Beyond Searsville Dam

03/06/2018

Very good news:

This Lagunita Dam removal will be one of the most significant steelhead recovery and San Francisquito Creek restoration efforts to date!

Too bad it took two decades of pulling teeth and a judge's orders before Stanford finally agreed to remove this unused steelhead killer.

Hopefully new leadership at the university will shift gears, take a different approach, decide to embrace the unique opportunity to remove Searsville Dam, and live the environmental stewardship message they teach. If not, the fight goes on and we will eventually win as has happened with Lagunita Dam.

Stanford University officials are looking at tearing down Lagunita Dam and restoring habitat for endangered steelhead in the San Francisquito Creek.

11/29/2017

New Oroville Dam spillway "already has cracks" !

Searsville Dam has long had significant cracks through the dam; a situation that is well-documented by California Department of Water Resources inspection records. This is one of the inherent safety hazards associated with Searsville and other dams.

"University of California civil engineering professor Robert Bea, a veteran analyst of structure failures, said cracking in high-strength reinforced concrete structures is never expected."

In a previously undisclosed October letter, federal regulators asked Department of Water Resources officials to explain the hairline cracks on the dam’s new massive concrete flood-control chu…

11/17/2017

Can't wait to read a similar, future article describing how threatened steelhead trout have expanded their range into Portola Valley and Woodside following the removal of Searsville Dam.

Not if, but when.

Two silver, 8 pound steelhead spawning in a shallow riffle below the bridge at the base of Windy Hill Preserve.... we'll see it happen when Stanford University finally ditches their deadbeat dam.

The vermilion darter has expanded its range in Turkey Creek four years after an old dam was taken down.

11/14/2017

The myth of "clean hydro" dams continues to unravel internationally!

Great article here:

Damming rivers may seem like a clean and easy solution for Albania and other energy-hungry countries. But the devil is in the details.

11/03/2017

"They've been looking at their Searsville project for many years to come up with their preferred alternatives," Mr. Materman said. "We have to assume Stanford may or may not do anything, and that the dam may fill up and spill over."

That would be a dam(n) shame, but after two decades of trying to get Stanford to deal with their destructive dam we share Len Materman's dismay with Stanford University

Unfortunately, this article leaves out the fact that Searsville Dam removal is actively being studied right now by Stanford, agencies, and stakeholders. We elaborate in the comment section.

Please chime in!

In 1998, a major storm flooded San Francisquito Creek and caused untold damage to the surrounding area, especially downstream. Almost 20 years later, that flood is still the high-water mark against which local jurisdictions are working to protect themselves.

10/26/2017

Death at Searsville in 1897:

"From an old newspaper article, Crawford learned he was caretaker of the Searsville Dam who didn’t return home to his wife and children one day. According to the newspaper story dated April 1897, Duerst’s clothes were found folded at one of the dam’s ledges, which led authorities to find his body at the base of it. They would go on to believe Duerst was in the habit of taking a shower there when he slipped one day and fell to his death, said Crawford."

One of several people who have died at the dam over the years.

Though history wasn’t Ellen Crawford’s favorite subject in school, the Redwood City resident has a passion for exploring stories from the past.

10/11/2017

Do Stanford University and downstream community really want to keep the ongoing hazard and liability?

Mining, dam building, and fracking are among the causes.

08/26/2017

Great to see Searsville Dam is called out in this important E&E News article as a sediment-blocking culprit that is threatening the health of our coastlines. The future of the San Francisco Bay ecosystem depends on the input of silt, sand, cobbles and boulders from our creeks. It's time for Stanford University to remove Searsville Dam so that San Francisquito Creek can once again feed this amazing estuary and protect it's wetland habitat against rising seas.

"In addition to impounding water, dams block sand and sediment that would otherwise flow down rivers and streams to the sea. All that sand and sediment silt up reservoirs and leave less room for water. Several California reservoirs — including those behind Matilija, Rindge Dam above Malibu and Searsville Dam in the Bay Area — are nearly completely full of sediment."

South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project
Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve
Save The Bay (San Francisco)
San Francisco Baykeeper
The Bay Institute
Bay Nature Institute
Pacific Institute

VENTURA, Calif. -- The Pacific Ocean devoured Surfers' Point here because the Ventura River had stopped delivering sand needed to maintain it. The culprit was 16 miles upstream: Matilija Dam.

07/27/2017

Towering walls of steel, and concrete, dams have generated power, moderated rivers' flow, and dramatically altered aquatic ecosystems.

07/27/2017

07/19/2017

Excellent NYT op-ed!

“Thoreau was prophetic in his apprehensions about dams. Though society has degraded rivers and reduced fish runs through pollution, overfishing and a host of other grievances, no single action has caused as much injury as the construction of barriers along their migratory routes. And decades of experimentation with engineered devices, like ladders to allow these fish to pass dams, have failed to reverse these declines.

The removal in 1999 of the Edwards Dam on Maine’s Kennebec River and the subsequent explosion in its fish populations offered an answer to his question, showing that these rivers can recover. Now that other energy alternatives are available, like wind and solar, society shouldn’t accept the presence of dams that produce nominal hydropower at the cost of the health of major Atlantic rivers.”

Thank you John Waldman!

In 1839, Thoreau saw the damage that dams were doing to fish on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers.

07/10/2017

Make Your Voice Heard: It's Time to Daylight the Rest of Sausal Creek With Portola Valley Town Center Upgrades

Portola Valley's Town Center Master Planning Committee is evaluating the Town Center buildings and uses to determine what the plan should be moving forward to maintain and improve this beautiful community and watershed resource. While many community members see the daylighted and restored section of Sausal Creek as the "heart" of the Town Center, a few residents have expressed a reluctance to remove the remaining concrete culvert and restore the entire length of the cherished stream as it winds through this public meeting place. It's time to show your support for reviving the rest of the creek!

Many of us have witnessed the allure of the restored section of creek to attract the young and old, the feathered and the froggy, the wildflowers and the shade-giving trees. This is a place to rewild, for kids to explore a place not human-made, for people to relax, and for our local wildlife to call home. There is room to move the adjacent baseball field a couple dozen feet and enable the rest of the creek, which is currently condemned underground in a culvert, to come back to life while eliminating the known culvert safety and maintenance hazard and improving both water quality and habitat value.

Please speak up in favor of supporting Portola Valley's progressive policies around environmental preservation, creek protections, and improved water quality. Portola Valley has reserved funds to study Town Center improvements. Help ensure that restoring the full length of Sausal Creek is a top priority!

Let the planning committee know that you support daylighting the rest of Sausal Creek.

Here's how:

1) Attend the public meeting this Wednesday the 12th at 4pm at the historic Portola Valley Schoolhouse (at the P.V. Town Center and next to the creek)

2) Write a quick note of support to Debbie Pedro [email protected] and ask that your note be submitted to the Planning Committee.

Portola Valley Town Center
Portola Valley Library
Empower Portola Valley
Portola Valley Farmers' Market
Acterra: Action for a Healthy Planet
Grassroots Ecology
Peninsula Conservation Center
Sierra Club - Loma Prieta Chapter
Sequoia Audubon Society
Bay Nature Institute
Friends of the River
American Rivers
Save The Bay (San Francisco)
The Bay Institute
Town of Woodside
San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority
Committee for Green Foothills