conservancy as delta partner, convener and...

Campbell Ingram, Executive Officer

Presentation to the National Planning Conference

April 16, 2012

Conservancy as Delta Partner, Convener and Implementer

Co-Equal Responsibilities

■ Act as a primary state agency to implement

ecosystem restoration in the Delta, and

■ Support efforts that advance

environmental protection and the economic

well-being of Delta residents

Overview

Legislation

Mandates

Board and Advisors

Strategic Plan

Strategic Plan Process

• Process – Outreach and Public Meetings

• Public Draft Available, March 26, 2012

– www.deltaconservancy.ca.gov

• Comment Period Through, April 20, 2012

• Three Public Workshops

– Rio Vista, April 10, 2012, 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm

– Clarksburg, April 12, 2012, 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm

– Oakley, April 14, 2012 (Sat.), 10:00 am to 12:00 pm

• Anticipated Adoption, June 27, 2012

Draft Strategic Plan Goals

Potential Roles for the Conservancy

Restoration Network

Develop an

Implementation

Framework

Coordinate restoration

efforts of DWR, DFG,

SFCWA, Conservancy

Integrate and Learn

Adaptively and Track

Effectively

www.deltaconservancy.ca.gov

Questions: (916) 375-2084

PLANNING SOLUTIONS FOR THE

SACRAMENTO-SAN JOAQUIN DELTA

LEVEE PERSPECTIVE

American Planning Association National Conference

April 16, 2012

Gilbert Cosio, P.E.

MBK Engineers

PAST PLANNING EFFORTS

“In 1976 the Legislature directed the Department to prepare a plan for

preservation of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta levees. This report is in

response to that directive – Chapter 1302, Statutes of 1976. In a joint effort with

the Corps of Engineers, technical plans for restoration of all or part of the Delta

levee system have now been prepared. Virtually all that can be done in terms

of such feasibility studies has been done.

Now is the time for decision. The most significant element in a decision on what

action to take is how much can we afford and who will pay? These questions

can only be answered by the Legislature, the local landowners, and the

Congress. The potential cost is enormous.”

“Delta Levees Investigation, Bulletin 192-82”, Department of Water Resources, December 1982

FLOOD CONTROL

Significant Events 1980-1998

• FEMA disasters 1980, 1982, 1983, 1986 ($100 million) • Extensive levee surveys 1984 • HMP required for future FEMA (1986) • Delta Levee Subventions increased funding SB 34 (1988) • Substantial HMP compliance 1991 • Major disasters averted 1995, 1997, 1998

Monumental Agreement

• FEMA Disaster Assistance Considered if HMP Compliant

by September 1991 • State to Provide Funding Assistance

• SB 34 (1988) • Up to 75% State Reimbursement

• Locals to Provide 25% Cost Share Plus $1,000/mile

SB 34 (1988)

Subventions Program • All levee maintenance and rehabilitation

Special Projects • Focused on eight western islands and islands with

significant State importance

Expenditures 1973-2010

($1,000)

Subventions $265,852 Total

$118,402 Local

$147,450 State

Special Projects (Local Share varies 0%-25%) $237,890

$209,050 Engineering and Construction

$ 28,840 Habitat Enhancement

SUBSIDENCE

SEISMIC

SEA LEVEL RISE

MAINTENANCE

Issues Impacting Maintenance of System

• Existing Minimal Levee Standard

• Subsidence

• Funding

• Regulatory

• Emergency Response

• Sea Level Rise

• Responsible Agency

• Politics

HABITAT

Beaver Slough Habitat Improvement Project

• Levee in need of erosion repair

• Very little existing rip rap

• Work with agencies for overall wildlife enhancement

Beaver Slough Habitat Improvement Project

1999 2005

Beaver Slough Habitat Improvement Project

1999 2005

Beaver Slough Habitat Improvement Project

1999 2005

Decker Island

• Removed 625,000 cubic yards of material

• Return 30 acres to tidal wetlands

• Major rehabilitation of over 8 miles of levee on

4 Reclamation Districts

• Required cooperation of DWR, Reclamation Districts,

DFG, Corps of Engineers, RWQCB, USFWS,

NOAA Fisheries

Decker Island Habitat Restoration Project

Before After

Carbon “Farming” for Reversing the Effects of

Subsidence and Carbon Sequestration

Steve Deverel, HydroFocus, Inc. and Belinda Morris , Environmental Defense Fund

American Planning Association Meeting, April 16, 2012

1

Subsidence:

Why, where,

how much and

consequences

2

Increasing

3

Causes Oxidation (~70%) and Consolidation (~30%) • Oxidation :

– Is microbially mediated;

– Is proportional to soil organic matter content;

– Is minimally affected by tillage and

cultivation practices;

– Decreases with shallower water table

– Stops with permanent flooding

– Results in deepening and increasing density of drainage ditches.

