Zone’s control over floods doubted

Deirdre Newman

MESA VERDE-- As summer winds down, some Mesa Verde residents are

already looking ahead to winter and the possibility of flooding.

They are concerned about the flood control zone near Adams Avenue,

where there are bushes higher than the top level of the channel. They

fear a heavy rainy season could cause flooding in their neighborhood

if debris gets caught in the vegetation and creates a dam, which then

overflows.

The Army Corps of Engineers would like to dredge the area and

clean up the vegetation, but the process is being delayed while the

U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife works on a report of what has to

be done to minimize the effect of dredging on the least Bell’s vireo,

an endangered bird.

Residents are frustrated that the corps is at the mercy of the

Fish and Wildlife Department when the flood control zone was built

for just that -- not as a habitat for endangered species.

“It’s a potential problem, and I hope it doesn’t get all snarled

up in interdepartmental arguments between the tree huggers and the

do-ers,� resident Jack O’Meara said.

The removal of sediment and vegetation growth in the Santa Ana

River is a project that extends from the mouth of the river to about

2,000 feet upstream of Adams Avenue, said Lance Natsuhara, a manager

with the Orange County Flood Control District. The purpose of the

project is to restore the channel to its original conditions.

“We improved the channel years ago, and over time, sediment has

dropped out and accumulated,� Natsuhara said.

All the vegetation should come out, said Ken Morris, project

manager for the corps. The only reason it’s there is because not

enough maintenance was done to keep the growth down, he said.

Under the Endangered Species Act, federal agencies are required to

get the opinion of the Department of Fish and Wildlife for projects

that affect federally protected species, said Jane Hendron,

spokeswoman for the department’s Carlsbad office.

Hendron said the department examines the habitat as it exists

within the proposed project area.

“We can’t try to go back in history and speculate what could or

could not have been,� Hendron said. “We have to look at what is

placed before us and what habitat is there at the time we’re being

asked to look at it.�

The department has a good relationship with the corps of engineers

on the flood control project and is close to issuing its report, she

added.