Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the OC Water District’s view that they were not allowed under their streambed alteration agreement with the state to disturb or remove any sediment in the Santa Ana River or vegetation growing in it. Officials say their reading of the agreement does allow those activities. We regret the error.
OC Water District’s efforts to keep bulldozing critical bird habitat along the Santa Ana River is drawing intense opposition from concerned residents and activists.
Last week, OC Water District’s Board of Directors were met with a dozen public commenters concerned about wildlife being harmed by the work happening on the river – with heavy equipment being brought in to tear out plant life growing in the stream.
The controversy comes after Creek Team activists effectively stopped OC Public Works from their continued use of herbicides in the county’s rivers and creeks. Now they are fighting to keep bird habitat on the Santa Ana River from being bulldozed and taken out by OC Water District.
Water district General Manager John Kennedy explained during the board of directors recent meeting how the work being done is in preparation for the winter season to help capture millions of dollars of water to be sold to cities around the county.
“The district has been doing this work for many years to help keep the river and our recharge facilities ready to capture and recharge water when it becomes available. Heavy equipment, including bulldozers, is used for some of this work,” Kennedy said during last week’s meeting.
“We schedule this work outside the primary bird nesting season.”
However, the district received a recent violation in July from the California Department of Fish & Wildlife for illegally bulldozing a migratory bird nest in the Santa Ana River – which the water district is currently contesting.
Public commenters urged officials to halt the work, saying the bulldozing is “very inhumane” and “rough to watch” while explaining how many of the birds residing in the river are protected species under the migratory bird treaty act.
The many online videos of the work do not paint OCWD in a good light, activists noted publicly.
“Treating our waterways and riparian habitats like they are something you can just rip out whenever you feel like it is not only against guidelines, it’s morally and ethically reprehensible,” said Carol Ann Hunt, a member of Creek Team.
According to the water district’s reading of the Streambed Alteration Agreement with California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, the district is allowed to perform routine maintenance in the Santa Ana River, which to the district’s interpretation includes disturbing or removing any sediment in the river or removing vegetation growing in it.
Yet in table 2 of the agreement, which clearly describes allowable maintenance activities, the clearing of sediment and vegetation is not checked off as approved.
It also reads that the water district is able to build and repair sand levees in the Santa Ana River and that heavy machinery is to be used to create them.
In a Thursday phone interview, General Manager Kennedy said everyone has interpreted the agreement as saying the water district is allowed to bulldoze the Santa Ana River for maintenance, taking issue with the video’s being published by Creek Team.
“It’s kind of surprising to us, all the kind of uproar here lately. But the Creek Team, they’re putting out these videos trying to get people in the public worked up and they’ve been successful,” he said.
Co-founder of Creek Team Brent Linas said in a Thursday phone interview that the water district is hanging onto the sand levee clause in their streambed alteration agreement to justify the bulldozing of vegetation in the river.
“But it’s pretty clear that there are two prerequisites to that. You can’t kill the entire river with a bulldozer and you can’t use and scrape the entire river to do so,” Linas said.
Officials with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife did not answer an email last week seeking clarification on the water district permit.
Linas also spoke at the water board’s regularly scheduled meeting last week, cautioning board directors against continuing the work being done in the river.
He added that Creek Team is ready to drag the water district “through the mud,” saying they will research and organize opposition against board members’ election campaigns if officials do not stop the bulldozing.
“Clearly, the days of acting the way you have are over. It’s time for the board to recognize this new reality. You will no longer operate in the shadows, and that bird’s nest you crushed will officially have a seat at the table,” Linas said during last week’s board meeting.
Bethany Nelms, another co-founder of Creek Team, said OC Water District’s own documentation shows that bulldozing the river for water absorption is ineffective.
“Your studies show soil and sediment compaction could adversely affect recharge rate,” she said during last week’s meeting. “Your own documentation shows this sediment disruption is inefficient.”
Irvine resident Adriana Graham said the videos of the birds near the bulldozers made her hold her breath in fear of the birds being crushed.
“Like the other commenter said, it looks like AI. It doesn’t look real, it looks very inhumane, and I just want to know if you (directors) saw the same video I saw because I don’t think you would think the same way,” she said during last week’s meeting.
Director Steven Sheldon asked Kennedy if any Creek Team members had asked for a meeting with him, adding that “intelligent members of the community” would have contacted the district to voice any major concerns.
The comment set audience members off, with Linas saying from the audience that the board was sending out misinformation on Creek Team members contacting the district about their concerns.
However, water board Director Erik Weigand corrected Sheldon noting that Linas and him had a conversation about his concerns at a recent city council meeting, but he wanted to try to be mindful of the Brown Act, so he called for staff to agendize a presentation on the work being done in the Santa Ana River for people to see at the next water board meeting.
During a Thursday phone interview, Kennedy was asked whether or not the board of directors would discuss public concern further.
He said that the presentation would be the board’s way of talking more about the bulldozing of river vegetation.
Linas was asked whether or not he thought the presentation was enough to address the concerns of people online and at the meeting. He said he doesn’t think it’s anything.
“It’s not even enough, it’s nothing. It’s propaganda,” Linas said during a Thursday phone interview. “It’s the same thing we ran into with OC Public Works. They think if they make a powerpoint presentation and put it on a slide that that gives it some sort of official stamp of approval.”
Sara Leon is a Voice of OC reporting fellow. You can reach her at admin@voiceofoc.org
