From the Fish Restoration Program:
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Fish Restoration Program (FRP) addresses specific habitat restoration requirements of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) biological opinions (Biological Opinions) for State Water Project (SWP) and Central Valley Project (CVP) operations.
(Or, alternatively, DWR and DFW’s FRP addresses specific habitat restoration requirements of the USFWS and NMFS BiOps for SWP and CVP operations.)
Prospect Island Tidal Habitat Restoration Project DEIR Status: Public Comment Closed
The public comment period on the Prospect Island Tidal Habitat Restoration Project Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) has now closed, and DWR is in the process of reviewing and responding to public comments. In the coming weeks, DWR will prepare responses to public comments and begin drafting the Final EIR (FEIR). DWR anticipates releasing the FEIR in late Spring 2017.
DWR released the Prospect Island Tidal Habitat Restoration Project DEIR for public review on Tuesday, August 23, 2016 and held a public meeting on September 27, 2016. The DEIR was available for public review until the comment period closed on November 7, 2016.
The DEIR analyzes potential impacts of a reasonable range of alternatives that could avoid or minimize adverse impacts and considers stakeholder input as part of the environmental review process. To download the DEIR and learn more information about its findings, visit the FRP Prospect Island Tidal Habitat Restoration Project webpage here.
Restoration Real Estate Acquisition and Project Status
Winter Island
The Fish Restoration Program acquired approximately 589 acres on Winter Island in 2016 for tidal wetland restoration. DWR is planning to implement the Winter Island Tidal Habitat Restoration Project (Project), which will restore tidal connectivity to the interior of Winter Island to create aquatic habitat at intertidal and shallow sub-tidal elevations, associated high marsh, and riparian habitats on the site to benefit native fish species. The Project is intended to partially fulfill the 8,000-acre tidal habitat restoration obligations of DWR contained within the 2008 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Delta Smelt Biological Opinion for long-term coordinated operations of the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
The site is in Suisun Bay between Broad Slough and Middle Slough, just north of the City of Pittsburg in Contra Costa County. It sits at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers in the corridor between Browns Island and Sherman Island Waterfowl Management Area. The Project consists of restoration planning, modeling, design, permitting, construction, and monitoring. Preliminary planning, conceptual design, and baseline data collection (e.g., topography and bathymetry) were conducted in 2016. Hydrodynamic modeling will be conducted in early spring 2017. Restoration planning and environmental compliance documentation preparation will be ongoing in 2017. DWR is the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Lead Agency for this project and estimates a draft Mitigated Negative Declaration release for public review in 2018.
Questions about the Winter Island project should be sent to the project manager, Joy Khamphanh ( manisay.khamphanh@water.ca.gov).
Tule Red
The Tule Red Restoration Project is a joint effort by the State and Federal Contractors Water Agency (SFCWA) and DWR to open more than 400 acres of wetlands to daily tides in the southern Suisun Marsh to benefit native fish species. This restoration project involves breaching a natural berm to allow for full daily tidal exchange through the interior of the project site and creation of a network of channels to convey water across the marsh plain. SFCWA and DWR are pursuing this project to help meet the 2008 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Delta Smelt Biological Opinion‘s requirement to restore 8,000 acres of tidal wetlands in the Delta and Suisun Marsh.
More information about the project is available here: http://resources.ca.gov/docs/ecorestore/projects/Tule_Red_Restoration.pdf
Release of Fish Restoration RFP
DWR posted a Request for Proposals (RFP) for fish habitat restoration projects within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Marsh. There was a mandatory pre-proposal conference for all contractors interested in submitting a proposal on January 5, 2017, and proposals were due on February 23, 2017. Note that this is an extensive and complex RFP.
Click here to visit the Fish Restoration Project online.
Sign up for daily email service and you’ll never miss a post!
Sign up for daily emails and get all the Notebook’s aggregated and original water news content delivered to your email box by 9AM. Breaking news alerts, too. Sign me up!
