Lewiston-Dark Gulch Rehabilitation Project: Trinity River Mile 105.4 to 111.7
Notice of Preparation Comment Period: This Notice of Preparation (NOP) for the Project initiates the CEQA/NEPA scoping process and establishes the public review period. This thirty day (30) period extends from May 1 to May 31, 2007. The purpose of this review period is to provide involved agencies and the public with an opportunity to learn about the project and to solicit comments to assist the Lead Agencies in identifying the range of actions, alternatives, mitigation measures, and environmental effects to be analyzed in the Draft EIR/EA. The TCRCD, as CEQA Lead Agency, and other agencies will use this Draft EIR/EA when considering discretionary authorizations, permits, and/or other approvals for the Project.
Public Scoping Meeting: A public scoping meeting was held on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 6:30 pm at the Lewiston Community Center, 302 Texas Ave., Lewiston, CA. Information on the Lewiston-Dark Gulch Rehabilitation Project: Trinity River Mile 105.4 to 111.7 (Project) was presented and comments on the scope of the Draft EIR/EA were accepted.
I. Project Background
The Central Valley Project Improvement Act (1992) and the 1955 Trinity River Act provide the legal authority for projects that restore the fishery resources of the Trinity River. Specifically, these acts include language intended to require the federal government to preserve, propagate, protect, restore, and enhance fish, wildlife, and associated habitats within the Trinity River Basin.
In December 2000, the Secretary of Interior signed a Record of Decision (ROD) for the Trinity River Fishery Restoration Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). This decision recognized that restoration and maintenance of the Trinity River’s fishery resources requires rehabilitating the river itself, and restoring the attributes that produce a healthy, functioning alluvial river system. Consequently, the ROD included five components to ensure long-term restoration and maintenance of the Trinity River:
a) Variable annual instream flows ranging from 369,000 acre-feet (af) in critically dry years to 815,000 af in extremely wet years;
b) Physical channel rehabilitation, including the removal of riparian berms and the establishment of side channel habitat;
c) Sediment management, including the supplementation of spawning gravels below Lewiston Dam and reduction in fine sediments which degrade fish habitats;
d) Watershed restoration efforts, addressing negative impacts which have resulted from land use practices in the Trinity River Basin; and
e) Infrastructure improvements or modifications, including rebuilding or fortifying bridges and addressing other structures affected by peak instream flows as provided by the ROD.
Reclamation opened the TRRP office in Weaverville, California in September 2002 for the purpose of implementing the ROD.
The ROD’s channel rehabilitation component focuses attention on the need to physically manipulate the bank and floodplain features of the Trinity River between River Mile 112.0 (Lewiston Dam) and River Mile 72.4 (North Fork Trinity River). The channel rehabilitation is intended to restore the Trinity River’s historic alternate point bar morphology and habitat complexity to improve fishery resources. The Project is the fourth channel rehabilitation project already built or in the planning stages that will work together to enhance river processes and to increase fisheries habitat downstream of Lewiston Dam. The fundamental objective of the Project is to increase juvenile salmonid rearing habitat on the mainstem Trinity River. Habitat quality and complexity will be enhanced via construction of slow water refuge habitats, placement of structures (e.g., large woody debris), and introduction of gravel into the river’s floodplain.
As recipient of a grant from the California Department of Fish and Game Fisheries Restoration Grant Program, the TCRCD will provide substantial funding for the Project, thereby establishing its role as the state CEQA Lead Agency. As the CEQA lead agency, the TCRCD will prepare a Draft EIR for the Project. Pursuant to CEQA/NEPA, the Draft EIR/AE will provide the documentation necessary to authorize the Project and support other discretionary actions by the lead, cooperating, and responsible agencies. The Draft EIR/EA will also serve as the disclosure document to interested parties and the general public.
Project description, location maps, and a summary of the potential environmental effects are included in this NOP.
II. Project description
Within the Project boundary, discrete activity areas have been identified. Within these activity areas, a variety of specific actions may be conducted that are intended to enhance or reestablish the Trinity River’s alternate point bar morphology and channel complexity, and to subsequently provide an increase in useable fish habitat. In addition, these actions are intended to enhance the riparian and terrestrial habitat adjacent to the Trinity River. The following actions may be conducted in one or more activity areas as part of this project:
- removal of vegetation, including mature riparian vegetation
- earthwork in the Trinity River floodplain and within the active river channel
- material transportation and stockpiling
- revegetation
- processing and placement of gravel into the river
- spoiling of excavated materials and by-products of gravel processing
Maps - Lewiston-Dark Gulch Rehabilitation Project
Project boundaries - Click for high resolution PDF [350kb]
Map of proposed action activity areas - Click for high resolution PDF [800kb]