Why Build Dam? There’s a Better Way

In her column “If Plant Halts a Dam, Can It Stop Flood Too?” (Ventura County Perspective, March 5), Beverly Kelley failed to mention that my alternative to the Lang Ranch dam would build a better project.

I showed her the site where I would like the flood control facility relocated and told her how the design of my alternative would allow for a smaller, less intrusive detention basin. I told her how a wide, shallow basin would also be available for the park district to build baseball diamonds, and how I had expert support and advice.

Rather than address my alternative, Kelley took a completely political tack. The federally listed endangered plants, Chumash graves, ancient oak grove, Lang Ranch residents and I were chewed up and spat out.

Some opinions aren’t worth spit, just as some development projects are almost universally recognized as bad. The Lang Ranch dam, detention basin and debris basin are such a project. The 66 1/2-foot-high dam would stretch across a canyon and would be 325 feet long. The dam is designed to hold back a 50-foot-high wall of water in a 100-year storm event.

Unfortunately, the canyon that would be dammed contains an ancient oak grove. The dam would require the removal of approximately 50 of these oaks and the remaining oak trees (some up to 45 feet tall) would be completely submerged behind the dam during such a flood.

The project, including a debris basin smack up to existing homes, is an environmental disaster that cries out for an alternative in flood control. After I reviewed the project with a half-dozen experts a less destructive means of attaining reduced creek flows during major storms was found. My alternative has been reviewed and validated by a respected geologist and hydrologist. The alternative can be viewed at www.hillcanyon.org.

The process by which my alternative will be considered is part of the federal permit process, which mandates a look at alternatives that may be environmentally superior to a proposed project.

Just about anything would be environmentally superior to the Lang Ranch dam project. There is a reason why the Army Corps of Engineers has yet to issue a permit for the dam. Among its concerns is a Chumash burial site that is in the way.

Additionally, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service isn’t real keen on issuing a “takings” permit to remove an endangered species located right in the pathway of the dam, the Braunton’s milk vetch plant. The California Department of Fish and Game has correctly found that the dam project doesn’t have an adequate environmental document because the project was never reviewed in an environmental impact report. The department has withheld its authorization of the project and is concerned because the project would close off an animal passageway, forcing animals to cross Westlake Boulevard.

Additionally, the state Division of Safety of Dams is concerned whether the east side of Westlake Boulevard is adequately designed to hold back 47 acre-feet of debris. It has required that the dam spillway on the west side of Westlake Boulevard be anchored to bedrock. Yet bedrock is 30 feet below ground. To get to this bedrock would require going more than a dozen feet below the water table and, once reached, the bedrock is at a steep 45-degree incline and would require major grading and possibly blasting to flatten it out.

What would you rather have upstream of your home: a dam extending 66 1/2 feet above ground level holding back a 50-foot wall of water or an eight-foot-deep basin that doubles as baseball fields and captures only the excess high flows when there are major storm events?

My alternative would:

* Have less adverse impact on the aquatic ecosystem.

* Construct a smaller basin with less grading.

* Provide a dual-use retention basin/recreation area.

* Cost less.

* Preserve a biologically superior site.

* Protect endangered plants and an oak grove.

* Retain the existing animal passageway underneath Westlake Boulevard.

* Avoid adverse effects to very significant archeological resources.

* Enhance and create wetland and riparian habitat.

* Ensure seismic stability.

Perhaps once Kelley better understands the issue, she will see that the call for a better project is not something to ignore and deride, but to consider and support.

FYI

The Thousand Oaks City Council will hold an informational hearing on the Lang Ranch dam on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Civic Arts Plaza.