170 



ORIGINS and OBJECTIVES of the 



URBAN STREAM RESTORATION PROGRAM 



The Department of Water Resources 

 (DWR) Urban Stream Restoration Pro- 

 gram began in 1985 when a coalition 

 of local water management districts, 

 neighborhood organizations, sport 

 fishing, environmental groups, ser- 

 vice organizations and city and coun- 

 ty governments sponsored the crea- 

 tion of a new urban stream restoration 

 and flood control progTam. The objec- 

 tives of the program are to assist com- 

 munities in reducing damages from 

 stream bank and watershed instabili- 

 ty and floods while restoring the en- 

 vironmental and aesthetic values of 

 streams, and to encourage steward- 

 ship and maintenance of streams by 

 the community. The program pro- 

 vides technical assistance to com- 

 munities in designing solutions to 

 flooding and bank stability problems 

 and developing land use regulations 

 to manage floodways and riparian en- 

 vironments. The program also pro- 

 vides grants on an annual cycle for on- 

 site stream restoration work, design of 

 restoration and flood damage reduc- 

 tion plans, organizing volunteer 

 maintenance and monitoring projects, 

 and acquisition of green belts along 

 streams. 



Communities are beginning to 

 develop flood reduction and bank 

 stabilization plans that rely more on 

 local resources because conventional 

 federally assisted flood control pro- 

 jects have been plagued with long 

 delays, rising local costs and unaccep- 

 table environmental and social im- 

 pacts to the community. This program 

 is an effort of state government to of- 

 fer assistance to these local efforts. 

 This pamphlet briefly describes the 

 kinds of less expensive damage reduc- 

 tion measures that can be used by 

 communities and provides examples 

 of projects using these techniques 

 already implemented in California. 



Counties, cities and non-profit 

 organizations are eligible to receive 

 grants from the Urban Stream 

 Restoration Program. The program's 

 enabling legislation requires that the 

 proposed projects restore or enhance 

 the aesthetic, recreational, fish and 

 wildlife values of the waterways. Pro- 

 posals which stress community in- 

 volvement are given a high priority. 

 Small neighborhood, community 

 organizations or service groups are en- 

 couraged to apply by making ar- 

 rangements with non-profit organiza- 

 tions or local governments to be their 

 sponsor. Typically, the Department of 

 Water Resources mails out requests 

 for grant proposals in the fall months. 

 Proposals are reviewed in December 

 or January and then arrangements for 

 the transfer of grant monies to the suc- 

 cessful applicants are made in the 

 winter and spring. Project completion 

 is usually expected within a year from 

 the time the grant is awarded. To 

 qualify, an applicant needs to have 

 two objectives: first, the restoration of 

 environmental resources and, second, 

 addressing a problem of watershed 

 stabilization or flooding. 



San Luis Obispo, California. Sonic local 

 governments such as Napa, San Luis 

 Obispo, and Mariposa County have based 

 their downtown development projects 

 around the restoration of a central city 

 stream. 



