The document discusses the benefits and challenges of vegetation on levees in California's Central Valley. It notes that the Army Corps of Engineers' rules for levee vegetation, if strictly followed, would leave most levees in an "ugly" state. The document suggests changes to the rules to allow more vegetation while still prioritizing public safety. It concludes by advocating keeping beneficial vegetation, removing problematic vegetation, and rebuilding levees to accommodate more vegetation.

1. Levee Vegetation The Good, The Bad and The Ugly 2009 - SAME California Water Conference October 28, 2009

2. Our Riparian Corridor is Under Attack!

3. From the Sacramento Bee “ Army Corps Orders Thousands of Trees Chopped Down”

4. From the Sacramento Bee “ Army Corps Levee Tree Rules Rattle Sacramento Flood Agencies”

5. From USA Today “ Army Corps Cracks Down on Flunking Levees ”

6. Sacramento Bee “ Pact Gives a Reprieve to Valley’s Levee Trees ”

7. “

8. There are some places where we have the prescribed template

9. Butte Creek

10. And there are some places where we don’t met the exact template…

11. Sac River RM 48R

12. S Sac River

13. Benefits of Levee Vegetation Natural Beauty Environmental Structural

14. Here in the Central Valley we like our Vegetation Along our Rivers

15. Sac River RM 59R

16. Sac River RM 59R

17. Sac River RM 57R

18. Seine River, Paris

19. Seine River, Paris

20. Thames River, London

21. Thames River, London

22. Interior Canal, Amsterdam

23. Interior Canal, Amsterdam

24. ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS Many Threatened and Endangered Species Associated with the River and the Riparian Corridor

25. ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS The environmental needs vary with each River and River Reach and should be an essential part of the design

26. STRUCTURAL BENEFITS Velocity Reduction Root Reinforcement

27. VELOCITY REDUCTION DWR Funded Study By UC-Davis Slides Thanks to Stefan Lorenzato

28. Test Flume

30. SLOPE REINFORCMENT The benefits aren’t quite so clear…

33. Other Tree Considerations Weight Wind Throw Age Exposed Roots Scour

34. Some Examples of Vegetation on Levees within the Sacramento River Flood Control System

35. Butte Creek

36. Feather River, RM 18L

37. Sac River, RM 64R

38. Sac River, RM 62L

39. Sac River, RM 54L

40. Sac River, RM 48R

41. Sac River, RM 47L

42. Sac River, RM 41L?

43. Steamboat Slough

44. Lower Sac River

45. Sac River, RM 19L

46. Sacramento Bypass

47. Sac River, RM 26L

48. Strict Adherence to the ETL will leave most of our Levees in the UGLY category.

49. Within the Sacramento System Any Recorded Levee Failures from Trees? Modern Day Failures have been Geotechnical in Nature.

50. Suggested Changes to the ETL

51. 1. Public safety is still job one, but treat the need for the riparian corridor as a necessity.

52. 2. Delete the waterside veg-free zone where there is no need for an access road.

53. 3. Allow a selected mix of shrubs and willow vegetation on structurally sound levee slopes.

54. 4. Allow selected tree species within over-thickened rock armor sections and oversized levees.

55. 5. Create one overall maintenance district to insure uniform application of maintenance practices.

56. 6. Create our own uniform maintenance standards for vegetation zones and vegetation free zones.

57. 7. Perform inspections during high flows with side scan sonar device.

58. What can we do in the meantime?

59. Address the Obvious!

60. Address the Obvious!

61. Environmental Document vegetative needs by summarizing the specific environmental and endangered specie needs for each River and each different reach.

62. Structural Overbuild the levee on the land side to save existing desirable vegetation. Build outboard berms of stone and soil as planting zones. Overbuild rock armor to accommodate root zones.

63. CONCLUSIONS Keep the good. Save the marginally good. Get rid of the bad. Rebuild the ugly. Re-write ETL 1110-2-571