Site of the Auburn Dam (2.3 million acre-ft)

58 Shasta Dam Could be Raised 6-18 ($1.1 billion; up to 634,000 acre-ft)

59 Many Additional Storage Opportunities Raise the Friant Dam 25, 60 or ,000, 340,000, or 870,000 acre-ft of additional water storage (currently 520,500 ac-ft) Temperance Flat Dam up to 2.7 million acre feet Fine Gold Dam up to 781,000 acre-ft Yokohl Valley Dam 450,000 acre-ft Auburn Dam 2.3 million acre-ft Raise Shasta Dam 6-18 up to 634,000 acre-ft