Watershed Assessment—Homewood Erosion Control Project

The Placer County Department of Public Works contracted Lumos and Associates, Inc., and ENTRIX, Inc., to perform a watershed analysis for the Homewood Erosion Control Project. Included in the analysis were the completion of an Existing Conditions Analysis, a Stream Environmental Zone Assessment, preliminary hydrologic and hydraulic analyses, and the development of restoration alternatives for the project area.

Located on the western shore of Lake Tahoe, Homewood comprises 625 acres of residential and commercial area adjacent to Lake Tahoe, with a 6,000-acre contributing watershed above it. Quail Lake and Madden, Ellis, and McKinney creeks comprise the major watersheds in this area, as defined by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

GIS played an essential role in performing data collection and hydrologic analysis and in identifying sensitive plant and animal areas. In particular, GIS was utilized in the following areas of analysis: vegetation mapping, stream classification, bank stability mapping, riparian vegetation assessment, watershed modeling, cultural resource site and survey mapping, and wildlife resources identification and mapping.

Courtesy of ENTRIX Environmental Consultants, copyright 2006.