The Garcia River watershed comprises approximately 73,223 acres in southwestern Mendocino County and discharges to the Pacific Ocean. In 1996, the state of California identified the Garcia River as a high priority waterbody according to requirements in Section 303(d) of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA). Section 303(d) (1) (A) of the CWA requires that each state identify those waters within its boundaries for which existing management practices are not enough to achieve water quality standards. The Garcia River was identified as a high-priority waterbody because the level of sediment delivery to streams in the watershed was judged to exceed the existing water quality standards necessary to protect beneficial uses of the watershed such as protection of cold-water fish habitat. Accelerated erosion from land use practices and other causes is affecting the migration, spawning, reproduction, and early development of cold-water fish such as coho salmon and steelhead trout. Although forestry and agricultural practices have improved significantly over the past thirty years, excessive delivery of sediment to streams in the watershed remains a problem. When the Garcia River was designated a high-priority waterbody under the requirements of the CWA, the development of a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the river became necessary. 

To meet the requirements of a TMDL, the Strategy and proposed Basin Plan amendment contain eight major components as follows: 

1. A Problem Statement, which describes how existing sediment delivered to streams results in failure to fully support the beneficial use of a cold-water fishery. 

2. Numeric Targets, which describe instream water quality goals or desired future conditions necessary to support cold-water fishery habitat and eliminate sediment as a limiting factor. 

3. Source Analysis, which describes the sources of sediment and how much sediment is delivered from each source. 

4. Linkage Analysis, which describes the relationship between hillslope and riparian erosion and instream conditions and how much sediment needs to be reduced to achieve desired future conditons. 

5. Allocation of Responsibility, which assigns allocations of loads to land use based on existing and historical activities, and identifies associated land management measures necessary to achieve the numeric targets or desired future conditions. 

6. An Implementation Plan, which describes how the needed reductions will be achieved, together with an Implementation Schedule. 

7. A Monitoring Plan to track success in meeting the numeric targets and needed reductions in sediment loads. 

8. A Plan for Future Review of the Strategy. 

Under the proposed Basin Plan amendment, landowners are encouraged to assess existing and potential sources of sediment delivery on their properties, to use this assessment to develop a plan to reduce the sediment discharge sources, and then to implement the plan. The proposal refers to these property-owner developed plans as Site-Specific Sedimentation Reduction Plans. As an alternative to developing a Site-Specific Sedimentation Reduction Plan, the proposal sets forth, in a Garcia River Watershed Sedimentation Reduction Plan, general land use measures which have been demonstrated to reduce human-caused production and discharges of sediment for roads, unstable areas, and in the riparian zone. 

The proposed Basin Plan amendment describes the elements of both the Site-Specific Sedimentation Reduction Plan and the Garcia River Watershed Sedimentation Reduction Plan. These will call for the landowners to describe the problem areas on their property, to set forth measures for sediment control, and then to monitor the effects of their efforts. Operators of timber harvesting activities may submit the sections of their timber harvest plans, non-industrial timber management plans, sustained yield plans, or habitat conservation plans which address water quality to the Regional Water Board for approval as a Site-Specific Sedimentation Reduction Plan. Landowners of agricultural operations may submit letters in the format of the letter of intent in the California Rangeland Water Quality Management Plan, July 1995 to describe the sediment-producing water quality issues and subsequently develop a Rangeland Water Quality Management Plan to address erosion and sedimentation. Some of these documents may need to be modified by the landowners prior to submittal in order to meet the requirements of the Basin Plan amendment. 

Under the proposal, the dischargers of sediment who develop and implement a Site-Specific Sedimentation Reduction Plan or who comply with the Garcia River Watershed Sedimentation Reduction Plan will not be required to comply with the waste discharge prohibitions for discharges of sediment. For those landowners, Regional Water Board staff would utilize a Cleanup and Abatement Order and/or propose revisions to a Sedimentation Reduction Plan in serious sediment discharge cases. The Regional Water Board will consider enforcement of the waste discharge prohibitions only when landowners have not adequately planned to address the problem of sediment discharges on their own. 

The proposed Basin Plan amendment described in this Staff Report is the product of an extensive two-year effort by property owners, interested individuals, and agencies, to develop an approach to land management and water quality control which is practical and effective. Without question, more Regional Water Board staff effort has been directed to this proposal than any other Basin Plan amendment in the history of the Regional Water Board. Regional Water Board staff continue to solicit suggestions for further modification of the proposed Basin Plan amendment, which will result in the practical achievement of water quality protection as required by both the California Water Code and the federal Clean Water Act. 

Not only will implementation of the proposed Basin Plan amendment become a responsibility associated with an expense for landowners in the Garcia River watershed, it will entail also a long-term commitment of Regional Water Board staff. Regional Water Board staff are currently seeking funds through the Watershed Management Initiative of the State Water Resources Control Board. These funds will be used, in part, to fund the portion of instream monitoring that Regional Water Board staff will conduct as proposed in the Monitoring Plan section. In addition, the Regional Water Board is currently seeking augmented funding through the federal Clean Water Act to provide assistance to landowners and to track the progress of the proposed TMDL.