MEI is managing two related projects in the Lake Berryessa watershed for the non-profit organization Tuleyome. The work is being conducted in partnership with the federal Bureau of Land Management Ukiah Field Office in their 17,700-acre Knoxville Recreation Area and with the University of California Davis’ McLaughlin Natural Reserve. The project will improve the four-mile-long Cedar Creek Trail and the 13-mile main trail for long-term stability/ erosion control with improved water management. The project is also stabilizing a failed stock pond dam’s spillway in Aikawa Creek.
Current Projects
Stonegate Homeowners Association Lake Management Support
Dr. McCord is working with the HOA’s Lake Committee to review current practices and develop a Lake Management Plan for the central community asset, Stonegate Lake.
Mountain Lakes Management
MEI is supporting the Pine Mountain Lake Association and Lake Wildwood Association in managing their eponymous lakes in Sierra Nevada foothills. The lakes stores on the order of 4,000 to 8,000 acre-feet of water from a 25-54 square-mile watersheds behind roughly 100-ft tall earthen dams. MEI’s work supports monitoring limnological conditions, reporting on dam instrumentation and water rights, communicating with community leaders and members, and as-needed services such as managing invasive species and surveying the bathymetry.
Mercury Material and Water Treatability Studies
MEI is implementing case studies to apply MercLok, a product developed and patented by Albemarle Corporation, to amend mercury-rich mining material on two abandoned mercury mine sites in northern California. Additional potential sites being evaluated include more abandoned mercury mines, brackish-water wetlands in the San Francisco Bay Estuary, a freshwater reservoir being dredged, constructed ponds in gravel mining areas, and a floodplain wetland.
Mercury Monitoring and Mitigation Planning for Aggregate Mine Pit Lakes
MEI is supporting AKT Investments with its conditional use permit compliance at Patterson Sand & Gravel Mine for its pit ponds along Bear River. MEI’s roles include developing and implementing a mercury monitoring plan for its use permit, monitoring for a dewatering permit, recommending mercury corrective actions, special study comparing mercury conditions in the adjacent Bear River, and reviewing the site’s Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure Plan. A new project with Yolo County will be working with aggregate mining operations along Cache Creek to develop fish mercury control options for their pit ponds.