• Consolidation: from dewatering

of saturated peat.

See Deverel, Steven J. & Leighton, David A. 2010. Historic, Recent, and Future Subsidence,

Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California, USA. San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science, 8(2), 1-23

4

2010 estimated

subsidence rates

Su

bsid

en

ce (

cm

/yr)

3.5

3.0

2.5

2.0

1.5

1.0

2010 Model Output Values

CO

2 F

lux

(to

n C

O2

/a

c/yr)

25

20

15

10

5

0

2010 Model Output Values

-14

-12

-10

-8

-6

-4

-2

0

2

Feb-93 Feb-94 Feb-95 Feb-96 Feb-97 Feb-98 Feb-99 Feb-00 Feb-01 Feb-02

LV

DT

ele

vati

on

(cm

)

average = 1.1 cm/year

Bacon Island

Twitchell Island

5

Twitchell

Sherman

Bacon

Consequences

6

We are seeing more of this

7

Sand boil in drainage ditch

8

Carbon-Capture Wetlands –

Potential Alternative Land Use

Overall Objectives:

• Stop and reverse effects of subsidence

• Stop carbon dioxide loss due to peat oxidation

• Background

• Experimental results

• Economics and

benefits

• Recent Progress and

Next Steps

9

• Permanently flooded,

freshwater, non-tidal

• Two 7 acre wetlands,

established in 1997

Carbon wetlands on Twitchell Island

10

Wetland accretion and carbon accumulation

Lan

d S

urf

ace C

han

ge (

cm

)

BIOMASS ACCRETION

SUBSIDENCE

East West

Miller, R.L., Fram, M.S., Wheeler, G., Fujii, R., 2008. Subsidence reversal in a

re-established wetland in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California, USA.

San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science, 6(3): 1-24.

Key = slow decomposition

11

Range: 9 to 40 MT CO2 per acre-year

Miller, Robin L., 2011 Carbon Gas Fluxes in Re-Established Wetlands on Organic Soils Differ

Relative to Plant Community and Hydrology, Wetlands DOI 10.1007/s13157-011-0215-2

Estimated

Net Greenhouse Gas

Benefit

12

MT CO2 equivalent per

acre-year

Average carbon

sequestration

20

Methane emission -9

Current CO2 loss due to

soil oxidation

9

Net benefit (20 – 9 + 9) 20

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

Prairie Forest

Tidal

Marsh

Twitchell Wetland

Delta Corn

Carb

on D

ioxid

e (

metr

ic t

on

s p

er

acre

) Productivity comparison

13

Market Opportunities

• California State Senate passed Assembly Bill 32 in

2006 • Statewide GHG emission limit equivalent to the1990 GHG emissions by

2020

• Mandates a cap-and-trade program

• Carbon market , registries, protocols

• Subsided islands = accommodation space for

sequestrating carbon.

14

Conceptual Design and Estimated Operating Expenses for 240-acre

Wetland

Total O&M (type 1 & 2)

operation and cash

overhead expenses

$276

Type 3 Capital

Recovery costs

Machinery & Vehicles $9

Buildings $13

Equipment $2

Field Construction $1,386

Subtotal $1,410

Total $1,686

2011 $/A

Benefit – Net Present Value

10 15 20

Year 10 -$1,695 -$814 $321

Year 25 -$1,514 $853 $3,165

Year 50 $182 $4,078 $9,095

-$4,000

-$2,000

$0

$2,000

$4,000

$6,000

$8,000

$10,000

Net

Pre

sen

t V

alu

e i

n $

/acre

Initial price per ton ($)

Net Present Value, 20 tonnes CO2/acre-year

Year 10

Year 25

Year 50

9

20 MT CO2 per acre per year, varying initial price, 5% increase per year

48

17

Recent net

revenue for Delta

corn ~ $190/A

The present value is the total amount that a series of future payments is worth now

