U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

R e g i o n I X



# FINAL

Upper Main Eel River and Tributaries (including Tomki Creek, Outlet Creek and Lake Pillsbury)

Total Maximum Daily Loads

for Temperature and Sediment

Appro v ed by date
Origina l signed De ce mber 29, 2004

Alexis Stra uss

Dire ctor, Water Division

### Note: For further i n formation plea se contact Palma Risler at 415/972-3451 and risler.palma@e pa.gov or Dan Pingaro at 415/977-4275 and pingaro.daniel@epa.gov

# Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1. O v erv i ew - 1

1

. 2

. Waters hed Charac teristic s - 2

1.3. E n dangered Spe c ie s A c t Con s ul t a tion - 4

1.4. O r ganiza tio n - 4



### CHAPTER 2: PRO B LEM ST ATEMENT

2.1. F i sh Popu lat i on Prob le ms - 5

2.2. T e mpera t ur e Pr oble ms - 7

2

. 3

. Sediment P r oblems - 14

2.4. WaterQua lity Stan da rds - 17



### CHAPTER 3: TEMPERATURE TMDL

3

. 1

. Int e rpr e ting t h e Ex is t i ng Water Q u ali t y St andar d s fo r Temperat ur e - 18

3.2. Tempe r at ure M o del i n g - 20

3.2.1 Tempe r ature and So lar Radia t ion Mo delin g - 21

3.2.2 Se lection of Scenario Corr esp o nding t o W a ter Qualit y S t andard s - 24

3.3.1 Loa d ing Capacit y a n d TMDL– Sola r Radiation forall stream re aches - 26

3.3.2 Sha de All o cati ons - 26

3.3.3 M a rgin of Safe ty- 2 7

3.3.4 Se asona l Variat ion a n d Crit ica l Conditi o ns - 27

3.4 In strea m Heat T M D L – Van Ar sdale to O u tlet C r ee k- 28

3.4.1 Se lection of Scenario Corr esp o nding t o W a ter Qualit y S t andard s - 34

3.4.2 Wa ter Qu ality Ind i ca tors – Van Arsda le to OutletCre e k - 34

3.4.3 In strea m Heat L o ad ing Capa city an d TMDL - Van Arsdale to O u tlet C r ee k- 34

3

. 4

. 4 Ins t ream Heat Alloca tions – V a n Ar sdale to Outle t Creek - 35

3.4.5 M a rgin of Safe ty- 3 5

3.4.6 Se asona l Variat ion a n d Crit ica l Conditi o ns - 35

### CHAPTER 4: SEDIMENT TMDL

4

. 1

. Water Quality Indic a tors and Targets - 36

4

. 1

. 1 Summary of Indic a tors and Targets - 37

4

. 1

. 2 Ins t ream Indic a tors - 39

4

. 1

. 3 Waters hed Indic a tors - 43

4

. 2

. Sediment Source Analy s is - 4 4

4

. 2

. 1 Sediment So urce An alysis Me t h odolo g y - 45

4.2.2 Re sult s - 47

4.2.3 Summ ary- 52

4.3 TMDLand All o ca tion s - 5 3

4

. 3

. 1 Loading Capac i ty and TMDL - 53

4.3.2 All o ca tion s - 5 4

4

. 3

. 3 Margin of Safe ty- 55

4.3.4 Sea s onal Variat ion a n d Crit ica l Conditi o ns - 56



### CHAPTER 5: IMPLEMENTATION A N D MONITORING MEASURES

CHAPTER 6: PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Reference s - 60 Appendix A QUAL2E model results report
Appendix B Sedime nt Source Analysis
Appendix C Sedime nt Tables for the en tire watershed and subwater sheds

Figure 1 W a tersh ed map - 3

F i gur e 2 Adul tret u r n s t o V a n Ar s d ale - 8
Figure 3 Stream Te m perature Monitoring Results: Up per Main E e l TMDL a r ea - 13
Figure 4 W e t Year – Mode led Stream Tem perature s - 33
Figure 5 Very Wet Ye ar – Modeled Stream Tempe r atures - 33
Figure 6 Percent sediment d e livery by terrain type - 48
Figure 7 Percent sediment d e livery by ma nagement asso cia t ion and time period - 50
Figure 8 Percent sediment d e livery by primary land use a s sociation - 52Table 1 Te mperatu r e Catego rie s - 11

Table 2 W a ter Quality Standard s - 18

Table 3 To mki Cree k Shade E ffe cts on Stre am Tem p e r ature s - 25

Table 4 To mki Cree k: Shade Mo deling Re sults - 25

Table 5 Flo w and Te m perature Assum p tion s for Van Arsdale to O u tlet C r ee k Mod e ling – 31

Table 6 Se diment Ind i cato rs and Targets - 38

Table 7 Me asure s o f Embedde d n ess in the Uppe r Eel Rive r Basin - 41

Table 8 Strata Iden tified in the U pper Ee l River Watershed - 47

Table 9 To tal Erosion and Sediment D e livery fro m Small and L a rge Featu r es by Terrain Type - 48

Table 10 S edimen t D e livery by Time Fram e and Po te ntial C o ntr o llab ilit y - 49

Table 11 Sedimen tYield b y Do main an d Prim ary La nd Use - 51

Table 12 Sedimen tL o ading in the Upp e r E e l Rive r (1940 – 2004) - 53

Table 13 L o ad A llo cat i ons ov er t h e Entir e Basin - 55

## CH APTER 1: INTROD UCTION

1.1 OVERVIEW OF THE TMDL PROGRAM
The primary purpose of th e To ta l Ma ximu m Daily L o a d (TMDL) progra m for Califo r nia = s Eel Ri veri s to a ssur e that bene f icia l u s es o f wate r ( s u c h a s salm onid habitat) are pro t ecte d from a d verse increa se s in n a tu ral sedime nt and tem perature. The water qualit y p r o b lem s in t h e Upp e r Main E e l Ri ver a n d t r i b utarie s (i ncludin g the are a s of To mki C r eek, Outlet Cre e k a n d La ke Pillsbury) ad dressed in this repo rt

are re late d to the decline of salmon and steelhea d p o pulations. While ma ny factors have b een implicated in the de cline of we st coas t salm on and ste e lhead, we are concerned here solely with two inland wa t e r qual ity consid erati o ns - in crea ses to the natu ral sed i ment and te mpe r ature patterns. The Upper Main Eel (alon g with
many other watersheds in California and th roughout the nation) has been put on a listo f A impai r ed @ orp o llute d wat e rs. In th is wat e rsh e d, the listing lea d s to the TMDLs. T h e TMDL s set the ma ximum le vels of pollu t ants thatthe wate rb ody can receive without e x ce e d ing wa ter quality standards. Developm ent o f m e a s ures to imple m entthe T M DL is the r e sp onsib ilit y o f the Sta t e of Cali forn ia.

The Uppe r Main E e l Ri ver T o tal Maxi mum Daily Loa d s (T MDLs) for sed i me nt and te mpe r ature are being esta blish ed in acco rdance with Se ction 303(d ) of the Clean Wa ter Act, b e cause the State of C a lifornia has determ i ne d that the water quality sta n dards fo r the Up per Main E e l River a r e n o t met due to exce ssive sediment a n d tem perature. In acco rdan ce with Section 3 0 3 ( d), the State of Califo r nia period i ca ll y id enti fie s A tho s e wa ters with in it s boun d a ries for wh ich the efflu e nt limitations..

. are no t stringent en ough to im plemen t a n y wate r q u ality standar d a ppli c able t o su ch wa t e rs. @ In 1992, EPA a dded the U pper Main Eel Rive r to Cali fo rnia = s 303(d) impaired w a ter list du e to ele v ated sedim e ntation an d temperatu r e, as part of listin g the entire E e l Rive r ba sin. Th e N o rth Co ast Reg i onal Water Qua lity Control Boa r d (Re g ional Boa r d) ha s co ntinued to identify th e Uppe r Main E e l Ri ver a s imp a ired in su bsequen t l i s ting cycle s , the late st in 2002.

In ac cord a n ce w i th a cons ent d e c ree ( P a ci fi c Coa s tFe derati o n o f Fi sherm e n = s As s o c i ations , et al. v. Marcus

, No. 95 -447 4 MHP

, 11 Marc h 19 97 ), De ce mber 31, 2004 is th e dead line for esta blishment o f these T M DL s. Be cause the State of Califo r nia will n o t co mplete ad option of T M DLs fo r t h e Upp e r Main E e l Ri ver by thi s deadlin e, E P A is estab lishin g th e s e T M DL s. Underthi s con s entd e cree EP A has estab lish e d TMDL s for man yw a tersh eds in the North Coast o f Califo r nia, includ ing the So uth Fork Eel, N o rth For kEel, Van D u zen and Midd l e For k Eel. A d d i tiona lly, the No rth Coast Reg i onal W a ter Quality Co ntrol Bo ard has esta blish ed th e Garcia River T M DL and a s sociated a c tion plan.
The purp o s e o f the U pper Main Eel Rive r T M DLs is to identify th e total
amount (o r loa d ) of sedimen ta n d heat th at can be delivered to the Uppe r Ma in Eel Rive r and tributaries without exceedin g w a ter qu ality standard s, and the n to allocate th e tot a l a m ount am on g the sou r ces of sediment o r he at in the w a tersh ed. EPA e x pe cts th e Regional Board to develo p an imple m entation strategy th at will result in implem enting the TMDLs in a c co rdance with the req u iremen ts of 40 CF R 130.6. Th e allocatio n s, when implem ented, are expecte d to result in achievin g th e

1applicable water qu ality stan dards for se diment an d tempera t ure fo r th e U pper Main Eel R i ve r a n d it s t r ibu t arie s.
These T M D L s ap ply to the portio ns o f th e U pper Main Eel Rive r watersh ed
govern ed by Ca liforn i a wate r q u ality stan dards. Th ey d o no t apply to la nds und er tribal jurisdiction. T h is is beca u se triba l lands, a s in dependen t jurisdictio n s, are not subje c t to the State of Ca lifornia = s wate r q u ality stan dards.



### 1.2 WATERSHED CHA R ACTERI STICS
The Uppe r Main E e l Ri ver w a ter s hed are a i s lo cated pr imari l y in Mendo c ino and Lake Countie s i n Northw e s tern Cali fornia. It is pri m aril y eastof Hig h way 101,
approx imately 15 0 miles northeas t f r om Sa n Fran cisco, and in cludes the town of Willi ts. Th e Uppe r M a in Eel wat e rshed, as defined b ythi s T M D L is the ar ea fr om th e headwater s o f th e Ee l R i verin Mendo c ino Nati onal F o restab ove Lake Pill sbury dow n to Do s Rio s , where the Upp e r Main E e l m eets the Middle Fork Eel. The main tributa r ie s are To mki and Outlet Cree ks (see Figure 1.) Th e U pper Main Eel Rive r TMDL area is 68 8 square miles (approx . 440 ,3 84 ac res ) of whic h 35 9 s q uare miles are in private own e rship and 329 square m ile s in pu blic owne r s hip. Ther e is no commonly used n a me of the area as a whol e. This an alysis in clu des a l l of the tributa ry stream s o f t h e Upp e r Main E e l fr om the he adwater s t o Do s Rio s . The State hyd r ologic a r ea naming co nvention is 111.60 U pper Main Eel Rive r H A
, cons ist i ng of 11. 61 O u tlet C r ee k
, 11.6 2 T o mki Cree k and 1 1 .6 3 Lake Pil l s b ury.
The Po tter Valle y Proj ect, a sm all hyd r oelectric plan t a n d waterd i ver s ion, is contain ed within the study are a . The proj ect has tw o dam s - the larger Scott Dam and as so ci ated La ke Pill sbury a n d 1 2 mile s down str e am a sma l l e r Cape H o rn Da m and Van Arsdale re se rvoir, where water is diverted a dding w a te r sup p lie s to the Potter Valley I rriga tion District and Son o ma County through L a ke Mendocino and the Ru ssia n River (se e Figure 1). The Potter Va lle y Project ha s been in op eration for appro x imately 90 years and is licen s ed by th e Fed e ral Ene r g yRegula to ry Commi ss io n (FERC.) Pa cif i cGa s and Ele c t r ic(PG & E) was i ssu ed a new hyd r o power lic e ns e in 1983 , whic h contained ce rtain f l ow requirements . Thes e f l ow require m e n ts we re changed w i th the most recent FE RC order a m ending the licen s e (FERC, Jan 2004) gen erally consisten twith the N a tion al Ma rine Fisher ies Se rvice (NMFS) Biological Op inion un de r the Enda ngered Sp ecie s Act. A June 2004 FERC order requ ired PG&E to imple m ent the ne w fl ow re gime. The new flow regime has been in e f fect sin c e the June 2004 orde r.
The area = s geolog yis underlain by th e Fra n ciscan terrain tha t d o minate s mostof Ca lifo r nia = s N o rth Co ast

. Natura lly unstable, this t y pe of g e olo g y is sensitive to human disturbance. The Upper Mai n Eel waters hed i s relativ e lydryand
warm, awa yfrom the influence of coa s tal fog. A l mo st all o f the estimated 40 inches of annual rainfall o ccu rs between November an d April. Many smaller tributa r ie s dry u p in l a te summ er. Land u s e a c ti vit i e s in the Up per Main E e l in clud e rural development, ranching, recreation in Mendo c ino Nati onal F o rest, tim b er production , agriculture and so m e ur ban i ze d area s in the Willits area.

2

### <<This page intentionally left bl ank for insert of Figure 1 – Map of major fe atures of Up per Eel Ri ver TMDLarea>>

3

### 1.3 ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT CONSULTATION

EPA ha s initiated in for m al consu l tation with the N a tion al Ma rine F i sher ies an d the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Se rvices on th is action, un der S e ct io n 7(a )(2) of th e Endangere d Spe c ie s Act. Se ction 7(a)(2) sta t es tha tea ch fed e ral a gency sh all

ensure tha tit s a c ti on s ar e notl i k ely to jeo p ardize th e con t inue d existence of any federa l ly-listed endan gered or threatened species.

EPA = s con s ultation with the Serv ices h a s not yet be en co mple t ed. EPA belie ves it is un likely that the S e rvi c es wi ll con c lud e t h at the TM DLs that E P A is

es t a bl i s hi ng v i o l ate Sec t io n (7 ) ( a) ( 2 ) si nc e the T M DL s and allocations are calcu l ated in ord e r to meet water qua lity standards, and wa ter quality standards are expre ssly design ed to A protect the pub lic health or welfar e, e nhance th e quality o f wate r an d serve th e purposes @ of th e Clea n Wate r A c t, which ar e A to re sto r e and maintain th e physical, chemica l , a n d bio l og ical integrity of the Nation = s wa ter

. @ Add i ti on ally, this action wi ll impro v e e x isting con d ition s . H o wever, EPA retain s the di scret i on t o revise this action if th e con s ultat i on identifies d e ficien ci es i n t h e TM D L s o r allocations.



### 1.4 ORGANIZATION
This report is divide d into 6 cha p te rs. Cha p ter 2 (Pr o blem Stat e m ent) describe s the nature of th e en vironmenta l proble ms addre ssed by th e T M DLs - fish population , strea m te mperatu r e prob lem s , sed i ment proble ms and wate r quality

s t and a rd s

. Chap te r 3 ( T em p e r at ur e TM DL) d e s c r i b es t h e m o de l i n g us e d t o ev al uate the te mperature chan ges fro m d i ffe ring am ounts of shade and stream flow , and identifie s the TMDLa n d alloca tions. Chapt e r 4 (S e d i m e ntTM DL) d e s c r i b es t h e sediment source analysis u s ed to evaluate the prop o rtion of hu man ca use d sou r ce s of sedimen t , sets the TMDL an d allocation s. Wate r Q u ality ind i cators for sedimen t are also id entified. C h apter 5 (I mplem e ntation an d Monitoring Re com m e n dation s) contain s re comm enda tions to th e Sta t e re garding im plemen tation and mo nitorin g of

the TM DLs

. Chapter 6 (P ublic P a rtic i p at ion) describes public participation in the developme nt of the T M DLs.

4

## CHAPTER 2: PROBL E M STATEMENT

This chapt e r su mmar i zes te mpe r ature and sed i menteffe ct s on salm onid s in the Up per Main E e l Ri ver a n d t r i b utarie s. I tin clude s a descr ipti on of the water quality sta n dards an d sa lmonid habita t re quirem ents re lated to tem perature and sediment. In th e nea r futu re, a dditional in forma t ion concerning these issu es m a y be availa ble in the De partmen tof Fish an d Game’s draft Watershed Asse ssment for O u t l e tCr ee k

. The DF G as s e s s m e ntwi l l pr o v id e ad di t i o n al i n fo r m at i o n o n s t re am sediment conditions, water temperature monitoring and other stream habitat condi t ion s

. 

### 2.1 FISH POPULATION PROBLEMS

Both chin o o k an d ste e lhead are wide ly distribute d th roughout the watersh ed. Historica lly their po pu lation s ma y ha ve b e e n more tha n ten thou sand, but presen tly chinoo k an d steelhea d are at re duced le ve ls. C o ho a r e only fou n d in a fe w stream s tributa ry to Outlet C r eek. Rain bow trout are found in stream s above Lake Pillsbury in Men d ocino Nat i ona l Fo rest.

Data on po pulation trends for th e entire Ca lifo r nia C o astal Chin ook and Northern C a lifo r nia steelhead are spa r se (NMFS, 2003.) A re cent preliminary scientific review of th e informa t ion on salm onid a b un dance und er the End a ngered Species A c t (N MFS, d r aft 2003) concluded that the C a lifo r nia C o asta l Chinook, Northern C a lifo r nia St eelhead an d Californ ia Coastal Coho (i nc ludi ng s a l m oni d population s in the Up per Main E e l TMDL a r ea) are A likely to beco m e end a n gered in the fore se eable future. @ The available da ta reviewed included a d ult spawn e r returns to Cape Horn Dam and surve y s o f Tomki Cre e k, bo th w i thin the U pper Main Eel TMDL area. The general pa ttern is on e of o v erall de clin e combine d w i th a recent in crease. The scientific review pan e l = s prel iminary c o nc lus i on i s that

A populatio n s wou l d h a ve to maintain th em selves fo r a long er p e riod of ti me atle ve ls considere d via b le before it could be con c luded tha t they are n o t at significant continu i ng risk. @ (NMFS, 20 03 )
Figure 2 is the a d ult chinoo k re turns to C a pe Horn Dam ( V an Arsda le) fr om 19 46- 2 0 0 3 and th e a d ult stee lh ead re turn s f r om 1 9 2 2 -2 00 3. T h is data in clude s both ha tch e ry return s and retu r n s o f wild salm onid p o pulations. Return s from hatchery fish are stro ngly correlated to th e numbers of ju venile s planted in the system in previous years. The chinoo k da ta at Cape Horn Dam is con s ide r ed inappro p riate for determinin g p o pulation trends (N MFS, 2003) due to con c erns regard ing its loca tion at the limitof spawn i ng habitat.
Changes in fish distribution and abundan ce are also indicators of problems with pr ote c tion o f be nefic i al us es. Ch ino o k salm on are widely distributed in th e watersh ed, except fo r the a r ea s blocked by Scott Da m since it s con s tru c tion in 19 21. Cal i fornia De p a rtmento f Fi sh and Game ha s condu c ted carca s s su rvey s during the spawning season an d report s that during 1987-1989; hundreds of
spawners were counted in Ryan , Baechetl an d Long Valle y Cr e e ks -- tri b utarie s t o OutletCre e k. Outle tCree k had nearly 1000 spawn e rs du ring 1988. E s timates o f the am oun tof mile s blocked by Scott Da m va ry fro m 35- 4 0 mile s (N MFS, 2002) to

510 0-1 5 0 mile s o f p o tential hab i tat (USF S, 19 95 .) B e caus e chinook s a lmon juveniles d o not rear in freshwa t er du ring the su mm er, the su mmer tem perature proble ms of th e Up p e r M a in Ee l are n o t re levantto chinook. T o mki Cree k surve y s from 1 9 6 4

- 19 96 ind i cate a wi d e var i ati o n (0- 3 60 0) i n return in g adul t sp awners. Histor ica l person a l a ccoun ts re port that c h inooks p a w ners w e r e mor e ab undant befor e the 19 64 fl ood (MC R CD, 19 83.)
Coho are p r esent in the watersh ed but only in a few locations a n d not eve ry year. Coh o sa lmon h a ve b een r eporte d 4 time s sinc e the 1 9 4 0 ’ s a tthe V a n Arsda le, m o st recently four coh o were id e n tified in 2001. D epa rtment of Fish and Game stre am in vent ory repo rts als o r eporta few a d ult coho ca rcas se s du ring 19 87

- 1989 in Ou tlet C r ee k, and in several tribu t aries to Ou tlet C r ee k (Long Valley, Broa ddus Creek, Bae c htel Cree k, Ryan Cr eek, and H a ehl Creek). Ju venile coh o

were no t reporte d b yDFG in an y o f th ese strea m s d u ring 1995. While th e current observatio ns are o f coho in ve ry small nu m bers, it a ppears th is may also have b een the case hi stor ical ly. EPA d i d n o t fin d an y i n forma t ion indi catin g that coho were

more wide ly distributed historically.

Steelh e ad are widely distributed through o u tthe watershed, e x ce pt ab ove Scott Da m where rainbow trout are reside nt. The distribution of ju venile ste e lhead is of spe c ial intere st as summe r tem peratures are a n imp o rtan t fa cet of their distributio n and a b u n dance. I n the Uppe r Ma in Eel TMDL stud y are a , juvenile steelh e ad are widely distributed

. Depa rtm e nt o f Fish and Ga me stream su rvey reports detail th e p r e s ence o f ju venile st ee lhead in tributarie s to Outlet Cre e k - Haehl Creek, Ryan Creek, Bear Pen Can y on Creek, Baechtel Creek, Cherry Creek, Blo o dy Ru n Cree k, Broaddu s Creek, and L o ng Va lle y Cree k. Th ey we re a l so p r esent in Willits C r eek, Ben m ore C r ee k, Tom k i C r eek and C a ve Creek. Mendo c in o National Fore st trou t st ream s i n clude : Sa lmon, S m o k ehou se, Cold, R i ce, Soda, Pan t her, Copper Bu tte, Humm ingbird, Th istle Glade and Blue Slide Cree ks. Aga i n, historical
person a l a ccoun ts re port that steelhea d j u veniles w e re m o re a b undant b e fore the 19 64 fl ood : A Itwas, at thattim e , very ea sy to cat c h 25 (th e limit at th attim e ) pan

size tr out, 6”-7” long, out of the s e ho les... @ (MC R CD, 1983.) Th e area between Lake Pillsb ury an d Va n Ar sdale is o f ten rep o rted to be produ c tive fo r ju ven ile steelh e ad. Interested readers can also re view previo us de tailed repo rts (SEC, 19 98; N M F S , 2 0 0 2 ) o n sal m oni d s in the Up per Main E e l.
Many di ffe rent hab i ta t con d it ion s ar e cruci a l for the survi v al of salmon and steelh e ad. Salm onid population s are a ffe ct ed b ya n u mber of factors outside o f the Upper Main Eel T M D L area, including com m ercial an d sp ort harvest, and ocean condition s . Ad ditiona l lo cal habitat conditions such a s la rge wo ody debris and possibly pike m i nnow preda tion may a l so b e fa ctors. These T M D L s focu s o n ly on the a c hie v ement of the water q u ality stan dards related to sediment an d temper atu r e, which will facili ta te, butnotguarant e e , popula tio n recove ry. In addition, the tem perature T M D L fo cuse s on su mme r stream tempera t ures, which

are m o str e levan tt o steelh e ad, as chinoo k juven ile s do notrea r in fre s h water strea m s a n d coh o a r e onl y fou n d in a fe w sma ll tri b utarie s. The fo llow i ng se cti o n s

summar i ze how sum m er stre a m te mpera t ure a ffe ct salm onid s and how s edimen t condi t ion s affe ct sal m onids.

