The Fish Restoration Program (FRP) updates are issued by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW).
In this update:
- Prospect Island EIR Progress
- Restoration Monitoring Program
- FRP in the Context of Delta-Region Restoration
- Miner Slough Levee Repair
- Prospect Island Tidal Habitat Restoration Project Website
Prospect Island EIR Progress
FRP staff and consultants continue to develop the Prospect Island Tidal Habitat Restoration Project Environmental Impact Report (EIR), in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The EIR analyzes project alternatives and stakeholder input as part of the environmental review process for the project. A Public Draft EIR will be available for public review in early 2015. There will be a 45-day public review period, and a public meeting will take place in February or March of 2015 (during the public review period).
Restoration Monitoring Program
The CDFW FRP Monitoring Program has recently been formed to develop standard protocols for monitoring restored tidal wetlands, and to monitor wetlands restored through the FRP program. The Monitoring Program will collect biological and environmental data to assess the success of restoration actions for providing benefits for at-risk native fishes. Monitoring Program staff are currently leading a collaborative Interagency Ecological Program Project Work Team, which is now working to develop a generalized monitoring plan to be applied to both FRP project sites and other tidal restoration sites throughout the Delta and Suisun Marsh.
FRP in the Context of Delta-Region Restoration
The primary objective of the FRP is to carry out aquatic habitat restoration required by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service Biological Opinions for the State Water Project and Central Valley Project operations as well as the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Longfin Smelt Incidental Take Permit (ITP). The FRP is coordinating with other planning efforts in the Delta and Suisun Marsh (such as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan; the Delta Stewardship Council Delta Plan; the Suisun Marsh Habitat Management, Preservation, and Restoration Plan; the Ecosystem Restoration Program Stage 2 Conservation Strategy; the Delta Native Species Recovery Plan; the Sacramento‐San Joaquin Delta Conservancy Interim Strategic Plan; DWR’s FloodSAFE Environmental Stewardship and Statewide Resources Office; and the Delta Science Plan). Should BDCP be implemented, the FRP restoration actions will be considered “early implementation actions” for BDCP habitat restoration requirements.
Miner Slough Levee Repair
The project to repair levees along Miner Slough (a project independent of the Prospect Island Tidal Habitat Restoration Project) is in the permitting process. The proposed levee repair work is scheduled for late summer/early fall of 2015, and consultation between FRP, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is ongoing.
Prospect Island Tidal Habitat Restoration Project Website
Information on the Prospect Island Tidal Habitat Restoration Project is available on a dedicated DWR website, containing a project fact sheet, reports from the initial scoping process, and other relevant documents, such as the Final Groundwater Monitoring Report, Groundwater Monitoring Data Collection Summary, Prospect Island Turbidity Modeling Report, and Prospect Island Restoration DRERIP Evaluation. Review project information and documents here.
FRP provides quarterly “E-News Updates” to keep you informed of program news and public involvement opportunities. Please contact Dan Riordan, Chief, Fish Restoration Program at frpa (at) water.ca.gov with any comments or questions. FRP 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. FRP is also intended to address the habitat restoration requirements of the CDFW Longfin Smelt Incidental Take Permit (ITP) for SWP Delta operations.
