Irrigation Management and Maintenance. This Routine Agricultural Activity includes management and maintenance of conveyance facilities on Enrolled Properties, which are used for diverting surface waters including piping/buried mainline, buried mainline with risers, gated pipe, sprinkler systems, open ditches, sumps, storage ponds, and tailwater capture ponds/sumps. The activities associated with irrigation management and maintenance may include; head gate on/off operation, moving sprinklers, turning risers on and off, board or tarp removal/placement in ditches, pump, ditch and pond maintenance, pipe clearing/cleaning, maintenance of fish screens, operations of tailwater collection (pick-up ditches and ponds), storing water and irrigation runoff (tailwater production), and general diversion of water per the Shasta River Decree. Irrigation maintenance activities frequently require the use of heavy equipment. At times this requires equipment and vehicles to cross flowing streams or intermittent channels and/or the construction of stream crossings at designated locations where potential spawning gravels, incubating eggs, and fry are not present based on repeated site specific surveys. Vehicle wet crossings are described in more detail below. Irrigation management and maintenance also includes operation and maintenance of all types of fish screens. Types of screens include self-cleaning screens, including flat plate self-cleaning screens, and other self-cleaning designs, including, but not limited to, rotary drum screens and cone screens, with a variety of cleaning mechanisms. These screens are designed to continuously clean the screen surface. Periodic maintenance may be needed to remove siltation, debris, sedimentation and anything else that could inhibit normal operation, which would require lifting the screen and using heavy equipment to remove sedimentation/debris. The screens also require regular greasing of bearing and other mechanical parts. Non-self- cleaning screens, including tubular, box, and other screen designs consistent with NMFS and CDFW screening criteria are generally cleared daily to remove aquatic vegetation and debris, which is usually done by hand. The following AMMs may be applicable to the activities described above (specific AMMs for each Enrolled Property will be listed, as appropriate, in individual Site Plan Agreements):
