The Sierra Fund’s (TSF) Science Director Dr. Carrie Monohan co-author a peer-reviewed article accepted for publication in the journal Science of the Total Environment titled “Long-term hydraulic mining sediment budgets: Connectivity as a management tool.” Lead author Dr. Allan James is a professor at the University of South Carolina and has partnered with TSF on our work to […]
Last Wednesday, October 21 The Sierra Fund’s CEO Elizabeth “Izzy” Martin spoke to the California Water Commission (CWC) at their public event in Yuba City. Through this evening event, the Commission was soliciting input on how to implement the water storage section of Proposition 1, including how to invest the more than $2 billion in the bond for increasing water storage in the state. Martin spoke about the potential to improve reservoir operation, increase water storage and enhance water quality and ecosystem resiliency by removing sediment that is clogging reservoirs in the Sierra Nevada.
Today’s potential for consumer-driven environmental action has exciting potential to reverse the dire impacts of legacy mining in California, particularly in the context of the State’s reservoirs. The Multiple Benefits Track on April 20 at Reclaiming the Sierra 2015 offers technical experts, regulatory agencies, industry representatives, Tribal entities, and fair-trade jewelry activists a series of three workshops that will examine the many benefits of conscientious sediment removal from reservoirs and the potential market for E3 Gold that is ecologically sourced through reclamation and restoration efforts, including sediment removal activities.
The Sierra Fund is supporting two bills authored by Senator Fran Pavley in the current legislative session, SB 1270 and SB 1259. SB 1270, the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (SMARA) Reform Act of 2014 was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee without enough votes to muster passage, making the bill essentially dead for the year. SB 1259 Sedimentation Studies has moved to the floor of the Senate after unanimously passing both the Appropriations and Natural Resources Committees. This bill requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to gather data to study the loss of storage capacity behind California dams resulting from sedimentation.
The Sierra Fund has received a grant of $5.5 million from the California Department of Water Resources for water quality and supply projects proposed as part of the Cosumnes, American, Bear, Yuba (CABY) Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM). The successful proposal, CABY Headwaters Resilience and Adaptability Program, was submitted last winter as part of the Department’s Proposition 84 Round 2 Implementation Grant Solicitation.
The CABY region’s implementation proposal to the CA Department of Water Resources, for which The Sierra Fund is the lead applicant and fiscal sponsor, has been recommended for full funding. The proposal package includes a dozen projects in the CABY IRWM region including needed water infrastructure, innovative small hydroelectric projects, and mine lands and meadow […]
The physical dangers to recreationists at abandoned mine sites are well known, but the hazards associated with exposure to heavy metals in dust at abandoned mine sites are not well understood. This pilot study identified contaminants of concern (COC) at popular recreation areas around Downieville, Nevada City, and Foresthill, CA.
Dr. Monohan’s Presentation, Assm. Natural Resources Committee
On March 24, 2014, Dr. Carrie Monohan, Science Director at The Sierra Fund, testified on mercury in the Sierra to the Assembly Natural Resources Committee as part of a Special Hearing on Mercury and Abandoned Mine Lands.