Section 319
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Water Recreation Use Restored in Alpine Waterbodies
.A, . i i- i	I Livestock qrazinq on high wet meadows on public lands in the
Waterbodies Improved LakeTahoe Basin contributed bacteria to Big Meadow Creek
and the Upper Truckee River. Water quality monitoring showed that fecal coliform (FC) bacteria levels
violated water quality standards and prevented the waterbodies from supporting their beneficial use,
prompting the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board (Lahontan Water Board) to add both
waterbodies to California's 2002 Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters. Despite
ongoing efforts to implement various rangeland best management practices (BMPs) on the grazing
allotment, violations of the FC bacteria water quality objective continued, prompting the U.S. Forest
Service-Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (USFS-LTBMU) to eliminate cattle grazing in the Big
Meadow Creek-Upper Truckee River watershed beginning in 1999. Water quality improved, allowing
the Lahontan Water Board to remove 4.5 river miles of Upper Truckee River and 1.4 river miles of Big
Meadow Creek from the 2010 CWA section 303(d) list of impaired waters.
Problem
Big Meadow Creek flows into California's Upper
Truckee River (Figure 1), which is Lake Tahoe's
largest tributary. The Big Meadow Creek-Upper
Truckee River watershed is managed by the USFS-
LTBMU and is primarily open space with recreation
trails, including the Pacific CrestTrail The alpine
streams provide habitat for the Lahontan cutthroat
trout, a federally threatened species. As early as
1849, people grazed their cattie in this watershed.
Cattle and other livestock can contribute FC bacte-
ria to surface waters. Pathogenic bacteria, found in
conjunction with FC bacteria, can cause waterborne
disease in humans.
The Lahontan Water Board water quality objective for
pathogenic bacteria requires that the FC concentra-
tion during any 30-day period not exceed a log mean
of 20 FC units per 100 milliliters (mL), and that no
more than 10 percent of all samples collected during
any 30-day period exceed 40 FC units/100 mL.
Since at least 1990, water quality violations for FC
bacteria have occurred. Analysis of surface water
samples taken from Big Meadow Creek and the
Upper Truckee River during and immediately after
cattle grazing demonstrated that cattle were the
major source of FC bacteria. Because FC levels
exceeded the water quality objective, the Lahontan
Water Board issued the USFS-LTBMU a Notice of
Violation and added 4.5 river miles of the Upper
Truckee River (above Christmas Valley) and 14 river
miles of Big Meadow Creek to the 2002 CWA sec-
tion 303(d) list of impaired waters.
Figure 1. I he Upper Truckee River, after restoration
Project Highlights
Under the state's Porter-Cologne Act, the USFS
manages grazing allotments in accordance with
a State Water Resources Control Board-certified
water quality management plan. The plan sets forth
an iterative process that governs the implementa-
tion, monitoring and revision (as appropriate) of
BMPs used to control nonpoint source pollution. If
BMPs are not effective—even after revision—the
USFS can choose to mitigate the water quality
impact, refine water quality standards and/or cease
the activity. All resource activities are managed
under the limitations provided in a USFS site-
specific environmental assessment developed by an

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interdisciplinary team of experts. The USFS-LTBMU
develops allotment-specific management plans in
cooperation with its grazing permittees.
In the decade prior to the grazing ban (1999), USFS-
LTBMU tried to mitigate the impacts on water qual-
ity from cattle grazing by installing BMPs such as
cattle stream crossings and cattle exclusion fencing
upstream of the crossings. Within the protected
stream areas, the USFS-LTBMU planted vegetation
and stabilized streambanks using cobbles and ero-
sion control cloth. The USFS-LTBMU conducted its
own water quality monitoring to assess the effec-
tiveness of the various BMPs.
In the areas where cattle weren't excluded, the
USFS implemented the following BMPs: off-stream
water sources, rest rotation, reduced herd size and
shortened grazing season. Despite these efforts,
water quality continued to violate the FC bacteria
objective. In 1999, the USFS-LTBMU informed the
permittees who grazed the Meiss Meadows area
that "a viable grazing strategy cannot be developed
that would likely meet the state-mandated water
quality standards..." As a result, the USFS perma-
nently ceased all grazing on the Meiss Meadows
area, which includes the Big Meadow Creek and
UpperTruckee River basins.
Results
Removing livestock from the area allowed the
waterbodies to recover. The USFS collected and
analyzed approximately 43 samples at three sepa-
rate locations in Big Meadow Creek during 2000,
2001, 2002 and 2008. FC levels have declined and
now meet the water quality objective of less than
a log mean of 20 units/100 mL (Figure 2). Similarly,
the USFS collected and analyzed approximately
103 surface water samples from the Upper Truckee
River (above Christmas Valley) during the years
2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2008. Like Big
Meadow Creek, FC levels in the UpperTruckee
River have declined steadily since 1999 and now
meet the water quality objective (Figure 3).
These significant reductions in FC bacteria counts
restored the water contact recreation use, prompt-
ing the Lahontan Water Board to remove 4.5 river
miles of Upper Truckee River and 1.4 river miles of
Big Meadow Creek from California's CWA section
303(d) list of impaired waters in 2010.
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Big Meadow Creek Data
30-day Log Mean
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Water Quality Objective







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Figure 2. Data from three sites on Big Meadow Creek
show that FC levels have declined.
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UpperTruckee River Data
30-day Log Mean
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1999

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Water Quality Objective

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2004 2005
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Figure 3. Upper Truckee River data show that FC levels
have declined. Data were normalized prior to analysis.
Partners and Funding
An agreement with the State Water Resources
Control Board requires that the USFS accept
responsibility as the water quality management
agency for USFS lands and be financially respon-
sible for mitigating impacts on water quality that
are a result of resource management actions such
as grazing. As a result of its own monitoring, and
with the support from the Lahontan Water Board in
a Notice of Violation and comments on the envi-
ronmental assessment, the USFS-LTBMU chose to
terminate all grazing leases in the Meiss Meadows
area. Approximately $50,000 in CWA section 319(h)
funds supported the Lahontan Water Board staff's
involvement in this case.
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA 841-F-10-001U
September 2010
For additional information contact:
Cindy Wise
Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board
530-542-5408 • CWise@waterboards.ca.gov
Bruce Warden
Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board
530-542-5416 • BWarden@waterboards.ca.gov

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