In 1996, the East Bay Municipal Utility District adopted its East Bay Watershed Master Plan as a tool for managing nearly 30,000 acres associated with the Briones, San Pablo, Upper San Leandro, Chabot, and Lafayette reservoirs, as well as the Pinole Valley basin area. The reservoirs store drinking water and emergency water supplies for some 1.2 million users across Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
Revised in 1999, the plan ensures the protection of district water resources, preserves environmental resources on district lands, and identifies compatible public uses of the area. Now the plan is once again being revised in order to:
- address issues such as climate change, invasive mussels, and sudden oak death that have arisen since the adoption of the original plan;
- incorporate tiered plans related to habitat conservation, grazing, forestry, and fire and fuels management;
- document progress on actions prescribed in the plan;
- update information on water quality, land use, species inventory, and adaptive management;
- consider changes to recreational access programs; and
- consider options for limited, docent-led access to specified watershed trails by cyclists.
Members of the public will have the chance to provide comment about the recommended changes following a staff presentation about the plan at a special meeting on Thursday, August 20 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the EBMUD Administration Building at 375 11th Street in Oakland.