22 minute read
Trout return – First San Benito river sighting in 75 years attributed to reclamation work
By Erik Chalhoub
After 75 years of abuse and countless tons of garbage dumped into it, all it took was 18 months of work from dedicated volunteers to get the San Benito River on the road to recovery.
Just a few weeks ago, a discovery was made in the river in what environmentalists are calling an historic milestone for the Pajaro River Watershed: The threatened steelhead trout are back in the river in the first confirmed sighting in three-quarters of a century.
Herman Garcia, founder of Gilroybased Coastal Habitat Education and Environmental Restoration (CHEER), made the discovery by happenstance on a recent tour of the river, where it meets up with the Pajaro River adjacent to the Betabel property along Highway 101 at the northern end of San Benito County.
“This is huge, historic news,” Garcia said.
Landfill along the river
About 18 months ago, Graniterock enlisted CHEER and its team of volunteers to clean up the San Benito River on property it owns south of Buena Vista Road in Hollister.
The volunteers were kept busy. Garcia said they were removing “thousands of pounds” of trash every day, which by the end of the work included 14 cars and trucks, one RV and two ski boats, along with 420 tires and plenty of other junk.
At the same time, CHEER gained access to the confluence of the San Benito and Pajaro rivers on the Betabel property, which is owned by the McDowell Charity Trust. That property includes a half-mile of both rivers.
RESTORING HABITAT - Herman Garcia, founder of Gilroy-based Coastal Habitat Education and Environmental Restoration, describes recent reclamation work along the San Benito River. Photo: Juan Reyes/ Hollister Free Lance.
Rider McDowell of the trust said when they purchased the 112-acre property adjacent to the Betabel RV Park a number of years ago, they knew it would need some major reclamation work before they could begin with plans to build a vintagethemed roadside stop.
“It was so polluted in so many ways,” he said.
On one side were 170 junked vehicles, where an illegal chop shop was operating, McDowell said. About 10 people were living in mobile homes on the property, while a doublewide trailer served as a meth lab.
Things were even worse deeper into the property toward the San Benito River.
“We didn’t even extrapolate how bad it would be further back in the watershed,” McDowell said. “It was a landfill down there. There was so much junk. People had been using it as a dumping ground.”
It was around this time McDowell met Garcia, who gave him access to the property to begin the arduous task of restoring the polluted river.
“I started deep diving into the brush,” Garcia recalled. “I’m discovering all this garbage. I mean, tonnage of garbage. Down the river banks, in the river channels, in the floodplain. It was a mess. I said, ‘Rider, you bought a landfill, man.’”
Garcia, who called the confluence “just about the heart of the watershed,” said when it rains, much of the waste from as far north as Cochrane Road in Morgan Hill finds its way downstream to Watsonville and the Monterey Bay.
The volunteers went to work, pulling out roughly 3,000 to 5,000 pounds of trash every day, according to Garcia.
Their efforts from both the Betabel and Graniterock properties were rewarded.
Clean water attracts steelhead
Steelhead trout require “good to very good” water quality for their habitat, Garcia said.
As such, the fish avoided the San Benito River for roughly 75 years.
“It was all polluted and nasty,” Garcia said. “They didn’t even think about going in there.”
A 2010 report by the California Department of Fish and Game cited studies from 1913 and 1934, where juvenile steelhead were collected at the Pajaro River near the San Benito
River confluence. A 1959 study by the department reported an absence of juvenile steelhead in the area.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported in 2013 that the dry conditions of the San Benito River has “limited potential” to provide a habitat for juvenile steelhead.
A few weeks ago, Garcia was giving a tour of the river on the Betabel property when at one point he had to jump over the creek. As he did so, he noticed what looked to be a startled juvenile steelhead darting out of the way underwater.
He enlisted the help of a photographer, who captured video of the fish both underwater and jumping out of it to catch bugs floating along the river. The video was sent to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where they confirmed that the juvenile fish were indeed steelhead trout. The fish are now migrating into the Pajaro River and eventually the Monterey Bay.