6

### 2.2 STREAM TEMPER ATURE P R OBLEMS

This sectio n pre s ents the a v aila ble inform ation on stream temp erature proble ms for salmon ids in the U pper Main Eel and tributarie s. Stream te mperatu r e directly go verns almo st e v ery a s pect of th e surv i v al of Pa cif i cSal m on ( B er man, 1998). Te mperatu r e is su ch an imp o rtant requireme n t that coh o , ste e lhea d, chinoo k an d rain bow trout are known as A cold water fis h

. @ Met a boli sm, foo d require m e n ts, gr owt h rate s, timing of ad ul t migration upstream, timing of ju venile migrat ion downst rea m , sen s it ivity to disea s e an d direct letha l e ffe cts are affe cted by strea m temperatu r es (Spen ce et al, 1996.)

The mo st sensitive pe riod in th e Eel Rive r is the su m m er, when young salm onid s rear for se veral su m m ers be fore migratin g to the ocean and stream temperatu r es are h o ttest. Thus, this is th e period a n alyze d in the te mperature TMDL.

Stream te mperatu r e s in the Pa cific North w est n a turally pro v id e a w i de range of summ ercond itions forrea r in g sa lmonid s. Howe ve r, remo vin g rip a rian vegeta t ion fro m timb er harvesting, road b u ilding, grazing, and urbaniza tion can increa se stream temp erature s

. Changes in the tim i ng and a m ou nt of the n a tural
strea m fl ow , such as water d i ve rsion s an d impound m e nts, can a l so chang e the
water tem perature s downst rea m

. Incre a ses in se dimentinp u t al so cha n ge the
strea m ch annel b yw i dening streams, fillin g poo l s an d eliminating rip a rian vegeta t ion during flo o d e v ents. O f p r ima ry intere st to wate r qu ality stand a rds and this TMDL is d e ter m ining the e x tentto w h ich the su mmerst re am te mper atures are natural an d to what extentthe yha ve b e e n influenced by human activities. Chapter 3 in ve stiga t es wh ethe r or not th e stream tempera t ures m o nitored in the U pper Main E e l a n d tri b utar ies are n a t u ral. Th is sect ion su mmari zes the l i tera tu re on strea m t e mperatu r e s and sa lm onids, reg a rdle ss of whether ornot thos e temperatu r es are n a tural.

In ord e r to sum m arize stream tempera t ures, which are o f ten monito red hourly or more and fluctuate daily and se asonally, this T M DLu s es the ma ximum value of th e 7-day ru nning a v erage o f a ll record ed te mperatu r e s . Althoug h the
term MW AT (ma x imu m wee k ly averag e te mperatu r e ) is used o f ten in th e litera t ure, it is an ine x act term and used inconsisten t ly. The a bbreviatio n max7da atis u s ed herein for the 7day running avera ge of all recorded temperatures.

EPA summ arize s th e condi t ion o f str e ams for ste e lhe a d su mme r rear ing based on the ma x7d aat. This evaluation, shown in Table 1, ca tegorize s the quality of summ er stream ha bitat in reg a rd to te m perature b a sed on p r eviou s ly co mpile d review s of the litera tu re. The lite r ature on which this evaluation is b a se d h a s i n v e s t i g at ed s a l m o n id r e sp o n se in b o t h t h e l a b o r a to ry and t h e f i el d

. The p r im ary litera t ure review s u s e d by EPA to co mpile Table 1 a r e EPA Region 10, 2001a&b; Sulliv a n et al., 20 00 and My ric k& Cec h
, 20 01 . This TMDL fo c u s e s on s t eelhead temperatu r e to leran c es b e cau s e chin ook a r e not present in the summe r a n d coh o

are on ly fo und in a small area of Ou tlet C r eek. The s e tempe r ature ha bitat evaluation s (a dequate, letha l etc) a r e no t pr ecise in the stream or in the literature, becau se sa lmonid s a r e affected by m a ny fa ctors, in cluding th e degree of fluctuation in te mpera t ure, pre s e n ce o f com petit ion an d di sea s e, food ava ila bilit y an d acce ss to cool wate r refugia ar e a s.

7<<<This page left intentionally bl ank for insert of Figure 2 – Adultretur n s to Van Arsda le>>

8EPA con c lu des that a n y in crea se to natural stream tempera t ures is adve rse to the su ccess of stee lhead rearing when the mon i tored ma x7d aat su mm er temperatu r es is betw een 13-27 E C. I tap p e ars fro m the l i tera tu re re view t h at salm onid s benefit fro m coole r summer te mperatu r e s , excep ta tve ry high or low temperatu r es. Given that low summer te mperatu r e s do not e x ist in the Upper Main Eel TMDL area, EPA did no t co nsider in d e ta il issue s regar d ing effe ct s ( b e n eficial or adverse) o f ra isin g te mperatu r e s cooler th an optimal.

For this T M DL, in cre m ental cha n ges to ve ry wa rm stream temp erature s a r e a key con c ern. In th e main chan nel o f th e Eel be low Van Arsda l e, monitored temperatu r es are between 24  ̊ - 27 .8 E C. Lowering these temp erature s to good or adequate rearing tem perature s (13-19 E C) i s no tac h i e v a b le

. T hus, EPA scrutin i zed the litera tu re to de ter m ine if mo re mo des t temperatu r e ch anges were ben eficial. For exam p l e, is itbe nefic i al to l o wer th e max7 daat from 2 8 E C t o 2 7 E C o r from 2 6  ̊ C to 25 E C? EPA d e ter m ined thatthe evide n ce is that these d e crease s a r e bene f icial, albeit the ywill not re sult in the presen ce o f abund ant ste e lhead.

EPA con s id ered that for salmon i d s m o rta lit y i s a fun c t i on o f mag n itude and duration o f exp o sur e to strea m te mper atu r es (Sul livan, 2000.) Su lli van

summar i ze s: A continu o us exposure of 3-30 hou r s are necess ary to c a us e mortality
at te mpera t ures between 24 E C to 26 E C...T he durat i o n of ti me n e ces s ar y t o cau s e morta lity d e crea sess h arply wit h sma l l increments of tem perature abo v e appro x ima t ely 26 E C. Short duration exc u rs ions (lessthan 2 hours ) above 27 E C a r e very likely to cause m o rtality of some ind i v i duals... @ The USE P ASeat tle (U SEPA, 2001) te m perature p r oject no te d the fo llo wing: “ Wit h caut ious accl imat io n...rainbow
trout may not e x per ience LT 50 (50% m o rt ality ) unt il a wee k at 26°C. Eve n with

care ful a c climat ion, 27°C resu lt s in high o rco mpl e te mor t ali ty i n less than 24 hours... an d te mpera t ures of 2 9

- 30°C re sul tin 5 0 % morta lity i n 1- 2 h o ur s.” McCul l oug h , 19 99 (a s re view ed in U S EPA, 2001) fou n d that: “in genera l
, a maximum temperatu r e o f 22-24°C repre s en ts the n o rmal upp e r te mpera t ure limit in the fi eld

... as th is li mit is appr oached, ju venile den sity de clin es to zero. ”

While itap pears fr om the lite r at ure th at streams with a ma x7daat of > 2 6 E C will cau s e mortal it y 1 , field ob serv ation s an d so me lite r ature indi cate s tha t strea m s with the s e monito red temperatu r es are u s ed b y stee lhead. Mo st o f these observ at io ns in clud e d area s of cool er wa t e r re fugia. Ther mal refugia re fers to cooler wa t e r are a s within a st re am. S t rea m s often h a ve a va rie t y o f a r ea s that provide co oler w a ter forme d fro m coole r tr ibutary in flow, groun d water or sprin g inflow, inte rgrave l flo w or str a ti f i cati on o f pool s. The s e th erma l refu gia ca n pro v ide a much -ne eded refug e in h o t pe riod s o f th e day and during the hottest tim e s o f the
year. Nie l sen & Li sle (1 99 4) no ted tha t co ld po ck ets in the near by Midd l e ForkEel

A w e r e c o nsi s t e nt l y a b o u t3

. 5 E C cooler th a n surface water an d as great a s 7.8 E C cooler. @ Nielsen also noted ste e l head a c tively fee d ing in wa ter with te mp erature of 24  ̊ C. S t ream temper at ur e mo ni t o ri ng do es no t o f ten mo ni t o r t h ese ref u gi a condition s or localize d va riation s . Advan c es in strea m te mpera t ure m o nitoring, such as FL IR, sh ow t h at lo cal i z ed c ool pat c hes are a comm on fe ature of many strea m s.

1 Outl et Cr eek , wit h a 2 6

. 5 E C m a x7daat, had 25 days wi t h 2 hours ove r 26 E C and 15 days wi th 6 hour s ove r 26 E C ( H C RCD dat a b a s e 2000. )

9These typ e s o f refug i a area s e x ist in the U pper Main Eel. Steelhead are localize d in to re fugia areas of co oler w a ter in the Upp e r Main Ee l betwe en T o mki and Outlet Cree k. Areas of coo l spring flow were mentioned by Kubicek around Hearst wh ere > sev e ral = ste e lhea d were also ob served , and stratified poo l s were a l so noted a t Fish Cre e k. In addition , there appear to be severa l cooler tributaries where stre am te mperatures are consistently low. Ga rcia C r ee k appears to pro v ide cool condit ions and N a tional Ma rine Fish eri e s S e rvice staff ( J ahn e , per sona l

commun i cation) note d that nu merou s ju venile stee lhead u s e the main ch annel o f the Eel de spite the da ily ave r age temp erature o f 24 E C near this coo l ertrib utary inflow. D W R a l so m o nitor ed st ratified po ols with sa tisfact o ry botto m te mperatu r e s above Tom k i Cr eek in 1973. Tw o ten fo ot pools wer e monitore d and b o tto m temperatu r es ranged fro m 21 - 24.5C. Ku bi ce k a l so noted spr i ng fl ow i n the are a between Van Arsdale and To mki Cree k.

Ba sed on the litera tu re, EPA e x pects tha t the in crem ental redu ction s in temperatu r e to warm stream s, where th e max7daat is 24 E -2 7 E C, are ben e ficial, although the im pro v ements for in ju venile populatio n s are e x p e cted to b e mod e st..

Table 1 su mmarizes the litera tu re conce r ning the ef fec t s of v a ry ing s t ream temperatu r es on ju venile ste e lhead.

There are appro x ima t ely 35 locations with sum m er stream tem perature monito ring data. Ma ny o f th ese lo cations have been monitore d for multip le yea r s from 1 9 9 6

- 20 03 (HC R CD, 1 9 9 6

- 20 03.) Fi gure 3 sho w s man y monito ring lo cation s and the i r a sso ciat ed max7 daatduring the summe rs of 19 96

– 19 99.

F i gur e 3 i llus t r a tes t h atmos ts tream mo ni to r i ng l o c a ti o n s hav e s u mmer strea m te mperatu r e s which a r e ca tegorized as ma rginal, stre ssful or leth al (19 E C - >24 E C). Only fou r smallertr ib utarie s ha d su mmer strea m t e mperatu r e s e v aluat e d
as g ood (17 E C.) When c o mpared with other ar eas of the Eel (HCRCD, 2003 ) the monito ring indicate s that the stream temp erature s in the Upper Main Eel T M DL a r ea are qu ite warm. In Chapter 3, Tempera t ure TMDL, modeling resu lt s indi cate that this warm er pattern is chara c te ristic.

Observatio ns o f stee lhead prese n ce an d stream temp erature s in the Upper Main E e l T M DL a r ea are gen era lly con s iste nt with Ta ble 1 a b ove. Fo r e x a m ple, th e area b e tw een La ke Pillsbury an d Cape Ho rn Dam ha s be en con s ider ed a producti ve

area for re aring stee lhead, this area ha s a max7daa tof approximately 20 E C. In
contra st, j u venile ste e lhead are not con s istently ob se rved betw een Tom k i Cree k and Outlet Cree k on the Up per Main E e l w h ere strea m te mpera t ures are monito red at 24-28C max7daat. When juvenile ste e lhead were observed in Tom k i C r eek an d OutletCre e k on lyind i vidua l s or stre sse d st eelhead w e re u s uall ynoted (D F G , 19 97 – 19 98.)

10

### Table 1. Evaluation of Effects of S t ream Temperatures on J u venile Steelhead

Stre am temper atu r e

e v a l ua t i o n Stre am te mpe r at ure monitori n g peri od
(Max7daa t)

ma xi mum 7 d a y aver age of all moni tored

temper atu r es Re fere nce s /Notes
(a) U S EPA (20 0 1a, b )
(b) Sulli van et al, 20 00 (c) Myrick, Cech (2001)

GOOD 13-1 5 E C (59 E F) maxi mum growth - food limi t ati o n preferred range
13-15° C (a) protecti ve threshol d for s u mmer reari n g i n the Paci fi c NW, adjusted fro m dail y max to dai l ymean. 13°C appl i c abl e i n Oregon at >3000 foot el evati o n

GOOD 15-1 6

. 9 9 E C (59-63 E F) wi th i n preferred range

ADEQU AT E 17-1 8 E C (63-66 E F)

18- 19 19C upper en d of maximu m growth – optimal

c o n d it io n s

17C mai n tenance of popul a ti on abundance wi th i n 10% (b)

MA RGINA L 1 9

- 2 0 20C upper en d of preferre d range

ST R E SSFUL 20 - 21

21- 22 i n creased ri sk of di sease

22C cessati on of feedi n g

ST R E SSFUL 22 - 23

23- 24 22-24°C maximum temperat ure, juvenile densi t y decl i n es to zero (a)

LETH A L
(wi t h i n days) 24 - 25 E C (75 E F) L e t h a l - c h r o n icc o n d it io n s

- u p p e r in c i p i e n t( 7 d a y LD 50) wi thi n days (a, b, c)

steel head pr esence note d i n water wi th temperatur es >24C when cool water refugi a areas are presen t

LETHA L 25 - 26 Lethal - 6 hour LT10 (a)

LETH A L
(wi t h i n hours ) > 26 Lethal - 26. 5 1 hour LT1 0 (a)

Cr it ic a l t h e r ma l ma x( 2 8 - 3 2 C ) in s t a n t a n e o u s lo s s of equi li br i u m

11

### Trends in stream temperature

The natural or historical stream temperatures are n o t kn own for the Upper Main E e l. No in form a t ion on pr e

- dam cond ition s wa s uncovered , nor g e ne ral
strea m t e mperatu r e s be for e th e 1 9 6 4 flo o d. Howe ver, in for m ation reg a rding strea m ch annel chan ges a n d r i parian veg e tation ch anges indi cate s tha t shade ove r certa i n cha nnels is le ss than pr io r to the 1964 flood. I n terviews with long t i me resid e nts o f the Tom k i Cree k a r e a repo rted that A Mo st of the dee p poo l s (o ver 10 feet deep ) were filled with gra v els and se diment durin g the majo r flood eve n ts... During the 19 20 s to 1 9 3 0 s
, mos tof Tomk i Cree k fro m Cave Creek to Wh eelbarrow Creek had no perennial flow, with the riff le s drying u p during th e su mmer and the holes re ma ining full. Above the Hearst- Wil l i tsRoa d f o rd c r os sing many of t h e poo l s

were 15’ - 20’ in depth... It was imp o ssib le to se e String Cre e k from the road becau se o f the dense vegeta tio n

. @ (MCRC D , 1983.) In addition to the gen eral loss of riparian vegeta t ion
, Tomki Creek a l so e x perience d a loss o f shade be ca use o f
stream widening. Between the mouth of St r i ng Cr ee kand Cav e Creek, 1952 photos indica te m a ximu m ch annel wi dt hs o f 20 0 feet; a r oun d 1 9 8 3 it was 40 0 fe et, primarily d u e to gra v el e x tra c tion during that time p e riod.
Temperatu r e mon i to ring fo r th e Eel wa s conducted extensively during 1973 (Kubic ek, 19 77), butthi s wa s c o nducte d a f termuch of th e sha de and fl o w alteration s had a l rea d y taken p l ace. In g e neral, Ku bice k repo rts the sa me pa tterns

no t e d b ythe Hum b old tCo unty R C D dat a bas e

- st r e ss f u l and l e t h al te m p er at ur es i n the ma in channel, wit h lim ited cool wa terr e fugia not ed. The Humbold tC o untry RCD temp erature s a r e pre s ente d in Figu re 3. A com p arison o f 1996 strea m temperatu r es to the Kubice k1973 tem per atures in some loca tions in the Upper Main E e l T M DL a r ea has b een conducte d (HCRCD, 19 98 .) Fiv e loc a tions were compa r ed and none had significant variation.

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13

### 2.3 SEDIMENT PROBLEMS
Salmon requirements rela ted to st ream sediment

This sectio n pre s ents available informa t ion rela ted to sediment proble ms in strea m s in the Upper Eel River and tributa r ies. Sa lm onids have a varie t y of require m e n ts related to sed i me nt. Sa lmo n ids have different w a ter qu ality and habitat req u iremen ts at diffe ren tlife stag e s (spawnin g, egg developm e nt, juveniles, adults). Sedimen to f appro p ria t e qualit y a n d quantity is ne ede d fo r redd (i.e., salm on ne st) con s tru c tion, spa w ning, and embryo d e velo pmen t. Ex ces s i v e amounts o f sedim e nt or change s in size di stribution (e.g., incre a sed fine sedimen t) can ad versely affect salmonid de velop m ent and ha bitat.

Exce ssi ve f i ne s edi me nt can red u ce e gg an d emb ryo survival an d juve nile salm onid d e velo pmen t. Tapp el and Bjor nn (1 98 3) fo und thate m bry o s u rv iva l decrea s e s as th e am ount o f fin e se dimen tinc r eas e s. Ex ce ss fi ne se dime nt can
preven t ad equate w a ter flow th rough salmon re dds, which is critica l for maintain in g adequate oxyg en levels and re movin g m e tabolic w a ste s . D e posits of these fine r sediments can also prevent th e hat c hi ng fryfr o m e m e r g i ng f r om t h e r e dd, r e s u lt i n g in smothering. E x cess fine sediment c a n caus e g r avel s i n t h e wat e r bo d yto beco m e e m bedde d (i.e., the fin e se dimen tsurrounds and p a cks in a g ainst the
grave l s), which effe ctively ce ments the m into the channel bo ttom. Em beddedn ess can also prevent the spawning salm on fro m building redd s.

An im bala nce b e twe e n fin e o r coar se sed i mentsup p ly and t r a n sportc a n als o adversely affe ct the quality an d ava ilab ility o f salm onid ha bitat b ych an ging th e morpho log yo f th e stream. I t ca n redu ce o v erall stre am de pth and the availability of shelter, and it can reduce the fre q ue ncy, volu me, and dep th of p ools. Pools provide salmon a re sting locatio n and p r otection fro m pre d ato r s.

Exce ssi ve sedi ment c a n affec to t her fact or s i m port an t to sa lmo n ids. Str e am temperatu r es can increase as a result o f stream w i de ning and p ool filling. The abundance of inv e rte b rate s, a p r imary foo d sou r ce fo r ju venil e sal m onid s , can b e reduce d b ye x ce ssive fin e sediment. L a rge woo d y debris, which provide s sh elte r and su ppo rts foo d so urces, can be buried. Increase d sed i ment delivery ca n also result in elevated turbidity, which is h i ghly corre late d with in creased su spended sediment concentrations. Incre a ses in tu rbidity or suspende d sediment can imp a ir growth by reducing a v aila bility or visi bility of fo od so urces, and the suspe n ded sediment can cau s e d i rect da ma ge to the fish b y clog ging g ills.



### Sediment condit ions in t h e Upper Main Eel

Historical tre n ds

The fl ow o f the Ee l Ri ver a n d i t s tribu t ari e s abo v e La ke Pill sbury is unregulate d and h i gh ly influ e nced b yra in events. D o wnstre am of the Sco tt Da m, which for m s La ke Pi llsbu ry, th e ri verfl o w s through a narrow can y on un til much of the flow is diverted th rough a tu nnel to a Pac i fic Gas and Elec tricCompany powerhou se in Potter Valle y whe r e it conve r ges with the East Fo rk o f the Russian R i v e r and thr o ug h Lak e M e nd oci n o

. The un- d i v ert e d f l o w d r ai ns i n t o t h e Van

14Arsda le Re servoir, w h ich is fo rmed b y th e Cape Ho rn Dam. Flow is then rele ased f r o m t h e dam and c o nt i nue s d o wn strea m toward s th e ocean.
Much of th e bed rock in the Uppe r Eel River watersh ed is sed i men t ary and metamo rp hic roc ka l ong wi th u l trama f i ca n d vo lcan i cro ck s fro m the Jura ssi c peri o d

. Weatherin g , which is impa cte d by slop e, a s pect, win d , rainfall, temperatu r e, bedro c k co mposition, and b i olog ical activi ty (d eco m p o sition of o r ganic matter), produces soils that m a y be su bj ect to land slid es and erosion. S o ils with a high hazard rating (high e r tenden cy to slump o r slide) co ver a b ou t 40 per centof the watersh ed and onl y 3 per centis con s ide r e d to have a low haza rd rat i ng. Slide s , slump s , an d ero s ion are fairly common in the wate rshed and n e arly one

- sixth o f th e area ups t ream of Van Ars d ale Res e rv oi r is prone to lands l ides (USFS 1995 ).

Lake Pillsb ury ha s b e c ome a tra p fo r th e sedimen tth at erodes from the m o st northern p o rtion of t h e water s h ed, reta in ing 94 p e rcent o f sediments sup p lied from upstre am (Brown and Ritter, 1971). Coa r se m a teria l s a r e p r eferentia lly trapped, resulting in the lack of g r ave l recruitment to downstream a r ea s (Brown a n d Ritter, 19 71). Th e la ke ha d an init ial st orage capa cit yo f 94, 40 0 a c re- feet, whi c h was reduced to 86,780 in 1959 (Porterfie ld and Dunnam 1964 in USFS 1995) and 80,7 0 0 in 19 84 ( B ro oks etal. 19 84 in US FS 19 95 ), resul t ing i n a 14.8 p e rcent reduct ion i n the sto r a ge ca pac i t ys i nce 1 9 21. Tra c ki ng the lo ss of st orage capa cit y in Lake Pillsbury can be used a s a surrog a te measure of the amount of sediment deposited to the up stream tribu t arie s o v er tim e . The sed i ment deposited to La ke Pill sbury a l so contr i b u tes to the turbi d it y p r oble m in t h e la ke, w h ich is exa c erba ted by th e p r e s ence o f fine-grain ed cla y s that sta y in su spension for e x tend e d period s of t i me (U SFS 1995)

. Down str e am o f La ke Pillsbury, the Van A r sdale Reservo i r is small enou gh and filled enou gh that it doe s notapp e a r to im pair se dimen ttran sport past Cape Horn Dam.

Other fa ct ors that ha ve histo r ically im pacted eros ion and sedim e nt de livery in the wate rshed in clud e tra ils, ro ads, grazin g, and fire. For e x am ple, up stre am o f Van Arsda l e, America n Indian s and ran c h e rs h i st ori c ally use d t r ails for tr avelin g, while manyroads were built in the 19 30 s and later bec a me the back bone fo r today’s tra n sportatio n network. In crea se d log g ing operations forced the developme nt of add i tional r o ads, many o f whi c h were no t des i gned t o wi ths t and large rainfall ev ents (USFS 1995 ). Grazing and f i re both reduce v e getation, thus making soil ava ilab l e for ero s ion

. Grazing controls ha ve b een in pla c e sin c e 1907 with the cr eation of t h e Men d ocino Na tion al Fo rest; however, fire ha s increased

eros ion in seve ral su bwater she d s, e s pe ci allydurin g the 19 8 7 f i re sea s on (USFS 19 95).

In the wint er o f 19 64 , warm rai n fa lling o n the snow pack trigg e red the relea s e o f a tre m end o us a m oun tof wate r in a shortp e riod of time, cau s in g a g r eat floo d. Thi s flo o d w a s veryda ma ging t o a r e a s o f th e Mendo c ino Nati onal F o restand other forests in north w estern C a lifo r nia. I thas been estimated that the h i ghest 3 days of th e 1964 flo o d were re spon sible fo r m o vin g over one-h a lf of all se diment transp orte d durin g a 10- yearpe riod u p st re am o f S c ot t Dam ( B r o wn and Ritter1971 in US FS 19 95).

Inform atio n regardin g sp ecific effe cts o f the 1964 flood in the Upper Eel Rive r watersh ed exi s t forT o mki Cree k. A s dis c u ssed in S e cti o n 2.2, Tomk i Cr e e k wa s

15greatly w i d e ned, lo st much of its riparian cove r an d lost mo st o f the dee p pools tha t
were p r es e n t be fore t h e 1 9 6 4 fl ood ( M CRC D , 1 983 .) Additionallyareas of Tomk i Cr e e kwe re us ed fo r g r av el ex t r ac t i o n and were grea tly widene d , fro m 200 foot

max i mum c h annel width to 400 fo ot max i mum c h annel width.