Wetlands

Drained ag

Benefits

Saturated conditions allow for

greater drainage discharge control

and load reductions

Eliminate need for

deepening drainage ditches

Reduces threat to levee stability

Reduced seepage and

hydraulic force on levees

Stops volume loss

17

Progress and next

steps Recent progress

• DWR wetland

constructed on

Sherman Island

• GHG monitoring

• Water quality

monitoring

• Site analysis

• Conceptual design for

farm scale wetlands

• Preliminary science

plan

Next Steps

• Farm-scale wetlands

construction

• GHG monitoring

• Water quality monitoring

• Methodology

development

• Peer review

• Additional economic

analysis

• Mosquitoes

18

Thank you • Department of Water

Resources

• Nature Conservancy

• Metropolitan Water District

• Delta Conservancy

• Environmental Defense Fund

• Twitchell Island Reclamation

District

19

• Gornto Ditching

• USGS

• Delta Wetlands

• Ducks Unlimited

• Sherman Island Reclamation District

• Stillwater Sciences

• Wetland and Water Resources

Extra Slides

Program Coordination Technical Advisory Committee 1

Establish Policy FoundationFederal, State, or International laws and regulations support formation and functioning of

regulatory carbon markets, environmental regulations, and funding mechanisms

10

ROAD MAP TO CARBON CAPTURE WETLAND FARMS IMPLEMENTATION

Proof of ConceptRegulatory Structures

Formation

Verification protocols

Predictable and feasible

regulatory compliance

5

4B) Demo Projects

Quantify GHG emissions

Quantify MeHg, DOC/ DBPP, & mosquito impacts

Design, construction, and operations alternatives

A) Quantify Baseline *

GHG

MeHg and DOC/DBPP

* Applies also to LCA

Production cost model refinement 6

Secure funding for these early actions 7

#Details described by Action no. in Chap 10

IMPLEMENT PROJECTS

Project Financing

mechanisms

Technical Assistance Program

9

82

3

Quantify other ecosystem services

roadmap to implementation

BIOMASS ACCUMULATION

PERMANENT WETLAND (NET CARBON GAIN)

Gaseous carbon loss

Deverel and others, 1998, Subsidence of organic soils in Land Subsidence Case Studies

And Current Research (Borchers, J.W., ed) Star Publishing

22

DRAINED AGRICULTURE

(NETCARBON LOSS)

Biomass Carbon dioxide

23

Estimated depth

of subsidence

from 2007 to

2050

Su

bsid

en

ce (

cm

/yr)

3.5

3.0

2.5

2.0

1.5

1.0

2010 Model Output Values

EXPLANATION

Subsidence 1.00 m - 1.36 m

0.75 m - 0.99 m

0.50 m - 0.74 m

0.25 m - 0.49 m

0 m - 0.24 m

0 5 10

Kilometers

I 24

25

Consequence: changing

seepage hydraulics

Early 1900s

26

Changing seepage hydraulics

Present

27

-30

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

40

1995 2000 2005 2010

Ele

vati

on

(cm

)

East

Simulated

East

Measured

West

simulated

West

measured

28

2050

29

2003 with drains at land surface

30

2050

31

2003 with drains at land surface

32

Western Delta

Islands –

increasing volume

below sea level

• Simulated volume

loss for 2007-2050:

63,000 acre feet. 18,000

6,000

16,0000 5,600 11,0000

6,500

• When levee fails,

saline water is

drawn from the west.

See Deverel, Steven J. & Leighton, David A.

2010. Historic, Recent, and Future Subsidence,

Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California, USA.

San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science, 8(2), 1-23 33

Island Benefits Cumulative Force on

Levees

CF = 0.05rH2 L

where r is the density

of water, g is

gravitational

H is the difference

between the average

channel water surface

elevation and the

average elevation of

the island and L is the

levee length for the

island.

CF = 0.05rgH2L

H

Mount J, and Twiss R. 2005, Subsidence, sea level rise, seismicity in the

Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. San Francisco Estuary and Watershed

Science. Vol. 3, Issue 1 (March 2005), Article 5.

Island Benefits

Reduction in Cumulative Force For Twitchell Island

Will likely translate to reduced risk to levees

50%

70%

90%

110%

130%

150%

170%

190%

2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050 2060

Percent of Current Value

Year

Wetland accretion

Subsidence and sea level rise

Accretion estimates from Deverel, SJ, Drexler, JZ, Ingrum, T, and Hart, C. 2011.

Simulation of Vertical Marsh Accretion in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta,

California, USA. In preparation for submission to San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science

35

Environmental Issues

and Needs • Quantification of net greenhouse benefit

– Methane

– Nitrous oxides

– Baseline carbon dioxide emissions

• Mosquitoes

• Water quality issues

– Methyl mercury

– Dissolved organic carbon

36