News, Wolf Creek Community Alliance

Posted 3 weeks ago by Greg Thrush

Many thanks to all the amazing WCCA volunteers who show up to help the watershed day after day, and have fun together at the same time! Here are a couple of photos from our recent success removing over 100 invasive Spanish broom plants from the Wolf Creek floodplain at the Roy Peterson Wolf Creek Preserve. We planted native milkweed seeds in their wake, and are pleased to have prevented hundreds of thousands of broom seeds from being produced next year, following Wendell Berry’s advice to “Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you!”

Much gratitude to the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment for funding some of our stewardship work parties at the Roy Peterson Wolf Creek Preserve through their California Wildlands Grassroots Fund; to the State Water Board for financing other work parties at the Preserve with SEP funds; and to the Peterson family for their continued generous support. Our work would not be possible without the kindness of funders like these, and all of our wonderful donors, sponsors, and volunteers!

To join the fun at our next stewardship work party, please email kristen@wolfcreekalliance.org.

Solutions to Bacteria in Wolf Creek

Posted 2 months ago by Greg Thrush

Wolf Creek and its tributary French Ravine are considered “impaired waters” by the Clean Water Act due to contamination with fecal bacteria, but WCCA is working with state and local partners to help solve this problem.

When neighbors of WCCA’s Peabody Creek habitat restoration site contacted us this summer about a nearby sewer leak upstream from Grass Valley’s Condon Park, we contacted the City and will continue to follow up until the water is safe and healthy. Our similar advocacy a few years ago helped result in repairs to several leaking sewer lines.

In south county, when a WCCA water quality monitor noticed a new smell at her creek site this year, we notified the County and followed up to make sure the failed septic system was quickly remedied.

To help focus additional solutions on the bacteria sources responsible for the majority of pollution throughout the watershed, the State Water Board reached out to WCCA last year for recommended locations for collecting creek water samples, based on our 20 years of creek monitoring. They then analyzed the DNA of fecal bacteria found in Wolf Creek and several tributary streams.

The DNA results published this year identify ruminants (grazing animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, and deer) as the source of the vast majority of fecal bacteria occurring south of downtown Grass Valley.

WCCA is thus beginning to reach out to the agricultural community to discuss win-win opportunities to reduce ruminant bacteria in the creek, while continuing our advocacy and collaboration with the City and County for solutions to sewer and septic leaks.

In the watershed maps above, circles with red and gray “pie” portions show what portion of the summer had unhealthy levels of bacteria at the creek locations tested by the State Water Board for DNA. The Wolf Creek Trail site lacked problematic bacteria, but every other tested site had unhealthy bacteria counts from grazing animals for 25-100% of the summer weeks. These sites include the downstream reaches of French Ravine, Rattlesnake Creek, South Wolf, Cherry Creek, and four locations along Wolf Creek. Maps excerpted from the Water Board’s recent report, available in its entirety at this link.

Empire Mine State Historic Park Community Assessment

Posted 2 months ago by Greg Thrush

In support of our mission to protect, preserve and restore the Wolf Creek Watershed, one of WCCA’s priorities is to help remedy the toxic legacy left behind by historic gold mines in the area. Since our earliest years, we have tested creek sites for lead, arsenic, and other mine-related contaminants, and have advocated for clean-ups alongside allied organizations.

Wolf Creek Community Alliance was recently awarded a Technical Assistance Grant from the State of California that focuses on Empire Mine State Historic Park. Funded by the Department of Toxic Substances Control, the project will assess the clean-up efforts that have been undertaken within the park, and in adjacent lands surrounding the park, to 1) determine whether these areas have been cleaned up to adequate levels to protect human health and the environment, 2) help the community understand the clean-up process, and 3) provide the community increased opportunities to have a voice regarding next steps.

The project launches in the Fall of 2025 and continues until January 2027. Wolf Creek Community Alliance has contracted a group of Technical Advisors with expertise in mine remediation, soil and water quality testing, toxicology, and community advocacy related to mine contamination clean-up. These advisors will analyze the existing data to see if there are health and environmental exposures associated with Empire Mine State Park that necessitate further remediation, conduct additional testing to fill data gaps, and make recommendations about what can be done to reduce risks for those that use the park and live around it.

A community process will provide residents information about the project’s assessments in a forum to discuss the findings with the Technical Advisors, provide opportunities to engage with relevant local and state agencies to influence policy and actions to reduce risk from mine contaminants, and to support public health and environmental health in Grass Valley. Wolf Creek Community Alliance welcomes your participation in this project. For more information or to get involved, please contact greg@wolfcreekalliance.org.

Pictured above, Magenta Drain flows next to the playground in downtown Grass Valley’s Memorial Park, and is included among the lands and waters surrounding Empire Mine that this project will assess. This small creek flows out of Empire Mine after passing through a system designed to remove arsenic from the mine water. A schematic of this treatment system is also pictured above.