### Current conditio ns & eva l ua tio n o f stream recovery
Very little informa t ion is ava ilab l e rega rdin g the re co very o f th e Uppe r Eel Rive r a f ter the 1964 flood. The Califo r nia Departme nt of Fish and Gam e is schedu led to comp lete a d r aft w a tersh ed a sse ss menton Ou tlet Creek during the Winter2 0 0 4/2 00 5. T h is wa ter s hed a sse ss ment is expecte d to provide ad ditiona l instream sedimen tm e asure m en ts, a s well as o t her in forma t ion on the st re am condition. The California De partment o f Fish and Ga me Strea m Invento ry Repo rts provided u s eful in for m ation reg a rding cur r e nt sedim e nt con d it io ns in the w a tersh ed (CDFG Stream In ven t ory Re ports 1991-1998). U s ing poo l em b eddedne s s (estimate d visually) a s an indica tor, stre a m s in th e Upper Eel Rive r we re found to have vari a b le cond iti o ns forsa l m on. O f t h e eigh tee n str e am s observ ed fo r embedd ed ness, only two strea m s ha d o v er 50 % of pools with very go od condition s and thre e strea m s h a d o v er 50% of po ols wi th very poor conditions or condition s comp lete ly unsuitable for spawning. The m a jority o f stream s we re in betw een, ranging fro m 26-75% embe dde d. The s e observations, while n o t a comprehensive inventory, cove red la rge p o rtion s o f tributa r ies in cluding Alder C r eek, Bae c htel Creek, Bea r Pen Can y on Cree k, Benmo r e C r eek, Bloo dy Run Creek, Broa d d us Creek, Ca ve Cree k, C h erry Cree k, Haehl C r eek, L o ng Valley Cre e k, Outlet Creek, Ryan Cree k, String C r eek, T o m k i Creek, U nnamed T r ibutary # 1 to C a ve C r eek, Unnamed Tributary #2 to Cave Creek, U nnamed T r ibutary # 3 to C a ve C r eek, an d Willi ts Cre e k.
Ups t ream o f Van Ar sdal e R e serv o i r , i n th e Lake Pill sbury H y dr ologi c UnitArea (HUA), the USFS ha s noted that in some areas, the roads an d trails often function

as fir s t ord e r strea m s by tran sp orting wat e r and se d i mentto ot her dra i na ges (US F S 1995). In particular, there a r e o v er 175 miles of tra ils (in c ludin g about 100 miles of d e signated o ff-h i gh way vehi cle tra ils) an d over 760 mi les of road (about 39 00 road/ s trea m c r os sing s). Th ese condi t ion s faci lita t e t h e tran spo rt o f sedi m e nt to strea m s a n d with out prop er ma intenance and plann i ng, can increase ero s ion and sediment a v aila ble for tran sport. In a dditio n , appro x imately 70 percen t o f the roads in th e watershe d are inslo ped, which may cau s e the road s to de live r water and sedim e nt to nearby d r ainag e s (USFS 19 95). Ma ny o f th e c u rrent roa d s ha ve been d e sig n ed to re d u ce th eir e r osion p o tential; ho wever, on going maintenance is require d to control se dimenta t io n. Overall, the La ke Pillsbury H U A is con s idered to be in bette r con d ition than othe r portion s of th e watershed an d has a lo wer ro ad density th an many o t her region s o f th e No rth Coa s t.

Lake Pil l s b ury cont in ues t o t r ap sed i me nts drain i ng from the upstream area. In 1992, U S FS per so nnel in dica ted tha tth e rate o f la ke fil ling is si mila r to the 1959- 1984 rate described previously (USFS 1995). The base of the sediment w edge from the Rice Fork tributary is a pproa ching the base of th e da m

. The lake is not yet filled to a critica l point; how e ver, bath ymetry me asurem ents are e x pe cted to be taken in th e co ming years to bet ter clar ify t h e extent of th e p r ob lem.

16In sum m ary, data reg a rding the sediment conditions for many s t reams in the Upper Eel indicate ad verse impa cts from th e co mbine d effe cts o f the 1964 floo d and land u s e practices at that time. It is likely that the w i desp r ead sedimenta t ion an d channel ch anges that occurre d followin g th e 1 9 6 4 flo o d pr ovi d e d di ffi cultc o nditi o ns for sal m on id survival (e.g., high er pr oporti ons of fine sed i ment, fi lling o f p ools, etc.). While there ma y be some reco veryof the stream c h annel s i nce the 19 64 floo d, an o v eral l a sse ssm ent of strea m co ndition s is not a v aila b l e and the availa ble infor m ati o n fro m D F G rep o rt s i n dicat e s variable con d ition s

. 

### 2. 4 WA T E R QU A L IT Y ST A N DAR D S

In ac cord a n ce w i th t h e Clean WaterAc t, TMDL s a r e se t atle vel s ne ces s aryto achie v e th e app lica b le water qu ality stand a rds. Und e r the fe de ral Clean Water Act, water qu al ity stan dar d s cons is t of d e si gnat ed uses, w a ter qu ality crite r ia to pro t ect the uses, a n d an an tidegrada t io n policy. T h e Sta t e o f California uses slightly different la nguage (i.e., beneficial uses , w a ter qu alit y object ive s , and a n o ndegrada t io n policy). This sectio n describe s the State water qua lity standa rds
ap p l ic ab le t o t h e U p pe r Mai n Eel R i v e r TM DL us i n g t h e S t ate = s termi n o l ogy

. The remaind e r of th is do cument sim p ly refers t o wate r qu ality stand a rds.

The bene f icial use s a n d water q u ality obje ctives fo r the Upp e r Main E e l River

are contained in the Water Qua lity Control Plan for th e North Coast Region (Ba s in Plan), a s a m ended (NCRWQC B 2001). T h e Ba sin Plan iden tifies many beneficial uses fo r th e Uppe r Main Eel River, sp ecif ical l y : M unic i pal and Domes t icSupply ; Agricultur a l Sup p ly; I n dustr i al Proce s s Sup p ly; Groun d water Re charge ; W a ter Co nt ac t Rec r eati o n ; No n- c o nt ac tWat e r Rec r eat i o n ; Co mmerc ial and S p ortFi s h i n g; Cold Fre s h w ater Hab i tat; Rare, Threatene d or Endan gered Spe c ie s; Mig ra tion of Aquati c O r ganism s; a n d Spawn i ng, Rep r od uction and / or Ear l y D e velo pmen t.

The water quality o bj e ctives pe rtinent to the Upp e r Main E e l River t e m p e r at ur e and s edi m e nt TM DLs are li s t ed i n Tab l e 2

. I n ad dit i o n t o wate r q u al i t y objectives, the Ba sin Plan includ es tw o p r ohi b i t ions spec if ic al lyappl ic able to loggin g , co nstru c tion, and other asso cia t ed sediment- produ c ing nonpoint source activit i es:
the disch arge o f soil, silt, bark, sawdust, o r othe r o r g a nic an d e a rthen material fr om an y lo gging, con s tru c tion, or a sso cia t ed activit y of wha t eve r nature into an y st ream or w a tercourse in th e ba sin in quant i tie s de lete rious to fish, wildli fe, orotherben eficial use s is proh ibi t ed; and
the placin g or disposa l of soil, silt, bark, sla s h, saw d u s t, oroth e r org a nic a n d earthen material from any logging, construc tion, or associated activity of whatever
nature a tlocations w h ere such material could p a ss into an y str e am o r wa tercou rse in the ba sin in qu antities which could be d e leter i ou s to fish, w i ldlife, orot her beneficia l uses is pro h ibite d

.

17

### Table 2. Water Quality Ob jectives

Parame ter Water Quality Objectives

Suspended Materi al Waters shal l not con t ai n s u spende d materi al in con c entra t i o ns tha tc a use nui sance or adversel y affects benef i ci al uses.

Settleable Materi al Waters shal l not con t ai n s u bsta nce s i n co ncen trat ion s t h at resu ltin deposit i on of materi al thatcauses nui sance or adversel y affect benefi ci al uses.

Sediment The s u spended sediment load and susp ended sediment discharge rate of surface water shall not be altered in su ch a m a nner as to cause nuisance or adversel y affect bene fi cial uses.

T h e n a t u ral receiv in g wat e r t e mperat u r e of i n trastate wa ters shal l not be altered unless it can be demo nstrat ed to t h e sa ti sfacti on of the Regi onal Water Board that such an alte rati on i n temperature do es not adversely affect benefi ci al uses. Temperature

At no ti me or pl ace shal l the temperature o f anyC O LD ( w at er w i t h a ben e f i c i a l use of cold freshwater habitat) wa te r be increased by more than 5  ̊ F ab ov e

n a t u ral receiv in g w a t e r t e mperat u r e.

T u rbidit y T u rbidit yshal l n o tbe increased more t h an 20 percen tabov e n a tu rally occu rrin g back groun d lev e ls. Allo w a ble z o n e s of dilu t i on w i t h in wh ich h i gh er percen t a ges can be tolerated may b e defined fo r spec ific discharges up on the issua n ce of discharge permits or waiver thereof.

18

## CHAPTER 3: TEMPERATURE TMDLs

This chapter describes the analytical ba sis for the te mperatu r e TMDL s, along with the T M DLs and allocation s. The TMD L is di vid e d into two parts. The fir s t analysis is for shade for all strea m rea c he s in the Upp e r Main Ee l area. The se cond analysis is for the stream reach betwe en Van Arsda l e and Outlet Cre e k w h ere diver s ions from the PotterValle yPr oje c t a r e an additional con c ern. The analysis d e scrib e d in this ch apter indicates thata l terat i ons in shad e result in alterations in stream tempera t ure in the Up per Main E e l Rive r an d tributa r ie s. Fu rther m ore, the an alysis ind i cates thatt e mpera t ur e alt e ratio n s ar e pos s ibl e u n der some inter p reta tions o f th e Sta t e’ s F o restP r ac t i ce s Ru les. I f harve s ting of larg er r i parian con i fer s t a k e s p l ac e ex t e ns i v e l y wi thi n t h e wat e r s hed
, the cu mulative effe cts w ill adversely affe ct stee lhea d.

The se con d part o f the analysis -- the im pacts o f flo w on stre a m te mpera t ure from Van Arsda le to OutletCre e k -

- in dicates thatflow alt e rations r e su lt in temperatu r e alteratio n s unde r many cond ition s . In addition, E P A con c lud e s th at th e strea m t e mperatu r e s likely to resultfrom the new June 20 04 FERC f l ow require m e n ts w ill fa cilita t e a ttai n ment o f water qu al ity stan dar d s.
This chapt e r first d e scribe s E P A = s in terpr e t a tion of th e narra tive waterqua lity standard for te mperature. The chapte r th en de scrib es th e tem perature modeling for solarrad i a t ion an d shade for all stream re aches and sets a T M DL for solar radiation (in te rm s o f lan g le ys/ d ay) and a lloca tion s i n term s of shade for all strea m reache s. A in strea m heat T M D L (in ter m s of BTU s ) is also se t for the rea c h betwe en Van Arsda le an d Outlet C r eek becau se tempe r atures in that rea c h are a ffe cte d by hydro l ogical mo difica tion a s w e ll as sha de.



### 3.1 INTERPRETING THE EXISTI NG W A TER QUALITY STANDARD S FOR TEMPERATURE

This t e mpe r ature T M DL i s calcu l ated to att a in the ap plica b le wa ter qua lit y standar d s. The Ba si n Plan id en tifi es th e followin g two te mperature obje ctives fo r surfa c e wa ter:

A The na tu ral r e ce ivin g waterte mperatu r e of intr asta te wate rs shall no t b e alte red unless it can be dem onstra ted to the satisfaction of the Re gion al Water Board that such an alteration in tempera t ure doe s n o t adve rse l y affe ct ben eficial use s

. @

A At no tim e or pla c e shall the tempera t ure of any C O LD <i.e. water w i th a beneficia l use o f cold fre s hwate r habitat> water b e increa sed b ym o re tha n 5 E degree F a b ove natural re ceivin g water te mperatu r e

. @

19EPA interp reted the a b ove sta n d a rds forth e TMDLas follows. E P A u s ed a model to compare A n a tural stre am te mperatures @ with current stream tem perature s and te mpe r ature s un der like ly future m a n a gement conditions. In conside r ing th e first o bje ctive, E P A th en exa m in ed wheth e r the s e a l t e ration s (changes in strea m temperatu r es) would adve rse l y affe ct the mos tsens iti v e benef ic i a l us e - that is
, cold wate r fish during the sum m e r rea r ing period. E P A = s eva l u a tion of A ad v e rs e @ effe ct s i s b a sed on th e scient ific lit erat ure on steelhe ad te mperature tole rances (summ a rized in Table 1). EPA e v aluate d w h ether or not the ch anges in stream temperatu r e also neg a tive ly affe cted th e qual i t y of s t r e am t e m p e r at ur es

. I n general, a n y in crea se (warmin g ) o f natu ral su mmer stream te mperatu r e s is adverse to rearing steelhead.

The se con d obje ct ive (i.e., noti n crea sing t h e st ream temper atu r e mo re th an 5 de gree s F) wa s e v a l uated by comparin g every m o d e led point on the stre am for

exce edance of the 5 degree obj e ctive. Thisobjective is mo re d i fficult to e x cee d than the fi rst obje cti v e; there fore, the at tainmento f the first objective will meett h e

seco nd o bj e cti v e.



### 3.2 TEMPER ATURE M ODELING

Stream te mperatu r e has been widely stu d ied and the physics of heat transfe r is one o f the better understoo d pro c e sse s in natura l wate rshe d systems (TFW, 20 00.) Ma ny fa ct ors affe ct str e am te mper ature inclu d ing sola r radiat ion, air temperatu r e, lo cal sh ading, clim ate, strea m flow an d dep th, channel m o rpholo gy, groundwater in flow a n d upstrea m te mpera t ures. Mo deling of stream tem perature is a well d e velo ped a r ea o f in qu iry and ma ny m o dels are a v aila b l e to a ssist poli cym a kers in und erstan ding the factor s contro llin g st ream t e mpera t ur es.

EPA funde d Tetra Te ch In c. to develop an d run the Q2ESHADE mode l to evaluate b o th the in fluences o f differ ent flow scenarios an d d i fferent shad e

scena rio s

. The Q 2 ESHADE mo d e l allows E P A to e x a m ine h o w strea m te mperatu r e s change in relation to different a ssum p ti on s on flow, upstre am t e mpera t ur es, and shade (as i n fluen c ed by th e size of ripa rian veg e tati o n , spe c if ic ally con i fe r s .) Append i x A pro v ides a m o re co mplete discussion of the mo del comp onen ts,

assum p tio n s and data. The Q2ESHADE combine s e l ements o f two m o dels (Qual2E and SHAD E) to exa m ine cumula tive effe ct s on stream temperature throughout all modeled a r eas in a stream network. Qu al2E, t h e f i r s tm o de l
, is a p u bl ic l y av ai l a b l e model and is wide ly used in an alyzing ma ny wat e r q u ality pr ob lems. Ch e n , et al (1998) o r iginally d e veloped a model ca lled SHADE that when linke d to o t her models, ca n pro v ide basinwide (e.g. cumu lative e ffe cts) info rm ation regarding strea m si de veg e tati o n chang e s. The Tetra Tech ve rsi o n of SHA D E is a si mpli fic a tio n of certa i n comp onen ts o f the C h en mod e l (se e ap pe ndix A.) I n puts fro m the SHADE m o del a r e lin k ed to Qua l 2E to p r ov ide r o uting of lo cal st ream h e ati n g or cooling (from vegeta t ion, flow changes, tr ibutary coo ling etc) d o wnstre am through the strea m networ k.

Details on the mo dels calibration perform a n ce is available in Ap pendix A. Calibra tion per forma n ce i s avai lable fo r h o urly, dail y and ma x7daat.

The mod e l was applied to two separa te subareas o f the Upper Main Eel T M DL area - Tom k i Creek a n d the main channe l of th e Ee l between Van Arsdale and

20Outlet Cre e k. Tom k i Creek, including tribu t arie s to T o mki Cree k, was mo deled fo r alterat i on s in shade. Tomki Cr e e k wa s ch osen beca u se th e p r oport i on of veg e tatio n type s represent a m i ddle groun d con d ition betwe en the heavily fore sted subwate r sheds in Me ndocin o N a tional Fo rest and th e le ss fo re sted area of Ou tlet Creek. In addition, sufficient d a ta wa s a v ailable for Tomki Cre e k. Th is modeling
approa ch was u s ed to de velo p a tem perature TMDL for solar ra diation for all strea m reache s.
The m a in channel of the Up per Eel from Van Arsdale downstrea m to Outle t Creek was modeled separate ly to ta ke into con s ide r at ion the flo w diversio n at Van Arsda le. EPA wan t e d to explicitly analyz e the different f l ow regimes for this reac h
t o ev al uate t h eir attai n ment o f t h e nar r a ti v e wat e r qual i t y s t andar d

. An addit i o n al TMDL com p onent forinstr e am h e at ( i n BT Us) is ca lculated forthe ma in channel o f the Eel between Van Arsda le to Outlet Cre e k. Th is is neede d d u e to the a dditional influen c e o f hydrological modification on stream temperature in this rea c h.

In re spon se to co mm ents on th e dra f t T M DLs, EPA revised the modeling for the final T M DL for th e rea c h b e t ween Van Arsdale a n d Outlet Creek. Th e re vision s

were a reinterpre tation and averaging of th e e x istin g deta iled data on stream width
, depth an d velo city. While this resulted in chang e s in the mag n itude of the effect o f flow on stream temp erature, th e basic re lationsh ips between scenarios is the same

as i n t h e dr af tTM D L

. 

### 3.2.1 Te mperature and Solar Radiation Modeling

Tomki Cre e k wa s selected as a repre s enta tive area o f the entire Uppe r Main Eel to de te rmine if ch anges in riparian veg e tation allowed und e r current managem ent pra c tices a l ter na tural strea m te mpera t ures in th e Uppe r Main Eel TMDL a r ea . The maj o rity o f stream riparian area s a r e mana ge d eith er by private landowner s orthe Mendocino National Forest.

The Men d o c ino Natio n al Fo rest manages u n der th e N o rthwest Forest Plan, which protects the riparian zon e from tim ber harve s t and pro m ote s natural riparia n vegeta t ion

. The N o rthwest Fore st Plan doe sallow so me harve s t of la rger diameter tree, how e ver, no t in the riparia n reserv es. Riparian reserve s a r e app r oximately 30 0 feeto n each s i d e of the ed ge o f th e a c ti ve stre a m chann e l for fi sh b e a ring strea m s a n d 1 5 0 fe e tfo r p e rie nnial, non- fish bear i n g st ream s.
The Mend ocino Nat i onal F o re st proh ibit s timbe r harv estin rip a rian r e se rv es

exce pt to further pro m ote ripa rian re stora t ion and on ly if larg e woody deb ris need s

are m e t. Thus EPA’s inter p reta tion is thatthe N o rth w est Forest Plan will result in natural siz e of conife rs in the riparian zon e . Forroad s tha tma y be a f fect ing sha de,
t h e Me nd oc i n o Nat i onal F o r e st s t and a rd s al so requ ir e min i mi zi ng roa d l o cation s in riparian re serves. In addition, USFS pr oj ects are re quired to comply with the Region al Water Bo a r d’s curren t Waiver fo r discha r g e s relate d to Timber Operations. This wa ive r reiterat e s the wate r quality st andard of no alt e ration of strea m temperatu r e.

Private lan d s a r e m a naged b y priva t e lan d owners, a n d rip a rian veg e tatio n can b e re move d or altere d b y grazing, vineyard de velop m ent, housing developme nt or timber harve s t. T i mberharvest is permitte d und er th e Sta t e’s Fore stPrac tic e s Rule s. Th e Fo restP r acti ces rul e s spe c ify a 8 5 % can o py reten t i o n and the reten t ion

21of th e 10 largest conifers pe r 33 0 feetof st ream, i f th e st ream i s anad rom o us fi sh bearing. C a nopy retention for other streams is 50%. However, the canopy retention can be met while harvesting th e talle st tree s and dep e n ding up o n the width of th e stream a n d othe r site conditio ns, sha de over the stream is po tentially reduce d.
The analysis below assumed tha tthe ty pe of vege tation currently presen t in riparian areas d o es n o t ch ange (e.g. con i fer, hardwo od, gra s sla n d, brush areas remain in the sa me vegetation type.) An additional assum p ti o n is that all the riparian ve getation is manage d the same way at the sam e tim e . EPA u s es th is

assum p tio n to analy z e cum u lati ve e ffe ct s of d i fferent manage m e nt styles. Actual
strea m te mperatu r e effects will be a com b ination o f both the type of ripa rian
managem ent, the pr oport i on of landown e r sch oo sing different types o f rip a rian
managem ent and th e timing a n d frequen cy of ripa rian manag e ment.

EPA e v alua ted th e following five ripa rian m a nagemen t scenarios with the Q2ESHADE mode l d e scribe d ab o v e for the Tomki Cre e k wa tersh ed. As describe d previously, the an alysis for Tom k i Creek is a surrog a t e fo r th e e ffe cts in th e enti re Upper Eel TMDL a r ea , inclu d ing USFS and priva t e lan d s:

1 - Curren tcon d it ion (ba s elin e) Thi s scen a rio is de veloped usi n g the si ze of the vegeta t ion as pro v ide d by the d a ta and assu mptions detailed in Appen dix A. In the Tomki Cre e k area, th ere wa s significant timber h a rvest during the la te 1940s through th e 1960s affecting ove r 50% of the watersh ed (Mendo cino County RC D, 1983). It appears th e current condition in clude s a substantial reco very in vegeta t ion fro m th at period ; th e r e were no recent tim ber harve s t plan s in the area.
2 - Topo graphica l sh ading only. This scen a rio wa s d e velo ped to determin e the general im portan ce o f vegeta t io n shad e in the wate rshed; it is n o t me ant to re fle c t current or future con d ition s

. In this scena r io, the only sh ade over the stre am is from unve getated to pograph y such as ad jacent hillslope s . All shade from trees (both con i fer and hardwood) wa s elimin ate d from the mode l for the purposes o f this

scena rio.

3 - 18 inch diam eter at bre a st h e ight (dbh ) con i fe r- priva t e tim ber m a nag e ment. Changes to the ripa rian area are gene r ally at th e d i scretion o f priva t e lan d owners,

exce pt for timbe r harvest for w h ich perm i ts a r e requ ired un der the State = s Fores t Practice R u les. This scena rio w a s de ve lop ed to il lust rate th e r e sultunder the State = s Fo r e st Pra c ti c e rule s. The rule s h a ve a requ iremen t fo r 5 0

- 85% canop y retenti o n, howeveritcanno t be genera liz e d whatsi z e tre e i s le ft in the ri parian
zone g i ven this m i nimum requirement. T h eoretically, an ow ne r can harvest all trees as small as 12 inch dbh u n der th e Fore stPract i ce Rule s, but gen era lly itis not

econo m ica l to do so. In ad ditio n , silv icultural m a na gement style s vary a m ongst different p r ivate lan d owners. Th is scenario represen ts the re sult if the entire watersh ed was harv e s ted at the sam e t i m e re sultin g in 18” dbh con i fertr e e s a f ter harve s t. T h e rip a rian area s for grassland or bru s h a r e mo dele d with out riparian tree spe c ie s.

