Mildred

U

UpperDecker

Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2005
RO Number
19078
Messages
443
Mildred really needs it. The Northwest cove is totally socked in now. But since it isn't state owned land my guess is that it will never happen and Mildred will become one big algae pond. Especially when SOCAL builds their canal to use all the water on the golf courses.
 
Well, maybe all those weeds in Mildred will turn people against shipping more water down south! Or we can all just let the entire delta turn into one big weedy maze. No boating, no fishing, no recreation, no $$$$$ for the resorts.........bah humbug. I'm going boating!
 
Out of sight, out of mind. You would be surprised (maybe not), how many people are unawares of the problems we have in the Delta. It may come to the scenario above before anyone pays attention. In the meanwhile, enjoy the boating and know that I am jealous because I would like to be out today. Safe boating
 
Even if the delta becomes one big mass of weeds, I doubt anything would be done since boaters are a very small minority. The only way anyone will notice is if the shipping channel gets choked in. Then they'll do something immediately.
 
Upper -- Nothing can be done immediately. There are a dozen plus agencies that must approve and it is about a two-year process and ;ots of application and permit fees to go through the process. The Port of Stockton is not exempt. The reality of the Delta is that it is DEAD! It has been talked to death by the various commissions with PC names that have been studying the "problem" for years even though anyone with common sense already knew what it was -- interruption or normal, seasonal flows of fresh water to flush out the estuary. If I know that, Iam 100 % positive I wam not the first to acquire the knowledge. It is too late. As for the Peripheral Canal. The engineering work has been done for years. I have a nephew, a hydrological engineer, who received his master's at UC Davis in the late
70s. While he was there, he did some of the engineering work for the canal. I did not believe it at the time, butI am a believer now. I can't discuss it with him because he is in Cairo on a prject for one of the internationals. Don't know why I got so wound up on this, but it has been under my skin for quite a while. -- Warren
 
Upper -- Nothing can be done immediately. There are a dozen plus agencies that must approve and it is about a two-year process and ;ots of application and permit fees to go through the process. The Port of Stockton is not exempt. The reality of the Delta is that it is DEAD! It has been talked to death by the various commissions with PC names that have been studying the "problem" for years even though anyone with common sense already knew what it was -- interruption or normal, seasonal flows of fresh water to flush out the estuary. If I know that, Iam 100 % positive I wam not the first to acquire the knowledge. It is too late. As for the Peripheral Canal. The engineering work has been done for years. I have a nephew, a hydrological engineer, who received his master's at UC Davis in the late
70s. While he was there, he did some of the engineering work for the canal. I did not believe it at the time, butI am a believer now. I can't discuss it with him because he is in Cairo on a prject for one of the internationals. Don't know why I got so wound up on this, but it has been under my skin for quite a while. -- Warren
 
Well, it will take lots of people working together to defeat this. Does anyone know East Bay Municipal Utility District [EBMUD] position on this? They already take water out at Comanche Lake/Mokelumne River and ship it in pipes which circumvent the Delta. They purchased most of the PG&E assets in the mountains while PG&E was in bankruptcy and now lease back the hydroelectric generation to PG&E. I don't think the general public realize how powerful EBMUD has become at controlling our water before it gets to the Delta.
 
Don't lose faith. I brought Mildred up in a meeting today and there is some interest in making this a future treatment. I am not making any promises, but I will always pass on interesting feedback from you folks.
 
To whomever --

EBMUD -- It controls the Moke, and I can't reca;; any interest elsewhere except when there were levee breaks near their pipeline. The city of Stockton (or it might be a county water agency) has been trying to negotiate with EB to facilitate groundwater recharge during wet seasons, but I haven;t heard of any progress at all.

Weeds -- Should have been dealt with as an emergency 8 -10 years ago when the Egeria project was initiated. We are just getting field tests in a miniscule area considering the extent of the infestation. We also have the other weed, and no plans to combat it. How lucky we are that hyacinth is controllable. Fortunately, hyacinth is rootless and unable to survive winter temps. I recall that my marine (as others were) was choked so badly boats were unable to leave their slips.

Arno;d's water plan -- One word tells that story. Necrophilia! Hope that I am wrong. Don't believe the canal juggernaut is stoppable.

I don't consider myself a pessimist, but when I pick up my hand the cards don't lie. -- Warren
 
Re: Weeds-my first instinct was not to respond to this. I do realize that it is rare that you hear an official that will tell what you don't want to hear. I can say this though; Our department employs six crews to cover the ENTIRE delta. Regardless of how much begging we do, it is extremely difficult to open up new positions. As far as declaring an emergency on Egeria, no one had a real clue on what worked and what did not. The chemical that works really well is copper based and the right call was not to use a chemical that would introduce more metal into our waterways. The delta is such a challenging and unique system that we have been hard pressed to find any other program like ours. The small plots were critical to show whether or not the chemical we did choose would work. I do not think it would have been a wise management decision to dump millions of dollars of chemical on a plant without knowing what results to expect. I have stressed how important the Frank's tract plot is. It might seem small on the grand scheme of things, but it is huge for the future of this program. Please bear with us and understand that there are people who care and work hard to change the way programs are looked at. I do my best to give answers that are to the point and not dance around subjects. I may not always give you the answers you want to hear, but I promise that the answers I give you are a reflection of what we are trying to achieve. I value all of your opinions and felt that I need to put this out there. I get frustrated too, but all we can do is plug along and do the best to make things better.
 
