Eric Holt, director of emergency services for Calaveras County, told residents at a community meeting that the county has cleared vegetation along Cosgrove Creek this year, secured board approval for an additional $45,000 in work and has entered federal funding channels to study larger flood-mitigation projects.

Holt said the county originally contracted about $105,000 for vegetation clearing and later obtained a board-approved additional $45,000 after residents and supervisors pushed for more work. “We did get that vegetation cleared out,” Holt said, adding that piles of brush remain and Cal Fire will burn them when statewide resources allow.

The work was limited by state and federal permits. Holt said the county’s permit from the Department of Water Resources allows crews to clear vegetation at the water surface and above but not to disturb root systems or streambed sediments. He also said Fish and Wildlife requirements and the presence of listed species limit the number of days crews can work in the creek.

Why it matters: repeated flooding has damaged homes and created long-term financial hardship for some residents. Holt said the county has submitted a Notice of Interest and advanced to the NOFO (notice of funding opportunity) stage with FEMA’s BRIC (Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities) program and is seeking $1.2 million to fund engineering, environmental studies and design that would make the corridor shovel-ready for larger construction grants. “You are looking at from today to completion, 10 years,” Holt said when describing worst-case timing for a full mitigation project.

Holt described the first-phase plan: hire engineers and consultants with a roughly $1.2 million FEMA award, subject to a county match that he estimated at 25 percent today but said could fall to 10 percent or be waived depending on program scoring. If the planning work demonstrates a costed solution, Holt said the county would then apply for larger construction funds — figures discussed in the meeting ranged from about $20 million to $50 million for corridor-scale work.

County staff urged residents to enroll in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Holt said only two homes in the corridor currently participate in NFIP coverage and recommended community-level steps the county can take under NFIP’s Community Rating System to lower premiums over time.

Residents raised multiple operational concerns: a tree stump and fallen logs blocking flow; the role of nearby development in increasing runoff; questions about who owns and is responsible for creekbed maintenance; and whether dredging is feasible given underground utilities and environmental rules. Holt said some features — buried sewer and water lines, endangered-species protections and Corps of Engineers permitting constraints — make full dredging infeasible in the near term without extensive environmental review.

Formal actions and next steps recorded during the meeting included the board-approved supplemental $45,000 for vegetation clearing and the county’s progression in FEMA’s BRIC process (NOI passed, in NOFO phase). Holt said Cal OES would help fund a consultant to prepare the scoring package for federal review and that the county will pursue Prop 4 (state flood/fuel mitigation funds) and other state sources in parallel.

Holt offered to share permits and planning documents with residents and encouraged people to email his office for the FEMA/NFIP guides he brought to the meeting. He repeatedly cautioned there is no quick fix: “I will give you the worst case scenario all the time and say, right now, we're talking 10 years,” he said, while adding the county will pursue every funding avenue.

The meeting ended with county staff asking residents to provide photos and specific locations of blocked logs or stumps so staff could seek targeted permits or limited life-safety interventions; staff also promised to send the permitting documentation discussed at the meeting to residents who request it.