Green Acres · Kelseyville, California
Flooding from Cole Creek has damaged homes, roads, and pastures in Green Acres for years. Lake County is now designing a restoration of the creek. We're keeping the public record here and following the project until it's built.
Cole Creek runs through Green Acres on its way to Clear Lake. Over the years, sediment has filled the channel. When heavy rain comes, the creek spills onto homes, roads, and pastures, and the water can sit there for months. Lake County is now planning a lasting fix for the lower part of the creek. Here's where that stands.
A state grant from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife covers planning and design.
The county hired FlowWest, a river restoration firm. They have just started, and the design is due by March 2028.
The current grant doesn't cover construction. Funding to build the project hasn't been found yet.
October 6, 2026
Lake County Water Resources crews returned to Cole Creek on Monday and Tuesday, October 5–6, to remove accumulated sediment ahead of the winter storms. Building on last year's cleanup, the team uncovered the drainage pipe and removed sediment from the creek upstream of it. It's great to see this hands-on maintenance continuing!
Read more →September 1, 2026
On September 1, Lake County Water Resources crews cleared two major accumulations of woody debris from Cole Creek along Clark Drive. At the first site, logs and branches had packed beneath a bridge in the channel. Crews pulled the material from under the span and loaded it into a dump trailer. Farther downstream, they cut apart a second dense blockage and hauled the debris out.
Read more →August 4, 2026
On August 4, the Lake County Board of Supervisors approved a $349,647 agreement with FlowWest to plan and design the restoration of Cole Creek. The agreement runs through March 1, 2028. It describes the goal as a project "to reduce flooding and improve habitat conditions for Clear Lake hitch" in Lower Cole Creek. The supervisors voted as the board of the Lake County Watershed Protection District, the county agency that runs the project.
Read more →At one pasture on Pharo Place, sensors recorded at least 135 straight days of standing water in 2025, with a peak depth of 2.31 feet. In the early 2026 record, the peak was about 5 inches. It's encouraging to see less standing water after the creek work. These results cover one pasture during two different winters, so they don't tell us that the flooding problem is fixed across the neighborhood. See the monitoring results.
Cole Creek was rerouted and straightened in the late 1950s. Sediment and debris have built up over the years, leaving less room for water to flow. Blocked outlets have also kept water from draining out of the neighborhood.
Clearing those blockages helps water flow. The larger restoration project needs to deal with the creek and the neighborhood's drainage for the long term.
FlowWest is now planning and designing the restoration, paid for by a California Department of Fish and Wildlife grant. The design is due by March 2028. Building it will take more funding, which hasn't been found yet. We'll keep following the project until the work is done. See the full plan and timeline.
Thank you to Lake County Water Resources, the California Conservation Corps, and CDFW for the creek work and coordination so far, including the county's September and October 2026 cleanups. We need that upkeep to continue while the larger project moves forward. Our main goal remains the long-term restoration of Cole Creek.
Clear Lake hitch come into Cole Creek to spawn. When the creek floods nearby fields, fish can get trapped in pools that later dry out. Our photos show what has happened in past years.
We counted about 50 hitch in the creek during a community survey on March 10, 2026. It was good to see them. Restoring Cole Creek matters for these fish as well as the people who live here.
We're neighbors in Green Acres, Kelseyville, California. Many of us have lived here for decades. We've seen floodwater stay on our properties for months, damage roads and fences, and make everyday life difficult.
We're sharing photos, keeping track of conditions, and meeting with the agencies involved. We want the creek restored and the neighborhood able to drain properly when storms come.
Drone footage of Green Acres flooding, February 18, 2025. Filmed by Sam Euston.
Do you have photos, flooding stories, or observations from along the creek? Please share them. They help show what our neighborhood has been dealing with and why the restoration needs to happen.
