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Groundbreaking Marks Largest Floodplain Salmon Rearing Habitat Project in California History, June 23, 2022

Federal and state agencies broke ground on June 23 on a project that will become the single largest floodplain salmon rearing habitat restoration in California history. The Department of Water Resources and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation are partnering on the “Big Notch Project,” a 30,000-acre floodplain habitat restoration and fish passage project in the Yolo Bypass in Yolo County. The project will expand floodplain rearing habitat for juvenile salmon and improve access through the bypass for salmon and sturgeon, which is pivotal to the recovery of these threatened and endangered fish species. Project information: https://water.ca.gov/Programs/ Integrated-Science-and-Engineering/RestorationMitigation-Compliance/Yolo-Bypass-Projects

Groundbreaking Celebrates California’s Largest Tidal Habitat Restoration Project, June 30

On June 30, state, federal, and local agencies gathered to celebrate the groundbreaking of the largest tidal habitat restoration project in California history. The Department of Water Resources (DWR) and Ecosystem Investment Partners (EIP) are teaming up on the Lookout Slough Tidal Habitat Restoration and Flood Improvement Project in Solano County. It is a multi-benefit effort to restore the site to a tidal wetland, creating habitat and producing food for Delta Smelt and other fish species while also creating new flood capacity in the Yolo Bypass and reducing overall flood risk in the Sacramento area.

The Lookout Slough project is located west of Liberty Island Ecological Reserve in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Part of the massive project includes constructing a new, 25-foot-tall setback levee, excavating 20 miles of open tidal channels, restoring native habitat through grading, fill placement, and natural revegetation, degrading the Shag Slough Levee to match the elevation of a 10-year storm event, and breaching exterior levees at multiple locations around the site. Construction of the project is expected to be completed in late 2024. The Lookout Slough project is unique in that it shows the effectiveness of innovative public-private partnerships to deliver accelerated landscape scale restoration, which is critical to supporting wildlife and the environment against climate-driven impacts. Project information: https://water.ca.gov/Programs/ Integrated-Science-and-Engineering/RestorationMitigation-Compliance/Delta-Projects 7

Funding and Grants

DWR Allocates Funds for Delta-Mendota Canal Repairs (April)

The California Department of Water Resources signed an agreement to award $3.3 million in funding to the San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority to repair segments of the Delta-Mendota Canal (DMC) in the San Joaquin Valley that have been damaged by land subsidence.

The Delta-Mendota Canal, which conveys water over 116 miles from its headworks in Byron to its outlet in Mendota, plays a critical role in delivering water to 1.2 million acres of farmland in the San Joaquin, San Benito, and Santa Clara valleys. It also delivers water to more than 2 million Californians and approximately 150,000 acres of managed wetlands important to the Pacific Flyway. The Delta-Mendota Canal is one of four projects that will receive funds as part of a $100 million initiative in the California Budget Act of 2021 to improve water conveyance systems in the San Joaquin Valley. Project information: https://water.ca.gov/News/ News-Releases/2022/April-22/DWR-Allocates-Fundsfor-Delta-Mendota-Canal-Repairs Continued on next page

STATE NEWS (Continued)

Publication

2022 Central Valley Flood Protection Plan Update

The 2022 CVFPP Update evaluates progress made since passage of major State bonds in 2007 and recommends future management actions led by State, federal, and local partners to continue implementation of the CVFPP. The 2022 CVFPP Update focuses on three key themes: • Climate resilience • Performance tracking • Alignment with other State efforts The 2022 CVFPP Update continues to build on the significant amount of work completed over the past 15 years to better understand and develop priorities to improve flood risk management in the Central Valley. Using new information, updated science, and innovative tools, it recommends priority actions to address flood risk in the face of climate change. Development of the 2022 CVFPP Update was informed by a robust, multi-year communications and engagement process that involved frequent discussions with State, federal, Tribal, and local partners. The public draft was released for public comment in April. Comments on the public draft were submitted to DWR in early June. The final report is slated for release in late 2022.

