Millerton Area Watershed Coalition Steering Committee Formed

Since May, a series of public meetings have been held in the town of Friant in an effort to form and organize a Steering Committee, and select officers to lead the organization’s watershed program. Established in 1998, the Coalition received its initial funding in March of this year from the CALFED Bay-Delta Program, a State and Federal Consortium responsible for supporting state-wide water quality and quantity programs. An objective of CALFED is to bring about improvements to California’s watershed areas through local citizen participation. The funds are being used to expand the existing membership that initially consisted mainly of various State and Federal agencies, into a community-based organization. The group is focused on the Millerton area watershed around the San Joaquin River in the foothills east of Fresno. Over the next year, they will be conducting a comprehensive study of the watershed and will report back their findings to local government officials and CALFED.

A Steering Committee has been formed with 19 members representing various property owner and other stakeholder interests. The Committee selected Karla Kay Fullerton as the Chair. Ms. Fullerton is a property owner in the Millerton area and the Executive Director for the Fresno County Farm Bureau. According to Ms. Fullerton, "It is imperative that local landowners engage in the Watershed Coalition, so that together we set a vision for the future and begin to work toward maintaining a healthy watershed". In addition, Mr. Jeff Roberts was selected as the Vice Chair. Mr. Roberts is the President of the Millerton Lake Area Chamber of Commerce and an employee of Granville Homes, headquartered in Fresno.

Prominent members of the Steering Committee include: Mr. Frank Bigelow, Chair for the Madera County Board of Supervisors, Mr. Denis Prosperi, Chair for the Madera County’s Water Oversight Committee, Mr. Steve Ottemoeller, General Manager of the Madera Irrigation District, Chuck Peck, Executive Director of the Sierra Foothill Conservancy and Mr. Lloyd Carter, President of Save Our Streams.

Other members of the Committee include representatives from the Sierra Resource Conservation District in Fresno County, Landowner groups, recreational and environmental organizations, California State University – Fresno, and the public at large. Tribal entities are expected to participate in the future.

State and Federal Agencies have taken on a non-regulatory role of providing technical resources as a part of the organization’s watershed assessment program. Liaisons from the agencies have been appointed as members of a Technical Advisory Committee. Agencies participating include the California Department of Water Resources that also has local administrative responsibilities for MAWC’s watershed program under CALFED. Other participating agencies at this time are: California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Department of Parks and Recreation, Department of Fish and Game, US Bureau of Reclamation and US Bureau of Land Management.

The watershed program covers both eastern Fresno and Madera counties within the Millerton area watershed. The watershed encompasses the San Joaquin River drainage from Friant Dam for 26 miles up to Kerckhoff Dam. The total Watershed Study Area is approximately 163,000 acres of which 115,000 acres are within Madera County – and the remaining 48,000 acres are within Fresno County.

The next general meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 22^nd from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Friant Learning Academy in the town of Friant.