Objectives
The overall objective of this grant-funded program was to include both natural resources and stakeholders within the practical realities of farming, water delivery, and county road safety and maintenance. Funded by the State Water Resources Control Board, with support from the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, this project offered an integrated management approach that brought together innovative practices, volunteer landowners, and agency participation in a working partnership. Applying these coordinated practices, we worked to  improve water quality and biodiversity by targeting and installing tailwater retention basins as well as canal,  roadside and riparian vegetation systems.

Working within the Willow Slough watershed, we find that water problems are interrelated and circular. Contaminated with pesticides, sediment, and nutrients, agricultural tailwater runs freely through a degraded biological system where canals, creeks, and roadsides double as agricultural drains. Our task was to find and demonstrate farm-friendly, cost-effective, practical solutions that work.

Implementation
This program implemented a set of structural and vegetative solutions during 1995-97, including five vegetated tailwater retention basins, one mile of vegetated canal bank, one mile of vegetated roadside and one-quarter mile of riparian revegetation on a local slough.

To extend these projects beyond the grant period, RCD staff provided training to local irrigation district canal tenders, farmers, and County road crews to install and maintain these restored areas in the future.