More information: https://water.ca.gov/Programs/ Flood-Management/Flood-Planning-and-Studies/Central-Valley-Flood-Protection-Plan

Upcoming Events

2022 Watershed University Webinar:

Rise to Leadership and Importance of Succession Planning, July 19 (11:30 am-12:30 pm) Have you ever wondered how industry leaders get to where they are? What happens to the years of experience and expertise when those individuals leave or retire? Join us to hear from two leaders in the water resources industry tell their stories and learn about some of the challenges they’ve encountered over the years. Reggie Hill was the manager of the Lower San Joaquin Levee District and Chris Elias is the Executive Director, San Joaquin Area Flood Control Agency. The California Silver Jackets Team and FMA Emerging Professionals are partnering to host a series of Watershed University webinars focusing on leadership and soft skills for emerging professionals in the water resources field. Register here.

California Flood Preparedness Week 2022: October 22-29

The eleventh annual California Flood Preparedness Week (CFPW) will be held from October 22-29, 2022. Federal, state, and local agencies will work together to inform Californians about the types of flooding that impact their communities and share ways to reduce their flood risk. If you have questions about CFPW, contact: Nikki Blomquist, Program Coordinator: Nikki.Blomquist@water.ca.gov; Jason Ince, Public Affairs: Jason.Ince@water.ca.gov Event information

Upcoming NFIP Workshops

The City of Oceanside will be hosting three workshops in October. Registration information • October 4: NFIP and Duties of the

Local Administrator • October 5: FEMA Elevation Certificate • October 6: CFM Exam

Questions?

Nikki Blomquist, Advisor California Department of Water Resources Nikki.Blomquist@water.ca.gov (916) 820-7749 Salomon Miranda – Advisor California Department of Water Resources Salomon.Miranda@water.ca.gov (818) 549-2347

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Hawaii

See the latest news stories relating to Hawaii’s floodplain management issues. For the transformed flood information platform from Hawaii visit their exciting weekly blog at https://waihalana.hawaii.gov/ Some of the latest postings relate to hurricane preparedness, stewarding our environment, and Flood Insurance. For archived Wai Halana Newsletters (prior to 2018) https://dlnreng.hawaii.gov/nfip/wai-halana/

Nevada

With the beautiful weather over past couple of months The Nevada Floodplain Management Program has been at several different outreach events in northern Nevada from the Reno River Fest to Elko Environmental Education Day. A remarkable event that we attended and helped coordinate was the Reno High Water Mark sign unveiling event in May. This sign resides at Wingfield Park along the Truckee River in Reno, Nevada, and marks the height of the flood waters from the 1997 flood at its location. We are looking forward to several more upcoming events in late summer and fall including the Carson City High Water Mark unveiling. Then just around the corner is our 9th annual Flood Awareness Week; November 13th-19th. Nevada Silver Jackets projects are underway! During the week leading up to Flood Awareness Week there will be a virtual forum that will focus current aspects of Floodplain Management in Nevada from current projects to changes in the NFIP. We are also working on creating an informational pamphlet for teachers that summarize all of the standard classroom curriculum we have created to go hand in hand with our virtual outreach materials. This pamphlet and all other materials will then be accessible on our newly renovated website; Nevadafloods.org. In addition to those projects, we will also be hosting mitigation workshops with our first one taking place in Washoe County on September 22nd. The mitigation workshops will focus on specific local mitigation efforts underway and examples of succusses. Lastly the Nevada Silver Jackets are preparing some Floodplain Management Plans for a few watersheds that contain dams that are eligible to apply for the Rehabilitation of High Hazard Potential Dams (HHPD) grant program. The Nevada Floodplain Management Program is in the beginning of a new grant cycle and is working toward creating a timeline for trainings and Community Assistance Contacts/Community Assistance Visits throughout the year. We are looking forward to being able to offer trainings in person and touch base with more communities than we ever have before Our goal is to get our communities on a 5-year cycle for Community Assistance Contacts/Community Assistance Visits. This requires Nevada’s State Coordinator to complete a combination of 12 Community Assistance Contacts/Community Assistance Visits.