“The reclamation work that we did had a significant impact on the water quality and the health of the ecosystem,” Garcia said.
A healthy watershed also has economic benefits, he noted, such as boosted property values.
Restoration work continues
Garcia said CHEER’s work is far from finished.
“We are going to continue our maintenance work,” he said. “To be sustainable, we can’t stop.”
The organization plans to jump in and put its “fine touch” on Llagas Creek in San Martin—a few miles north in Santa Clara County—as that creek flows into the Pajaro River, following Graniterock’s work to expand the capacity of the creek as part of a flood control project.
Garcia is thankful for the support CHEER has received throughout its efforts. Graniterock and the McDowell Charity Trust provided financial support for the nonprofit to purchase a trailer, while Recology South Valley waived all fees for CHEER to transfer the debris to the San Martin Transfer Station.
McDowell called the return of steelhead trout a “major development,” and gave all credit to Garcia and CHEER.
“We were the passive party here,” he said. “The one that did all the work was Herman. He is a powerhouse.”
Garcia called CHEER the “first line of defense in the Monterey Bay, and the last line of defense in the lower watershed.”
“If it wasn’t for all the work that CHEER has done, Monterey Bay would be a mess,” he said. “Our group of volunteers is doing a tremendous job protecting the marine sanctuary.” CA
Article by Erik Chalhoub of South Valley Magazine | San Benito Magazine. Reprinted with permission. Website is: www.sanbenito.com
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Standing Behind the integrity of their people and products for over a century
Above: Albina Asphalt’s Klamath Falls, Oregon Terminal.
By Brian Hoover, CMS
Albina Asphalt is a leading manufacturer and distributor of asphaltrelated products in Oregon, Washington and California. It all began in Portland Oregon, back 1903 when Albina Fuel was started by the Arntson family. 117 years later, the company is owned and operated by the fourth generation of Arntson family members, with the fifth generation currently working within the corporation. Albina Asphalt is a division of Albina holdings and provides paving grade and asphalt emulsion materials to federal, state county, city and private enterprises. They are headquartered in Vancouver Washington, where they have two terminal locations with another in Madras, Oregon, and one more in Klamath Falls, Oregon. The Klamath Falls terminal also serves customers in Northern California from Sacramento and the Bay Area to the northern border.
Kevin Jeffers is the operations manager for Albina Asphalt, and he has been with the company for 14 years. Before joining Albina Asphalt, Jeffers worked for an asphalt emulsions company in Northern California and is intimately familiar with the local market. “Albina Holdings purchased the Klamath Falls terminal in 1998 and has been serving customers throughout Northern California ever since,” says Jeffers. “We offer the widest selection of asphalt products in our area, and it is all backed by outstanding customer service. Our advantage is our people. I mean, anyone can provide PG 64-16 to a customer, so it comes down to service and the relationships you build
Above: Kevin and Jill Jeffers.
Right: Hot chip seal project in the high desert.
Below: Albina Asphalt brings in first asphalt cargo from overseas circa 2018.
with your customers and how attentive you are to their needs. We’ve outlasted some of the biggest names in the industry, and it is all due to our people, our methodology, and willingness to go above and beyond.”
Going above and beyond is something that Albina Asphalt continues to do to keep its customers supplied with both paving grade and asphalt emulsion products. They maintain their own rail fl eet, which is something that not many asphalt product suppliers can claim. “Having a fl eet of rail cars is a great help when materials are in high demand. This allows us to bring in product from the Rockies, Canada and even the Midwest,” continues Jeffers. Jeffers says that maintaining a reliable supply chain is the most important thing they can do for their customers. “We brought in our first overseas cargo two years ago for the first time in our company history. Asphalt was very tight, and we decided to get ahead of the situation by bringing in a ship full of 18,000 tons of liquid asphalt. There were many in our industry that were allocated or shut off completely during this period, while we were able to keep our customers supplied.”