4 - 2 4 inch dbh coni fe r-alte r nati ve p r iv at e timbe r ma nagement. Given the variety of p r ivate timberland managem ent styles, EPA also modeled a stan d o f 24 in ch dbh coni fer s a s anothe r p o ss ible rep r esent a tio n of futu re cond iti o ns underpri v ate

22timbe r ma nagement. Again thi s scena r io illustrate s cumulat i ve effects if t h e

c o nife r ar eas i n enti re wat e rs hed wer e harv es ted atthe s a me time. This is considere d so mewhat unlikely g i ven th at in Tomki an d Outlet C r eek there are man y

o w ner s wi th s m al l e r par c el s

.. 5 – Natu ra l (fu l l grow th con i fe r 48” dbh, pl us s i gni f i c a n t rip a rian spe c ie s re cove ry.) While itis difficu l t t o general ize on the nat u ral size o f con i fer s , given the r a nge o f

s i te c o nditions , 48 inch dbh c o nife rs adequately repres ent A natural @ gr owth for the
purposes o f de term ining sha de (see a ppen dix A for a discussion of p o tentia l conifer size.) Thi s A natural @ scenario is compa r ed to differen t manag e m ent scen a rios to examin e the in crem ental temp erature in crease s fro m timber harve s t in the are a

. In addition , this scen ario a l so represen ts the e x pe cted fu ture res u l to f USF S
managem ent pra c tices regard ing timber harv e s t in riparian areas. Th e modeling

was a l so d e signe d to add riparia n tree spe c ie s in all areas mod e led un der grassland, brush or h a rdwood vegetation type. This type of rip a rian (alde r , willow etc) co ver did e x ist h i storically in Tom k i C r eek.

Tables 3 a n d 4 pro v ide the re sults of the modeling. The m o de l use s the ripari an co ndition sce n arios 1-5 describe d above. Th e mod e l first calculates th e resultant h e at in put into the str e am chann e l ( i n Lang leys). L a n g leys a r e a mea s ure of hea ten ergy per surface area p e rt i m e ( o r gr am cal o r i es p e rc u bi c c e nti m e t er s

. )

The so lar radiation h e at in put, expre s sed as Lang leys, can also be expressed as shade. Shade is calcula t ed b y divid i ng the to tal a m ount of h e at ene r gy fro m solarrad i a t ion a tth is lati tude b ythe am o unt of heatenerg y in put int o th e st ream after sha d ing pro v id e d by riparian veg e tation and to pograph y

. This sha d e percen t ag e can be thought o f as th e in ve rse of heator a pr opo rtion of th e ava ilab l e heat shade d . The h e at inpu t in to the strea m chann e l is then con v erte d to a stream temperatu r e which is then routed down stream to a c count for c u mulati ve effe ct s. The re sults are pre s e n ted in Ta bles 3 and 4, su mmar i zed with EPA’ s e v alu a tion of the e ffe ct of strea m tempera t ures on ju ve nile stee lh ead.

The mod e li ng re sult s indica te th at th e size of ripa rian veg e tatio n and specifical ly the h e ightof th e ripa rian tree s strong ly in fluen c e th e existen c e of coo l er strea m te mperatu r e s in Tom k i Creek. Fo r exa m ple, topo graph i cal sha d in g only (e.g. no t r ees) re sult s in the smalle st am ount o f th e str e am (4.4 mi les) i n the good/a deq uate/marginal ca tego ries (le s s than 20 °C). Thes e results indic a te that juvenile steelhead po pulation s in these are a s wo ul d b e adv e rs el yaf fe c t ed b yt h e total lo ss o f riparian vegetation. The size of con i fers also a l ters stream temperatu r es, e v en though th is watershed has a sign ificant pro p ortion o f riparian area witho u t con i fe rs. There is an increa se in the mi les of st re am with w a rmer temperatu r es, if the watersh ed were m a n a ged for smaller conifers (18 & 24 inch dbh) comp ared to th e A natural @ scenario wh ere 48 inch dbh tree s e x ist. Th is is illustrate d in Tabl e 3 by a slight l yla rgera m ount (ap p roximate l y2 strea m mil e s) in the wate rshed greate r than 24°C when th er e are 18 or 24” dbh con i fers compare d
to a natur a l condit io n. The modeling indicates that Tomki Creek is unusually warm, even under natural co ndition s , compare d t o othe r wa tershe ds in the Ee l. T h e pro p ort i on of
strea m m i les in stre ssful and le thal strea m te mpera t ures pre d icted by th e mod e l,

even un der natural conditions for Tomki C r eek, is un usual com p ared to the re sults

23of m o delin g con d ucte d pre v iou s ly in othe r watersh e d s in the Ee l. For e x a m ple, 99% o f str e am m ile s were < 1 9 E C in th e U pper Bla c k Butte, an d 84% were <19 E C in the North Fork of the Middle Fork (U SEPA, 2003), both in th e Men d ocino Nationa l Fore st. In the No rth Fork o f the Eel, the r e were no st ream mile s in the no rthern tributa r ie s (USE PA, 2002) pre d i cted to ha ve lethal tempera t ures und er n a tural

c o nditi o ns . Tomk i Creek i s most si mi lar to Rattle sna k e Creek in the South Fork of the Eel, w h ere natu ral stream tempera t ures we re m o deled to result in 78% of
strea m m i l e s > 1 9 E C ( s tre s sful a n d leth al). EPA’ s find i n gs illu stra te that a w i de
range o f n a tural stre am te mperatures were likely to exist in th e entire Ee l ba sin.



### 3.2.2 Selection of Scenario Co rres p onding to Water Quality Standards

The narra tive wa ter q u ality stan dard stat e s A th e natu ral r e ce ivin g water temperature ...shall not be altered unless it can be de monstrated...that such an alteration in temp era t ure d o es not ad versely affect beneficia l uses. @

EPA con c lu des that th e natura l scenario (scenario 5) correspond s be st to the “natural stream temperat ur es shal l notbe al t e r e d @ p h rase in th e Sta t e’ s Water quality sta n dards. E P A exam in ed the mo deling re su lts and con c luded tha tprivate l a ndo w ner pr ac ti c e s in t h e r i pari an z o ne hav e the pot e nt i a l of adv e rs elyalt e r i ng these natu ral strea m temperatu r es, e v en under th e restriction s o f th e State = s Fore s t Prac tic e R u les. EPA also fin d s t h at thi s a m ount of a l terat i on in str e am te mperatu r e is a d ve rse to the ben eficial use of CO LD from in crea ses in strea m te mpera t ure during the summe r th at affe ct steelhead re aring. Given the sm all a m ountof adequate and go od habitat, an y de gradatio n in stre am te mperatures fro m natura l condition s would adversely affect beneficial uses. N o te th at th e proj ecte d rip a rian condition o f USFS ma nagement under th e Northwe s t Fore st Plan was mod e l ed u s ing the same assum p tio n s a s the natural co ndition. E P A con s ide r s th is li kel yfor the size o f ripa rian conife rs. Th e U S FS ripa ria n cond ition s re gardin g sha de im pacts from se di ment in th i s TM DL a r ea are not analyz ed i n thi s Cha p ter. C h a p ter 4 discusses sediment.



### 3.3 SOLAR RADIATION TMDL

Sect ion 30 3d o f the Clean Wa t e r A c t an d EPA regula tions requ ire that a T M DL be e s tablished. In th is report, we are establish i ng the TMDLa n d alloca tions for the Upper Main Eel an d tributaries in two parts. The first part add r esse s the effe cts o f solar rad i a t ion fro m changes to riparian sh ade and a pplie s to a l l of the stream reache s in the wate rs hed. The seco nd co mponenti s di s c us se d is Se ct io n 3.4 and addre sse s the hy drol ogica l m o d i fi catio n s in the a r ea of th e ma in channe l Eel between Van Arsdale and Outle tCree k.

24

### <<<This page left intentional l y blan k for insert of Tables 3 and 4 >>>>

25

### 3.3.1 Loading Capacity and TMDL – Solar Radiation for all stre am reaches

The TMDL is the t o tal load ing of a po llutan tthatthe r i vercan assimilate an d stil l at tain water qu al ity stan dar d s for tem perature. In this T M DL, the pollutant is heat, measured in L a ngleys/day (ly/day). A Langley is a mea s ure energy p e r unit area (equa l to 1 gra m ca lorie/cm2) and ca n b e c o n v erte d t o metri cun it s su ch as joules (1 ly= 41 ,8 50 joules/m 2 ) orwatt s or BTU s

. We are set t ing th e T M DL e q ual to the am o unt of heatthe wa ter b ody would re ceive u n der th e n a tural scen ario (e.g.

scena rio # 5 .)

In the mod e l (see Ap pendix A) A global sola r rad i ation @ ove r ea ch str e am segmen t - i.e., the so lar ra diatio n that exis ts a b ove t h e ve getat ion atthis latitud e

B is re duce d by to pog r aphy and vegeta t ion chara c te ristics, resulting in a smaller amount of heat re ach i ng the stream for ea ch segmen t. The mo del calcula t es the actual amount of radiation/heat in langle ys that would rea c h e a ch strea m segmen t after acco unting for topograp hi cal shad in g, str e am orienta t ion
, strea m w i dth an d the po tential height o f the riparian veg e ta tion. The model ca lculates the amount of heat for ea ch strea m sampling p o int, howe ver, th e T M DL is exp r essed a s an averag e o f all stream sam p ling points for summary purposes.
The TMDL for the U p per Ee l an d tributaries is set e q ual =

average of 289 lan g leys/da y

. This is based on the modeled calcula t ion s for Tom k i Creek. To mki Cree k is a generally representative veg e ta tion cond ition, betw e en the more heavily forested subwate r sheds in Me ndocin o N a tional Fo rest and th e le ss fo re sted area of Ou tlet Creek. Th e TMDLnu mber is a mathema t ical a v erag e of the a m ount of h e at tha t would reach the strea m su rfa c e for each stream seg m ent mod e led a f te r accoun ting for full nat u ral g r owt h of con i fe rs an d al so ripa rian specie s for grassland, brush and hardwood areas.
This is the loading ca pacit y of t h e st ream, and w ill al low wat e r qualit y standards for temp erature to b e achieve d

. 

### 3.3.2 Shade Alloc a tions

In ac cord a n ce w i th E P A regula ti ons, the lo ading capa cit y( i .e. T M DL) is allocated t o the var i o u s sour ces of heatin the wate rshed, with a marg in o f safet y

. There are no po int source s, th erefo r e the wasteload allo cation s in the wa tershe d is

zero. This TMDLhas an i m pli c i tmarg in o f safe ty thatis pro v id e d byas su mption s

r a t h e r t h an a di r e ct c a l c ul at io n. The r efo r e , t h e TM DL i s s e tequal t o t h e lo ad i n g capacity a n d the allo cation s result in the T M DL. Th e TMDL is se t in langle ys and th e allocation s are exp r e ssed in sh ade.

While itis theoret i ca l l y p o ssib le to mea s ur e lang leys/ d ay forst r e ams in practice, shade is mo re o f ten m e asured b yland man a gers. Th e con c ep t of shade, as it r e late s to heatinput, has a signific a n t time co mponenta s it varie s daily and seasonally. Shade a s e x pre s se d here is the accumu lated redu ction in so lar radiat ion fr om the da ily a m ountof strea m in shad ow or sh ade. This can b e measured directly with a solar p a thfind er o r le ss exa c tly with other sh ade

26measurem ents. We have calcu l ated the a lloca tion s using the model, by translating the TMDL in langleys/day into a n ave r age shade allo cation for the watersh ed.

For a ll str e am rea c he s in the Up per Main E e l TM DL a r ea

TMDL = su m of the al locat i on s fo r ea ch str e am samp l i ng po int.

The allocations are a n ave r age of 49-50% shad e for all strea m segmen ts

The allocations are expressed as percentshade. Pe rcent sh ade for all stre am segmen ts is the am o unt of sola r rad i atio n reachin g the stream surfa c e divided by the po tential solar ra diation. T h is is after shad ing p r ovided by natural ve getation. This w ill b e an a v era ge o f 49- 50 % shade for all stream segments.



### 3.3.3 Ma rgin of S a fety

Under E P Aregul a tion s, a margi n of sa fet ymay be pr ovide d e x p lici t lyb yn o t allocating a port ion o f the avail a ble T M DLor imp licit ly th rough use o f u s in g

cons erva ti ve ana l yt ic al as sum p t i ons. In th is T M DL, a n imp licit margin of safe ty is provided through th e con s ervative ana l yt ic al as sum p t i ons. Fi rst , the sele c t ed model sce n ario evaluated man a gement e ffe cts thro ughout th e entire To mki Cree k watersh ed for cumu la tive sha de and te mpe r ature alte ration s wh en in fa ct, smaller, l e ss fr e q u entt i m b e r harv es tplans are of te n no r m al . Thus if harv es tpl ans t h at reduce sha de are le ss fre q uent a n d small they m a y in fa ct no t result in significant
strea m te mperatu r e effects. Second, imp l ementing the te mperature T M D L will resul tin la rger ripar i an veg e tat i on, whi c h will incr ease the pot e ntial for contributio n s o f large wood y d e b ris to st re ams. Increase s in la rge wo ody debris benefit stream temp erature s a n d asso cia t ed cool w a ter ha bita t by in crea sing the number an d dep th o f pools, which provide area s o f cooler wate r fo r fish. These indirec t benef i cial effec t s were not ac c o un ted for in the analysis, but pro v ide an impli c i tma rgin o f safe ty. Third
, refug i a fr om e x i s tin g st rati fied poo l s or s t ream s dominated by sp ring s pro v ide co oler temp e r ature s tha n were accounted for in the TMDL ana l ysis. As a result, we would e x p e ct more cool wa ter habitatto exist th an the TMDL analysis predicts. Fin a lly, large r veg e tatio n also will tend t o cre a te microclima tes that w i ll lead to impro v eme n ts in stre am te mperatures. Th ese effe cts we re not acco unted for in the temp erature an alysis, but provide an additional implicit ma rgin o f safety.



### 3.3.4 Seasonal Variation and Critical Conditions

In ac cord a n ce w i th E P A regula ti ons, the T M DL must accoun t fo r se asona l variation s and critical cond itions. In th e U pper Main Eel wate rshed, the summer period de fines th e critical pe riod when stre am temperatures are mo stli kel yto h a ve adver s e im pact s on b e nefi cial u s es (y oung salmonid s grow ing in the strea m s b e fo re migrating to the ocea n). To account for se asonal va riations and critical condition s , t h e analy s is is bas e d o n t h e m a x 7 d a at(i .e ., the ma ximum we ekly a v era g e of the 7 day runnin g average of all monitored temper atures). Temperatur es are n o t limiting to ben eficial uses during the win t er p e rio d

.

27

### 3.4 INSTREAM HEAT TMDL- VAN AR SDAL E T O OU TLET CREEK

This sectio n descri b e s the anal ysis su ppo rti n g the calc ul ations of a TM DL and

asso cia t ed allo cat i on s to add r e ss the effe cts of hy dr ologi c al m o dif i cat i on on st ream temperatu r es for the se ctio n o f the Up per Main E e l b e tween Va n Arsdale and Outlet Creek. This strea m reach wa s selected for additiona l inquiry be cause stre am flow is diverted d u ring th e summer at Van Arsda l e. Given that flow is an imp o rta n t influen c e o n stream tempera t ure, EPA sou g ht to in ve stiga t e the extent an d importance of the te mperatu r e alte ration from the flow diversion. The m o delin g describe d below pred icts tha talterations in flo w wi ll alterdown strea m t e mperatu r e s under m a n ycondit ion s in the Up per Main E e l. In add i tion, EPA conclud e s t h at the strea m t e mperatu r e s l i ke lyto resul tf r om the n e w fl ow requ ire m ents fr o m the Jun e 2004 FERC orde r ar e like l y to re sultin a tta inmentof water qu ality stan dar d s. EPA’ s conclusion is b a sed upon a co mpar ison of a co nstru c tion of p o ssib le “natura l ”

s t r e am temper at ur es . Nat u r a l s t ream t e mper at ur es were not meas ur ed histo r ica l l y . Ba sed o n the an al ysi s , EP A developed a n instream heat T M DL and allocation s forthi s po rtion of th e Uppe r M a in Eel.

The Po tterValle y Proj ect = s influenc e on stream te mperature an d cold w a ter habitat is comple x. T e mpera t ures up str e a m of La ke Pill sbury a r e war m er (appro x im ately 22.5 E C at th e Rice Fork an d inlet a tL a ke Pillsbu ry) than th ose below Lake Pil l s b ury ( 1 8 E -20 E C), be ca use La ke Pillsbury str a tifi es and cool bo tto m wate r i s relea s ed in to the Eel during the summe r. Scot t Da m at La ke Pi l l sbury wh il e it provides summerco oling along thi s 12 mi le stretc h, als o bloc ks acc e ss to many mile s o f su mmerco ld waterhab i tat forst e e lhead, p l u s spawnin g habitat for ch inoo k and steelh e ad. The 12 m ile are a betwe en Lake Pillsb ury an d Va n Arsdale has significant summe r flow (100 cfs on ave r a ge) and this la rge blo c k of wate r re sists heating an d rem a ins appro x ima t ely 20 E C max7daat. After the diversion, where
appro x ima t ely 7 cfs was relea s ed at Van Arsda le un til the sum m er o f 2004, the strea m qu ickly he ats and was m e asured to be 24 E C a s a max7daat around Tomki and 27 E C by Ou tlet Creek und er the pre

- 20 04 sum m er flow r egime.

There are two po ssib le alteratio n s in te mp erature th at were no t con s idere d quantitat i vely in th is portion o f the analysis. F i r s t, th e st ream r e ach that is now Lak e P i llsbury likely had so me temperatu r e alteratio n from natural conditions. There is a lack o f in fo rmation re garding th e stream condition p r e-proje c t a n d Lake Pillsbury currently p r ovide s co ld water an d habitat for ra inbow trout and does not appear to be te mperature impa ired. Therefore, EPA did no t an alyze ch an ges in steam te m perature in this re ach rela ted to the project. Se cond, temperatu r e alteration s on th e stream reach between L a ke Pillsbu ry an d Van Arsdale w e re not modeled. EPA con c lu ded tha tthis a l tera ti on is ben eficia l to salmonid s, as it provides cooler strea m te m pera t ures and is like ly to continu e u n der a ll future
managem ent scenarios.

EPA = s analysis does not in clude an ana l ysis o f th e alt e ration in habitataccess by th e Potter Va lle y Project. To recall th e water qu ality stan dard - A Th e natural receiving water tem perature o f int r astate water s sh all no t b e altere d unless itcan be de mon s trated to t h e sa tisfaction of the Regiona l WaterBoa r d thatsu ch an alteration in tem pera t ure d o es not ad versely a ffe ct beneficia l uses. @ This TMDL is design ed to atta in th at wate r q u ality stan dard, and thus focu ses on ch an ges to

28strea m te mperatu r e s . Althoug h , both sp awning habitat for ch inook and rearing habitat fo r ste e lhead are b l ocke d by Scott Dam, it wo uld be be yond the scope o f the TMDL to analyze the overall benefits to sal m onid s of a na tur a l condit io n as compa r ed to conditio ns with th e Po tterV a lley pr oje c t. Th is is an imp o rta n t differen ce between this ana l ysis and othe r fo rums, such a s th e Endangered Sp ecies Actcon s ult a tion or FE RC pr oce e d ings co ncerning the Potter Valley Proj ect.

Reca ll that the a pplicable wa ter quality standard sta t es A natura l stream temperatu r es shall n o t be altered.... @ . EPA sought to determin e what wa s the rang e of A natural @ stream tempera t ures comp ared to bo th the me asu r ed tempe r ature s prior to su mmer 2004 and the tempera t ures p r edicte d under th e 2004 flo w requirements . The June 20 04 flow requir ements are an incre a se in sum m er flow
compa r ed to the con d ition s fro m the 19 2 0 s - 20 03. The t e mp erature s r e sultin g from tho s e flo w s n e e ded to be modeled a s the mon i toring re su lts were no t fully availa ble for th is ana l ysis.

There are many difficultie s in de termin ing the natura l strea m te mperatu r e s in the are a o f the Potter Valley Proj ect. The Potter Valle yProje c t d a tes fro m the 19 20’ s a n d almo stno info rmat io n regar d in g pre

- proj ect str e am cond iti o ns and temperatu r es w a s un cove red by EPA. A historian with the USFS who stu d ied the Mendo c ino National Forest re ported an ab sence of de tailed ethn ohistoric p e riod information about Gravelly Valley (n ow La ke Pil l sbu ry) ( S upern o wicz, 1 9 9 5 .) Therefo r e, the “natu r al” strea m temperatu r es u s ed fo r co mparison were m o deled using a wide rang e o f a ssu m p tions. Th ese po ssible A natural @ stream temperatures were then c o mpared to both the 19 75 -2 00 3 fl ow co ndition s an d the fl ow condi t ion s that are likely to resu lt from the June 20 04 FERC order.

The data a n d scenarios u s ed fo r co mparin g A natural @ stream temperatu r es with A al t e re d @ strea m temp eratures are a s follows:

1975- 200 3 - baseline conditions: This scena rio re presen ts flow and te mperatu r e condition s that ha ve been m o nitored in th e re cent p a st. Th e a v erage flo w belo w Van Ar sda l e was mo d e led a s 7 c fs base d o n USGS re cord s. Th e st artin g temperatu r e at Van Arsda le m o deled wa s 20.9 E C b a sed on te mperatu r e on th e max7 daat 20 03 mon i toring re su lts. Th e 19 75 -200 3 f l ow sc hedule did not v a ry between w a ter year types.

FERC/N MFS. This scen a rio repre s e n ts flow an d tem peratures cond itions proje c ted under th e 2004 FERC orde r. Th ree water year typ e s were mod e led. The

summe r flow sp ecifie d in the FE RC orderwas u s ed, along w i th the same 20.9 E C temperatu r e at Van Arsda le. E P A a ssu me d thatthe FERC/N MF S flows wo uld be at the cu rren toutlet te mperatu r e s . EPA did not ma ke adjustmen t s b e cau s e the FERC
proce eding s did no t resolve issu es regard in g the ava ilabi lit y o f currentco ol wat e r f r om Lake P ills b ury

. The s u mmer flows spec ified in t h e FERC or der ar e a s foll ows: Very Wet- 30 cfs

Wet - 15 cfs Dry - 9 cfs

29Natural S t ream te mperatur es

. To estimate natu ral strea m temperatu r es fro m Van Arsda l e to Outlet Cree k, EPA considered availa ble informa t ion on both natural flow and n a tural stream tem peratures at Van Arsdale. Data on unimpaire d (e.g. natural) flow were d e velo ped for the FE RC pro c eed ings an d provide d imp o rtant natural flo w assumpt i ons to EPA. The FE RC/NMFS water yeartyp e s are trigge red by a cu mul a tive in flo w to L a ke Pill sbury a s o f May 15, buta p r eci s e r e lat i onship between the actual trigger and the unimp ai red flow was no t a v ailable the r efore a review o f the unim p a i red flow record wa s used. Add i tiona lly, although tw o se ts of unimpaire d data are in existence, EPA was only ab le to a c quire the PG&E datase t during the time fra m e available. Tabl e 5 provide s a summary o f the flow a n d temperatu r e a ssum p tions used for these a n d all oth e r scenarios.

The othe r importan t assum p tio n con c ern s the startin g stream tempera t ure at Van Ar sda l e as so ciate d with the unimpai re d flow. W e cou l d n o t use the a v aila ble monito red temper atu r es at Van Arsda le be cause, as discussed below, th e s e temperatu r es h a ve b een altere d – in fa ct, lower ed – as a r e sult of the Po tter Valley P r oj ec t

. As t h e p r oj ec thas be en i n ex is t e nc e fo r near l ya c e ntury , no r e co r d ex is t s of na tural strea m te mperatu r e s . Thu s th e range o f starting te mperatu r e s m o dele d was in tend ed to rep r esent the largest po ssible ran g e and a discussion o f h o w ea ch lower (cooler) and up per (wa r m e r) b o und was g e nerated follow s. The low e r boun d is 22. 5 E C - which is the ave r ag e of the m a x7da at of the 2 primary tribu t aries above Lake Pil l s b ury - Eel a tthe inle t of La ke Pi ll sbury and Soda C r ee k. Thi s lo wer (coo lest) b o und scen ario a s sum e s th at th e str e am do es no t hea tdurin g its
appro x ima t e 20 mile flow fro m the Eel abo v e La ke Pi l l sbury t o V a n Ar sdale

. This lack o f d o wnstrea m heating, E P A con s ide r s p o ssib le althou gh with re serv ation s . T h e area b e tw een La ke Pillsbury an d Van Ar sd ale d o es h a ve b o th t o pogra p hic and vegeta t ion shad ing a n d co oler subsurface water a p p e ars to be presen t (Jahne,
person a l communi ca tions.) I ti s al so po ssible thatth e area of Hullvil le an d Gra v ell y Valle y (n o w Lake Pill sbury) wa s sig n ificant l y influ e nced b y subsurface flow . F o r examp l e, the FLI R (T hermal Infrared and Color Vid e o graph y ) monito ring of the nearby No rth Fork E e l Rive r ha s an area where th e river re em erges from the subsu rfa ce gra v el an d has cooled from le thal te mperatures by appro x ima t ely 4-6 E C to 21.3 E C. In ad ditio n , the Scott River coo l s b y 2-3  ̊ C ov er a dis t ance of 4.3 miles

as cooler g r ound wa ter em erge s at the do wnstrea m end o f th e alluvial Scott Valle y. The geo log i c sett ing o f Gra v el ly Valle y i s very si milar to that of Scot t Va lle y: a lar ge alluvial valley w i th a bedro c k ca nyon d o wn strea m . T h ese typ e s of va lle y setting s often create con d ition s where a significant volum e o f ground w a ter en ters the stream ch annel draining the valley ( M cF adin, per s o nal com m unicati on.)

