CDFW authorizes emergency culvert clearing after months of flooding

After holding back water from January through mid-May, we brought Jennifer Garcia, Environmental Program Manager at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, to Cole Creek to see the trapped water for herself.

She authorized us to take a tractor into the channel as an emergency flood response so we could dig out the clogged culvert that was trapping the neighborhood’s runoff.

Months of standing water wiped out the grass seed we had planted for summer forage, and by May the pasture was sprouting water plantains and other wetland plants instead.

The moment the blockage was removed, the standing floodwater dropped noticeably over the next few days, giving nearby parcels their first relief of the year.