On July 21, 2000, Foothill Conservancy, a nonprofit organization based in

Amador County, California Amador County () is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California, in the Sierra Nevada. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 40,474. The county seat is Jackson, California, Jackson. Ama ...

, was among the parties signing the historic settlement agreement with

PG&E The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered in the Pacific Gas & Electric Building, in San Francisco, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 milli ...

that formed the basis for a new 30-year operating license for the

Mokelumne River The Mokelumne River ( or ; ''Mokelumne'', Miwok for "People of the Fish Net") is a -long river in northern California in the United States. The river flows west from a rugged portion of the central Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada into the Ce ...

Project. Every nonfederal hydroelectric project in the country operates under license from the

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the United States federal agency that regulates the transmission and wholesale sale of electricity and natural gas in interstate commerce and regulates the transportation of oil by pipeline in ...

(FERC). As a project's license expires, the licensee begins a relicensing process that generally leads to a new license with updated terms. The new license lasts 30 to 50 years. The relicensing of PG&E's Mokelumne River Project (Project 137), which began in 1972, was the longest such process in FERC history. Meanwhile, PG&E had been running its project, which stretches from Blue Lakes west to Electra Powerhouse, on annual licenses with few requirements for protecting the health of the river or providing river recreation. The 101-page settlement addresses the ecological and recreation effects of stream flows in all of the river reaches and creeks affected by the project. It balances the needs of the environment, recreation, and power generation. Other parties to the settlement are the California Department of Fish and Game, California Department of Boating and Waterways,

US Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

US Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

, Friends of the River,

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

, Natural Heritage Institute, and

American Whitewater American Whitewater is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 membership organization with the declared mission "to conserve and restore America's whitewater resources and to enhance opportunities to enjoy them safely". The organization can broadly be classi ...

. The settlement led to the first removal of a PG&E dam in the

Sierra Nevada (U.S.) The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

in modern history. The Foothill Conservancy successfully secured California Wild and Scenic River designation for 37 miles of the North Fork and main Mokelumne River with the passage of Senate Bill 854 in 2018. The designation bars new dams and major diversions on the river from just below Salt Springs Reservoir to just upstream of Pardee Reservoir. Earlier, the Conservancy laid the groundwork for that designation by working for the passage of Assembly Bill 142 in 2015. That legislation mandated a state wild and scenic river study of the Mokelumne River and provided interim protections from new dams and diversions.http://www.foothillconservancy.org/pages/focus3.cgi?magicatid=&magi_detail=747&magid=53

References

* "Managing Watersheds in the New Century," ''Proceedings of the Eight Biennial Watershed Management Conference'' 200

* "Collaboration and Adaptive Management for the Mokelumne River Hydroelectric Project

* Tim Holt, "Persistence Frees the Mokelumne: River Advocate Pete Bell," ''High Country News,'' March 15, 200

* Matt Brown, "Saving the Sierra for Future Generations," ''Lodi News Sentinel'', August 29, 200

* Dana Nichols, "New promise for trout streams; Dam removal helps Sierra sites recover," ''The (Stockton) Record,''December 18, 2006

{Dead link, date=December 2019 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes * Environmental Defense, ''Power Play: The Sale of PG&E's Hydropwer System and the Future of California Rivers'

* Robin Mejia, "From Source to Sink: A River Divided," ''Terrain Magazine

External links

Foothill Conservancy
Environmental organizations based in California Nature conservation organizations based in the United States Mokelumne River Non-profit organizations based in California Water in California