Howe ver, both the s e exa m ple s provided coo ling on ly for a lim ited distan ce. EPA u s es this scenario to rep r esent the co olest po ssible na tural stream temper atu r e. Na tura l stream te mperatu r e s cooler th an this we re e x tre m e l y unlike l y an d EPAdo e s notha ve any infor m atio n on larger streams that cool as they flow down strea m forsig n if icantdis t anc e s, withou t th e influence of significant cool tributa ry inflow or co oler coa s ta l airte mpe r ature s

. The uppe r bound (w a r mest) p o ssible A natu ral @ strea m temp erature scenario was d e ve lo ped to re flect so me d o wnstre am stream he ating a s follows. EPA used

30the mo deled rea c h b e tween T o mki Cree k and Out l etcre e kas a surr ogate of th e upstre am channel. T h e current channel m o rphology between L a ke Pillsbu ry an d Van Arsda l e has been chang ed b ythe hydrolog ical m o dification and sedim e nt filling around Va n Arsdale, thus th e te mperatu r e s a sso cia t e d with this portion of the channel are not rep r esenta tive of th e na tu ral condition. The upper bound scenario

accoun ts fo r the re si stanc e t o heating of increa se s i n the bulk of wa ter ( 1 0 c fs, 20

c fs and 50 c fs) with a s t ream in a s i m ila r climate and geograph y . The d i stance used w a s 20 miles (the approximate amountof stream inundated by Lake Pillsbury plus the distance fro m Lake Pillsbury to Van Arsdale

. ) E P A be lieves this to be the
warmest stream tem perature s likely for th e rea c h b e t ween Van Arsdale a n d Outlet Creek. Th e rate o f stream h e ating is ch ara c teristic of a less sha ded strea m than would likely e x ist, plu s the river flow s gen e r ally nort h / south in t h e mod e le d rea c h, whereas th e A natural @ channe l g e nerally flo w s ea st/w est. For th ese reason s, EPA modeled these temp erature s a s the upp e r bound (w armest) na tural strea m temper atu r es. This a l so a c count s somewh at for na tu ral varia t io ns in st rea m temperatu r e b ywate r yea r type

.

The fo llow i ng tab l e summarizes the scena r ios de scribed ab ove :



### Table 5: Flow and temperature assumptions for Van Arsdale to Outlet Creek scenarios

YEAR TYPE 1975- 200 3 FERC/N MFS Natural - lower Natural - Upper

CFS E C at Va n Arsdale CFS E C at Va n Arsdale CFS E C at Va n Arsdale CFS E C at Va n Arsdale

DRY 7 20.9 E 9 20.9 E 10 22.5 ° 10 25C

WET 7 20.9 E 15 20.9 E 20 22.5 E 20 24.3 C

VERY WET 7 20.9 E 30 20.9 E 50 & 60 22.5 E 50 23.5 C

Using the i n forma t ion in th e ta bl e abo v e, the re sulta n t tem peratures in the reach betw een Van Arsdale and Outlet Cre e k we re predicted by modeling.

31Mode ling r e sult s a r e availa ble for the th ree y e ar ty pes anal yz ed -

- dry
, wet and v e ry we t

. De t a il e d re s u lt s f r o m t h e dry y e ar sc enar i o s ar e p r e s e n t e d i n Append i x A. In dry years, the model pr e d icts th at there are n o tem perature alteration s associated with the flow scena r ios. The f l ow condi t i o ns fordryyear s range o n ly slightly be tween 7 a n d 10 cfs. Thus the dry year re sults are n o t used in calcu l atin g the T M DL and alloca tions.

For w e t an d ve ry wetyear s, th e mode lin g r e s u lt s demo ns tr at e al t e r a ti o n to strea m temperatu r es and so w e t and very wetyear s w e re used in ca lcu l ating thi s TMDL com p onent. Figure 4 summarizes the res u lts of di ffe r entf l o w and nat u r a l st r e am temperatu r e scenario s for w e t years. Increased flow decreases downstrea m temperatu r es, how e ver, this b e n efit of in creased flo w become s m i nima l past Twin Brid ges Creek. In ad dition, stre am te mperatures are warm (> 24°C a s a max7daat) under a ll scenarios, j u st p a st T o mki Cree k. This is in the rang e of strea m temper atu r es wh ich will cau s e some mo rt ality to juvenile sal m onids gi ve n thatthe max7daat metric indicate s sustained tem per atures of >2 4°C. These con d ition s a r e predicted under b o th the coo l est po ssible natural co ndition s an d the warmer possibl e n a tural con d ition s an d all manag e ment sce n arios. Th e June 2004 flow require m e n ts a r e p r e d icte d to p r ovide th e coolest po ssible stre am te mperatures. Importantly, the Jun e 2004 flo w require m en ts are in the rang e of po ssib le natu ral
strea m te mperatu r e s . The r efo r e, the Jun e 20 04 f l ow requirements will lik ely attain water qu ality stan dards.
Figure 5, shows the modeling results for very wet years. In contrast to the dry and w e t years, these large r chan ges in flo w are predicted to re sult in a reduction in stream tempera t ures for the entire stre am rea c h modeled - down to Outlet Cre e k. C o mp ared to th e flo w s prio r to 2004, very wet year flow s u n der th e current flo w regime are pr edicted to re sult in temp e r ature red u ction s over the entire st re am rea c h. Also durin g ve ry wetyear s, th e June 2004 flo w re quirement s are predicted to re sult in a ppr oximately tw o kilom e te rs o f the st ream less than 22  ̊ C.
However, for m o st of the strea m rea c h, even though strea m te mperatu r e s are pr edi ct ed to be lo wered un d e r in crea se d fl ow, str e am t e mp erature s w ill n o t normal ly r e sult in ab undant ju venile popu l a tions. Mo st o f the m a in Eel bet ween Tomki Cre e k and Outlet Creek is predicted to be wa rmer th an 24  ̊ C as a m a x 7 d a a t

. The literature su gge sts th at th e s e tempe r atures will cause som e mortality and a r e above the strea m te mperatu r e s a sso cia t e d with pre s ence o f steelhead in the field. B a se d o n EP A ’ s r e v i ew o f t h e l i t e r at ur e o n j u v e ni l e re ar i n g and t e m p e r atur e s , gi v e n that the area has small refugia population s, lowe ring of stream temperatu r es is considere d to be ben eficial. This ben efit is in a dditio n to the be nefit in the two kilo mete rs less than 22  ̊ C b e lo w Van Arsdale. Again these wa rm te mperatures were like ly natural, a s in dica ted by the pre d ict i ons o f the natu ral scenarios. Therefo r e, the June 2004 flow require m en ts a r e p r ed icted to attain wate r quality standar d s.

32<<<This page left intentionally blan k for insert of Figures 4&5 – Line graph s of strea m tempera t ures for U pper Main Eel>>>

33

### 3.4.1 Selection of Scenario Co rres p onding to Water Quality Standards

EPA is usin g the 2004 FERC/ N MF S flow sch edule to ca lculat e th e instream heat TM DLforthe s t r e am r e ach of Van Ar s d ale to Ou tlet C r ee k. The TMD L is calcu l ate d using both wet an d very w e t ye ars. E P Afound tha t the cu rren t FERC/N MF S su mmerflow sched u le l i ke ly r e sult s in st ream temp erature s cooler or nearly equ al to the p o ssible nat u ral strea m te mpera t ures. This me ans th at the FERC/N MFS flow sch edule is projected to attain w a t e r qua lit y standar d s.



### 3.4.2 Wa ter Quality Indica tors: Va n Arsdale to Outlet Creek

Stream te mperatu r e monitorin g can be u s ed a s a w a ter qu ality ind i ca tor to determ i ne if th e T M D L is mee t in g water qu ality stand a rds. Te m perature monito ring at f r om 19 99 -200 3 res u lted in an a v erag e ma x7da a tof 26.7 E C. T h e r e wa s

s i gnif ic ant v a ri ati o n due to y e arlydif feren ces in wea t her and po ssibly mon i tor place m ent (25. 8 E , 26. 8 E , 26. 5 E , 26.9 E , and 27.7 E C.) Within this natural va riation, the St ate will n eed t o co nsider using a co mplete setof informa t ion to a s sure that
strea m t e mperatu r e moni torin g is viewe d in ligh to f me tero lo gy, flow an d st artin g temperatu r es at Van Arsda le. The mod e l pred ict s t h at gi ven simila r m e t e rolo gica l condition s the strea m temp eratures at w ill be a ppro x imately 26 E C during wet years and 24.4 E C during very w e t ye ars. 

### 3.4.3 Instream Heat Loading Capa city and TMDL – Van Arsdale to Outlet Creek

Under E P Aregul a tion s, the Tota l Ma ximu m Dail y L o a d is A the sum of the indiv i dual Waste l oad alloc a tion s , forpoin t sour ces an d Load all o cation s fornonpo i nt

sources an d natural background. @ The r e gul a t i o n s gov e r n i n g TM D L de v e lo p m e n t provide for the exp r e ssion o f T M DLs as A e i ther mass per tim e , toxicit yor other
approp riate mea s ure s

. @ ( 40CF R1 30.2 ( h))

. EPAi s e s tabl ish i ng the T M DL for the portion o f the Up per Main E e l b e tween Va n Arsdale and Outlet Cree k in terms of instr e am h e at ( i n BT Us.) This TMDL is ca lculat ed to addre s s h e at in puts from changes in instream heat tha tr e sultfr om hydro l ogical mo difica tions as w e ll a s solar radiation. This com p onent o f th e TMDLis expre s sed in to tal BT Us and is referred to as th e in stream h e at loading ca pacity. T h e TMDLis calcula t ed usin g the FERC/N MF S flow regime, which was d e ter m ined to a ttain wa terquality st andards. The instre am BTU T M DL is app licab le at stream sam p ling poin t#56 for b o th wet and ve ry wet year types.

TMDL Very Wet Year = 4.19 E+10 Total BT Us

TMDL W e t Year = 2.63 E+10 tota l BTUs

This t o tal heat load is de rived from the st ream h e at (in BTUs) for the stre am sampling p o int # 56. It is th e t o tal hea t co ntained within tha tp o rtion of t h e st ream reach fort h e ma x7d aat pe riod. The TMD L calcula t ion assume s the FE RC/NMFS flo w regime. T hus, if the flow or te mperatu r e sat Van Arsdale are si gnificantly different than assu med, the T M DL, and water qu ality stan dards a r e no t like l y to be attain ed.

34

### 3.4.4 Ins t ream Heat Alloc a tion - Van Arsdale to O u t l et Creek

In accord a n ce w i th E P A regula tions, the lo ading capa city (i.e. th e TMDL ) is allocated t o the var i o u s sour ces of heatin the wate rshed, with a marg in o f safet y

. As there are no point sources in this strea m rea c h, the wastelo a d alloca tion is set a t

zero and the TMDL equals allocations for no npoint sources, plu s natu ral sources. EPA is allo cating the TMDL a t b e tween th e Po tterV a lley Proje c t an d the other cumulat i v e sour ce s o f str e am he ating a l on g the st rea m rea c h b e tween Va n Ar sdale and . Thes e other cumulativ e s o urc e s ar e primarily so lar radiation an d tributary inflow. EPA al so exp r esses the solarrad i a t ion input s in Sect ion 3.3.2. Th e calcu l ation was fro m the mo del given the total BTU s from stre a m sa mplin g poin t 1 (Van Arsd a l e) for the Potter Valley Proj ect. This a m o unt was th en sub t ra cted from the to tal BTUs atstre am sa mpling poin t # 56. The lo ad alloca tion fo r “ o th er cumulat i v e sour ce s” i n cludin g t h e so larra diation inh e rentl yin cl udes the 5 0 % shade allocation.

TMDL Very Wet Year = 4.91 E+10 Total BT Us

4

. 32 E+10 P o tter V a lley Proje c t L o ad Allocation

+ 0.6 0 E+ 10 othe r c u mulati ve sour ce o f s t ream heat ing at

Load A llo cation

TMDL Wet Year =

2.63 E+10 tota l BTUs Load Allocation Pot t e r Valley Pr oject

+ 0.4 6 E+ 10 othe r c u mulati ve sour ces of strea m he ating a t 

### 3.4.5 Margin of Safety

Under E P A regulation s, a margin of sa fety can be provide d b y explicitly

reserv ing a port ion o f the avail a ble loadi n g ca paci ty or in clud ed imp licitl yt h rough analytical assumptions within the TMDL a n alysis. For the stre am rea c h between Van Arsda l e and Outlet Cre e k, EPA ha s in cluded the followin g conserva tive

assum p tio n s in the T M DL ana l y s is. In an alyz ing p o ssi ble A natural @ stre a m temperatu r es, E P A in cluded a lo w (cold) a n d high (w arm) rang e by which to
compa r e current stre am te mperatures. In fa ct, the FERC/NMFS flo w re gime on which the TMDL is ca lculated is clo s est to the co oler possible n a tural stre am temperatu r es.



### 3.4.6 Se asonal Variation and Critical Conditions

In ac cord a n ce w i th E P A regula ti ons, the T M DL must accoun t fo r se asona l variation s and critical cond itions. In th e U pper Main Eel wate rshed, the summer period de fines th e critical pe riod when stre am temperatures are mo stli kel yto h a ve adver s e im pact s on b e nefi cial u s es (y oung salmonid s grow ing in the strea m s b e fo re migrating to the ocea n). To account for se asonal va riations and critical condition s , t h e analy s is is bas e d o n t h e m a x 7 d a at(i .e ., the ma ximum we ekly a v era g e of the 7 day runnin g average of all monitored temper atures). In addition, the T M DL set for the Van Ar sdale to O u tlet C r ee k str e am re ach spe c ifically considered 3 different
year typ e s in o r dert o accountfor variab le hydr olog ical condit io ns.

35

## CHAPTER 4 – SEDIMENT TMDL

Summary

This chapter presen ts analysis suppo rt i n g t h e s e di me ntTMD L fo r t h e U p pe r Main E e l Ri ver. The fi rst se ction ident i fies water qu al ity indi cato rs, whi c h a r e interpr e tat i ons of the waterqua lity standa rds. These ind i cators can also be used to evaluate stream an d watersh ed condition s and progre ss toward or a c hie v e m ent o f the TM DL. The sec o n d se cti o n o f thi s chap ter summa rize s the r e sult s of t h e sediment source analysis. Th e third sectio n pre s ents the calculations o f the TMDL. The TMDL is the total load ing of sed i ment that the U pper Main Eel Rive r a n d its tributa r ie s can rece ive with out exce eding water qu ality stan dards. Th is third section also in clude s the distrib u tion of th e total loa d amon g the majo r categories of sedimen tsou r ce s in the wa te rshed, i.e., the a llo ca tions.

The se dim e nt s o urc e analy s i s fo r the Upp e r Eel R i ve r con d uct e d by Pa ci fi c Water s hed Asso ciate s ( P WA ) a n d the United S t ate s Fore st Serv ice (U SFS ) concluded that 33 pe rcent of to tal sedime nt load was related to human activity. Sediment production from hu man disturba nce a ppe ars to b e a sso ciated primarily with road condition s and timber harvest. Hu man-related sedim e nt de livery ra tes are higher on private lands than on pu bl ic lands

. M o st of the natural l y c a us ed sediment-delivery w a s from la ndslides, wh ich ha ve a h i gher rate of delivery on public lan d s than on priva t e lan d s. Althou gh USFS la nds ha d a higher rate of landsl ide s than pr ivat e land s, pu blic land s have a sm allerrate a sso ciat ed with human cau s es. The results sug gest that the Upp e r E e l Rive r wa tershe d is less distu r bed by hum an cause d se diment tha n mo st oth e r wate rsh eds stud ie d in the North C o a s t, pr obably due to th e limite d managem ent a c tivity in the ba sin.



### 4. 1 WA T E R QU A L IT Y IN DI CA TORS A N D TARGETS

Indica tors and targets can be u s ed to represent atta inment w i th Ba sin Pla n objectives . This s e ction identifies nume r i c wat e r qual i t y i n di c a to r s and target s specific to the Up per Main E e l Ri ver. Be ca use o f com p lex i tie s a sso ciat ed with the effe cts o f increa sed sedimen t lo ading on stream water qua lity, surrog a te instrea m and wate rshed ind i ca tors are u s ed to e v aluate quan tifiab le Ba sin Plan obj e ctives. For each in dicator, a numeric o rqualitative targ et va lue is identified to de fine the desir ed co ndition for that in dica tor.

Because of the inherent variability as soc i ated with stream c h annel conditions
, and be cau s e no single ind i cator applies at all p o ints in the strea m system, attainm e nt of the targets is inte nded to be eva l uated usin g a w e ight-of-e v idence
approa ch. That is, w h en con s id ered to gether, the in dicato rs are expected to provide go od e v iden ce of the co ndition o f the stream and atta in ment o f w a ter quality sta n dards.

Instrea m i n dicat o rs r e fle c t sed i ment cond ition s tha tsupport he althy sa lm onid habitat. T h ey relate to in stre a m se dim e n tsup p ly a n d dep osition and are imp o rtant becau se th ey are d i re ct measu r es o f strea m “hea lth.” In add i tion to in stream indica tor s , we ar e in cluding wat e rshed ind i cator s in t h is T M DLb e cause wa tershe d indica tor s focus on im minentthr e ats to w a ter qua lit y that can b e det ecte d and

36corre cte d before sediment is actuallyde livered to the stream, a n d be cause watersh ed indica tors are o f ten e a sier to m e asure tha n instream indicato rs. These watersh ed indica tor s are e s tab l ished to ide n tify conditions in th e water s he d

necessary to pr ote c t water qu ality. They are set at levels a s sociated with wellfunctioning watersheds.

Water s hed indicato rs refle c tcon d ition s in t h e water s h ed atthe time o f

measurem ent, where a s in strea m ind i cato rs can take yea r s or decade s to respond to change s in the wa ter s hed. Spe c ifica lly, ti me la gs be tween sediment p r od uction and delivery m a ke it d i fficult to predict when an d how a stream w ill respond to sediment loading. A l so, wa ter s hed ind i ca t o rs tend to reflect l o cal condit io ns, wherea s instr e am i n dicat o rs o f ten ref l ec t upst ream watersh ed condi t ion s as we ll a s l o cal condition s . Thus, watershed in dicators help to id entify cond itio ns in the w a tersh ed that will prevent wate r quality from de teri o r ating. Ult i mately, b o th in stre a m and watersh ed indica tors are ap prop riate to us e in describing th e attainment o f wate r quality sta n dards. W h ile the in dicators are not directly enfo rce a ble by E P A, the turbid ity in dicat o r u s e s lan g uage si mila r to the Basin Plan turbi d ity waterq u ality objective, which is e n forceable by th e NC RWQC B. 

### 4.1.1 Summary of In d i cators and Targets

This sectio n describe s seve ral sedimen tin dicators fo r the Uppe r Eel River TMDL. Ta ble 6 sum m arize s th e ind i cators along w i th their target, de scription and
purpose. Very li ttle i n forma t ion is ava ilab l e o n c u r r entv a l u e s of t h e i n di cat o r s i n the wate rshed; how e ver, ane c d o tal info rm ation sugg ests tha tthe watersh ed ma y be in relatively go od condition when co m p ared to other No rth Coast basins, although some subw atersh eds may ha ve greater se diment pro b lem s (D. Leland,
person a l c o mmuni ca tion, 20 03 ). R egiona l Wat e r Bo ard staff h a ve a l so d e velo ped ad d i t i o n al info r m at i o n and de t a il o n e a c h of t h es e i n di c a t o r s i n de v e l o p i ng imple m ent a tion plan s foroth e r North C o a s t T M DLs ( N CRWQC B , 2002). E P A
expe cts th at fut u re monito ring of the s e i n dicat o rs will pro v id e add i tiona l in forma t i o n to a sse ss whether th e water qu ality stand a rds are b e ing a ttain ed and wh ether the TMDL is effect ive in meetin g w a ter qu alit y standar d s.

37

### Table 6. Sediment In dicators and Targets

IND I CATOR TARGET DES C RI PT I O N PUR P O S E

Instre am Spawning Grav el Quali t y <14% < 0. 85 m m

< 30% < 6. 4 mm ; Bulksamp le s d u r i ng lo w-f l o w per i o d
, at ri ffle hea d s in potenti a l spa w ni ng

re ac he s. Di sc us si on of i n di cators an d targets by Kondol f (2000), C h apma n ( 1988)

. Indi rect measure of fi ne sed i m e n tco n t ent r e la tiv e to i n cubati on a n d fry emergence from the redd. Indirect measu r e of ability of sal m o n ids to c o nstr uc t redds

Tur b id itya n d Suspended Sedime nt Tur b id ity < 20% above naturally

occurr ing background (also i n cl u d e d in B a si n Plan ) Measured up stream and downstr e a m of sediment d i scharging acti vity or between “p ai red”
water s hed s or reference strea m s. Indi rect measure of fi sh feedi n g/gr o w th abil ityr e la ted to sed i m e n t , and impa ct s from
manag e m e n ta c t i vi ti es

Riff le Embeddedn ess < 25% or i m pr ovi n g (decreasi n g ) tr end toward 25% Estimated visual l ya tri ffle heads where spawn i n g is l i ke ly, d u ri ng l o w- f l ow pe r i od ( F l o si etal 1 998) Indire ct me asu r e of spawn i ng support; impro v ed quality & size di st ri b u ti on of spawni ng grav el

V* < 0. 21 R e s i d u al poo l vol u m e

. Me as ur e duri ng l o w-f l o w peri od. (L i s le and Hi lt on 1992) Estimate of sedi ment fil l i n g o f pools from d i s t urbanc e

Macroi nvert e br ate

com m un i t y compo s i t io n Improving tren ds EPT, Ri ch ne ss & % Dom i na ntTaxa ind i c e s. M e t h ods shou ld fol l o w CD FG- W PCL ( 1 996) or re fi ne d

me thods curre ntly und er dev e lo p m ent , i n cl udi n g US FS lo ca l

me thods

. Estimate of salmoni d food

av ailab i li ty , ind i r e c te s t i m a t e o f sed i m e n tqua l i t y.