Above: Albina Asphalt’s Madras, Oregon Terminal.
Right: Klamath Falls Terminal and BearCat Transportation.
Jeffers points out that the California paving grade market has been a growth area for Albina Asphalt in recent years. “We are putting more time and effort into expanding our Klamath Falls operations for service to Northern California and Northern Nevada. The emulsion end of our business is also growing with the continued emphasis on maintenance over new road construction,” says Jeffers. “We remain diversified by serving customers in the private and public sector for both new construction and pavement maintenance. We maintain a dedicated fl eet of over 100 units for hauling asphalt emulsions. This includes several asphalt tankers, and more than a dozen BearCat distributor trucks. We also invested in a new trucking fl eet in Klamath Falls five years ago to better serve our Northern California base.”
Although Albina Asphalt’s main product line is liquid asphalt and asphalt binder, they also provide customers with release agents, hot asphalt, cutbacks and dust control products. They offer over 100 asphalt solutions and deliver everything from paving grade products to the high desert to asphalt emulsions in Alaska and everything in between. Albina Asphalt has a long list of customers in Northern California, including J.F. Shea, Tulis Construction, Hatcreek Construction and Eagle Peak, to name a few. Their quality is consistently maintained through their in-house testing procedures. Albina Asphalt’s years of technical expertise make them a recognized leader in the asphalt construction industry, as they continue to meet the needs of contractors and municipalities with superior road improvement solutions throughout their vast trade area.
Albina Asphalt remains dedicated to the same reliable standards, whether they are providing a few tons of material on a private job or hundreds of tons of asphalt binder on a major interstate project. In 2018, Albina Asphalt supplied J.F. Shea Construction with 64-28M and PG58-34M asphalt binder on both phases of the Dunsmuir Grade Project just north of Redding, on Interstate 5 in Siskiyou County. “We value all of our clients equally and are honored to have been afforded the opportunity to forge such incredible relationships,” says Jeffers. “We remain involved in our trade areas and educated in the advancement of our industry through our memberships in various organizations and associations. We joined the California Asphalt Pavement Association (CalAPA) three years ago. I came from the California market, and I like to stay involved in our industry and keep up with our competitors. I joined CalAPA as soon as I was in a position to do so and plan to continue taking advantage of all of their wonderful programs and assets.”
Albina Asphalt comes from humble beginnings in 1903 and has grown to become an industry leader in the manufacturing and distribution of asphalt-related products in the Pacific Northwest. Four generations later, the brother trio of Greg, Jeff, and Jarl Arntson continue the legacy of their great-grandfather, Sophus Arntson. For more information on Albina Asphalt, please visit www.albina.com or call their Vancouver headquarters at (800) 888-5048. CA
Brian Hoover is co-owner of Construction Marketing Services, LLC, and editor of CalContractor Magazine.
INDUSTRY NEWS Los Angeles city officials salute CalAPA at annual dinner held on January 16; legendary industry figures recognized
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti extended his warm wishes. Los Angeles City Public Works President Kevin James praised the collaboration between his city and the industry. Los Angeles County Federation of Business founding CEO Tracy Hernandez noted CalAPA's important contributions to the local business community. And the association paid tribute to some legendary figures without whom none of those achievements could have been possible.
All in all, it was another memorable evening at the CalAPA Annual Dinner held in January 2020 at the historic Jonathan Club in downtown Los Angeles attended by about 170 luminaries. "It's my pleasure to welcome you to the California Asphalt Pavement Association's annual dinner here in the City of Angels," Garcetti said in opening remarks videotaped for the event. "And I send my congratulations to this year's Hall of Fame inductees and your newly installed officers. In the time since your association was founded in 1953 right here in our city, your companies and contractor members have improved and maintained Los Angeles' vast network of streets and bridges, and we are so proud to be with you because in doing so you helped us build an even stronger city."
