[Federal Register: May 2, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 86)]
[Notices]
[Page 24302-24303]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02my08-109]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Cullinan Ranch Unit Restoration Project, San Pablo Bay National
Wildlife Refuge, Solano County, CA
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments: Draft
environmental impact statement and environmental impact report.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and the
California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) are proposing a
restoration plan for 1,500 acres (ac) of former hayfield farm land in
the San Pablo Bay. This restoration project would combine tidal salt
marsh habitat for endangered species, waterfowl, waterbirds, and fish,
as well as public access features to increase accessibility to wildlife
resource values in the San Pablo Bay, while minimizing project-induced
flood impacts to Highway 37. In accordance with the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), this notice advises other
agencies, Tribes, and the public that the draft environmental impact
statement and environmental impact report (DEIS/EIR) on the proposed
tidal marsh restoration project at Cullinan Ranch, a unit of the San
Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge), Solano and Napa Counties,
California, is now available for review. We invite and encourage
interested persons to review the document and submit written comments
to identify issues related to the alternatives we address in the DEIS/
EIR.
DATES: We must receive written comments at the address below on or
before June 17, 2008. You may submit comments by any one of the methods
we describe under ADDRESSES. We will hold a public meeting in May 2008,
to solicit comments. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for more
information.
ADDRESSES: The Draft EIS/EIR is available for review at:
Refuge Headquarters Office, San Pablo Bay National
Wildlife Refuge, 2100 Highway 37, Petaluma, CA 94954; (707) 769-4200.
San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Complex, 9500
Thornton Avenue, Newark, CA 94560; (510) 792-0222.
John F. Kennedy Public Library, 505 Santa Clara, Vallejo,
CA 94590.
http://www.fws.gov/sfbayrefuges/San%20Pablo/SanPablo.htm.
Written comments and requests for information may be mailed to:
Christy Smith, Refuge Manager, San Pablo Bay National Wildlife
Refuge, 7715 Lakeville Highway, Petaluma, California 94954. Written
comments may also be sent by facsimile to (707) 769-8106.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christy Smith, Refuge Manager, San
Pablo Bay NWR, (707) 769-4200 (phone); christy_smith@fws.gov (e-mail),
OR Louis Terrazas, Wildlife Refuge Specialist, San Pablo Bay NWR, (707)
769-4200 (phone); louis_terrazas@fws.gov (e-mail).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Location
Located within the existing Refuge boundary, the Cullinan Ranch
Unit is bordered by the South Slough and Dutchman Slough to the north
and State Route 37 to the south. California Department of Fish and Game
Pond 1 borders Cullinan Ranch to the west. Guadalcanal Village Wetlands
(Guadalcanal), which is owned by the State of California and is
currently being restored to tidal marsh, borders Cullinan Ranch to the
east.
Background
The Cullinan Ranch restoration project would restore approximately
1,500 acres of diked baylands to historic tidal conditions by
reintroducing tidal flow into the project area. This area, Cullinan
Ranch, is located in an area of the Napa River Delta that was
historically defined by a network of meandering sloughs and extensive
estuarine tidal marshes. Reintroduction of tidal flow will restore
vital salt marsh habitat for endangered species, including the salt
marsh harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys raviventris), and the California
clapper rail (Rallus longirostris obsoletus), as well as provide
foraging and roosting habitat for fish, migratory waterfowl and
waterbirds.
The proposed restoration is based on the concept that
reintroduction of tidal waters will naturally develop salt-water marsh
habitat conditions. The existing perimeter levee currently prevents
tidal flows into the area and, as a result, the land has subsided
several feet in elevation and becomes inundated with fresh water during
the rainy season. Once restored, twice-daily tidal flows would carry
and deposit sediment, eventually establishing marsh plain elevations
sufficient to support tidal marsh vegetation. As tidal waters enter and
exit the site, tidal channels would develop or re-establish from
previous channels. Continued tidal action would maintain an active
exchange of water, sediment and nutrients between the marsh habitat and
the Bay, further enhancing the value of the habitat for plants and
wildlife.
In keeping with one of the purposes of the Refuge ``to conserve
fish, wildlife, or plants which are listed as endangered species or
threatened species,'' the Cullinan Ranch restoration project would
restore historic salt marsh habitat for the benefit of threatened and
endangered species as well as many other estuarine-dependent species.
