Report released on River estuary management plan

The Sonoma County Water Agency released an environmental impact
report on its Russian River estuary management plan this week and
will take public comment on the proposal for the next 60 days.
A public hearing on the proposal to manage the Russian River’s
summer flow at the estuary in Jenner is now tentatively scheduled
for Jan. 18 from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Jenner Community Club on
Highway 1.
At the behest of federal officials, the Water Agency plans to
maintain a freshwater lagoon in Jenner during the summer to improve
habitat for juvenile salmon and steelhead trout.
The Water Agency normally breeches the sandbar that forms
naturally and closes the mouth of the River. When the mouth is
closed, it can cause the estuary water level to rise high enough to
flood low-lying structures including the Jenner visitors
center.
The management plan would create a spillway outlet that allows
the River to flow over the sandbar while keeping the mouth closed
to reduce ocean water salinity in the lagoon.
The plan is mandated by a National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS) Biological Opinion issued two years ago that says in order
to improve fish survival, changes are needed in the Water Agency’s
Russian River operations that provide drinking water for 600,000
people in Marin and Sonoma counties. 
The estuary plan has raised concerns among Sonoma Coast
activists who say the harbor seals that haul out on the beach at
Jenner may be disturbed by heavy equipment used to implement the
sandbar work.
Worst-case scenario would be a deserted seal haul-out  area, say
members of Seal Watch, the volunteer group that monitors seal
habitat in the estuary.
Federal officials at the National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS) earlier this year issued a permit, called an incidental
harassment authorization, to allow construction of the Jenner
estuary outlet channel this summer but natural conditions
intervened and the project was put on hold.
The seal colony hauls out at Jenner, usually starting in late
winter and early spring, which is also seal pupping season. The
management plan is scheduled to begin May 15.
The Jenner sandbar is now typically bulldozed open a half-dozen
times each year when the backed-up estuary threatens to flood
low-lying homes in Jenner.
The Water Agency hopes to maintain an average daily water
surface elevation of at least 7 feet in the estuary from May 15 to
October 15.
The draft EIR will be available online at the Water Agency’s
website starting  this week, said a Water Agency spokesperson.