OCWD Online | Press Release | 11.19.2003 - OCWD and SAWA Honored with Prestigious National Award

Fountain Valley, Calif. – Orange County Water District (OCWD) and the Santa Ana Watershed Association (SAWA) today will receive a national environmental award for their partnership to protect and enhance the Santa Ana River Watershed, which serves water to millions of Southern California citizensand includes portions of San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles, and Orange County. The 2002 National Wetlands Conservation Award will be presented at the OCWD Headquarters in Fountain Valley, Calif. at 2:00 p.m. by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The annual award, established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1990, honors individuals and groups or corporations for significant contributions to the restoration, enhancement and protection of wetlands in the United States. The Orange County Water District and Santa Ana Watershed Association are among the select few recipients of the award for their efforts during 2002.

Clint Riley, Special Assistant to the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, and Steve Thompson, Manager of the California/Nevada Operations Office of the Service will present the award to Orange County Water District and the Santa Ana Watershed Association.

“The Orange County Water District and Santa Ana Watershed Association have demonstrated a strong commitment to conserving wetlands and promoting the recovery of endangered species”, said Steve Thompson. “They have been outstanding partners.”

“We are truly honored, along with our SAWA partners for this award, because it is one of those very prestigious awards that are not always given out, unless there is a deserving entity, said Denis Bilodeau, President of the OCWD board. “This award is truly special.”

OCWD and SAWA have worked for many years to successfully protect and enhance wetlands that are valuable to plants, fish, and animals, including the federally endangered songbird, the least Bell’s vireo, all the while also conserving water supplies in the Santa Ana River. Some of the accomplishments include:

Removal of more than 1,500 acres of non-native arundo donax throughout the Santa Ana River Watershed, which will allow the return of native habitat while enhancing the safety of property owners from floods and fire. Arundo donax is a non-native, abundant bamboo-like grass that can grow to be 30 feet tall, in the summer at a rate of 10 inches per day, shutting out native vegetation and consuming enormous amounts of water.
Implementation of habitat restoration and management actions, including greatly increasing the populations of the least Bell’s vireo along the main stem of the Santa Ana River from about 19 pairs in 1987 to more than 400 pairs today.
Additional environmental stewardship made possible through water conservation activities behind Prado Dam and ensuring a healthier groundwater basin in Orange County for people, along with a healthier environment watershed-wide for wildlife and their habitats.
Operation of 465 acres of constructed wetlands in the Prado Basin to enhance water quality, but managed in such a way that the habitat matrix is nationally renowned for its incredible diversity and abundance of wildlife, truly an environmental treasure.

The Santa Ana River Watershed is the largest coastal river system in Southern California. The Watershed area is home to more than 4.5 million people. The Santa Ana Watershed program of environmental restoration is run by OCWD, four Resource Conservation Districts and many other participating agencies essential to the functioning of the Program. The Watershed Program is implementing a variety of projects designed to improve environmental quality and habitat within the watershed of the Santa Ana River that includes work on the Santa Ana sucker (a threatened fish) and the Southwest willow flycatcher (another endangered songbird).

The Santa Ana Watershed is composed of four Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs) – Riverside-Corona RCD, East Valley RCD, San Jacinto Basin RCD, Inland Empire West RCD – and Orange County Water District and other participating agencies. The purpose of the Santa Ana Watershed Association is to develop, coordinate and implement natural resource programs which support a sustainable ecosystem and social benefits from the San Bernardino Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.

California has lost more than 90 percent of its historical wetlands and it is partnerships like the one developed between the OCWD, SAWA, other local agencies and private citizens that can help restore and nurture these precious wetland resources for the citizens of California.

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Orange County Water District is a special district that was created by the California State Legislature in 1933 to maintain and manage the groundwater basin under northern and central Orange County. OCWD’s groundwater basin supplies 75% of the water needs in Anaheim, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach, Orange, Placentia, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster, and Yorba Linda.