PKJR -- I meant no criticism of your hard-working agency. I believe the Legislature is responsible for the neglect that has resulted in the deterioration of the Delta. The governor has demonstrated recently that the Executive branch has the power to take action. Your agency, and its fellow department, Fish & Game, deserve much more support from state government. I hope this explains my thinking and focuses your frustration where it belongs. -- Warren
 
No....none taken. I understand and see the frustration. I just want people to realize that there are people trying and hope that they realize how much we can be hated at times.
 
I appreciate all of the good work that's going on to help find a way out of this weed issue.

If weed control works on Frank's Tract, how much of a role will water circulation have to play in chosing the next treatment area? It seems to me that if there is a goal of ridding all of the Delta of Brazilian Waterweed, then we need to take into account how it speads by currents and tides and stop it in ordered stages so an untreated area just doesn't revegetate a treated area.

For what it's worth from a boaters perspective, here is a nomination for Three River Reach as a possible target: a very useful anchorage now choked with weed. Potato Slough is getting the weed very fast. There are lots of anchorages in Potato (well, there used to be). I see those areas shrinking every year, now.
 
Water hydrology was a HUGE factor in choosing Frank's tract as our first large test plot. Here is why; Control efforts are usually most successful in areas where there is minimal movement of water, e.g., ponds and lakes (Anderson and Hoshovsky 2000). This was pulled directly from the site that you have generously taken the time to post (thanks by the way, weed misidentification is something we get all the time). This is a challenge and one of the reasons we started off with small test plots. Like I mentioned in a previous post, the Delta is very unique and basically we are in the infancy of a program in which there is not another like it. That being said, you can imagine operating in these kinds of conditions and expected to show results. If we cannot show positive results over the next four years, there is the real possibility we could lose funding. The early news is that it "appears" as if we are having an impact in Frank's. I am hesitant to say any more than that until we see a few years of these results. Frank's was chosen because there are so many challenging conditions to be met while a treatment is occuring. We figured if it will work in Frank's, we can use these management practices elsewhere in the Delta. I have floated the idea of treating Mildred's in the future, we shall see how that plays out. We have some very good hydrology data and hyperspectral studies which show how the weeds spread. I am hoping to post this years results on here when they become available sometime after October. Please realize that there is very good reasoning for why we have chosen Frank's. Most importantly, showing that these treatments will work. Another important factor is that we are limited to the times of the year we are allowed to treat. I take very seriously the comments that are made on here and do my best to clarify what I can. I want all to know that we hear you and are aware of what your wishes are. This may sound cliche, but in the end it is you who make what we do possible whether you believe that or not. I hope somewhere in my rambling I made any sense.
 
We wish it were so simple. Fragmentation of the weed just spreads it. The plants are male and asexual. A small fragment can grow into a new plant. You are also impacting various endangered species, stirring up sediment, and etc,etc, etc. I think that, although some may disagree, the environmental laws we have in place are particularly good. Mowing would compound the problem exponentially.
 
The City practices an integrated approach to aquatic plant management. This means that a variety of control methods are used in order to avoid complete dependence on and minimize use of aquatic pesticides. Control methods include maximizing of water exchange to promote estuarine conditions; conducting pollution prevention efforts in the watershed to minimize introduction of nutrients into the lagoon; employing mechanical harvesting to control weed growth and remove the nutrient-rich biomass from the lagoon; and using action levels for herbicide application. Herbicide applications are spot applied whenever possible, and are applied during optimal stages of growth to maximize effectiveness. For more information on the concept of integrated pest management, click here.

I would venture a good part of the program is herbicide application. Dredging and mechanical removal is a huge permitting process. In the Delta, even more so because where the water eventually ends up
 
pkjryan,

With regards to mowing, what about the various businesses that are losing the ability to conduct business because of plant infestation. I am aware of at least one, and I'm sure there must be others, who are dragging a piece of flat bar across the bottom to cut and gather the weeds and then releasing the remains to flow downstream. While I'm sure it must be illegal, they feel that they are doing what it takes to stay in business. Are there any programs to help businesses like this so that they will stop this practice which is making the overall problem worse?
 
Oh no. Do not get me wrong. You can do that yourself by using a rake or etc. Leave it on the dock to dry out and that will do the job. To harvest it on a much larger scale with a mechanical harvester or industrial mower is where it becomes complicated. We need all the help an individual can get us.
 
Releasing the bits downstream, of course, creates a problem somewhere else. I understand that as a business owner, you have to what you have to do. But be aware of where the fragments are going, your neighbor downstream might not appreciate it. Get as much by the as you can by the roots, and as I said above, let them dry somewhere.
 
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