Thalw e g profile Increa sing variation from the mean Measured in depo si tion r e ac he s duri ng l o w-f l o w peri od. E s tim a te of i m provi n g h a bi t a t

co mp lex i ty& a v ailab i l i t y

Pool / r i ffle distrib u tion & depth of pool s Increa si ng tr en d toward >40% i n primary pools Trend or greater tha n % (by leng th ), mea s u r ed lo w-f l o w p e r i o d

. E s tim a te s i m provi n g h a bi t a t

av ailab i li ty

Watersh e d I n dicat o rs

Div e rs ion pot e ntial & strea m cros s i ng fa ilur e po t e n t ia l < 1% c r os si n g s i n 100 yr s t orm Co nduc t ro ad i n v e n t o ryto id e n tify and fi x strea m crossi ng prob l e ms ( W e a ve r and Hagans 1994)

. Se e U S DA ( 1999) R o ads Anal y s is for

asse ss ing road network

. E s tim a te s poten t ial for re duc e d ri sk of sed i ment del i v ery from hi ll slop e sour c e s to the
water c ourse

Hydrol ogic

co nn ec tiv i tyo f roads D e c r e a si ng l e ng t h of road Co nduc t ro ad i n v e n t o ryto id e n tify and fi x road drai nag e probl e ms ( W e a ve r and Hagans 1994)

. E s tim a te s poten t ial for re duc e d ri sk of sed i ment del i v ery from hi ll slop e sour c e s to the
water c ourse

Annua l road insp ec t i o n & correcti o n Increa sed mi le age insp ected a n d corrected Roads in spec te d and ma in tai n ed, or deco mmi s si o n ed or hydrol ogicall y clo s ed pr io r to win t er - No mig r atio n barri ers. E s tim a te s poten t ial for re duc e d ri sk of sed i ment del i v ery from hi ll slop e sour c e s to the
water c ourse

Ro ad lo cat i o n , sid e ca st R e du c e de ns it y n e x t to str e am , incr eas e d % outsloped See t e xt

. Min i miz e sed i men tde l i very

Activities in

uns tabl e area s Avoi d and / or /e li mi nat e Subjec t to g e o l o g ica l /g eo t e ch nica l

asse ss me nt to mi ni mi ze de l i very and/ or show t h atno increa sed deli very woul d resul t Mi nimi z e sed i ment deli very from
manag e m e n ta c t i vi ti es

38

### 4.1.2 Instream Indicators
Spawning Gravel Quality : Percent Fines <0.85 mm: ≤ 14%; Percent Fines <6.4 mm ≤ 30%

Stream bed gra v els na turally con s ist o f a ra nge o f pa rticle size s from finer clayand s a nd to c o a r serco bble s and bo ulders

. Kondolf (200 0) des c r ibed how variou s gravel sizes and mi xtures can influence diffe r ent salm o n id life sta ges includ ing redd construction, eg g in cubatio n and a l evin emergen ce. In add i tion, spaces between clea n cob b le s provide im portant co ver for sa lmonid and other fry at

a cr iti c al a n d vul n era b le t i me in theirl i fe h i sto ry. Th e per centf i nes <0.8 5 mm is define d a s the pe rcen tage o f su bsurface fine materia l in poo l ta il-outs < 0

. 8 5 mm in diameter. These indicators an d targe t s re presen t ad equate spa w ning, in cubation, and em erg e nce cond itions re lative to substr ate co mp osit ion. E x ce ss fin e sedi ment can d e cre a se wa ter flow thro ug h salmon r edds and sufficient w a ter flow is critical for mainta ining ad eq uate o xyg en le vels a n d rem o ving metabo lic wastes. De posits of th ese finer sedim e nts can also p r event the recently ha tche d fry from e m ergin g from the redds, resu lting in entrapment. Monitoring shou ld b e condu c ted by bu lk sampl i ng d u ring low- f l ow pe rio d s atthe he ads of riff l e s in po ten t ial spawn i ng reache s. T h e targ et o f 

### ≤ 30 % fo r particles less than 6.4 mm s i zes is bas e d on litera t ure r e lating s i z e cl as s surv iva l t o e m ergen ce (summ a riz ed in Chap man 1 9 88, and Kondolf, 2000).

DFG Strea m Invento ry Repo rt for W illi ts C r eek (on t h e gol f cou r se in th e Broo ktr a ils Commun i t ySe rvice Dist rict) re ported tha t5 sites w e re samp le d fo r percen t fin e s u s ing a McNe il gra v el sam p le r. The sa mple s are then wet sieved to determ i ne their size class. All of the sa m p les we re gr eater than 15% fine, with a comb ined sampl e m e an of 2 4 %

. This ind i cate s tha t fine sed i m e nt i s a pr oblem in Willi ts Cre e k; h o wever, thi s ur banized la nd use i s n o t t y pi cal of th e wat e rshed (CDFG, 19 91). 

### Turbidity and Sus p ended Sediment : <20% above naturally occurring background levels

Turbidi t y i s a mea s ur e of the ab ilit y o f ligh tto shin e t h rough wa ter (w ith greater tur b idit y indicating that more mate rial is in th e water blocking t h e light). Although turbidity le vels can b e ele v ate d by b o th se diment an d orga nic material, in Califo r nia’ s North Coa s t, strea m turbid ity le vel s ten d t o be highl ycor r ela t ed with
suspen ded sed i ment. High turb idity in a st ream affe cts fi sh by reduci ng vi sibi lit y, which may resu lt in reduced fe e d ing an d g r owth. The dele t eriou s e ffe cts o n salm onid s were foun d notonl y to be a fun c tion o f c o ncentra t io n of fin e p a rtic les bu t also a func tion of the duration o f exp o sur e . S i gle r et al ( 1 9 8 4 ) fo und a s l i t t le a s 25 NTUs of tu rbidity cau s ed redu ce d fish grow th. The No rth Coa s t Basin Plan presen tly stipu l ates that turbidity shall not be increa sed more than 20 p e rcent abo v e naturall y o ccur r ing b a ckg r ound levels b y an indi vidu al acti vit y . Thi s in di cator should be measured during and followin g winter sto r m flows, a n d upstrea m and downstrea m of a ma nagement activity to compa r e changes in the turbidity leve ls that ar e likely attr ibut able to th a tactivity. Inform atio n shou ld in clude both the magnitud e and du ration of eleva t ed tu rbid ity leve ls.

39Eel Rive r water is kn own fo r its high turbidity. Se ve ral fact ors contr i bute to this water qualit y p r o b lem. Dur i ng high d i scharge e v ents, hea v y su spen d ed sediment loads create turb id co ndition s

. I n the Uppe r Eel River, high turbidity leve ls in la te fa ll and winter are also attr ib utable to t h e con t inu a l su spen si on of
montmo rillionite clays (U SFS, 1995).

The water in Lake Pillsbury is tu rbid throu g h mu ch o f the year due to su ch fine-g raine d cl ay s tha tare wash ed int o th e lake (U SFS, 1995). These cla y s ar e weathered fro m volcanic bedro c k genera l ly lo cated a l ong the Rice Fork (Brooks, et al., 19 84 ). Thei r sett ling rate s varydep e n ding on l a ke wa ter chemi s try, spe c i f ic all y sodiu m , ca lcium, and pH, in a d d i tion to the shap e and manage m e nt o f th e

reserv oir. Lake Pillsb ury d i scha rges the m o st turbid water du ring the fall when the l a k e l e v e l is lowest. Duri ng the wi nter mo nt hs , t h e res e rv o i r is r e f i l l e d wi th t u r b id
water fro m the surr ou nding t r ibu t arie s. Aft e r some se ttling o ccu rs, the dee p water is often di sturbed in t h e sp ringt i me a s cold waterfr o m the tri b utarie s d r a i ns into the la ke, slipping belo w the w a rmer surface waters. Then, in th e warm er months, the de eper waters o f the la ke te nd to have high pH values, wh ich keep so me o f th e clay s in su spens i on. Bec a use s o me cla y s do ten d t o sett le, the r e is gen era lly a slow clearing of the deep waters during the su mmer mon t hs. The tu rbidity levels in La ke Pill sbury i m pact the downst rea m rea c he s of th e Up p e r Eel Rive r due to th e discharge of highly turbid deep waters fro m Scott D a m, esp e cially durin g the fall months when the water l e v e l is low (USF S, 19 95 ).



### Riffle Embeddedn ess : <25% or improving (decreasing) trend

Embedde d n ess is a measure o f fine sed i ment th at surroun ds and pa cks-in
grave l s. A heavily e m bedde d riffle sectio n may limit the ability o f an ad ult female fish to con s tru c t a re dd. Wh en constructin g its redd, generally a ta p ool tail-out (or the head of a riffle), the sp awning fish essentially slaps its tail agai ns t the c h annel botto m, w h ich lifts u n embedd e d gra v els a n d rem o ve s some of the fine se diment. This p r oc e ss resu lt s i n a p ile of cleane r an d more p e rmeable gravel, wh ich is mo re suited to n u rturing th e egg s. E m bedde d grave l s do not gen era lly lift easily, which
preven ts spawning fish from bu ilding the i r redd s. Flosi et al. (1998) su g gest that
grave l s th at are le ss than 25% embe dde d are pre fe rred for sp awning. T h is targe t should be estimated during the low-flow p e riod, gen erally at riffle h e ads, in potential spawning reaches.

Embedde d n ess is me asured as part of the CDFG stre am in ventory prog ra m. Resu lts fro m va riou s strea m in ventory re p o rts are presente d in Table 7. O v erall, the re sults indicate very few of the me asu r ed strea m s were d o minated b ypo ol tailouts that were less than 25% e m bedde d. To fully a s sess th is indicator, follow-u p studie s are requi r ed a tthe sa me lo cation s t o cha r act e rize the tre n d in each strea m

. Additionally, more re cent stud ie s re ported the pe rcen t of po ol ta il ou ts cate gorized

as un suita b le du e to the presen ce o f bould e rs, b edro c k, o r sediment too small for spawning. As with m o st of the other cate gorie s , the resu lts va ry d epend i ng on the
strea m sa mpled, w i t h so me str e ams s c ori n g poo r ly ( unsuitab l e or hig h lyu n suitab le for spawn i ng) and others scorin g well (less em bedd e d stream s that are m o re suitab le fo r sp awning ).

40

### Table 7. Measures of Embeddedne ss in the Upper Eel River B a sin

Percent E m be dd ed Water b o d y Na me Number of Pool Tail- Outs Measured < 2 5 % 26- 50% 51- 75% 76- 10 0% Unsuit able for Sp aw nin g A l der Creek 75 8% 57% 49% Not reporte d Baechtel Creek 436 3% 17% 13% 67% Not reporte d Bear Pen Canyon Creek 13 0% 31% 69% 0% Not reporte d
Benmore Creek 51 6% 25% 27% 6% 10%
Bl oody Run Creek 182 9% 49% 14% 28% Not reporte d
Broaddus Cre e k 131 30% 18% 25% 26% Not reporte d
Cave Creek 55 15% 38% 24% 2% 22% Cherry Creek 144 4% 33% 24% 39% Not reporte d
Haehl Creek 121 1% 28% 1% 59% Not reporte d Long V a l l e y Creek 373 0% 24% 46% 30% Not reporte d Outl et Creek 164 9% 27% 32% 32% Not reporte d Ryan Creek 99 53% 22% 2% 23% Not reporte d
S t ri ng Creek 107 14% 42% 30% 14% Not reporte d Tomki Creek 133 21% 33% 8% 4% 34% Unnamed Tri b utary #1 to Cave Creek 1 0 5 0 % 3 0 % 0 % 0 % 2 0 %

Unnamed Tri b utary #2 to Cave Creek 4 0 % 2 5 % 2 5 % 0 % 5 0 %

Unnamed Tri b utary #3 to Cave Creek 4 0 % 2 5 % 7 5 % 0 % 0 %

Wi lli ts Creek 27 15% 30% 37% 18% Not reporte d

Sourc e s : Cal i forni a De partme ntof Fis h and Gam e St re am Inve nt ory R e p o rt s , 1991- 1998.



### V* <0.21 (Franciscan geology)

V* is a m e asure of th e fra c t i on of a poo l ’ s volum e th at i s fill ed by fine sediment, and rep r esents the in -channel supply of m o bile bed lo ad se dim e nt (Lisle and Hilt on 1992). Th is is notan appro p ria t e too l foru s e in la rge rivers, butin large rivers y s t e m s, i ti s su itable fo r u s e in tr ibut aries. Li sl e and H ilto n (1 99 2) d e scr ibe method s for m o nito ring, which should be condu c ted during low

- flow perio ds an d the targetof le ss than 0. 21 (Fra nci scan geo lo gy) is ba se d on Kn op p (1 9 93). V* quantifies the qua lity of the poo l habitat; wh en le ss of a poo l is fi lled (a lo wer po ol volum e ) it is coo l er a n d dee per, offerin g p r otection fr om pr edat o rs, a fo od sour ce, and a resting location

.



### Macroinvertebrate Communit y Co mpositio n : Improving trends in EPT, % dominant taxa and species richness indices

Benthic m a croin v ertebrate pop u lation s a r e grea tly influen c ed by wa ter qualit y an d are often adve rse l y affe cted b ye x ce ss f i ne se dime nt. Thi s T M DL

reco mmen d s sev e ral indic e s be calcu l ate d , fol l owin g t h e CDFG WaterPo ll ution Control La borato ry S t ream Bioa sse ss mentPr ocedu re s ( 1 9 9 6 ) u n til ref i ned indi ce s

are a v aila b l e. Altern a t ive l y, m e thods that are gen era lly con s iste nt with the CDFG

41proce d ure s may be ut ilize d , su ch as tho s e emplo y ed by U S FS (http://ww w .usu.edu/buglab / ).

1. EPT Inde x. The EPT I n dex is the number o f spe c ie s w i thin the orders Ephemero ptera , Ple c optera , and Trichoptera (E PT), more co m m only kn o w n as mayflie s, stoneflie s a n d ca ddisflies. Th ese organ i sm s require h i gher leve ls of
water qu ality and respond rapid l y to impro v ing or de grading co ndition s

. 2. Percent Do minant T a xa. This in dex is ca lculated by dividing th e numbe r of organisms in the mo st abundan t taxa b yth e total nu mber of organism s in the sample. C o lle ction s dominated by one ta xa gen erally re pre s en t a d i sturb ed ecosystem

. 3. Richn e ss I n dex. This is the tota l numb e r o f ta xa represente d in the sample

. Higher d i versity can indicate be tter w a ter quality.

One USFS bioasse s sment sam p ling lo cation was id e n tified in the watersh ed (loc ation R5 B I O-001 on Bear Creek ). Two different h a bitats a tthis site we re

s a m p le d twi c e i n 2 0 0 1 ( J une 12 and J une 22 )

. The EPT I n d e x c a l c ul at ed f r o m t h es e sampl i ng e v ents v a rie d fr om 20

- 27.and the taxa ri chn e ss va ried from 4 1

- 5 4. The
percen td o minant taxa cou l d n o t be calculated from the data re ported. 

### Thalweg Profile : I n creasing variation of ele v ation around the mean slope

Variet y an d co mple xi ty in hab i t a t i s nee d e d to sup p o rt f i sh at di ffer e nt t i m e s in the year or throughout their life cycl e. Both poo l s and riffle s are u s ed for spawning, incubation of e ggs, a n d the em ergence o f the fry. D eeper poo l s, overhan g ing ban k s, or logs pro v ide co ver from pre d a t ors. Measuring th e thalweg profi l e is a n indi cato rof habit a t comp lexity, with m o r e var i abi lit y in the pr ofil e indica ting greaterco mple xit yin str e am ha bitat. This indi cato r can re veal inadequate availability o f p ool-forming fe a t ures, such as bedro c k or large wood y debris. Th e thalw eg is the de ep est part of the strea m channe l a ta g i ven cross section. T h e thalw e g pro f ile is a plo to f th e ele v ation of the thalweg a s su rveye d in

a se rie s o f cro ss se cti o ns. Har r e lson etal. (1 99 4) pr ovide a pr acti cal gui de fo r perfo rming thalwe g p r ofiles and cro s s sections. The profile app e ars as a j a gged but descendin g lin e with relatively flat p ool areas an d sh arply de scending ca scade s

. The co mpa r ison betw een the m e an slope (i.e., the o v erall tren d of the de scend ing strea m ) an d the deta i ls of the slope is a m e asure of the co mple xity o f stre am habitat s

. Because change in t h e pro f il e will occur r e lati vel y sl ow, and b e c ause not enough is yet known about cha nnel struct ure to e s ta blish a spe c ific numb e r that refle c ts a satisfactory degree o f variation, th e targ et is simp ly a n increasin g tren d in variation from the mean thalweg profile sl o pe. This indicator should b e measured during the low-flow p e riod every 5-10 y e ars af ter large storm seas ons

. 

### Primary Pool Distribution and Depth: Increasing inve ntory of reaches which are >40% pools; increasing pri m ary pool depth

Pool s gene r allya ccou n t fo r m o r e than 4 0 % of s t rea m len g th i n str e am s with good salm onid ha bit a t (Flosi e tal. 1998). Frequent pools are importan t for providing feeding sta t ions and shelter and may a l so serve lo cally a s te mp erature refugia. Backwater p ools are used b y salm onids as o v erwin t ering habitats (Flo si et al. 1998) b ypr ovidin g she l terfr om high st orm flow s and lat e ral scour poo l s ( i .e., pools form ed near either ban k ) tend to b e heavily u s ed b yfish for co ver a n d

42refugi a. P r imary p o o l s a r e d e fi ned b yF l o s i e ta l . ( 1 99 8) a s fol l ows: Fo r 1 stand 2 nd
orderst rea m s, the yh a ve a ma ximum resid u al de pth (the ma xim u m dep th of a poo l minus the maximum depth of its down stre am ri ffle crest, o r th e depth o f the poo l a t the po int o f ze ro flow ) of at lea s t two fe et, occu py at least half the width o f the low flow chann e l, and are as long as the low fl ow chann e l wid t h. F o r 3 rd and 4 th order
strea m s, they ha ve a maximum residual d epth o f a tleast three feet, occup yat least half the width o f the low flow chann e l, and a r e as long a s the lo w flo w channe l width. (Small, un-branched, perennial trib utaries th at termina t e at an ou ter point are de sign ated 1 stor der; the ju nction o f t w o 1 st -ord er strea m s is de signa t ed 2 nd order, an d the jun c t i on of two 2 nd -order stream s is design a ted 3 rd order, etc.). Inform atio n in th is w a tersh ed should inclu de the dep th of po ols beca u se in this watersh ed deeper po ols may also b e impo rtant a s te mperatu r e refu gia. T h is indica tor should b e measured during the low-flow p e riod every 5-10 yea r s a f ter large st or m se ason s

. 

### 4.1.3 Watershed Indicators
Stream Crossings with Diversion Potential or Significant Failure Potential : <1% of all stream crossings dive rt or fail as a result of a 100-
year or s m aller flood

Most ro ads, inclu d ing skid ro ads and railroa d s, cross e p hemera l or pe rennial strea m s. Cros sing s are bu iltto cap t ure th e st ream fl ow and sa fe ly con v eyit through, u n der, or around the roadbed. Stream crossing s can fail, de positing sediment from the crossing stru cture (i.e., fill) and/o r from the roadbed directly into the str e am. Cr ossing s tha t are l i ke ly t o fa il or di vertpo se a si gnifica n t threa t to streams. Stream c r os s i ng failures ar e generally related to u n dersized, poorlyplace d , plu gged, o r p a rtially-plu gged culve rts. When a cro ssin g fails, the total sediment delivered to the strea m usua lly in clude s th e vo lume o f ro ad fil l a sso ciat ed with the crossing an d the sed i m e nt from co llate ral fa ilure s, su ch as debris torrents,
t h a t s c o ur t h e c h a n ne l a n d st r e a m b a nk s

. D i v e rs i o n p o t e nt i a l is t h e p o t e n t i a l fo r a road to d i vert wa ter from its intended drainage syste m across o r throu g h the road fill, there b yde liverin g road -rel a ted sedi m e nt to a w a tercourse

. Anoth e r import ant proble m o ccurs whe n water drains down the ro ad a w ay from the stream cro ssin g , which can result in th e creation of a new channel.
The potential to d e liver sedim e nt to the stream can be elimina t ed from almo st a ll strea m cro ssin g s by r e mov i ng in board dit c hes, out s lo ping r o ad s , or instal ling r o lling di ps (USEPA, 1998). Less than 1% of strea m cro ssin g s have condition s where m o dification is ina ppro p riate beca u se it wou l d endang e r tra v ele r s or where modifica tio n is im practical be cau s e o f physical con s tra i nts. 

### Hydro l og ic Conne ctivity: D e creasing length

A roa d is h y dro l ogically conne cted to a stream when the ro ad d r ains directly into the ch annel. Th i s cause s a n increase in the inte nsit y, fr eq uency, an d magnitud e of flood flows an d suspende d s ediment loads in th e adja cent stream, which can ultima tely desta bilize the strea m chann e l and have a deva s ta tin g effe ct

on sa lmon id red d s an d grow ing embryos (Lisle, 1989). Outslo p i ng ro ads and creating ro ad dra i nag e s th at mimic natura l dra i nage, among other pra c tices, can significantly re duce connect ivity (USD A, 19 99 ; Weaver and Hagans , 19 94 ).

43

### Annual Road Inspec tion a n d Correction :

EPA’ s ana l ysi s indi cat e s th at in wate r s he ds co n t a i ni ng r o a d n e tw o r ks w i t h o u t

exce ssive road-related sedim e ntation, ro ad s ar e ei the r (1 ) r e gul a r l y i n s p e c t e d and maintain e d ; ( 2 ) h y d r olog ica lly maintenan c e free (i.e ., they d o not altert h e natura l hydro l og y of th e stre am); or (3 ) de com m i ssi oned or hydro l ogicallyclosed (i.e., fills and cu lve rts ha ve be en rem o ve d and the natural h y drolo g y of the hillslop e has largely bee n restore d )

. 

### Road Loc a tion and Sidecast: Prevent sedime nt delivery

Road s loca ted in inne r gorges a n d headwa ll areas are more likely to fail than roads lo cat ed in othe rtopo graph i c loca tion s. Roa d s should b e r e move d fr om inn e r gorge s an d potentia lly un stab le headwall areas, except whe r e alternative road location s a r e una vaila ble an d th e road is clearly ne ce ssary. In addition, sideca s t soil on ste ep slope s can trigg e r earth mo vements an d re sult in potential sedimen t delivery to watercourses. The s e fa ctors refl e c t the highest risk o f sedim e nt de livery from roa d s and should be the h i ghest prioritie s for co rrection (C . Cook, M. Furniss, M. Madej, R. Klein, G. Bundros, pers. com m ., 19 98 ; in EP A, 1 9 98).
This target calls fo r: (1) th e rem o val of all roads alon gside inne r gorg e are a s or in pot e n t iall y un sta b le he adw a ll a r eas u n less al ter n ative roa d lo cati ons are unavaila ble and the need forth e road is clearly justified; and ( 2 ) th e stab iliza t ion (or pu llin g back) o f si deca s t or fill on steep (i.e., grea ter than 50%) or pot e ntiall y unstable slopes that could de livery s e di mentt o a water c o u rs e. 

### Activity in Unstable Areas: Target: avoid or eliminate, unless detailed geologic assessment by a certified engi neering geologist concludes there is no additional potent ial for increased sediment loading

Unstab le a r eas are th ose area s that have a high risk of landsliding, including steep slop es, inne r g o rges, hea d wall swales, stream banks, e x isting land slide s , and other locations iden tified in the field. Any activity th at might tr igger a lan d slide in these area s (e.g., ro ad building , harve s tin g , yard ing, terra cin g for vineyards, etc.) should be avoid ed, u n less a detailed geo lo gic assessment b ya certifie d e n gineering geolog i st conclud e s there is n o additional potential for in crea se d se dimen tloa d ing. An anal ysi s o f chroni c lan d sl idi n g in the Noyo Ri verbasin in di cated that landsl ide s observed o n aeria l ph otogra phs largely coin cide with predicted chronic risk area s, includ ing steep slo p e s , inner go rges and h e ad wall sw ales (Dietrich et al., 1998). Several other studies have sh o w n that la ndslides are la r ger ormore com m on in

some harv est area s, particular ly in inner gorge s ( U S EPA, 2000). Weave r and Hagans ( 1 994) a l so sugge st m e thods for elimin ating or decrea s ing the p o tentia l for road-related sedim e nt delive ry.



### 4.2 SEDIMENT SO URCE ANALYSIS

This s e ction s u mmarizes the results of the s ediment sourc e analy s es condu c ted by PWA an d the USFS. The pu rpose o f th e se dimen tsource an alyses
was t o ide n tify and e s tima te th e relative amounts o f sedim e ntfro m th e variou s sediment delivery processe s an d sou r ce s in the wa te rshed. This section is a

summary of th e m e t h odolo g y, results, an d relevan c e of the PWA/US F S sediment

sour ce ana l ysis. App e ndix B co ntains addi tional infor m ation obt a ined duri ng the sampl e col l ect i on an d analy s i s e ffort s. App e ndixC co ntains se di ment t a ble s fo r the

44entire watershed an d subw ate r shed s. Se diment nu mbers in T a bles 8 an d 12 relate d
to e x ce l sp readshe e ts were co rr ected.