The mayor's remarks helped set the tone for an upbeat evening program that included the installation of the association's officers for 2020 and an opportunity to pay tribute to industry leaders who contributed greatly to the achievements of the industry over the years. "Once again, this has been another amazing year for CalAPA and the asphalt pavement industry in California," said outgoing Chairman Jordan Reed of George Reed Co. "It
certainly has been a year of firsts in the 67th year of our association."
He noted the billions of SB1 dollars that are now being converted to pavement improvement projects across the state, the active engagement of the association with state and local agencies on specification reviews, responses to numerous regulatory challenges, and the record number of technical training classes held in 2019 by the association across the state. "We recently reviewed and updated our association's Strategic Plan, setting forth an ambitious agenda to continue to promote asphalt, share knowledge, advocate for our industry, and provide ample opportunity to build and strengthen relationships," Reed said.
Added incoming Chairman Scott Fraser with R.J. Noble: "One of the themes in our association's Strategic Plan, as well as in our Code of Ethics,
Mayor Eric Garcetti sent a recorded video addressing the attendees. Featured Speaker Kevin James, President, Los Angeles City Board of Public Works. Tracy Hernandez, Founding CEO, Los Angeles County Business Federation (Biz-Fed) was a featured speaker. Tyler Gonzalez (left), KaSondra Gonzalez, R.J. Noble Co., Scott Fraser, R.J. Noble Co. and Christie Brooks, CRM.
Don Daley, Jr. addresses the crowd after being recognized for all of his contributions to CalAPA and the asphalt industry and becoming a Life Member of CalAPA. Johnny Rodriguez, R.J. Noble Co. (left), Tim Saenz, RMA Group, Terry McGill, R.J. Noble Co., Steve Mendoza, R.J. Noble Co. and Voytek Bajsarowicz, Haley & Aldrich. Edwin Abarca, World Oil Corp. (left), David Mora, World Oil Corp., Jonathan Dietzel, SWT Group and Scott Johns, Cleancor LNG, LLC. Justin Usary, Quinn Company, Tim Wardy, Quinn Company, Steve Cota, Patriot Risk & Insurance Services and Mike Hinson, Quinn Company.
Berlene Hernandez (left), Jim St. Martin, Life Member and Carlos Hernandez, Life Member. Valero Marketing & Supply group; Anna Trinidad (left), Jackie Henry and Linda Ellis. Brandon Milar, Tech. Director, CalAPA presents Al Ochoa, Caltrans – District 11 his award. Naveed Kharrat, R.J. Noble Co. (left), Susanna Mitchell, Taylor Environmental Services and Terry McGill, R.J. Noble Co.
Don Matthews of Pavement Recycling Systems with Brandon Milar, Technical Director, CalAPA was honored with an award. Out-going chairman Jordan Reed, George Reed, Inc. hands off the gavel to in-coming chairman Scott Fraser, R.J. Noble Company. Vulcan Materials Co. group; Alvaro Espinoza (left), Ralph Donaldson, Joelle Donaldson and Grant Hughes. Lisa Watts (left), Del Crandall, C & C Transportation, Austin Miller, World Oil Corp. and Bob Ross, World Oil Corp.
is to be trusted partners with public agencies and others who use our product. I'm so pleased that we are joined tonight by our partners at the City of Los Angeles, Department of Public Works, Bureau of Street Services. We have so much in common. We both share a passion for maintaining our critical transportation infrastructure, and we both understand how important those investments are for the quality of life in our communities." The other association officers installed for 2020 were Vice Chair Toni Carroll with Graniterock, Treasurer Scott Bottomley with SullyMiller/Blue Diamond Materials, and Secretary Mike Herlax with Lehigh Hanson. "The City of Los Angeles values its partnership with the asphalt pavement industry in California. It's been going strong now for six decades," said James, who oversees more than 6,000 city employees as president of the Board of Public Works. "We also have benefited from numerous knowledge-sharing activities between the City and CalAPA, including last year when dozens of of our Street Services personnel attended an asphalt plant optimization class that was held
in our StreetsLA offices just a few blocks away. This is a really great example of collaboration that helps elevate the skills and abilities of public and private sector personnel at the same time to ensure that we are using our precious tax dollars efficiently and effectively. "With Hollywood award season in full swing, James noted that Los Angeles remains the film capital of the world, and that his department issued more than 18,000 on-location film permits last year for the filming of movies, TV shows, commercials and even streaming productions. "What is one thing that the entertainment industry, that the film industry, that the streaming industry, likes for shoots in the public rightof-way? Good roads. They like good roads in great condition," James said. "So don't let anyone tell you that you're not already a key part of the entertainment industry in Hollywood, because you are, and it’s something we pay close attention to."
