The above video presentation was live-streamed on Jan 9, 2023 by the One Water & Stewardship Committee of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), chairperson Tracy Quinn.
Topics: Improving forest health and watershed resilience
Speaker: Willie Whittlesey, General Manager, Yuba Water Agency
Speaker background: Whittlesey has been at Yuba Water Agency since 2016 and was appointed General Manager in July, 2020. He oversees the agency’s general operations, including flood-risk reduction, hydropower generation, energy sales, water rights, and water supply. Prior to coming to the agency he worked for 13 years at Pacific Gas & Electric in its land and hydrogeneration departments and 6 years in private forest management. He is also a registered professional forester in California.
Notable accomplishments: “Under Willie’s leadership, Yuba Water became a leader in the state in accelerating the pace and scale of forest management and is undertaking efforts to protect the Yuba watershed from catastrophic fire through innovative partnerships, programs and projects. As the agency behind the landmark Lower Yuba River Accord, Yuba Water and Metropolitan (MWD) have been members in water supply reliability for nearly 15 years. Through this agreement, surface water is transferred to MWD and other agencies across the state in almost all water-year types (dry, wet, etc.), after the water has benefitted critical fisheries in the lower Yuba Valley.” - Tracy Quinn
Key facts: Overprotection for the past 120 years led to high density forests that provide more fuel for fires under dry conditions; exacerbated by climate change, catastrophic fires are the result. Prior to modern forest-management interventions, forest thinning by fire was a natural process caused by lightening and assistance from indigenous people. “And it wasn’t wildfire. It wasn’t fast moving fire that burned every piece of vegetation per acre. It slowly crept around. It burned for months and it was just constant,” said Whittlesey.
Quotable: “We’re preventing the natural hydrologic cycle from occurring just because there’s more trees per acre, especially in marginal or drought years.”
Solutions to forest overgrowth and wildfires: Yuba Water Agency seeks to reduce the risk of forest fires that threaten water supplies for both wildlife and human communities by restoring forests to a natural state through collaboration with other agencies.
https://www.yubawater.org/157/Lower-Yuba-River-Accord
See also:
WILDFIRE: Yuba Water Agency returns forest management to Mother Nature