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Board unanimously approves Russian River floodplain restoration project to fill former pits and restore habitat
Summary
The Board approved a 360-acre Russian River floodplain restoration project that fills historic mining pits, reconnects floodplain to the river, adds regulated public access and aims to improve salmonid habitat and reduce methylmercury risk; the project was found statutorily CEQA-exempt as a restoration project with CDFW concurrence.
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on April 22 unanimously approved a 360-acre Russian River Floodplain Restoration Project that would transform former terrace-mining pits west of Windsor into restored floodplain and riparian habitat, add regulated public access, and include a monitoring and adaptive-management program.
Permit Sonoma staff described the history: the site was mined from the 1950s through the early 2000s, resulting in multiple open-water pits and an incised river channel disconnected from its natural floodplain. County and project partners said the open pits create ecological and geomorphic problems including fish entrapment, habitat for invasive predatory fish, elevated methylmercury production under anoxic bottom-water conditions and risks of channel instability or pit capture in high flows.
The re…
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