Foothill Conservancy Answers to Questions About Wild and Scenic Designation for the Mokelumne River

N. Fork Mokelumne Devil's Nose reach

Water supply use of the Mokelumne would continue

The Mokelumne supplies drinking water for Amador County and the East Bay and irrigation in the Woodbridge area. East Bay Municipal Utility District Board President Doug Linney supports the designation.
The designation would not interfere with the use of the river for drinking water or existing water rights.
Amador County can more than double its existing population using its current water supply. In 1995, FERC rejected a proposal to build a new water supply dam on the North Fork of the Mokelumne as infeasible and unnecessary.
Should Amador County ever need additional water, a better and less expensive option would be 1) To develop a comprehensive efficiency and conservation program, then 2) To secure consumptive rights to water from existing PG&E reservoirs.
Would not affect current plans for local water supply, including raising Lower Bear Reservoir.

Designation has no legal effect on private land

National Wild and Scenic River designation has no legal effect on private land.
Does not give the federal government regulatory authority over private land. County governments retain control over local land use and zoning.
Limits existing federal condemnation authority. Because more than 50 percent of the river corridor is owned by the federal government, the federal government cannot condemn any private land along the designated segments. It could buy land and easements or trade land, but it cannot acquire more than 100 acres per mile in the river corridor.
The greatest eminent domain threat to local landowners along the Mokelumne is the threat of an outside water agency or city building a dam and reservoir on the eligible river segments. Water agencies have used eminent domain for local water projects as recently as 2006.
The federal government can condemn scenic easements, but this has only been done on seven rivers nationwide. All were designated before 1976.

Current uses of land along the river would continue

The eligibility determinations considered current and planned land uses, including agricultural uses such as farming and grazing.
Most current land uses, public and private, alongside the river will continue after designation.
The goal of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act is not to return the river to an original pristine and untouched condition, but rather to “protect and enhance” the existing values and uses of the river and surrounding lands.
Private landowners can continue to use their land as they do today. If a new, proposed use of private land conflicts with the management of the wild and scenic river, the managing agency will work with the landowner to mitigate any potential threats to the protected values of the river.
Each wild and scenic river is protected because it has special “outstandingly remarkable values.” Only those land and water uses on public land that threaten the values for which the river is protected can be considered. For the Mokelumne, those values are cultural and historical resources, water quality and scenic beauty.

Flow requirements and hydroelectric generation would continue

The designation would have no impact on continued operation of PG&E’s Mokelumne River Project, which provides power for 200,000 homes.
Flows in the Mokelumne are governed by the new 30-year license for the PG&E project (developed through a precedent setting, award-winning collaborative settlement process), agreements between PG&E and East Bay MUD, fish flow requirements from EBMUD’s Pardee Dam downstream, and “the Lodi Decree,” which requires a certain amount of water to be delivered below Pardee every month.
Any future dam on the river segment would interfere with operation of the existing hydroelectric and water projects and the Lodi Decree.

Fire prevention and suppression would continue

National Wild and Scenic River designation should not affect the way the Forest Service and BLM manage the river corridor for fire prevention or fire suppression.

Alder on N. Fork Mokelumne