### 4.2.1 Sediment Sourc e Analysis Methodology

The s e diment source analys is for th e U p pe r Ee l Ri v e r and t r i b ut ar i e s was condu c ted to id entify the re lative con t ri bu tion o f sediment d e livered to stream channels fr om variou s er osional pro c esse s that occuron hillslop es an d in stream channels throughout the watershed. The so ur c e analy s is pr o v i d e s gr o s s es t i m a t e s of sedimen tpro d uctio n at the o r der-o f-ma gnitude accuracy. Sedimen tlo ads fro m priva t e an d public la nds a s we ll as human and na tural sources are identified. There
were tw o g e neral co m p onents to the sed i m e nt source analysis: the quant i fication of “ l arge ” (sources > 3 ,000 cubic yard s [yds 3 ] that a r e mo st a m eniable through a i r photography analysis) an d “small” (sou rces < 3 ,000 yds 3 that a r e mo re difficu l t to detect with air photo analysis) sediment source s. T h e large so urces were mapp ed and quantified usin g aerial photograph s, w h ile the small sou r ces we re qu antified during a st ratified ran d om s a mpling field study

. All ero s ion a l feature s mapp ed o n the a e ria l photos or within the rando m sample p l o t s ha d the same suite of data co llected. T h ese data include : 1) whether the feature was road

- , skid t r ail- or h illslo p e-rela ted, 2) t e rra in t y pe (st r at um) and dominant vegeta t ion typ e , 3) type of sed i ment source, 4) volu me o f e r osion, 5) an esti mate o f the volu me o f sedi ment d e li vered to str e ams, 6) h illslope lo cation an d
averag e hillslo pe stee pness whe r e the er osion o ccu rred, 7) any apparent land use/man a gement associations, and 8) ge omorph ic asso cia t ion

. The USFS analy z ed 19 52 , 19 69 , 19 79 , an d 1998 ph otograph s fo r part o f th e Tomki Cre e k, Rice Fo rk, So da C r eek, an d Upper Main Eel C A L W AA wa tershed un its. Additionally, the USFS used 1981, 1988, and 2003 photograp h s in se lected areas to evaluate landslide re-vegetation rates. PWA analyzed photos taken in 1952, 1965, 19 81, an d 19 99 fo r t h e Out l et Creekan d Tomki Cre e k CALWAA wate rsh ed units. These year s wer e sel e cted to al low ana l y s i s o f atle ast two se ts of ae rial p h otos under d i ffe r ent m a na gement co ndition s in th e wate rshed, sp ecific ally pre-1970 and post-1970, with the g o al o f qua n tifying ch anges in e r osion und er differen t ope r atin g condition s . Dur i ng th is g e nera l time perio d, there w e re b o th fo rmal shifts in
managem ent and ch anges instigated by the le g a l sy stem. The for m al shi f ts inc l ude the imple m entation of th e F o re st Pra c tice Rule s ( F PR) on privat e land s in the 1970s and the No rthwest Fo rest Plan o n public la nds in the early 1990s. In add i tion, there

were several law s uits filed in th e early 1970s regard ing timbe r harve s ting and th e Endangere d Spe c ie s Act that re sulted in a n imm edia t e, informa l chan ge in
managem ent pra c tices.
Aerial pho t ograph s fo r the entire watershe d were an alyze d to identify a l l vis i ble lar g e se dimen tsour ce s. The fo llow i ng se dime nt sou r ce s were quan tifi ed i f they excee ded 3,000 yds 3 o f pa st ero s ion : shallow de bris slide s , debris flo w

sour ces, d ebris to rre nt tra c k s , acti ve eart hflow s , gullies, and streamban kerosion. This ana l ysis e s tima ted the sediment volu me de livered to the stream system and then a ssig n ed a man a gement a sso ciation (roa d-related, harvest -rela ted, etc.) to

sources w h en there was a man a gement a c tivity visible a b ove the feature in th e photo. Sources with no management a s s o ciat ion w e re a ssu m ed due to natural

45cause s . T h is info rm ation w a s veri fied at some lo cat i ons if the ywere nearplot s sampled d u ring th e field stud y to iden tify small sou r ces o f sed i ment.

A stratifie d rando m sampling ( S T RS) stud y was per fo rmed to estimate sm all

s ediment sourc e s (USEP A , 199 9b, 2 002 ). Before fie l dwork was perform ed , plot size s w e re identified and the w a tersh ed w a s stratifie d by te rrain typ e . To determ i ne the op tima l plot size, data from Jordan Cre e k, a tribu t ary of the lower Eel Rive r th at is g e ologically similarto the U p per Ee l River, were u s ed. This proce s s is describe d in deta il in the “Sedim e nt So urce Inve stigation for the Van Duzen River Water s hed ” (Pa c ific Water s hed Asso ciate s , 19 99 ). This s t atis tic a l analy s is determ i ne d that 41.8 a c re s (450 fee t x 45 0 fee t) is the op tima l plot siz e for the STRS stu d y. PWAst ratified the Uppe r Eel Rive r wa te rshed into five strata or geolog i e s by reviewing the USFS and Stat e Geo l og y maps of b edrock a n d lump ing similar ro ck type s in to 5 ba sic g e olog ies. These five strata are identified in Table 8 along w i th their tota l area and the numbe r of sa mple plots w i thin each stratum.

To ach i eve a statistically robu st random sampl e t h at pr ov i d es a s a ti sfac to ry coeffi cient of varia t io n (CV), a s a mple si ze of eigh ty ( 80) 4 1 .8-a cre plot s p e r s t udy is con s ide r ed op tima l. Due to cost con s tra i nts and th e inte rest in treat i ng the public and priva t e ow nership do mains as s eparate an alyses, a sample size of 40 plots in ea ch o f th e o w nership d o main s wa s sele cted for the U p per Ee l River ST RS study. Re al e s tim a te s calcu l ate d fo r th e V a n Duzen TMDL r e ve aled that t h e CV for

eros ion fro m fe ature s <5,0 00 y d s 3 e q u al ed 0

. 21 and t h e CVc a lc ul at ed fo r s e di m e nt
y i eld from fe atures <5 ,0 00 y d s 3 equaled 0.17.

To se lect the lo cation of the sa mple plo t s, a grid wa s de velope d fo r th e e n tire basin area with ea ch grid cel l e q u al to 4 1 .8 acr e s. Th e sa mple g r id wa s ov erlain with the five t e rrain type s t o cr eate a la ye r thatiden tified th e d o minantte rrain typ e for each grid cell. Tw o hundred grid cells were ran d omly selected for each ownersh i p domain (p ublic and p r ivat e). T h e first co nsecutive forty (40) p l ots from each list o f 200 plo t s were chosen fo r ea ch ownership dom a in. Landowne r permission for acce ss was reque s ted fo r priv ate doma in plots an d tho s e plo t s w i thin the pub lic domain th at had so me priva t e ownership. When landowner permission could not be ob taine d , the ne xt sequ entia l cell on the list for the appro p ria t e stratu m w a s sele cte d . In addi tion, i f a c e ll wa s ran d oml y sele cted, but c o ntained a large sed i ment sour ce (> 3,0 0 0 y d s 3 ), it was e lim in ated an d a n other gri d ce ll w a s systema t ically se lect ed. A ll 40 of th e pu blic p l ots w e re sample d and 33 o u t of the 40 private plots were sampled (seven w e re not sample d due to la ck of perm i ssion to a cce ss t h e land ). The numb e r o f samp le pl ot s fo reach st rat u m was ba sed on esti mate s f r om p r ev io us s t udie s (Van Du ze n, EPA 19 9 9 and Nort h For kEe l, EPA 2001). Th ese valu es are identified in Tab l e 8.

For the ST RS fie l d st udy, s m all sedi ment s o urce s ( l es s than 3, 0 0 0 yd s 3 ) wer e place d in the fo llow i n g sou r ce categories: debris slid e, debris torrent tra c k, bank erosion, ro ad re lated gully, n o n- road relat e d gul l y, str e am cro ssi ng, chann e l incision, surface ero s ion, d ebris flow so urc e , and ac ti v e e a rt hf lo w. The pr i m ary natural an d anthropo genic so urce no t qua n tified in the STRS study wa s creep ra te. In addition to mapp in g the s e sm all source s, the volu me o f e r osion wa s qu antified and the se diment delivere d to stream s wa s e s ti mate d be fore a ssi gning a managem ent a sso ci ation to th e sou r ce.

46

### Table 8. Strata Identified in the U pper Eel River Wa tershed *

St rat a A r ea Number an d Descri pt i o n Ar e a (mi 2 ) Percent of Basin Number of Grid

Cells Proposed Number of Sample Plots Number of Plots Sampled 1. Franci sca n Sch i st 1 4 5

. 1 2 1

. 1 % 2
, 2 2 3 1 5 1 5
2. Franci sca n Mel a nge 6 4

. 4 9

. 4 % 9 8 5 1 4 1 4
3. All u vi um 1 6

. 9 2

. 5 % 2 5 9 6 5
4. Franci sca n Coastal Be lt 6 4

. 9 9

. 4 % 9 9 4 1 5 1 3
5. Franci sca n undi fferent iated 3 9 6

. 8 5 7

. 7 % 6
, 0 7 6 3 0 2 6
Totals 68 8

. 1 1 0 0 % 10,5 3 7 8 0 7 3 *Appendix C contains tables for the enti re water s hed a n d for each subw atershed

. The re sult s of the ST RS stud y were e x tra p olate d t o estimate small sou r ce sediment yield for the entire ba sin. Af t e r the l a rge and smal l so ur c e s were quantified, the estim a ted b a sin

- wide sma l l source an d aerial ph oto d a ta w e re comb ined to de term ine the tota l Upp e r Ee l Riverse diment yie l d and r a te s of e r osion for differe n t manag e m ent a s so ciations, time pe riod s, and stra ta, which a r e presen ted in the fo llo wing section.



### 4.2.2 Results

A to tal of 13,3 10, 71 4 y d s 3 o f sedimen tyield is estimated as being delivered to the Upp e r Eel Rive r ba sin mo stly be tw een 19 40 and 20 04

. Table 9 s u mmarizes earthflow (continu ous, deep-sea t ed, slow movin g la rge feature s , often g r ound water d r iven) and no n-earth f lo w (episod i c, relatively ra pid mo vement, often storm relate d) se diment yield fo r th e small featu r es (< 3,000 yds 3 ) an d large fea t ures (>3
, 00 0 yds 3 ) and Fi gure 6 i llu strat e s the per centsedimen tproduction b yte rrain type. As identified in Table 9 and Figure 6, terrain type #5, Franciscan, delivers th e mosts edi ment ( 6 ,2 06,7 7 4 y d s 3 ) of all th e ter r ain t y pes, nearly one

- half of th e t o tal sediment yield. Sch i st (te rrain type # 1 ) d e livers the se cond highest vo lu me o f

s ediment (3 ,3 84 ,53 6 y d s 3 ) and when co m p ared to the othe r te rrain typ e s, alluvium delivers a relatively small amou nt of sediment to th e basin (227,024 yd s 3 ).

Non-earth f low source s de liver n e arly 94% of a ll sed i ment to th e basin an d large fea t u r es (earth flow and no n-earth f lo w) contrib u te 57% o f the to tal sediment delivered. In ad ditio n , the da ta indicate that the primary sou r ce o f sed i ment for the schist and mélange terrain s are larg e features, while non-ea rth f low fea t ures a r e th e primary so urce for th e allu viu m terrain. W h en co mpa r ed to nea r by w a tersheds (USEPA, 19 99 b, 2 002 ), there is a more eq ual d i stribution betw een la rge and small

sources in regard s to sediment delivery ra te s. This i s m o stli ke ly du e t o b o th a decrea s e in the contribution fro m large fe atures, such as land slides, a n d a n increa se in manage m e nt-relate d se dimen tdelive ry from sma ll feature s

.

47Sc h i s t 25 %

Me la n g e

15 %

Al l u v i u m 2% F ra n ci sc a n 47 %

Co a s t a l B e l t
11 % Sc h i s t

Me la n g e

Al l u v i u m

Co a s t a l B e l t

F ra n ci sc a n



### Figure 6

. Percent sediment delivery by terrain type

Table 9. Total Erosion and Sedime nt Deliv ery from Small and Large Features by Terrain Type (1940-2004)

S m all Fe ature s < 3 ,000 yds 3 (Ext rap o lat e d fr om ST R S st u d y ) Large Fe ature s > 3 ,000 yds 3 (I dent i f i e d fr om a e r i al ph ot os) Terra in Type/ Ge ol og y U n i t s Non earthflow Sed i m e n t De li v e ry Earthflow Sed i m e n t De li v e ry Non earthflow sediment De li v e ry Earthflow Sed i m e n t De li v e ry Total Sed i m e n t De li v e ry yds 3 467, 7 8 3 0 2, 830, 1 2 0 86, 6 3 3 3,384,536 Sch i st yds 3 /m i 2 / y r 5 0 0 3 0 5 9 364 yds 3 485, 7 6 4 1 8
, 2 0 9 1, 244, 5 6 9 222, 1 0 2 1,970,644 Mela nge yds 3 /m i 2 / y r 1 1 8 4 3 0 2 5 4 478 yds 3 207, 6 7 4 0 19, 3 5 0 0 227,024 Alluvium yds 3 /m i 2 / y r 1 9 2 0 1 8 0 210 yds 3 613, 3 3 7 0 885, 9 5 5 22, 4 4 4 1,521,736 Coasta l Belt yds 3 /m i 2 / y r 1 4 8 0 2 1 3 5 366 yds 3 3, 627, 1 6 0 3 2 0
, 4 2 8 2, 095, 3 6 5 163, 8 2 1 6,206,774 F r an ci sc an yds 3 /m i 2 / y r 1 4 3 1 3 8 3 6 244 yds 3 5

, 4 0 1

, 7 1 8 3 3 8

, 6 3 7 7,075

, 3 5 9 4 9 5

, 0 0 0 1 3

, 3 1 0

, 7 1 4 T o t a ls yds 3 /m i 2 /y r 1 2 3 8 1 6 1 1 1 3 0 2

48For a ll ero s iona l features identified with in the sample plots or o n aeria l photograp h s, PW A a t tempte d to identify th e de cade in which th e ero s ion was initia ted a n d whethe r the fea t u r e wa s still active ly eroding in 2004. The age o f vegeta t ion on o r ad ja cent to an erosional feature pro v ide s th e most usefu l infor m ati o n in d e ri vi ng the ori g ination ag e and act i vity level. Table 10 id entifies all the mana g e ment- an d non-man a gement-a sso ci ated sedimen td e livery fea t ures that PWA estim a ted we re initia ted prior to 1970 and th ose that were initia ted a fter 19 70. P W A ch ose to sepa rate t h e data ar ound 19 70 due to the shi f ts in
managem ent ta king place in th at time perio d. Any d i ffe renc es i n sed i men tvo lume s may pro v ide some in dication as to the deg ree to which mode rn (post-1970)
managem ent pra c tices ha ve im prove d o v er pa st pra c tices.

Table 10 a n d Figure 7 in dica te the following: 1) 6 7 % of all meas ured sediment yield occurred pre-1970; 2) man a gement- and non-m a nagemen t

asso cia t ed sour ce s a ccoun ted fo r nea r lyt h e sa me sedimen tyield on private lan d s pre-1970, whereas o n the public lan d s, m a nagemen t-rela ted sedimen t yield

accoun ts for le ss tha n one- fourth of th e total pre-1970 yield; and 3) p o st-1970 sediment yield s are consid erably lower th an durin g the pre

- 1970 period. In b o th the priva t e and pu blic doma ins, non-mana gement related yie l d accoun ts for
appro x ima t ely twice as mu ch sedimen ta s the mana gement-associated yield du ring the po st- 1 97 0 p e rio d

. The data suggest con s iderably less natura l and mana gement related sediment is be ing produced in the Up per Eel Rive r b a sin in th e post-1970 period (8,9 56,2 6 8 y d s 3 pr e- 19 70 co m p ared to 4, 36 0,73 0 y d s 3 pos t-1 97 0). Th is may refle c t difference s in the freque n cy and m a gnitude o f storm s , which trig g e r widesp r ea d watershe d re spon se , but also could be p a rtially attributed to impro v em ents in lan d manag e m ent p r actice s.



### Table 10 . Sedim e nt Deliv ery by T i me Frame and Potential Contro lla bility (1940-2004)

Total Yield by Tim e Pe riod for Managem e nt S e d i m e nt Y i el d (y ds 3 & % ) 1 Total Yield by Tim e Pe riod for Non- Mana gement S e d i m e nt Yiel d (y ds 3 & % ) 1 Ownership d o mai n

Non Earthflow Earthflow Non Earthflow Earthflow Total by Ownership

Pre

- 1970 ( 30 ye ars ) 2, 299, 049 ( 3 2 % ) 27, 961 ( < 1%) 2, 342, 797 ( 3 3 % ) 439, 219 ( 6 %) 5,109,026 ( 71%)

Pos t

- 1970 ( 34 ye ars ) 698, 328 ( 10%) 3, 703 ( < 1%) 1, 139, 359 ( 1 6 % ) 202, 832 ( 3 %) 2,044,222 ( 29%) Pr ivat e

Subt o t als 2, 997, 377 ( 4 2 % ) 31, 664 ( < 1%) 3, 482, 156 ( 4 9 % ) 642, 051 ( 9 %) 7,153,248 ( 100%)

Pre

- 1970 ( 30 ye ars ) 711, 708 ( 12%) 10, 516 ( < 1%) 3, 044, 859 ( 4 9 % ) 80, 159 ( 1 %) 3,847,242 ( 62%)

Pos t

- 1970 ( 34 ye ars ) 612, 852 ( 10%) 8, 748 ( < 1%) 1, 628, 123 ( 2 6 % ) 66, 785 ( 1 %) 2,316,508 ( 38%) P u blic

Subt o t als 1, 324, 560 ( 2 2 % ) 19, 264 ( < 1%) 4, 672, 982 ( 7 5 % ) 146, 944 ( 2 %) 6,163,750 ( 100%)

B a si n- w i de T o tal s 4,321,937 ( 32%) 50 ,928 ( < 1%) 8,155,138 ( 61%) 789,000 ( 6 %) 13,316,99

490% 10 % 20 % 30 % 40 % 50 % 60 %

P r iv at e P u b li cPercentSedimentDelivery

P re-19 70 N oM a nag em e n t A s s o c i at i o n P re-19 70 M ana gem ent A s s o c i at i o n
P o s t -1 970N oM ana ge m e n t A s s o c i at i o n P o s t

- 1 9 7 0 M a na g e m e nt A s s o c i at i o n


### Figure 7

. Percent sediment deliv er y by management association and time period

Table 11 summarizes the extrap olated e s timates o f U pper Ee l River basin sediment yield by ow nership a c cord ing to the pr imary lan d u s e asso cia t ion

. Al l erosional feature s m a pped in the field sa mple plo t s or on th e aerial photos we re assigned a primary la nd use association ba sed on field and air p h oto e v id e n ce. Table 11 categorize s erosional feature s as havin g th e follow i ng land use

asso cia t ion s : 1) n o a pparentla nd use lin k a ge (na t ur ally oc curr i n g), 2) roa d rel a ted (logging, ranch, coun ty or CalTrans road), 3 ) timber harv es t, 4) agric u lture or grazing (in c lude s e r o s ion due to ve getation lo ss an d the mo vement of a n imals), and 5) fire . Figu re 8 illustrate s the pe rcen t se dimen tdeli v ery b ylan d u s e

asso cia t ion for pub lic and private dom a ins. The original data ta ble (T able B-6),
presen ted in Ap pendix B, also separate s th e re sults by large a n d small fe atures.

While the sediment loading rates a r e sim i lar for public an d p r ivate lan d s (309 yds 3 /mi 2/yr fo r p r iva t e and 290 yds 3 /mi 2/yr fo r pu blic), the sources delive r ing sediment vary sign ificantly. The data indi cate tha to f the tota l p a st sed i me nt yield (earthflow plus non-earthflow) from pr ivate and public d o main s, appro x im ately 57% and 78%, re spe c tively, we re de term ined to be natural an d not clearly

asso cia t ed with any past land managem ent a c tivities (Ta b le 11). The
managem ent-asso c iated rate o f sedim e nt delivery o n private lands is ne arly twice

50the rate on public lan d s. For private land s, manage m e nt-asso c iated sources o f sediment yield accou n t fo r ab ou t 133 yd s 3 /mi 2/year, which is a pproximately 43% of the to tal o n private lands. Th e s e a r e d i vided b e twe e n road so urces (16%), timber harve s t ( 2 0%), a g riculture/g r a z ing (7% ) , and fire ( < 1%). Ma nagement sour ces are l e ss in fluential on publ ic lan d s. Spe c if i c all y , man a gement

- a sso ciat ed s o urce s

accoun t fo r abou t 66 yd s 3/m i 2/ y ear on pu blic land s, which is a pproximat ely 23% of the to tal (road source s (12%), timber h a rvest (11%), agricultu r e/grazing (<1%), and f i re (< 1%)). No n-earth f lo w sou r ce s accoun t fo r a vas tm a jorit yo f t h e sediment delivery in both public and private lan d s with natu ral lan d use s contr i butin g the grea testpro p ortion of sed i mentforb o th ea rthflow and no nearthflow sources.



### Table 11 . Sedim e nt Yie ld by Dom a in and Primary Land Us e (1940-
20040

Doma i n / O w nership (area )

P r i v at e ( 359.4 mi 2 ) P u blic ( 328.7 mi 2 ) B a si n- w i de (688.1 mi 2 )

Pr im ary L a n d Use Asso ciat ion yds 3 /mi 2 / y r % yds 3 /mi 2 / y r % yds 3 /mi 2 /yr %

N o l a nd use 150 53 221 77 184 65

Ti m b e r harves t 6 1 2 2 3 0 1 0 46 16

R o a d Re l a t e d 4 8 1 7 3 3 1 1 41 14 Agri cult ure / Grazi ng 21 8 <1 <1 11 4

F i r e 2 < 1 1 < 1 1.5 <1Non-Earthflow

Tot a l non EFse dim e ntyie l d 282 100 285 100 283 100

N o l a nd use 26 96 5 94 16 95

Ti m b e r harves t 0 0 <1 <1 <1 <1

R o ad Re l a t e d 1 4 <1 <1 0.7 4 Agri cult ure / Grazi n g 0 0 0 0 0 0

F i r e 0 0 < 1 5 <1 <1Earthflow

Tot a l EFse d i me nty i el d 27 100 5 100 17 100

To ta l se di m e n t yi el d (non-Earthflow + Ea rthflow) 309 100 290 100 300 100

510% 10 % 20 % 30 % 40 % 50 % 60 % 70 % 80 %

P r i v at e P ubl i cPercentSedimentDelivery

N ol a n dus e Ti m b e r harv e s t R o ad re l at e d A g r i c u l t u re/ Graz i n g Fire


### Figure 8

. Percent sediment delivery by primary land use association (1940-2004)

4.2.3 Summary

Based on the re sults from the sedimen tso urce analyses, h i storical sed i me nt delivery e s timate s ca n be generated from a ll sour ces in th e ba s i n. The re sult s presen ted in Table 12 are a co mpilation of th e da ta analyzed for the la rg e and sma l l sedi ment s o urce s. La rge sour ce s (> 3,0 0 0 yds 3 ) we re quantifie d through t h e analy s is o f aeria l ph o t ograph s a c ro ss the b a sin. Data co lle cted during a st ratif i ed random sa mpling stu d y we re a n alyze d to determ i ne the sedim e nt input from small

sour ces (< 3,00 0 yd s 3 ). The s e values were then extra p olate d ba sin-wide a n d comb ined with the re sult s from the la rge source analysis to o b t a in the unit area sediment input for th e entire Up per Ee l River ba sin (T able 12).

