Published: September 11, 2007





By HOYT ELKINS

The Union Democrat



New Melones Dam, built at the end of the era of large dam construction, may become

a case study of all that can go wrong with a project.

And some think it's unlikely that the project will ever realize its full potential.

Those are the conclusions contained in a history of the project compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in 1994. Tuolumne and Calaveras county officials are working with the bureau now to hammer out what they hope will be a more optimistic future for everyone with an interest in the reservoir.

The Bureau of Reclamation is directing and controlling the process, allowing input from "cooperating agencies" like Tuolumne and Calaveras counties, but carefully limiting public disclosure of staff documents until they are "formally made available for public review."

Planning New Melones' future parallels Calaveras County's effort to update its General Plan, and the county already has experienced the collision of developers and conservationists on Tulloch Reservoir, just below New Melones.

Over the years, housing and recreational development have led to the formation of coalitions to protect the reservoir and, hopefully, take some pressure off it.

New Melones, some believe, could be a recreational relief valve if an easier approach was established from O'Byrnes Ferry Road in the rapidly growing Copperopolis area.

New Melones' history has been turbulent, and its future hinges on the production of a Resource Management Plan and an Environmental Impact Statement, which will control a big chunk of Tuolumne and Calaveras counties' tourist potential for years to come.

That the project has never realized its "full potential as a multi-use unit" has to do with lawsuits which have inundated project planners and builders since 1972, and the vagaries of nature, which filled the dam to overflowing with rain runoff and snow melt despite a California State Water Resources Control Board edict limiting storage behind the dam to 844 feet above sea level.

During the rains of 1983, the lake reached its maximum storage height of 1,135 feet and spilled. The project's main purpose was flood control and it succeeded in that mission.

At capacity, the lake surface covers almost 12,500 acres, stores 2.4 million acre feet of water, and has 100 miles of shoreline extending almost 15 miles upstream from the dam.

The area under and around the lake contains 700 documented historic and prehistoric sites including petroglyphs, habitation sites, mortuary caves, historic wagon roads, homesteads and town sites encompassing about 10,000 years of human activity.

These facts gave many interest groups reason to oppose construction: Some unsuccessfully challenged the project in court in 1972 and, 10 years later, protester Mark Dubois chained himself to rocks behind the dam as waters rose in 1979. He later left voluntarily.

The project's recreational potential, however, has barely been tapped. Early projections, when construction began, were that by 2000, 3 million visitors would visit the project area each year. In reality, annual visitation has never exceeded 800,000.

In the years since the authorization of the project in 1944, federal and state laws regulating everything from water quality and wildlife habitat to cultural resource preservation and open space planning have evolved.

Development of a Resource Management Plan and an Environmental Impact Statement which would gain even grudging acceptance from all of the parties involved would be a welcome step forward. Issues to be covered in the document include public health and safety, recreational use, traffic and transportation, cultural and archaeological resources, land use, rights-of-way and sensitive species and habitats.

Public input will be accepted after a draft plan is complete.