He also thanked CalAPA members for their work in supporting SB1, a statewide road-repair investment initiative, and Measure M in Los Angeles County, as well as in exploring innovation.
"Recycling, of course, and use of new materials and techniques are all at the forefront of our thinking all across Public Works and we appreciate that CalAPA is helping connect our staff with national and international experts in this regard," James said.
Hernandez of the Los Angeles County Federation of Business, known as BizFed, also thanked CalAPA and its members for its active engagement on SB1, Measure M and other issues of importance to the local business community and transportation interests. CalAPA members contributed nearly $7 million to the campaign to defeat Proposition 6 on the Nov. 6, 2018 statewide ballot. The measure would have repealed the funding behind SB1, the $50 billion statewide roadrepair bill passed by the Legislature a year earlier. James said SB1 helped boost the local streets budget by 25 percent.
The association also paid tribute to some legendary leaders by installing them into the CalAPA Hall of Fame, including Don L. Daley Jr. with California Commercial Asphalt, introduced by his son, Don L. Daley III, and Pascal Mascarenhas with
Russell Snyder, Executive Director, CalAPA and Pascal Mascarenhas, Life Member with his recognition award. Todd Fields, Butler-Justice (left), Don Daley, Jr. and Mike Butler, Butler-Justice. Gary Houston, Valero (left), Sallie Houston, VSS Emultech and Don Matthews, Pavement Recycling. Martin Hansberger, Holliday Rock (left), Len Nawrocki, Life Member and Peggy Robertson, Holliday Rock.
Scott (left) and Diane Taylor, Taylor Environmental Services. Ron Turcotte, Syar Industries (left), Riye D’Ambra and Steve D’Ambra, Maxam Equipment. Pascal Mascarenhas, Life Member (left) with Tim Reed, Vulcan Materials Co. Margaret (left) and Jeff Reed, George Reed, Inc.
Tracy Hernandez, Founding CEO, Biz-Fed (left), Keith Mozee, Assistant Director - Bureau of Street Services, City of L.A., Bill Knopf, Regional Director, CalAPA, Kevin James, President, Los Angeles City Board of Public Works, Sarkis Kotanjian, Biz-Fed and Adel Hagekhalil, General Manager & Executive Director of City of Los Angeles’ Bureau of Street Services.
Don Matthews, Pavement Recycling Systems (left), Ryan Zenahlik, Pavement Recycling Systems, David Ford, Pavement Recycling Systems, Shari Sendejo, Nixon-Egli Equipment Co., Jay Rosa, Nixon-Egli Equipment Co. and Vern Gunderson, Nixon-Egli Equipment Co.
Vulcan Materials, introduced by new CalAPA Board Member Tim Reed, also with Vulcan Materials.
The association also conferred "Honorary Member" status to longtime Caltrans District 11 Materials Engineer Al Ochoa, who among his many contributions also played a key role in the launching of the Caltransindustry Joint Training & Certification Program for materials technicians. Ochoa retired from Caltrans last year.
A special recognition was also presented to Don Matthews with Pavement Recycling Systems for his many contributions to the development of the revised Caltrans pavement smoothness specifications. Vulcan Materials Co.
Caltrans last October also presented Matthews and other industry representatives with awards for the pavement-smoothness work. CA
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