52

### Table 12. Sedim e nt Load ing in t h e Upper Eel River (1940 – 2004)

P r i v at e ( 359.4 mi 2 ) P u blic ( 3 2 8

. 7 mi 2 ) B a si n- w i de ( 6 8 8

. 1 mi 2 )

Sed i m e n t So u r ce yds 3/mi 2/ y r t o n s/ m i 2/yr % of Privat e yds 3/mi 2/yr tons/m i 2/yr % of Publ ic yds 3/mi 2/yr tons/m i 2/yr % of Total

N a t u ral Se di m e n t Sou r ce s Large features ( > 3, 000 yds 3 ) 6 9 1 0 6 2 2 % 1 8 3 2 8 2 6 3 % 123 190 41%

Small fea t ur es ( < 3, 000 yds 3 ) 1 0 9 1 6 8 3 5 % 4 4 6 8 1 5 % 78 120 26%

To tal Natura l Sou r ce s 1 7 8 2 7 4 5 7 % 2 2 7 3 5 0 7 8 % 201 310 67%

Human (Land Manag e ment ) R e l a t e d Sou r ces Large features ( > 3, 000 yds 3 ) 5 5 8 6 1 8 % 3 6 5 5 1 2 % 46 71 16%

R o ad rel a ted (small fea t ure) 2 6 4 0 8 % 9 1 4 3 % 18 28 6%

Ti mb er harvest (small fea t ure) 3 0 4 6 1 0 % 1 8 2 8 6 % 24 38 8%
Agric u lture / Gr azing 1 (small fea t ure) 1 9 3 0 6 % 0 0 0 % 10 16 3%

Total H u man Relat e d 1 3 1 2 0 2 4 3 % 6 3 9 7 2 2 % 99 152 33%

T o t a l - A l l Ca u s es 309 476 100% 290 447 100% 300 462 100%

1 A g r i c u lt u r e/ g r a z in g c a u s es les s t h a n 1 y d 3/mi 2/ y r o f

s e di m e n t d e l i ve ryo n pu bl i c l a nd and is th erefor e cons ider ed n e g l ig ib le

.



### 4.3 TMDL AND ALLOCATIONS
4.3.1 Loading Capacity and TMDL

This T M DL is set equa l to the loa d ing capa city of the Upper Eel Rive r. The TMDL is th e estima te of the tot a l am ount of sedimen t , fro m b o t h natural a n d human-ca u sed sources, that ca n be delive r ed to stre ams in th e watershed withou t

exce eding applicable water qu ality stan dards. Th e a pproa ch ta ken focu se s on sediment delivery ra ther tha n a more d i rect mea s u r e o f salm onid ha bitat (i.e. instream conditions). Se dimen t delivery can be subj ect to dire ct manage ment b y landowner s ( i .e., roa d s can b e well-m a int a ined), wh ereas in str e am condi t ions (po o l depth, pe rcent fine s) are subj ect to upst re am mana g e ment that may not b e under the contro l of lo cal la ndowners. Whil e i tw o uld b e d e s irab le to mathema t i c all y model the relationsh ip betw een salm on ha bitat and sedimen t d e livery, th ese tools

are no t a v ailabl e for watersh e d s wi th lan d slid es and road failu r e hazar d s.
Sedim e nt move ment is co mple x bo th spa t ially an d tempora lly. Se dimen t fo und in some downs t ream locations can be the re sult o f sediment sources far upstre am. Inst ream sedi menta t ion can a l so be th e result of land management from decade s p a st. Neve rtheless, m a nagemen t ac tivitie s can clear l y increase sediment delivery, a n d in strea m habitat can b e ad versely affe cted by in creased sed i ment inputs. Th erefo r e, it is reasona b le to l i nk increa se s i n sed i men tdel ive ryt o decrea s ed strea m ha bitat quality. The ap proach also assume s that salm on can be supported in stream s even with the yearly variation of na tural rates of erosion observed in the 20 th century. Although sedimentdelivere d to the stream s ha s

53v a r i ed ov er t i m e , salm o n hav e ad j u s t ed to t h e nat u r a l v a r i ab i l i t y b yus i n g t h e habitat co mple xity created by the stream ’s adju stm e nts to th e varying se diment loads. In addition, w e are assu ming that the natu ral amount of sediment can generally be in crea sed to som e extent a n d notadv e rsel y affe ct fish. W e po stula t e this becau se hi st ori c ally, fi sh p o pulati ons were th riving throu g h o ut the No rth Coa s t,

even thou gh there w a s hum an cause d se diment fro m ran c hin g , the tanb ark industry, a n d so me lo gging.

EPA is usin g a metho d of settin g the TMD L and a llo cations similar t o tha t emplo y ed in other ba sins (e.g., North ForkEel, No yo, Big and Albion Rivers, Middle ForkEel [ U SEPA, 1 9 99a, 20 0 0 , 2 0 0 2 and 20 03] ). I tis ba sed o n the a s s u mption that a certain amoun t of lo adin g grea ter than what is natu ral is accepta b le, and will stil l r e sul ti n meet ing water qu al ity stan dar d s. Mo st o f the ba sin s in the No rth Coast historica l ly ha d so me m a nagemen t activity o ccurring in the basin, while fish populat i on s re maine d st able. Prio r T M DLstud ies o f the re lati o n ship betw een sediment loading rates an d fish habita t e f fec t s found that many North C o a s t wa ter s supported healthy fish habitat conditions dur i ng pe r i od s in which s e di m e ntl o ad s were up to 125% o f natural loa d ing r a te s. In th e Up per Main E e l Rive r ba sin, EPA considers 125% to b e appropriate be cau s e manag e m ent a c tivity is noth i gh in the b a s i n r e l a t i v e to ot he r wat e rs he ds o n t h e No rt h Coas t. W e are bas i ng t h e lo ad i n g capacity a n d TMDLfor the Upp e r Eel Rive r ba sin on a calcula t ion of 125% of natural loading.

TMDL = Lo adi n g Capac i ty= 12 5 % x (3 10 to ns/mi 2/year ) = 3 88 tons/ m i 2 /year

The TMDL is set sligh t ly h i gher than in the draft TMDLbase d on minor re vision s in the source analys is calc ulation.



### 4.3.2 Allocations

In ac cord a n ce w i th E P A regula ti ons, the lo ading capa cit y( i .e. T M DL) is allocated t o the var i o u s sour ces of se dime nt in the w a tersh ed, with a mar g in o f safe ty. Th at i s :

TMDL = su m of “wa s t e load all o c a tions ” fo r indiv i dual point sou r ces,

+ sum of t h e “loa d a l locat i on s” for n o npoi nt sou r ce s, and

+ sum of the “loa d a l location s” for background sources
Although n o npoint so urces are respon sib l e for mo st sedimen tlo ading in th e watersh ed, lim ited po int sources may also discharge some se diment in th e watersh ed. Current a n d pro s pe ctive point sources th at ma y d i scharge in the watersh ed and are th erefo r e a tissue in this TMDL include:

− CalTrans facilitie s (e.g., State High way 162 ) that disc harge purs uant to the CalT ra ns statew ide N P DES permit issued b yth e State Wa ter Resou r ce s Control Bo ard, and

− Constru c tion site s th at discha r g e pur s uantto C a li forn ia’s NP DES genera l permit for constructio n site run o ff.

B e caus e t h e d i s c h ar ge f r o m t h es e po i n t s o ur c e s canno tb e r e ad il y determ i ne d, and b e cause possible loadin g fro m p o in t sou r ce s is not distin guished

54from gene r al m a nag e ment-rela t ed loadin g in the so urce analysis, E P A co nsiders the
rates se t a s l o ad a llo cation s (i. e ., for n o n p oint sou r ces) to al s o rep r es en t was t eloa d allocation s (i.e., fo r those point source s th at would b e co vered by g e neral NPDE S permits). There are no othe r w a steload allo cation s, as th ere are no other individual point sou r ces of sediment in th e basin.

The l o ad all o c a ti o n s fo r t h e U p pe r Ee l Ri v e r S e di m e nt TM D Lar e p r e s e n t e d i n Table 13. The allocations cla r ify the rela tive emph asis and mag n itude of e r osion control pro g rams that need to b e de velo pe d durin g implem entation plan ning. The load a llo ca tions are e x pre sse d i n term s of yearl ya v e r ages (ton s/mi 2/yr). They can be divid ed by 365 to derive da ily loading rates (ton s/mi 2/da y ), but EPA is
expre s sing them as yearly averages beca u se sedim e nt de livery to strea m s is highly variab le on a da ily ba sis. In fa ct, EPA exp e cts the lo ad alloca tions to b e evaluated

on a ten-year r o llin g averag e, b e cause o f t h e natura l variab ili ty i n sed i men tdel ive ry rates. In addition, E P A doe s no t expect e a ch s q uare mi le within a partic ul ar s o urc e categ o ry t h roughout the wate rshed to ne cessa rily m eet th e loa d alloca tio n ; rath er, EP Aex p e ct s t h e wate r s he d aver ag e fo r t h e e n t i r e s o ur c e c a t ego ry t o m e ett h e l o ad allocation for that c a tegory

. Some of th e loa d al lo cation s are sl ightly ch anges fro m tho s e in the draft TM D L be c a us e of t h e r e v i s e d TMD L num be r.


### Table 13 . Load A llocatio n s Av eraged over the Entire Basin

SEDI MENT SOURCE Lo ad A llo c a tio n (t ons/mi 2 /yr) 1940-200 4 Lo adi n g (t ons/mi 2 /yr) Pe rc en t Reduct ion

N a t u ral Se di m e n t Sou r ce s Large fe atures ( > 3, 000 yds 3 ) 1 9 0 1 9 0 none

Sm all fe at ur e s ( < 3, 000 yds 3 ) 1 2 0 1 2 0 none

To tal Natura l So urc e s 310 310 no ne

Human (Land Manag e ment ) R e l a t e d Sou r ces Large fe atures ( > 3, 000 yds 3 ) 3 6 7 1 4 9 %

Ro ad r e lat e d ( s ma ll fe at ur e) 1 4 2 8 5 0 %

Ti mb er harvest (small fea t ure) 20 38 47%
Agric u lture / Gr azing (s mall fe ature ) 8 16 50%

To tal H u man Re l a t e d 78 152 49%

T o t a l - A l l Ca u s es 388 462 16%



### 4.3.3 Margin of Safety

The mar g i n of sa fet ymus tbe i n cluded in a TMDLto accoun t fo r unce rtain ties concerning the relatio n ship betw een po lluta nt loa d s a n d in strea m wate r q u ality and other un ce rtainti e s in the an alysis. Th e m a rgin of sa fety can b e incorpo r ated into

conserva tive a ssu mp tions used to de velop the T M DL, or added as an explicit,
separa te componen t of th e T M D L . This T M DL in corp o r ates a Ma rgin o f Safety through u s e of conservative assumption s.
There is u n certainty concerning the in ter p retation o f the a m ou nt of sediment delivery a s sociated with manag e m ent a c tivitie s versu s natu ral b a ckg r ound sour ce s.

55The USFS and PWA g e nerally a t tribute d m o stor all of the sediment load of an y landsl ide o ccur r ing wi thin a re ce nt harv est unit a s b e ing harvest or road re lated. This is a conservati ve assump ti on be caus e so me slides may h a ve occurred naturally

even if the land had not be en h a rve s ted recently. Because the TMDLis calcula t ed based on t h e amoun tof natura l loading, th is resu lts i n a m o re conservati ve TMDL

c a l c ul a t io n.
EPA d o es not e x pe ct each squ a re m ile within a particular sou r ce ca tegory to

necessar ily meetthe allocation ; rather, EPA expects the a v erag e fo r th e e n tire

sour ce cat egory to m eet th e al l o cati on a c r o ss the ba sin forthatcat egory

. There is in herent ann u al and seasonal va riation in th e delive ry of sedimen t to the s t rea m channe l fr om the s o urce mech anism s . T h e all o ca ti ons a r e e x pres sed as 10- yearro lling ave r a ges to a c count for va riabil it y in deli v ery ra tes. The T M DL a l so includ es w a tersh ed indicators to re fle c t sedimen td e livery risks.

This T M DL includ es a n imp licit margin of safe ty based on EPA ’ s conse rva tive

assum p tio n s re gard i n g the unc ertaint ya s soc i ated wi th the se di ment sour ce analysis, a s we ll a s w i th the nee d to pro t ect the re sou r ce. USE P A Re gion I X considere d the lack o f in stre am and wate rs hed data, other than the source analysis, in ma king these con s ervat i ve as sumpt i ons.



### 4.3.4 Se asonal Variatio n and Critical Conditions

The TMDL must describe how se asonal va riations were con s id ered. Sedim e nt delivery in the Upper Eel River watersh ed has consid erable ann u al and se asonal

v a r i abi l i t y . The m a gni t ud es , t i m i ng , d u rat i on, and frequencies of se dime nt delive ry fluctuate n a turally d e pending o n intra

- an d inte r-an nual storm patte rns. Sin c e the
stor m e v e n ts an d m e chani s ms of se dime ntdelive ry are larg ely unpredictable yea r to year, th e TMDLan d loa d allo cation s are designed to ap ply to the sour ces o f sediment, not the mo vement o f sediment a c ro ss the landsca pe, and to be evaluated

on a ten-year r o llin g averag e t o accountfo r inher e nt inter-annu al va riat io n. USE P A Region I X assum e s t h at b yc o n t roll ing the sour ce s t o the ext e ntspe c i f ied i n the load a llo ca tions, sed i ment d e li very w ill o c cur w i thin an accepta b le r a nge for
support ing aquatic h a bitat, reg a rdle ss of the variab ility o f storm events.

The TMDL mustals o accoun t fo r cr iti c al co ndition s fo r st ream f l ow, load in g, and wate r quality pa rameters. Rather tha n ex pl ic i t ly es ti mati ng c r i t ic al f l ow condition s , this TMDLuse s in dicators, which reflect n e t lon g -te r m effe cts of sedi ment l o ading and tran sport for two rea s ons. F i rs t , sedi mentimpa ct s m a y o ccu r long a f ter sediment is discharg ed, ofte n at loc a tions fa r downstream of the sediment source. Se cond, it is impractical to a ccura tely mea s ure se dimen tload ing and tran sp ort, and th e re sultin g short-te r m effe cts, during the high ma gn itude flow events tha tpro d uce most sediment loading and cha nnel m o difications.

56

## CHAPTER 5: IMPLE M ENTATION AND MONITORING MEASURES

The main respon sib ility for wate r quality m a nagemen t and monitoring re sides with the S t a te. E P A fully exp e ct s the St at e to develo p and sub m it imple m entation

measur es to EPA a s part of revision s to th e Sta t e wa ter qua lity managem ent plan,
as p r ovide d by EPA regulati ons at 40 C.F. R. Se c. 130.6. Th e State imple m entation

measur es should con t ain p r ovisi o ns foren suring thatthe a llo ca tions in th e TMDL will in factbe achie v e d

. The s e provisi o ns may be n o n-regula to ry, re gulat o ry, o r incent ive

- based, con s istent wit h appl icab l e law s and prog ram s , including the St ate = s recently u pgraded n o npoints o urce cont r o l pr ogra m

. For the Te mperatu r e TMDL, E P A re com m e nds that timber harvest perm i ts on priva t e lan d s b e e v aluated to a ssure tha t natural sh ade is p r otected in order to

assure co mplian c e with the T M DL an d thus water quality sta n dards. T h e Sta t e should al s o as sure t h at ad ver s e cum u lati ve e ffe ct s are a v oid e d in w a ter s heds whe r e timbe r harvest plans are freque n t or wide sprea d . As a pra c tical ma tter a n d one that a ccou n ts forsi te -spe cif i cin forma t ion, the TM DL calcu l ati o n can be si mpli fied during imp l ementa tio n as settin g the TMD L equal to no allowab l e ch ange s to natural sh ade.

Current standards a n d guid elin es und er the North West Fo rest Plan m a y be sufficient t o atta in r i p a rian vege tati on char acter i st ic s cons ist e nt with the temperatu r e lo ad a l locations fo r sha de th atapp l yto str e am s o n USF S l a n d s. A ll USFS man a gement p r actice s sh ould b e re viewed to assure tha tactual sh ade condition s are attaine d and that water qu ality stan dards a r e a tta ined a s a result.

EPA a l so h a s seve ral reco mmen d ation s r e garding da ta c o lle cti o n and monito ring for strea m te mpera t ure and flow. In reviewing the preliminary da ta from the 15 cfs flows during su mmer 2004
, several unusual condition s w e re found. Specifically unusu a lly warm temperatu r es were measured during Ju ly downstream of Sco tt D a m. This appears to resu lt fro m main ten a nce a c tivity a tthe d a m. However, no tem perature mo nitoring of the hypolimium in Lake Pill sbury was attemp ted. In additio n , PG&E should a tte mpt to d o cument th e managem ent and mixin g o f the release s at Scott Dam.

For future temperatu r e mo delin g to be validated and imp r ove d , EPA also

reco mmen d s th e foll owing:
- Duplica t ing DFG te mperatu r e monitorin g at n e arb ylocations. This will assure tha tanalysis is not compromised bythe yearly proble m of th eft an d lo ss of monito ring device s

. EPA reco m m ends tha tPG &E su pplemen t DFG’s m o n i torin g to

assur e tha tre sour ce proble ms are no t an issu e. Thi s i s e s pe ci allyim port ant jus t below Van Arsda le. T h at s i te is essen t ial t o cha r act e rizing the sy stem.

- Add i tiona l agen cie s monito r ad ditiona l p o ol/riffle co mbinat ions to supple m en t DFG mon i torin g

. - PG &E m i ght consid er upda tin g the hyd r olog y/stre am mo rph o log y informatio n before a dditional stream temp erature m o delin g is condu c ted. The current da ta is nea r ly 20 yea r s old and w a s no t d i re ctly collected for u s e in stream

57temperatu r e mo dels.

For the Se diment TMDL, EPA sp ecifica l ly recom m end s tha tm o re in-stre a m informatio n be gathe r ed on trib utarie s on USFS land s and all streams on priva t e lands thro ughout th e basin. E P A also sug gests tha t the State consid er u s ing the infor m ati o n develop e d fr om the sed i ment sour ce ana l ysis in set t ing p r ior i ti es for
any new sedimen tre duction program s in the wate rshed. EPA recom m end s tha t timbe r harvest pe rmits on priva t e lan d s be eva l uated to ensure consistency with sediment load allo cations with the TMDLa n d thus wa ter qua lity standards. The State shou ld also assure that a d verse cu mu l a t i v e ef fe c t s ar e av o i de d i n wat e r s he ds where tim ber harve s t plan s a r e fre q uent o r wide spre ad. On U S FS lands, it appe ars that sedim e nt lo adin g is la rgely due to na tural cause s . USFS la nds may meet sedi ment l o ad al lo cat i ons if futu re ma nagement practices an d th e inten s it y of
managem ent are not chang ed from the re cent past, as p r ovide d under th e NWFP.

58

## CHAPTER 6: PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

EPA p r ovid ed pub lic n o tice o f th e dra f t Up per Main E e l Rive r Te mperatu r e and Sedim e nt TMDLs by placin g a n o tice in th e W illi ts N e wsan d S a nta R o sa Pre ss Demo crat , papers of general circulation in Me ndo c ino and Tr init y Count ie s. EPA also metw i th ma jor s t akeho l der s – PG&E, Friend s of the Eel R i v e r and NM FS du ring the Fa ll of 2003. E P A hel d an i n forma t ion a l me eting in W ill its i n the sum m er o f 20 04 fo r la ndowners whose lan d was to b e surv e y ed forthe se diments o urce analysis. The public notice re g a rding ava ilability o f the dra f t U pper Main Eel TMDLs
was p o ste d on E P A’s web site, along w i th the do cum e nt. The p u blic notice was also mailed or emaile d to additiona l parties. E P A’ s r e sp o n se t o th e publi c com m ents received is available as a se parate do cum e nt.

59

### Referenc es

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. Brooks, J., Ekman, E. , Faust, B., and Ja mes , A. 19 84. Lak e Pills b ury B a sin Watershed Analysis, under th e direction o f the Cal i fo rnia D epart ment of Fi sh and Game, Reg i on II I; th e Mend ocin o Nat i onal Fore st; the Mend ocin o Count y Fish an d Wildl i fe Ad vis o ryCo mmitt ee; t h e Pa ci fi c Gas an d Electric C o m p any; and the Sonoma C o unty Wat e r Ag ency. Brown, W.M., III, an d Ritter, J. R., 1971, Sedim e nt transpo rt a n d turb idity in the Eel Rive r b a sin, Califo rnia. U.S. Geolog ica l Surve yW a ter Su pply Paper1986, 70 p.

Califo r nia Departme nt of Fish and Ga me (CDFG). 19 95 - 19 98 . Salmon and Steelh e ad Restoratio n and Enh a ncemen t Prog ram, Stream In ventory Re ports.

Califo r nia Depart me nt of Fish and Gam e (CDFG). 1991. Salm on and Ste e lhead Restoratio n and Enh a ncemen t Prog ram, Stre am In ventory Re port: W illits Creek.

Califo r nia Depart me nt of Fish and Gam e (CDFG). 1995. Salm on and Ste e lhead Restoratio n and Enh a ncemen t Prog ram, Stre am In ventory Re port: Alde r Cree k.

Califo r nia Depart me nt of Fish and Gam e (CDFG). 1995. Salm on and Ste e lhead Restoratio n and Enh a ncemen t Prog ram, Stream In ventory Re port: Bae c htel Cree k.

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Califo r nia Depart me nt of Fish and Gam e (CDFG). 1995. Salm on and Ste e lhead Restoratio n and Enh a ncemen t Prog ram, Stream In ventory Re port: Broa ddus Creek.

Califo r nia Depart me nt of Fish and Gam e (CDFG). 1995. Salm on and Ste e lhead Restoratio n and Enh a ncemen t Prog ram, Stre am In ventory Re port: Che r ry Creek.

Califo r nia Depart me nt of Fish and Gam e (CDFG). 1995. Salm on and Ste e lhead Restoratio n and Enh a ncemen t Prog ram, Stream In ventory Re port: Hae h l Cree k.

Califo r nia Depart me nt of Fish and Gam e (CDFG). 1995. Salm on and Ste e lhead Restoratio n and Enh a ncemen t Prog ram, St ream In ventory Re port: Lon g Valley Creek.

Califo r nia Depart me nt of Fish and Gam e (CDFG). 1995. Salm on and Ste e lhead Restoratio n and Enh a ncemen t Prog ram, Stream In ventory Re port: Ou tlet Cre e k.

Califo r nia Depart me nt of Fish and Gam e (CDFG). 1995. Salm on and Ste e lhead Restoratio n and Enh a ncemen t Prog ram, Stre am In ventory Re port: Rya n Cree k.

Califo r nia Depart me nt of Fish and Gam e (CDFG). 1995. Salm on and Ste e lhead Restoratio n and Enh a ncemen t Prog ram, Stream In ventory Re port: String Cree k.

60Califo r nia Departme nt of Fish and Ga m e (CDFG) -W ater Pollution Control Laborato ry. 1996. C a lifo r nia stream bioa ssessmen t proce d ure. Ran c ho C o rdova, CA.

Califo r nia Depart me nt of Fish and Gam e (CDFG). 1997. Salm on and Ste e lhead Restoratio n and Enh a ncemen t Prog ram, Stre am In ventory Re port: Ca ve Cree k.

Califo r nia Depart me nt of Fish and Gam e (CDFG). 1997. Salm on and Ste e lhead Restoratio n and Enh a ncemen t Prog ram, Stre am In ventory Re port: Ca ve Cree k.

Califo r nia Depart me nt of Fish and Gam e (CDFG). 1997. Salm on and Ste e lhead Restoratio n and Enh a ncemen t Prog ram, Stream In ventory Re port: Unn a med Tributary #1 t o Ca v e Cree k.

Califo r nia Depart me nt of Fish and Gam e (CDFG). 1997. Salm on and Ste e lhead Restoratio n and Enh a ncemen t Prog ram, Stream In ventory Re port: Unn a med Tributary #2 t o Ca v e Cree k.

Califo r nia Depart me nt of Fish and Gam e (CDFG). 1997. Salm on and Ste e lhead Restoratio n and Enh a ncemen t Prog ram, Stre am In ventory Re port: To m k i Creek.

Califo r nia Depart me nt of Fish and Gam e (CDFG). 1998. Salm on and Ste e lhead Restoratio n and Enh a ncemen t Prog ram, Stream In ventory Re port: Unn a med Tributary #3 t o Ca v e Cree k.
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### Herbst, D. 2003. Summary of rec e nt find ings regarding a comparis on of data generated by C D FG, U S FS, La ho n t an RWQC B, a n d EPA-EMAP macro i n verteb rate field protocols. Presentation given to th e Surface Water Ambient Mo nit o ringProgra m (SWAMP) Bioassessment Mo nit o ri ng Co mmit t ee, La hont an Regi ona l Water Quality Contro l Board Office, South Lake Tahoe, Se ptember 25

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APPE NDI C ES
Append i x A: Te mperature Mod e ling

a v a i l a b l e as a s e pa r a t e d o c u m e nt Append i x B: Se dim e nt So urce Analysis

a v a i l a b l e as a s e pa r a t e d o c u m e nt Append i x C:

65