We announced a notice of intent to prepare an Environmental
Assessment on July 15, 2002, and sent notices to
[[Page 24303]]
various newspapers in the San Francisco Bay area. We conducted a public
scoping meeting on August 7, 2002 (67 FR 135). We held a second public
scoping meeting on March 9, 2007 (72 FR 46). During preparation of the
Environmental Assessment, we determined that the scope of the
restoration would require an environmental impact statement. On
September 6, 2007, we announced a notice of intent to prepare an
environmental impact statement and sent notices to various newspapers
and interested parties and agencies in the San Francisco Bay area.
Because some of the proposed project area includes State lands, we
have prepared the DEIS/EIR to satisfy the requirements of both NEPA and
the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The California
Department of Fish and Game is the CEQA lead agency for this project.
The potential impacts of a ``no-action'' alternative and two ``action''
alternatives are assessed and, where appropriate, mitigation measures
are applied to reduce the intensity of the potential effect or to avoid
the potential effect.
Alternatives
We identified and analyzed a total of eight alternatives. The
alternatives were analyzed based on a set of criteria, including
effects to adjacent habitats; effects to the existing levees; effects
on the hydrology of the existing slough channels and adjacent water
bodies; costs of implementing restoration activities and long-term
maintenance; and effects of project construction on existing uses on
and adjacent to the Cullinan Ranch Site (Site). We removed five of
these alternatives from further consideration because they did not meet
the cost and engineering feasibility criteria as set forth by the lead
agencies. Many of the alternatives considered were formulated with
optional implementation features in order to minimize effects on
adjacent habitats (such as the fringe marshes along Dutchman Slough and
Pritchett Marsh), such as staging the Proposed Action and/or limiting
the amount of tidal exchange. We analyzed these features but removed
them from further consideration because hydrologic modeling revealed
that they would not significantly reduce adverse effects to adjacent
habitats. Based on additional hydrologic modeling and information
obtained from the Napa Sonoma Restoration Project (NSRP), the lead
agencies carried forward three possible alternatives to environmental
analysis: The No-Action Alternative, the Preferred Restoration
Alternative, and the Partial Restoration Alternative.
No-Action Alternative
Under the No-Action Alternative, the lead agencies would take no
action to restore tidal influence to the Site; however, continued
maintenance of the Dutchman and South Slough levees would occur. Under
this alternative, because the lead agencies would be required to
maintain the northern levee along Dutchman Slough in perpetuity,
maintenance activities would likely increase as the levees age and
scour increases in response to activities undertaken by the NSRP. Under
the No-Action Alternative, the components of the Proposed Action would
not be implemented.
Preferred Restoration Alternative
The Preferred Restoration Alternative would restore the entire
1,500-ac Cullinan Ranch Site with implementation of the following
project components:
Component 1: Construct boardwalk to provide access to
existing electrical towers.
Component 2: Block drainage ditches to promote
redevelopment of natural sloughs.
Component 3: Improve the DFG Pond 1 levee and install
water control structures.
Component 4: Protect Highway 37 from project-induced
flooding and erosion, through levee construction.
Component 5: Construct public access areas.
Component 6: Breach the levees along Dutchman and South
Sloughs and Guadalcanal Village.
Component 7: Implement long-term monitoring.
Partial Restoration Alternative
The Partial Restoration Alternative would restore 300 ac of the
Cullinan Ranch Site. The Partial Restoration Alternative was developed
in order to limit potential impacts to the hydrology of Dutchman
Slough. While it would meet the purpose and need of the project, a
smaller overall area within Cullinan Ranch would be restored, and
connectivity with other adjacent restoration projects would be limited.
The Partial Restoration Alternative would include implementation of
the following project components:
Component 1: Block drainage ditches to promote
redevelopment of natural Sloughs.
Component 2: Construct internal levee.
Component 3: Protect Highway 37 from project-induced
flooding and erosion, through levee construction.
Component 4: Breach the levee along Dutchman Slough.
Component 5: Long-term monitoring.
Public Meeting
We will hold one public meeting in to solicit comments on the DEIS/
EIR on May 30, 2008, at the Mare Island Conference Center, 375 G
Street, Mare Island, Vallejo, CA 94954, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Public Comments
We invite the public to comment on the DEIS/EIR during the comment
period. Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so. We will use the comments to prepare a final
environmental impact statement/environmental impact report. A decision
will be made no sooner than 30 days after the publication of the final
environmental impact statement. We anticipate that a Record of Decision
will be issued by the Service in the summer of 2008.
We provide this notice under regulations implementing NEPA (40 CFR
1506.6).
Dated: April 23, 2008.
Ken McDermond,
Acting Regional Director, Region 8.
[FR Doc. E8-9675 Filed 5-1-08; 8:45 am]
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