Land Use and Planning

PG&E Land Transfers
Section 2-IX Land Use and Planning
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SETTING

The Shasta County General Plan and Zoning Ordinance guides land use and development on project lands located outside of FERC’s jurisdiction. Any areas removed from the FERC project boundary will technically revert to Shasta County's, except lands transferred to the state DPR including the Burney Falls and Bowman Ditch lands. The Shasta County General Plan notes that the historic pattern of land use and the existing organization of its communities will largely determine the future pattern of land use development in Shasta County.

Land uses in the vicinity of the land transfer properties include open space, recreation, grazing, agriculture, timber, and residential and commercial development. Public lands in the area are managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), California State Lands Commission, California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR), and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of American Indian Trust.

The Shasta County General Plan designates the transfer lands as follows:

Public Lands and Open Space
This designation provides for the protection of open space areas that generally do not have the resource values of agricultural or timberlands.

Full Time Agricultural Cropland
designation provides for the protection of lands with soil characteristics, adequate size, and that can normally be irrigated for full time agricultural uses.

Timber
This designation provides for the protection of timberlands for timber management.

Zoning designations for the project lands include:

Limited Agriculture District (Five acre lot minimum)
This zoning provides for the preservation of agricultural lands at a size capable of supporting part-time agricultural operations.

Exclusive Agricultural District
This zoning provides for the preservation of lands with agricultural value that, has the combination of size and quality. The preservation of these lands is sometimes done in conjunction with other lands, to make their use for agriculture economically feasible, and within which agricultural preserves may be created for the purpose of utilizing provisions of the law relating to agricultural preserves.

Restrictive Flood District
This zoning is intended to be combined with any principal district to minimize or avoid hazards to life and property from flooding in the areas of special flood hazard established by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, pursuant to the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973, and in other areas of significant flood hazard.

Building Site District
This zoning is intended to be combined with any principal district to modify the minimum lot area standard otherwise applicable in the principal district.

Unclassified District
This zoning is intended to be applied as a holding district until a precise principal zone district has been adopted for the property. All new uses in this district shall be consistent with all applicable policies of the General Plan.

Burney Falls, Bowman Ditch, and Ahjumawi Property

Existing Shasta County land use designations and zoning for the Burney Falls land transfer property are presented in Table IX-1.

The Burney Falls transfer property is irregular in shape and contains a total of about 182 acres. The site extends about two miles from east to west along the south shore of Lake Britton and up to about one-quarter mile south from the shoreline. The McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park and State Highway 89 at the easterly extension bound the property on the south. Burney Falls is currently used for recreation. The property can readily be described as four separate areas, distinguished by differing physical characteristics and by differing uses. Each is described below:

Burney Falls includes 49 acres area east of Burney Creek and extending north to include a broad peninsula, now used by the McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park as a boat launching ramp and day use picnic area. Vegetation on this portion of the property is similar to that at the westerly end, but the conifer forest is slightly more open with a brush understory. Most of the area is fairly steep, but the peninsula is only slightly sloping to nearly level in a fairly large area. Access to this portion of the property is by way of a paved road that extends north from the McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park campground a distance of about 1.5 miles.
The portion of the property lying west of Burney Creek contains about 22 acres and includes mostly steep slopes along the lakeshore and a more level bench along the lake on the west side of the Burney Creek arm of the lake. This bench area is the site of Camp Britton. Vegetation on the slopes includes fairly dense stands of old growth mixed conifers up to about 30 inches or larger in diameter. The bench area where the improvements are located is more open, with annual and perennial grasses dominating the vegetative cover. Camp Britton is currently licensed by PG&E to Pacific Service Employees Association (PSEA), and has an eight-room, hotel style building, caretaker’s cabin, garage, shed, storage building, groundwater well, and dock. The residential building is constructed of wood walls with a shingle and sheet metal roof around a wood frame and is elevated off the ground by wood posts bolted to small concrete blocks. All other buildings are constructed of wood walls on concrete foundations with wood or shingle roofs. A groundwater pump house, located approximately 1,000 feet away from the camp, provides Camp Britton with potable water. The main building has about 6,048 square feet on the ground floor and 1,008 square feet on the second floor. The structure is divided into a total of eight separate units. These improvements are subject to the PSEA license agreement through 2005.
The Cemetery Cove area of the Burney Falls property, also accessed through the McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park, is named for a pioneer cemetery located there. This portion of the property contains about 34 acres, and the topography is more moderately sloping than the areas previously described.
The easterly end of the property, bounded to the south by State Highway 89, includes a narrow projection along the lakeshore connecting to the Cemetery Cove area. This portion of the property is approximately 78 acres and has generally steep slopes with less dense conifer growth, but a heavier understory of brush. Access is directly off State Highway 89.

