The Importance of the Ranch Plans.
If you are grazing in the greater Santa Maria Watershed including the Sisquoc, Oso Flaco, Cuyama, or La Brea Watersheds you are required by the State Water Board to complete a Ranch Water Quality Plan and Submit a “Certificate of Compliance” no later than July 15th of each year if you wish to benefit from a program that currently offers exemption from more rigorous water quality regulations. If you have not completed your certificate for 2014, please do so as soon as possible.
Background: In March of 2012, the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (Water Board) passed a new regulation to implement a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for Fecal Indicator Bacteria in the Santa Maria River Watershed. This regulation is intended to address discharge of domestic animal waste (e.g., cattle, horse, sheep, etc.) into creeks, streams, and rivers and requires land managers and owners to assess and and/or reduce their potential to impact water quality. After lengthy negotiations and in lieu of stricter compliance requirements, the Water Board approved a relatively straightforward approach that includes 1) completion of a Ranch Plan using a pre-approved template; and 2) submitting a “Certificate of Compliance” once a year to the Water Board.
Ranch Plan and Certificate: The Ranch Plan must be completed on an annual basis and kept on-site in your ranch records if you wish to be in compliance with this regulation. If ranchers in these watersheds do not participate, they may become subject to more burdensome requirements in order to be in compliance with the Clean Water Act. Once you complete your Ranch Plan, you only need to mail in the Certificate to the Water Board staff indicating that you have completed your annual Ranch Plan.
The Ranch Plan template and the Certificate can be obtained by going to the Santa Barbara Cattlemen’s Website at sbcattlemen.org or Farm Bureau’s Website at http://www.sbcfb.com/ , by picking up a hard copy in the Farm Bureau’s office in Buellton, or by contacting the Cachuma RCD at (805) 868-4013. A blank Certificate is also enclosed with this notice for your convenience. If you did not already submit your Certificate, it is critical that you submit your Annual Certificate as soon as possible if you wish to be considered “in compliance”.
The Santa Barbara County Cattlemen’s Association and the Cachuma Resource Conservation District (CRCD) negotiated these reduced compliance requirements as an alternative to the increasingly strict water quality regulations affecting livestock grazing and grazing land runoff. Please join with your neighbors to help avoid being subjected to stronger regulation. Otherwise, the Water Board has indicated that if “verifiable progress” has not been achieved, they can revoke this program and pursue other more stringent means of compliance. As the Water Board’s letter states:
If verifiable progress cannot be achieved, the Executive Officer of the Central Coast Water Board must seek other means of verifying progress and will revoke the presumed compliance through the Compliance Certification Approach. That said, success is anticipated with the approach.
If you have any questions or wish to receive a copy of the Ranch Plan and Certificate by e-mail, please contact us.