The City of Santa Cruz City Council on Sept. 30 unanimously approved an Anadromous Salmonid Habitat Conservation Plan (ASHCP) and associated water-rights modifications intended to protect local populations of coho salmon and steelhead trout while preserving municipal water supply reliability.

The action, moved by Council member Tragero and seconded by Council member O'Hara, directs the city to adopt the ASHCP, accept changes to San Lorenzo watershed water rights (including dedicating bypass flows for pre-1914 North Coast water rights), and authorizes the city manager to sign related permits. The motion passed on a unanimous recorded vote.

City Water Director Heidi Luckenbach told the council the package links three elements she described as a “three-legged stool”: the ASHCP, water-rights modifications that add operational flexibility, and ongoing projects to improve supply reliability, such as aquifer storage and recovery and interagency sharing with Soquel Creek Water District and Scotts Valley Water District. "We can meet those commitments as a city," Luckenbach said, "but in order to do that, we need to gain flexibility around how we can use our water."

Nut graf: City staff and outside partners spent more than two decades compiling data, negotiating with state regulators and designing mitigation so the city can leave more water instream for fish while storing or sharing surface water to meet human demand. The council framed the vote as both a habitat-protection measure and a long-term supply-management strategy.

Council members praised the staff effort. Council member O'Hara said, “I see this as probably the most important thing that I am going to vote on in my tenure on council,” and thanked long-serving staff for years of work. Council member Boulder said she hoped the plan would increase fishing and economic opportunities tied to local fisheries.

City staff described key technical elements in broad terms at the meeting: the ASHCP will require the city to leave greater minimum flows in streams the city currently diverts from; water-rights modifications will allow the city to store water underground (aquifer storage and recovery), share water with neighboring agencies during wet periods, and access flexibility in how and where water is used; and supply-reliability projects will continue to be pursued so the community has water during dry periods. Staff emphasized this approach is intended to avoid taking more water overall while changing how the city manages and stores what it already has.

The staff report cited two decades of monitoring and multiple regulatory permits that underpin the plan. Members of partner agencies and county water staff spoke in favor during public comment, praising the collaboration and calling the ASHCP a pathway to both habitat protection and reliable service.

The council did not attach a dollar figure for program-wide costs during the meeting; staff noted future projects (such as aquifer storage) will be presented with budgets and implementation plans when appropriate. The council also authorized the city manager to sign permits and implement the plan consistent with regulatory approvals.

The council scheduled a brief photo opportunity after the vote to mark what staff called "a milestone" following decades of work.

Ending: City staff said they will return with implementation details, permits and project-level budgets as components of the ASHCP and water-rights modifications move forward through state and federal permitting.