Central California
Client: Coastal Watershed Council
The primary objective of this project was to develop a watershed assessment and enhancement plan for the Aptos Creek Watershed with a focus on restoration and enhancement of salmonids spawning and rearing habitat. Aptos Creek is a small coastal drainage located in southern Santa Cruz County. A variety of land uses occur within the watershed including urban, rural residential, orchards, timber harvests, and recreation. A large portion of land is protected within the Forest of Nisene Marks, which is part of the California State Park System.
Client: Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County
Waterways is teaming with CMAG Geotechnical Engineers to assist the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County and USFWS with the siting, design, and installation of multiple ponds to enhance and expand habitat for the endangered Santa Cruz Long Toed Salamander.
Client: Boy Scouts of America, Monterey Bay Area Council
The Boy Scouts of America own and operate an 800-acre property on the Little Sur River that is used as a summer camp. A flashboard dam was installed in the 1950s to create an impoundment for recreational and educational uses. The seasonal operation of this dam impeded juvenile and adult steelhead passage at the site.
Client: Alameda County Resource Conservation District
Waterways staff assisted the NRCS in the fall of 2015 with construction phase services for the implementation of agricultural pond repairs in Alameda County. Our role included construction staking and as-built mapping, construction observation and reporting, and field engineering services.
Client: Ecological Concerns, Inc.
Waterways and ECI have teamed in a design-build capacity to assist the City of Santa Cruz with a multi-phase, multisite design and construction project to offset jurisdictional impacts to wetlands and waters associated with a retrofit of the dam infrastructure at Loch Lomond Reservoirs, a main source of water for the City. The mitigation effort includes three sites: 1) Canham Meadow: wet meadow restoration on a property managed by the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County consisting of a gully that has incised through Canham Meadow, impacting wet meadow function and associated habitat, 2) Newell Creek Habitat Enhancement: includes installation of large wood structures on a portion of Newell Creek downstream of the Loch Lomond dam to enhance habitat for listed steelhead, and 3) Loch Lomond Shoreline Stabilization: consists of rehabilitating shoreline at Loch Lomond that is currently eroding.
Client: Santa Cruz County Resource Conservation District
Waterways staff prepared engineering plans and specifications for stabilization of approximately 100 linear feet of stream bank on Corralitos Creek in Santa Cruz County, California. The bioengineered bank stabilization included fabric encapsulated soil lifts contained within a log revetment structure. Logs were selectively harvested by thinning redwoods from an adjacent grove, thus reducing the cost and environmental impact of the project. Our staff performed construction supervision to ensure successful implementation. Revegetation has been successful and the bank now provides quality habitat in addition to controlling bank erosion and sedimentation in the creek.
Client: Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County
Waterways contracted with the Santa Cruz County Resource Conservation District (SCRCD) and the State Coastal Conservancy to provide design services for the improvement of fish passage at a stream crossing along Shingle Mill Gulch. The project site had a 6-foot diameter corrugated metal pipe culvert which provided conveyance beneath a private driveway servicing the Koinonia Conference grounds. Hydraulic analyses of the culvert determined that it was undersized for design flood flows and presented a fish passage impediment to migrating salmonids.
Client: San Lorenzo Valley Water District
Waterways is assisting the San Lorenzo Valley Water District by leading the design team on the Fall Creek fish ladder and diversion screening project. The project involves retrofit of an existing fish ladder and diversion intake structure to comply with current DFW and NOAA fish passage and screening standards. The design lowers existing intake screens and weirs while also adding two additional weirs downstream of the existing ladder to reduce individual jump heights. Phase one was constructed in 2014 and phase two is planned for the summer of 2021.
Client: Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County
The Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County (RCD) retained Waterways to prepare a sediment source analysis and action plan for the recently acquired Geyer Quarry property. The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County purchased the property in 2008 to provide protection to a portion of the unique and delicate Sandhill ecosystem that extends from the Bonny Doon through the Scotts Valley area of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Mining activity, road construction, logging, and off‐highway vehicle (OHV) use have exposed steep, denuded hillslopes in many locations throughout the parcel. These eroded areas deliver excessive volumes of sediment to the San Lorenzo River and its key tributaries (in this case Bean Creek and Zayante Creek). The large sediment inputs to the tributary channels negatively impact salmonid habitat.
Client: Sempervirons Fund and Peninsula Open Space Trust
Mill Creek is the largest tributary of San Vicente Creek, in Santa Cruz County, an important stream for steelhead and coho salmon on the central California coast. Mill Creek drains a small, steep watershed containing a localized area of granitic rocks within the highly erosive marine sediments that dominate the Coast Range. Because of this, Mill Creek is an important source of resistant spawning gravel, which is limiting for fish in many watersheds in the central Coast Range. Within the recently-acquired San Vicente Redwoods Preserve, two dams on lower Mill Creek impound gravel and prevent fish passage.
Client: California State Parks- Diablo Vista District
The Mitchell Creek Riparian Restoration and Fish Passage Improvement Project provides for removal of four small dams and the decommissioning of defunct access roads along a reach of Mitchell Creek, within Mount Diablo State Park. The design includes approximately 400 feet of constructed roughened channel to provide fish passage through the grade transition created by the various impoundments. In addition to the fish passage improvements, the project removed aproximately 2,500 cubic yards of impounded sediments from upstream of the site to restore floodplain function and reduce local bank erosion. The design included the installation of large wood elements obtained on site to provide bank stability and enhanced pool development. Waterways provided construction oversight for the project.
