SFPUC 2001 Alameda Watershed Management Plan

III. ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING AND IMPACTSB. LAND USE1.0 SETTINGThe SFPUC-owned Alameda Watershed lands comprise 36,000 acres, or approximately one-thirdof the entire 175-square-mile greater Alameda Creek watershed. Land areas within and adjacentto the SFPUC-owned Watershed are indicated in Figure III.B-1. Water storage facilities in theWatershed include two reservoirs, the San Antonio Reservoir to the north and the CalaverasReservoir to the south. Water transmission facilities include the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct, whichbisects the Alameda Watershed just south of San Antonio Reservoir. Nearly 32,000 acres of theWatershed are currently used for grazing. There are five caretaker cottages on the AlamedaWatershed; four are currently occupied by emergency-response Land and ResourcesManagement staff.Other Watershed uses permitted by the SFPUC include commercial, industrial, utilities, andrecreation. The SFPUC currently leases land and provides water to eight commercial nurseriesthat grow landscape products. The nurseries are located east of the Town of Sunol, along SR 84and Calaveras Road. Two major gravel-mining operators, Mission Valley Rock and RMCPacific Materials (formerly known as RMC Lonestar) hold leases for areas both north and southof I-680. Utilities include a high-pressure petroleum pipeline easement held by Chevron, U.S.A.that traverses the northern portion of the Watershed in the vicinity of San Antonio Reservoir, aSouthern Pacific Railroad petroleum pipeline that traverses the Sunol Valley Golf Course, PG&Epowerlines, and the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct and powerlines. Recreational uses include two18-hole courses at the Sunol Valley Golf Course, and trails on Watershed lands leased to theEBRPD as part of the Sunol Regional Wilderness and Ohlone Regional Wilderness. The formerQuantec and Calaveras testing site is located at the south end of Calaveras Reservoir.The I-680 freeway traverses the northern portion of the Watershed. Calaveras Road extendsthrough the entire Watershed in a north-south direction, from the northern Watershed boundaryat I-680 to the southern Watershed boundary just west of Calaveras Reservoir. From this point,the road extends westward to Milpitas, Highway 237, I-880, and I-680. SR 84, also known asNiles Canyon Road west of I-680 and Vallecitos Road east of I-680, extends along the northernWatershed boundary.The remaining two-thirds of the greater Alameda Creek watershed (approximately 76,000 acresnot owned by SFPUC) are either used as public open space or are privately owned and usedmostly for grazing or overhead PG&E transmission lines. Public open space areas are comprisedof EBRPD parklands and other parklands in the greater Alameda Creek watershed in Santa ClaraCounty. To the north of the Watershed is the Town of Sunol, which includes residential andcommercial uses. To the south, there are small enclaves of development within the AlamedaCreek watershed that are zoned as “Rural Residential.” These rural residential areas are locatedin Santa Clara and Alameda Counties, outside urban service areas and incorporated cities.Residential densities in these areas are generally at least 5 to 20 acres per dwelling.NOP 96.223E: Alameda Watershed Management Plan III.B-1 ESA / 930385January 2001