Watershed 10 Year Plan Update

All,


I wanted to bring the LRIA membership up to speed on the activities of the LRIA board regarding the Watershed 10 Year Plan.

As you saw from Bryan's email, we requested feedback from the general LRIA membership about the plan.  We also met with the District Administrator (Claire Bleser) and went through the plan in detail to better understand the potential impact to Lake Riley.  Finally, we met and discussed as an LRIA board to coordinate on what specific feedback we wanted to provide the watershed during the public comment period.


At a high level, we were generally pleased to see a number of projects that directly benefit Lake Riley, such as:
1. Alum treatment for Lake Riley (2nd dose) planned for 2020
2. Alum (or similar) treatment for Rice Marsh Lake (which flows into Riley) planned for 2018-2027.
3. Alum (or similar) treatment for Lake Susan (which flows into Rice Marsh) planned for 2022-2026.
4. Stabilization of Upper Riley Creek (between Ann and Susan) and Middle Riley Creek (between Rice Marsh and Lake Riley) which should reduce contamination flowing into Lake Riley.
5. Handful of watershed load control projects for Rice Marsh and Susan, which should reduce contamination flowing into Lake Riley.

Our biggest concern was that there were no watershed load control projects for Lake Riley directly (meaning projects intended to reduce runoff coming directly into the lake from adjacent land).  The candidate project on Lake Riley that ranked highest (but not selected) was in the area that flows through the boat launch.  The new boat launch configuration should have provided some benefit, and we are looking into this to better understand.  There is also opportunity/budget set aside for what the watershed calls "Opportunity Projects" and "Cost Share Projects". This is an opportunity to get additional projects on the radar going forward.  

We plan to have more information about the 10 Year Plan, as well as what we can do to help identify Opportunity and Cost Share projects to benefit Lake Riley, as part of the annual meeting on April 23.  Mark your calendars and more info to come soon.

Based on the assessment above, the LRIA board submitted the feedback pasted at the end of this email to the watershed regarding the 10 Year Plan.

As always, please reach out with any questions or concerns to myself or the other LRIA board members.  Thanks to the LRIA board members for spending the time to review, understand and comment on the plan.  And special thanks to our LRIA members who have served on the Watershed Board of Managers and have been instrumental in the development of the plan:  Perry Forster (now retired from the Board) and Dick Chadwick.

And remember our website:  www.lakeriley.org.

Think warm thoughts.  Summer is coming!

Ryan

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"On behalf of the Lake Riley Improvement Association (LRIA) Board, I would like to thank the RPBCWD Watershed Staff and Managers for putting this 10 Year Plan together.  Our LRIA Board has reviewed the Plan and had the opportunity to speak with the District Administrator at length regarding its contents.  It is our view that the process used to develop the plan was thorough, public visibility of the process was high, and the projects identified for implementation are appropriate.  We specifically reviewed with great interest the projects planned for the Riley Creek Watershed, and are generally pleased to see a number of beneficial projects planned for the next 10 years.  This includes:  completion of alum treatment on Lake Riley, alum treatments for Rice Marsh Lake and Lake Susan, stabilization and restoration of Upper and Middle Riley Creeks, and a few watershed load control projects for the Lake Susan and Rice Marsh Lake watersheds.  Our one concern is the absence of specific watershed load control projects planned for the Lake Riley watershed during the plan period.  We look forward to understanding more about how the boat ramp project completed on Lake Riley in 2017 may have achieved some level of reduction in loading for LR_88 and LR_90.  We also look forward to working with the RPBCWD Staff to help identify Opportunity and Cost Share projects to benefit the Lake Riley watershed as we move forward.

On behalf of the LRIA Board,
Ryan Majkrzak
President, LRIA"