By Benjamin Cossel, Stanislaus National Forest
If they’d only known.
Back in the 1850s, miners in the Sierra Nevada gold-rush town of Sonora, California created a connected system of ditches, wooden flumes and pipes to move water. Sierra snowpack melted into the South Fork of the Stanislaus River and flowed into the Lyons Reservoir. From there, the snowmelt trickled down to service the gold mines. As a secondary concern, it was also a source of drinking water for Sonora and the nearby towns of Columbia and Jamestown.
More than 150 years later, the 72 miles of open channels, wooden flumes and pipes still exist, 16 miles of which snake through the Stanislaus National Forest and flow into treatment plants operated by the Tuolumne Utilities District. This configuration serves as the primary source of drinking water for the more than 44,000 residents of Tuolumne County.
The project Kuiken refers to is one of the Forest Service’s “Wildfire Crisis Strategy” landscapes. The Stanislaus National Forest is home to one of 11 landscapes initially chosen for funding in 2022 through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. The agency launched its strategy in 2022 with the goal of reducing wildfire risk to communities. In 2023, the Forest Service announced funding for an additional 10 landscapes, 21 in total, with a target of treating up to 20 million acres in 10 years.
Primarily focused along California’s Highway 108, the Stanislaus landscape’s 305,000-acre footprint is a mix of federal, state and private land. With plans to treat up to 120,000 acres of national forest, Kuiken notes that nearly 127,000 acres within the landscape are privately held and project success hinges on all parties doing their part.
“Our focus with this project is reducing the risk to communities, protecting critical infrastructure, increasing forest resiliency, and providing habitat for wildlife,” Kuiken said. “I can think of almost nothing more critical than water, so I’m pleased we are working with the Tuolumne Utilities District to add an additional layer of protection to this vital resource.”
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) owned the ditch system until 1893 when the California Public Utility Commission ordered them to pipe the entire system. Not up to the task, PG&E ceded 57 miles of ditches to Tuolumne County’s Water Division which was not bound to follow the commission’s orders. In 1992, under a mandate from county voters, the Tuolumne Utilities District consolidated the Tuolumne Regional Water District and Tuolumne Water System.
Don Perkins serves as the general manager for the Tuolumne Utilities District. A resident of the area for more than 40 years, he’s worked for the district since 2000 when he started out as a water treatment plant operator. Over the years, he’s seen his share of challenges and obstacles on the road to securing the county’s water system. Fire remains one of his primary concerns.
“Although unique and historic, our water delivery system is extremely vulnerable to many natural disasters including wildfire,” Perkins said. “Many of the flumes in the system are supported by wooden trestles and are in a very high fire risk area. Pacific Gas and Electric’s Tuolumne Main Canal, roughly 16 miles in length, is made up of over 2.5 miles of wooden flume.”
Perkins went on to note that any fire impacting the wooden flume system would likely take months to repair, leaving the surrounding community without water. Taking a step further, Perkins explained that not only is the flume system at risk, but also catastrophic wildfire would have a direct, dire impact on the entire watershed.
“Tuolumne County’s drinking water supply relies on the health of upstream rivers, streams and reservoirs,” Perkins said. “Wildfires can damage dam structures, outlet valves on the dams as well as impact the overall health of these water supplies by increasing sediment and contaminants reaching downstream water sources. Wildfires can also increase the chance of flooding and erosion to our watersheds, potentially having long term impacts on water quality.”
Protecting Tuolumne’s Water
Well into year two of the 10-year project, the Stanislaus National Forest has already completed treatment on more than 15,000 acres. Of those acres, nearly 350 within 0.25 mile of the flume system directly protect the critical infrastructure. Most recently, fire crews reduced flammable vegetation surrounding portions of the system with a series of prescribed burn operations in the South Fork in early June of this year.
The challenging topography means the 350 acres are simply a down payment on the continued work. The fear of fire spreading throughout any one of the many canyons means significant additional work must be completed before residents can breathe a sigh of relief.
“We have completed hundreds of acres of mechanical fuels reduction over the last two years within the Stanislaus landscape project around the Tuolumne Ditch,” said Acting Wildfire Crisis Strategy Landscape Coordinator Brian McCrory. “This work, along with the follow-up pile burning and South Fork prescribed fire, are critical steps in reducing the risk of catastrophic fire impacting the municipal water system.”
Perkins agrees.
“Forest management projects like these are critical in providing protection to vulnerable community water infrastructure from wildfires” he adds. “The Cedar Ridge Water Treatment Plant, the Crystal Falls Water Treatment Plant, the Cedar Springs Well, as well as numerous other water storage tanks are all specific examples of vital facilities that will benefit from the additional protection this project provides.”
Perkins is proud to note Tuolumne Utilities District wrote a letter of support in 2019 when the landscape project was still in the planning phase. The district sees the value in the work undertaken by the Stanislaus National Forest and hopes to see more projects like this in the future, he said.
“As the general manager of Tuolumne Utilities District, every day I am faced with new and exciting obstacles that push me both professionally and personally,” Perkins said. “The responsibility of safeguarding our most precious resource for the community fills me with a sense of pride and purpose.
“We enthusiastically support this initiative. This project benefits the entire community of Tuolumne County and helps protect the watersheds of the Middle and South Fork Stanislaus River by creating forest resiliency and increasing wildfire protection to vulnerable and critical district water facilities serving the majority of Tuolumne County.”
