The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) released the Final Environmental Impact Statement/ Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) today for the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project (SBSPRP). The Final EIS/EIR evaluates the potential environmental impacts of the SBSPRP and culminates a four-year planning process for the restoration.
The historic decline in tidal habitats in San Francisco Bay has resulted in reduced marsh-dependent fish and wildlife, as well as decreased water quality and increased risk of local flooding. "Restoration of the South Bay Salt Ponds provides an opportunity to begin to reverse these trends by improving the health of San Francisco Bay for years to come," said Clyde Morris, refuge manager for the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay NWR. "The release of the Final EIS/EIR marks the end of a multi-year planning process and the beginning of an exciting new era of habitat restoration, research, and improved public access in the South Bay."
The SBSPRP is the largest tidal wetland restoration project on the West Coast, second largest in the U.S. only to the Florida Everglades. The 15,100-acre project will restore an area the size of Manhattan to a mixture of tidal wetlands and other habitats. The project also will provide wildlife-oriented public access and recreation, and provide for flood management in the South Bay.
"In the coming years, we will see the Bay shoreline shift from a hard-edged series of levees to a more natural mosaic of tidal mash, mudflats and shallow ponds," observed John Krause, Manager of the Eden Landing Ecological Reserve for DFG. "This will allow for enhanced wildlife habitat as well as our ability to open up new areas of the South Bay to generations of Bay Area visitors and residents."
The SBSP Restoration Project area includes former commercial salt ponds and adjacent habitats in South San Francisco Bay that were purchased from Cargill, Inc. in 2003, by the state and federal government with assistance from private foundations. The property is comprised of three large areas: the 5,500-acre Eden Landing pond complex, managed by DFG as part of the Eden Landing Ecological Reserve, near the east end of the San Mateo Bridge in Hayward; the 8,000-acre Alviso pond complex adjacent to San Jose, Fremont, Milpitas, Sunnyvale and Mountain View; and the 1,600-acre Ravenswood pond complex at the west end of the Dumbarton Bridge, both owned and managed by USFWS as part of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
Planning for the long-term restoration project was initiated in 2003. Since that time, the State Coastal Conservancy, DFG, and USFWS have jointly managed the project. These three agencies worked with local water districts and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in developing the restoration plan. Central to the planning process has been a 30-member Stakeholder Forum comprised of environmentalists, business owners, neighborhood groups, local elected officials and others interested in the long-term restoration of the South Bay. The Stakeholder Forum has met regularly and consulted with the project's scientific team to help develop the plan. The Final EIS/EIR also incorporates public responses to the draft EIS/EIR released in March of this year.
"We look forward to obtaining the necessary permits early in 2008 so that we can launch the first phase of implementation by next summer," noted Executive Project Manager Steve Ritchie. "Implementation will take many years to complete and our management of the project will evolve as our understanding of the Bay and its natural systems deepens.
The SBSP environmental document is both a programmatic EIS/EIR covering the 50-year long-range plan as well as a project-level EIS/EIR addressing the specific components and implementation of the first phase of restoration. Three program-level, long-term restoration alternatives as well as project-level Phase 1 actions have been considered in the plan. These alternatives include taking no action; managing the area with an emphasis on pond areas; and managing the area with an emphasis on tidal habitat.
Adaptive management (the process of capturing lessons learned on the ground and folding them into future management practices) will play a critical role in determining the best combination of habitats for resident and migratory species while balancing public access and flood protection. These determinations will help guide the restoration efforts of this project.
The document is available for public review on the SBSP Restoration Project website at http://www.southbayrestoration.org. Additional copies on CD-ROM can be obtained by contacting Anna Schneider of the State Coastal Conservancy at (510) 286-1015 or e-mail at aschneider@scc.ca.gov.
Hard copies of the document also will be available for public review by appointment during regular business hours at the following locations starting December 14th: --Visitor Center, Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, 1 Marshlands Road, Fremont, CA 94555 --The Army Corps of Engineers San Francisco District office, 1455 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94103 --Santa Clara Valley Water District administrative offices, 5750 Almaden Expressway, San Jose, CA 95118-3614 --DFG Region 3 office, 7329 Silverado Trail, Napa, CA 94558
The document is also available at the following libraries: --Alviso Branch Library, 5050 North First St., San Jose, CA 95002, (408) 263-3626 --City of Mountain View Library, 85 Franklin St., Mountain View, CA 94041, (650) 903-6337 --Palo Alto Main Library,1213 ell Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303, (650) 329-2436 --Menlo Park Library, 800 Alma St., Menlo Park, CA 94025, (650) 330-2500 --Sunnyvale Public Library, 665 West Olive Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086, (408) 730-7300 --Hayward Public Library, 835 C St., Hayward, CA 94541, (510) 293-8685 --Fremont Main Library, 2400 Stevenson Blvd., Fremont, CA 94538, (510) 745-1400.
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