Client: Trout Unlimited
Under contract with Trout Unlimited, Waterways led design and construction phase engineering efforts for the removal of a fish passage barrier on San Clemente Creek, a major tributary to the Carmel River. Our design team included Streeter Group (structural engineer) and CMAG Engineering (geotechnical). Work included topographic mapping, hydraulic modeling, concept level design alternatives analysis, and development of final 100% level design drawings. Waterways coordinated with the Resource Conservation District of Monterey County to provide technical support for permitting efforts and then coordinated engineering support during project implementation in the summer of 2020.
Client: Resource Conservation District of Monterey County
Currently undeveloped portions of the North Monterey County High School Campus provide excellent locations for upland and wetland restoration projects that could facilitate educational opportunities. Waterways is supporting Central Coast Wetlands group and the RCD of Monterey County by providing land surveying, preliminary design services, and permit support for proposed nature trails and wetland enhancement projects in support of Red Legged Frog and Santa Cruz Long Toed Salamanders.
Client:City of Watsonville
The CARE project includes an ADA compliant pedestrian and bicycle trail providing community access to through a riparian corridor along the Pajaro River, near its outlet to the Pacific. The trail was designed with a surface that could be easily maintained following periodic inundation and fine sediment deposition within the floodplain through which it traverses. The trail provides an outlet to a scenic overlook on the Pajaro River, as well as to a boat launching ramp.
Client: San Jose State University
Waterways is supporting Central Coast Wetlands Group by leading the design team in development of plans to construct a 30 acre managed wetland to treat irrigation runoff within the Elkhorn Slough Watershed.
Client: Benchmark Resources
The pond construction at Pilarcitos Quarry included two bentonite-lined ponds within the Nuff Creek watershed, each designed to improve habitat for red-legged frogs. Waterways provided planning services to site the ponds, performed topographic and construction surveying, prepared preliminary and final designs, provided permit support, and supervised the construction effort.
Client: City of Santa Cruz- Public Works Department
Waterways performs annual cross section surveys at seventeen permanent monitoring sections established along the San Lorenzo River, from Highway 1 to the river mouth. This project assists the City of Santa Cruz in meeting flood protection requirements and habitat restoration goals by quantifying changes in channel elevation, form, and vegetation cover. The monitoring data is presented in an annual report discussing the geomorphic and hydrologic trends, and providing adaptive management recommendations to the City’s riparian vegetation and sediment management operations.
Client: RCD of Santa Cruz
A watershed assessment prepared for the East Branch of Soquel Creek identified limiting factors for steelhead and coho production which included high sediment loads, lack of pools, low summer base flows, and high water temperatures. In 2013, the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County contracted with Waterways to prepare a feasibility analysis and engineered designs for biomechanical bank stabilization of a large eroding cutbank and the creation of habitat enhancements along approximately 1,500 feet channel banks that were covered with unvegetated riprap, resulting in lack of habitat complexity or riparian cover.
Client: Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County
Waterways provided geomorphic assessment, land surveying, and engineering design services for ecological enhancements to a degraded reach of Sycamore Creek, at the confluence with Uvas Creek. The design included recontouring channel banks and the creation of inset floodplain benches to reduce erosion. Native vegetation was established on graded areas. Hydraulic control structures installed at the project included periodic boulder weirs and stilling pools for energy dissipation and a sheetpile cutoff at the project terminus. The detailed grading plan allowed for the retention of mature riparian trees within the project footprint.
Client: Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County
Waterways Consulting has provided planning, design, and construction implementation support (e.g., staking, field modifications, and supervision) for the installation of 3 ponds located on the Watsonville Slough Farm property, owned by the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County. The ponds were created either as a stormwater or sediment control facility or for habitat enhancement.
Client: City of Watsonville
Waterways staff developed a restoration plan for an area in the Watsonville Slough near Ramsay Park. Initial assessment of the Project Area identified an old landfill adjacent to Ramsay Park as a high priority site to restore wetland habitat and provide for public access. The Ramsay Park site was part of a larger restoration planning process that identified and prioritized a range of sites in the area (including the landfill site). A complete restoration plan for the Ramsay Park was developed that included removal of fill, restoration of wetland and upland habitat, and public access trail and signage. Waterways’ tasks included hydrologic and ecological assessments, a biotic report, wetland delineation, engineering plans, and a design report. The design aimed to create a wetland setting with irregular shorelines, suitable vegetation and natural wetland features that would serve to restore and enhance wildlife habitat and wetland functions on site.
Client: City of Watsonville
Under Phase 1, Waterways staff designed a seven mile network of pedestrian and bicycle trails along the Watsonville Sloughs System, within the City of Watsonville. Our scope included the preparation of a Trails Master Plan, identification of opportunities and constraints, engineering feasibility assessment, hydraulic modeling, final plans and specifications, permit support, and construction monitoring. The trail designs were implemented successfully, creating public access footpaths and bicycle trails with trail segments that also provide Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant access. Design challenges included multiple slough crossings (boardwalks), retaining walls, and bridges constructed on peat soils within a complex hydrologic regime. Design of each trail segment offered opportunities for ecological restoration, including removal of exotic vegetation and re-vegetation with native communities.
For phase 2, Waterways created a Master Plan for over 25 additional miles of trails within and adjacent to the City of Watsonville. Waterways is currently preparing 100% designs for portions of the Phase 2 trails system.
Client: West Valley College
Waterways has provided comprehensive planning, grant writing, surveying, design, construction support, and post construction monitoring services for five distinct projects within the West Valley College campus.