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KNIGHTSEN, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 04: Farmland bought by the East Contra Costa County Habitat Conservancy and the East Bay Regional Park District is seen from this drone view alongside Eagle Lane close to Byron Freeway in Knightsen, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2021. A plan to revive wetlands and habitat whereas enhancing water high quality in Knightsen has run into opposition from some residents and native leaders. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group)
A plan to create and restore wetlands and different habitats whereas managing stormwater in a small jap Contra Costa County group on the sting of the Delta has run into opposition from some residents and native leaders, who worry the venture will as an alternative improve flooding and worsen water high quality in non-public wells.
The East Contra Costa Habitat Conservancy and the East Bay Regional Parks District collectively bought the Ron Nunn Household property in Knightsen for $6.1 million in 2016 for the venture. The habitat restoration plan was seen as a option to curb encroaching improvement whereas enhancing the standard of water flowing to the close by Delta and rising habitat for the likes of red-legged frogs, fairy shrimp, Swainson’s hawks and burrowing owls.
“It’s an necessary space to preserve as a result of it’s a chance to revive habitats and assist a spread of species which can be threatened and endangered within the area,” stated Abigail Fateman of the East Contra Costa Habitat Conservancy, which not too long ago hosted a public tour of the property. “We’re it as a restoration alternative to deliver again wetlands, sand dunes, some upland and a few alkali grassland habitats.”
Positioned within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta east of Byron Freeway, the 645-acre website was traditionally a mosaic of tidal marsh, wetland, sand dunes, grassland and oak savanna, with a lot of the property to the east of it underneath water earlier than levees had been constructed.
In current many years, the land has had some flooding, prompting the Contra Costa County Public Works Division, together with the Knightsen City Advisory Council, to check methods to handle drainage considerations within the space.
One resolution, officers say, is to direct and retailer stormwater, which may very well be naturally cleaned and filtered by way of the wetlands earlier than discharge to the Delta.
Brentwood Mayor Joel Bryant, Conservancy board chair, sees the venture as a option to take care of an space that he says persistently has drainage issues, whereas additionally enhancing wildlife habitats.
“It’s going to be serving to with the flooding; the engineers by way of the Habitat Conservancy are going to check out it and design a pure manner for that water to empty down into the slough,” he stated. “Within the means of that, the sand – it’s principally sandy soil on the market – that’s going to be a pure filter in order that the water that’s popping out of that space, it filters naturally by way of that piece of property, in order that extra pure water can go into our aquifers.”
Conserving habitat can also be necessary, he stated.
“Growth is coming to East County,” Bryant stated. “The county is the stress aid valve for the Bay Space’s progress and is the one place that has land. And, so if we don’t make a concerted effort to protect our open areas now, there gained’t be any open areas sooner or later.”
Initially supportive of the venture, the Knightsen Group Providers District, which oversees issues of flooding and water high quality, withdrew its endorsement in 2019 due to security considerations and the attainable degrading of wells and private septic techniques of close by residents, a lot of whom signed petitions towards the venture.
“It has the potential of really creating flooding, not stopping it,” stated Trish Bello-Kunkel of the Knightsen City Group Providers District.
Bello-Kunkel maintains that current research present restoration may find yourself flooding close by residents’ property and including undesirable saltwater from the Delta.
Fateman, nevertheless, stated there could be no saltwater on the venture website. The 2 sources of water for the wetlands restoration venture, neither of which is saltwater, are stormwater and water from close by No Identify Slough, she stated.
Nonetheless opposed, Bello-Kunkel stated that her board has written letters to the Conservancy, park district and the county however is just not glad with the solutions. The group providers district desires proof that the Conservancy and parks district will remove dangers to the five hundred or so residents inside a mile of the venture.
So does resident Carolynne Steen, who lives on Eagle Lane subsequent to the proposed wetlands. She worries how the venture and potential flooding may have an effect on groundwater and residents’ property insurance coverage.
“There’s an actual concern out right here about how that is going to have an effect on our wells and septic techniques; they’re principally altering the topography of the land,” she stated, noting her highway alone has 33 parcels that may very well be affected.
Sandra Maxfield, a hydrologist and environmental marketing consultant who lives close to the proposed wetlands, says her effectively gained’t be affected as a result of it’s greater than 100 ft deep, however many others have shallow wells that may very well be impacted by the introduction of water within the space. Extra water may pool above the soil’s shallow clay layer, leading to flooding, she stated.
Maxfield can also be involved about proposed bioswales — vegetation channels that accumulate and filter stormwater runoff. They may have pesticides and waste from adjoining farmlands that will simply “sit there and percolate,” in addition to appeal to mosquitoes, she stated.
“What’s going to be the standard of water that goes down into that shallow groundwater system?” she requested.
Bello-Kunkel cited a marketing consultant for Conservancy’s 2019 report that stated, “The location is extraordinarily well-suited for restoring tidal marsh however not with out potential for elevated seepage and flood threat to neighboring properties.”
Nevertheless, Fateman stated the consultants additionally famous that potential constraints “may very well be managed” in quite a lot of methods, all of them included within the plans.
The draft venture design reduces flood potential, she stated, by changing present berms with levees to separate Delta water from the group and enhancing floor water patterns by diverting stormwater from drainage ditches within the space that presently don’t have shops and the place water swimming pools.
Even so, Bello-Kunkel stated neither she nor her board is satisfied in regards to the venture’s advantages, they usually don’t need wetlands “so near septic techniques and consuming wells,” each of which may very well be degraded by the introduction of latest water within the space.
“We really feel like Knightsen is turning into an experiment, and we don’t wish to be an experiment,” she stated.
Bello-Kunkel additionally famous that if protected species got here to the newly created habitat they could influence the close by properties, limiting farmers’ skill to plow their lands or forcing them to get permits to take action.
Fatemen, although, stated the Conservancy didn't anticipate that however would supply permits to property house owners for “incidental take” — an unintentional harming or killing of a threatened or endangered species which will populate close by farms on account of the venture.
Fateman stated residents will likely be invited to yet-unscheduled conferences later this 12 months to debate any considerations they've in regards to the venture, which remains to be being developed and sure gained’t start building for a number of years.
And, although leisure actions usually are not a part of the plan, Neoma Lavalle, an East Bay Regional Parks District planner, stated the district is working to make sure that the venture doesn’t forestall future public entry to the location.
For extra data on the venture, go to www.contracosta.ca.gov/7624/Knightsen-Wetland-Restoration-Undertaking.