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U.S. EPA, Jackson Band of Miwok Indians sign agreement for Clean Water Act violations in Amador County

Release Date: 4/5/2005
Contact Information: Lisa Fasano, 415-947-4307

     SAN FRANCISCO -- Under the terms of a recently signed order with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Jackson Band of Miwok Indians has agreed to remove fill material that was illegally placed in tributaries of Jackson Creek -- located in the Mokelumne River and San Joaquin River watersheds in Amador County -- a violation of the Clean Water Act.

    The EPA has approved a habitat restoration and mitigation plan for the affected watershed areas that will restore the disturbed areas, provide permanent protection of creek corridors, eradicate invasive weeds, and create upland buffer zones adjacent to the creeks.

      "The Jackson Band has been cooperative since being notified of the violations," said Alexis Strauss, director for the EPA's Water Division for the Pacific Southwest Office. "We believe the tribe's restoration plan and its commitment to permanent protection will benefit the watershed."

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA found the tribe had discharged over 41,290 cubic yards of dirt and fill material into Jackson Creek tributaries while constructing a leach field and a road on top of several creeks without Clean Water Act permits.
 
    The tribe has identified Analytical Environmental Services and the Huffman-Broadway Group, Inc. as independent contractors who will restore the area.  A landscape and grading plan is due to the Agency by April 25.  The order requires that fill be removed by October 15 and the restoration complete in 2006.

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