Lake Mendocino Dam to be raised?

Sean is gonna ask congress for 100 million! Go man, go!!!!



Local water district seeking federal money to raise dam
By JUSTINE FREDERIKSEN The Daily Journal
Updated: 08/23/2010 11:59:58 PM PDT

RRFCD and WCID manager says most of the region will benefit from doubling the lake's capacity

A local board is trying to build a swell of support for raising the Coyote Dam and increasing the water-storing capacity of Lake Mendocino.

"The dam was actually designed and built to be raised over time, but for whatever reasons, that never happened," said Sean White, manager of the Russian River Flood Control and Water Conservation Improvement District, pointing out that according to the Russian River Plan, drafted 10 years after the dam was built in 1959, the dam was scheduled to be raised in 1994. "We feel that the time has arrived."

If the dam is widened and raised, White said the capacity of the lake could be doubled, which would provide the lake a "savings account, instead of having to live paycheck-to-paycheck.

"That would give us multiple years of water supply, instead of a one-year supply," he added. "Now, if it doesn't rain one year, the next year you're in trouble."

White said the district plans to ask Congress for the money to raise the dam, and also seek funding for a separate project related to the lake's water level - moving some of the recreational facilities for camping and picnicking, much of which has been underwater this summer.

"Until the dam gets raised, we're going to be running the lake at a lot higher level than in years past," White said, explaining that while the lake has historically been kept at 748 feet, the district was authorized
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by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to raise it 13 feet. Because of recent drought conditions, the lake was not able to reach that height, and is at 758 feet.

However, since the campgrounds, picnic areas and other facilities were built when the lake was at its old level, many of them are now flooded.

"We would like to have the best of both worlds, and to not have to choose between having water and providing recreation," he said. "We have been weighing the pros and cons of the community needs."

To solve the dilemma, board members at the district's last meeting earlier this month discussed requesting federal dollars to move forward with raising the dam, and how to gather support for the effort from the numerous cities and water agencies that also benefit from the water stored in Lake Mendocino.

"We hope to demonstrate broad community support," White said, explaining that not only do all the cities downstream of the lake - such as Cloverdale, Healdsburg and Santa Rosa - benefit "from a fully functional Lake Mendocino, but even areas such as Marin County. We are hoping to gather as broad a coalition as possible to see if we can't leverage some money."

The district's board, which includes Lee Howard, Judy Hatch, Bill Townsend, Paul Zellman and Richard Shoemaker, agreed to draft a Lake Mendocino Improvement Resolution for consideration at its next meeting.

"Hopefully, we'll adopt it here, then get other folks to do the same," said White, who also expressed at the meeting that a lake tour the district hosted Aug. 2 may help their efforts.

"We can build on the momentum from that day," he said. "We all know what the issues are - let's just get this done."

So far, "the Corps has been using a process that they have called a feasibility study, to look at the feasibility of raising the dam," White said. "But that has been very slow and underfunded."

As for how much the projects will cost, White said "I don't know that anyone knows, but (raising the dam) will likely cost more than $100 million." He said there is also no budget for moving of the recreation facilities, but that would cost significantly less.

The lake - technically a reservoir - can hold 122,500 acre-feet of water (almost 90 percent of it belonging to Sonoma County under water rights decided at the time the dam was built and based on Sonoma County's willingness to help fund the dam), and the local district has an 8,000 acre-feet water right it sells to other districts, cities such as Ukiah, and about 50 major agricultural users. The USACE operates the Coyote Dam at the south end of the lake.

Justine Frederiksen can be reached at 468-3521 or [email protected]

Sounds like a worthwhile pursuit - I hope it works out.   

And since it is Sean that is asking for this.....it must also gonna be real good for the fishery too. Sweet! 

Thanks for the article. I drove passed the lake last weekend and was wondering why the water level was still so high. Its almost the first of September and the road on the northeast side is still under water.

However, since the campgrounds, picnic areas and other facilities were built when the lake was at its old level, many of them are now flooded.

"We would like to have the best of both worlds, and to not have to choose between having water and providing recreation," he said. "We have been weighing the pros and cons of the community needs."

Problem solved for the campgrounds!

Please include a Striper Hatchery, I know we need it but sorta sad to think we could never camp or fish at the same spots again that's home to a lot of us.

Please include a Striper Hatchery, I know we need it but sorta sad to think we could never camp or fish at the same spots again that's home to a lot of us.

 Alot of good memories on that shoreline.

 Alot of good memories on that shoreline.

Agreed, I have to confess I had not been thinking in that vein yet. I was just thinking of the river outflow.... I've been going to LM since the 70's, a lot of time spent there over the years!

[quote I was just thinking of the river outflow][/quote] Do you think that it will change much or will they just find more places to sell the water?

I have no idea what the strategy or plan would be, that's a question for SBD, I'm certain he's got it dialed.

In my little mind's eye, I was just wondering about improved late season flow and such -  more consistency, potential for improved fish habitat, but I always dream of that! Well, after the other thing