Town Water Source

(Last Updated 8/26/2002)

The Elk County Water District provides water to residents of the town of Elk, California. District wells are located at the mouth of Greenwood Creek. MRC owns much of the forestland in the Lower and Upper Greenwood Creek Watershed drainage (9600 acres of a total of 16,400 acres) to this creek and recognizes the importance of working with the Elk County Water District to provide clean water to its users. Consequently, MRC is taking several precautions to ensure that the water for the town is protected from any impacts of its management activities in the watershed.

MRC notifies the Water District Operations in every Timber Harvest Plan (THP) filed in the Greenwood Creek drainage. Prior to the submittal of a Greenwood THP a copy of the THP is provided to the Elk County Water District Manager for review. The submitted THP is reviewed by the Regional Water Quality Board Staff along with other Government agencies. During the THP review a pre-harvest field inspection is held in which the Elk County Water District Manager or Water District Board Member is encouraged to attend.

As in other watersheds across MRC's ownership, MRC has also worked towards improving the past road system which was a contributor of sediment to the drainage. A road survey has been completed to locate and identify road problems. Culverts have been removed and replaced with rocked fords or bridges. Roads located by streams have been abandoned and new roads located high on the slope. Harvest methods in the drainage have been revised to prevent sediment movement into the creek.