Existing Shasta County land use designations and zoning for the Bowman Ditch land transfer property are presented in Table IX-2.

The four-acre Bowman Ditch property, located near Eastman Lake and adjacent to the Little Tule River, was developed in the early 1940s to channel water flowing from various springs to the Little Tule River for hydroelectric power production. It remains functional and is currently inundated with water. Adjacent lands are unimproved grass and wetlands. A few farm buildings are visible near the upper end of Bowman Ditch, but these improvements are not located on the Bowman Ditch transfer property. Access to the property is by boat from the Little Tule River.

Existing Shasta County land use designations and zoning for the Ahjumawi land transfer property is presented in Table IX-3.

Ahjumawi is irregular in shape and contains a total of 544 acres. The Tule River bounds that property on the east and the Little Tule River on the west. The topography is nearly level to gently sloping at an elevation of about 3,300 feet. The property was protected from flooding by the State Park Levee, which followed the edge of both rivers a distance of about four miles around the boundary of the property. Because the levee failed in several locations in the early 1990s, the property is mostly inundated with water to a depth of several feet, and having had time to revert to natural conditions, would probably be classified as "wetlands".

McArthur Swamp and Glenburn Dredge Site

Existing Shasta County land use designations and zoning for the McArthur Swamp and Glenburn Dredge land transfer properties are presented in Table IX-4.

McArthur Swamp is 7,400 acres in size and includes significant reclaimed wetlands drained by canals and is protected by levees where the property meets Big Lake and the Tule River. These levees have historically been maintained and repaired either by dredging or importing fill material. The McArthur Canal extends from the Tule River between the confluence with the Little Tule River and Fall River, easterly and then southerly, exiting the property near the town of McArthur near the southeast corner of the property. The Lee Drain and the Central Drain enter the property along the east line and flows westerly, connecting with the McArthur Drain near the Rat Farm area.

Primary land uses on McArthur Swamp include livestock grazing, public recreation, and wildlife habitat management. While most of the property is devoted to livestock forage production, the Hollenbeak field and the Ash field are managed for wildlife habitat and public recreation facilities are provided at the Big Lake Access. The facilities include a car top boat launch, an adjacent parking area, and a toilet building. Big Lake Access serves as the primary access to the Ahjumawi State Park as well as boating access to Big Lake and Tule River. Other recreation activities occurring on McArthur Swamp include fishing, hunting, hiking, and wildlife viewing. The areas to the east and west of Big Lake Access are prime habitat for migrating waterfowl and other wildlife species. According to PG&E and its Application Number 00-05-029, these land uses have been managed concurrently for the past fifteen years without conflict (wildlife management compliments recreation and grazing is managed to protect wildlife habitat and recreation opportunities).

Livestock grazing is visibly the most dominant land use at McArthur Swamp. Over time, fencing, water, and field management plans have been developed to manage livestock through pastures to increase the productivity of McArthur Swamp. Generally, livestock are returned to McArthur Swamp in mid-April on the fields designated as S1 through S5 as well as El. As fields dry following the spring rains, livestock are gradually rotated into fields N1 through N4 and E2 and E3. During the summer and late summer periods, the livestock are moved into fields Al, A2 (Ash Field) and HB1 and HB2 (Hollenbeak). The locations of the fields are shown in Figure 1-6.

Each field is fenced and most have stock water tanks to provide water for the livestock, however many of the lowland areas in the Ash Field and Hollenbeak fields retain water through the summer and the livestock are generally not restricted from these areas. Roads and levees are fenced to prevent damage by the livestock. The livestock are removed no later than mid-November of each year.

The Dutra dredge "Frances" is normally berthed along side of the 5.5 acre Glenburn Dredge Site however the dredge is occasionally moved up and down stream as needed for minor levy repair work. Until recently, the California Wildlife Conservation Board (CWCB) in cooperation with PG&E and an adjacent landowner managed public access to the Fall River. A ten-car parking lot, car-top boat launch area, toilet and trash facilities were provided. The boat launch was an unimproved ramp that was simply a gradual access to the Fall River. There is no concrete or gravel ramp that would allow a vehicle to back to the water's edge. In 1996, public access to the boat launch site and parking area was terminated and the recreation site has not been maintained since that time. It is currently overgrown with weeds and grass, and the portable toilet and trash containers have been removed. The boat launching site is also overgrown with tules. A locked gate at the entrance prevents public vehicle access.