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 project to restore the creek. We're keeping the public record here and following each step until it's built.
Cole Creek runs through Green Acres on its way to Clear Lake. Over the years, sediment has filled the channel. After heavy rains, the creek overflows its banks. The water spreads into yards, roads, and pastures, and with nowhere to drain, it 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. The money to build it hasn't been secured 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 →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.
Crews have been clearing the creek for the past two years. Lake County Water Resources removed sediment and vegetation above Clark Drive Bridge in August 2025, the California Conservation Corps hauled vegetation out of the channel in December 2025, and the county cleared debris and sediment again in September and October 2026. Thank you to Lake County Water Resources, the California Conservation Corps, and CDFW for this work.
Clearing helps water flow for now. For the long term, the restoration project needs to fix both the creek and the neighborhood's drainage.
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. The next winter, after the August and December 2025 clearing, the water peaked at about 5 inches. That's encouraging. Still, this is one pasture over two winters, and the second winter started with drier soil, so it doesn't tell us the flooding is fixed across the neighborhood. See the monitoring results.
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. The grant doesn't cover construction, and the money to build it hasn't been secured yet. See the full plan and timeline.
Until then, we need the creek upkeep to continue. Our main goal remains the long-term restoration of Cole Creek, and we'll keep following it until the work is done.
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.
