Prospect Island DEIR Process and Schedule
FRPA and its consultants are currently in the process of developing the Prospect Island Draft Environmental Report (DEIR) that will cover the range of alternatives for the project and stakeholder input received during the Spring 2013 scoping period. It is anticipated that the DEIR will be available for public review in early 2015. A public hearing on the DEIR will be held at that time. For more information, a fact sheet on Prospect Island is available here.
Cache Slough Complex Conservation Assessment for FRPA, First Draft: Delta Smelt and Salmonids
A conservation assessment specific to the Cache Slough Complex region to benefit delta smelt and salmonids is currently in development. The assessment will provide proactive guidance for pursuing restoration activities in the Cache Slough Complex and will support FRPA actions with specialized analyses intended to compliment other FRPA efforts. A fact sheet on the process is currently being developed and will be posted on the FRPA website soon.
Meeting the FRPA Restoration Goals
Roughly half of all acres needed to meet FRPA’s restoration goals have been identified and are now in the planning process. To achieve this milestone, all suitable publicly-owned land in the north Delta will be used for restoration. The balance of acres required to meet FRPA’s restoration goals must therefore be purchased at fair market value from willing sellers of privately owned land. FRPA is interested in working with landowners in the north Delta to identify land suitable for restoration and creative ways to build incentives into land sales, including lease backs for continued farming, ranching, or hunting operations; and contracting with farmers to provide management of the land.
Groundwater Monitoring Report
The Site Characterization and Groundwater Monitoring Data Collection Summary is now available to the public, and the Final Interpretive Report will be available soon. The documents include a data collection summary, information on data collection methods, literature review, and interpretive analysis. For a copy of the report, please visit FRPA’s website.
FRPA Outreach
FRPA’s outreach activities are guided by three key documents developed to establish a framework for clear and consistent communications with the public: 1) FRPA Stakeholder Assessment, 2) FRPA Program-level Communications & Engagement Plan, and 3) Prospect Island Tidal Habitat Restoration Project Communications & Engagement Plan. These are all available to the public on FRPA’s website. FRPA staff is available to present an overview of the program to interested stakeholders – please contact me (Dan Riordan, information below) to schedule a group presentation.
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FRPA is a joint effort between DWR and CDFW to implement habitat restoration in partial mitigation for the State Water Project’s (SWP) impacts on sensitive fish species in the Delta. These efforts are being undertaken to satisfy requirements of recent Biological Opinions for SWP and Central Valley Project (CVP) operations. FRPA is also intended to address the habitat restoration requirements of the CDFW Longfin Smelt Incidental Take Permit (ITP) for SWP Delta operations. Visit FRPA on the web
