Lower Mokelumne River Restoration Program, Lower Mokelumne River, California

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation

Lower Mokelumne River Restoration Program, Lower Mokelumne River,

California

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact report/

environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of

1969 (as amended) Reclamation (Reclamation) proposes to participate in

a joint Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement

(EIR/EIS) for the Lower Mokelumne River Restoration Program. Woodbridge

Irrigation District (WID) will be the lead agency under the California

Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The project is intended to provide

NEPA and CEQA clearance for implementing fish passage improvements at

Woodbridge Dam and fish screen improvements at Woodbridge Canal and the

North San Joaquin Water Conservation District diversion. Programmatic

clearance is being sought for the riparian restoration and riparian

diversion screening elements of the program. This work is being funded

through a Category III grant provided by the CALFED Bay-Delta Program

(CALFED) and administered by Reclamation.

DATES: Reclamation will seek public input on alternatives, concerns,

and issues to be addressed in the EIR/EIS through scoping meetings to

be held in January 1999. The schedule of the scoping meetings is as

follows:

Thursday, January 7, 1999, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Lodi,

California.

Wednesday, January 6, 1999, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in

Sacramento, California.

If special services are needed at the meetings, contact Mr. Anders

Christensen at the address or telephone number listed below no later

than December 30, 1998.

Written comments on the scope of alternatives and impacts to be

considered should be sent to WID at the address below by [insert date

35 days after date of publication in the Federal Register]. Reclamation

estimates that the draft EIR/EIS will be available for public review in

summer 1999.

ADDRESSES: Meeting locations are: Lodi--Carnegie Forum at 305 West Pine

Street in Lodi, California Sacramento--Jones & Stokes Associates, Inc.,

Auditorium at 2600 V Street in Sacramento, California.

Written comments on the project scope should be sent to Anders

Christensen, Woodbridge Irrigation District, 18777 N. Lower Sacramento

Road, Woodbridge, CA 95258.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anders Christensen at (209) 369-6808

or Buford Holt of Reclamation at (530) 275-1554.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: WID provides irrigation water for

approximately 40,000 acres of farmland near the city of Lodi. WID's

rights are based on riparian use before 1914 and other appropriative

rights. Flashboards are placed in the WID dam (Woodbridge Dam) in late

February or early March to begin filling Lodi Lake and to allow water

to flow into Woodbridge Canal for delivery to WID customers. The

flashboards are usually removed from the dam when the irrigation season

ends in early November.

The Lower Mokelumne River Restoration Program (LMRRP) was developed

to implement important elements from resource management plans prepared

by CALFED, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the California

Department of Fish and Game (DFG). The goal of the LMRRP is to

substantially increase fall-run chinook salmon and steelhead

populations, enhance critical and limiting aquatic habitats, and

restore riparian ecosystem integrity and diversity. The LMRRP comprises

four major elements:

Element 1: Improve fish passage.

Element 2: Improve fish screening at Woodbridge and North

San Joaquin Water Conservation District diversions.

Element 3: Install or upgrade fish screens on riparian

diversions.

Element 4: Enhance riparian corridor.

WID and the city of Lodi applied for a CALFED Category III grant to

fund the LMRRP. CALFED has provided preliminary funding for final

design and for environmental clearance and permitting for Elements 1

and 2 of the LMRRP. WID and Reclamation will prepare the EIR/EIS using

this funding. Because final design for Elements 3 and 4 has not yet

been funded, it is anticipated that only programmatic environmental

clearance will be sought for these two elements.

Element 1: Improve fish passage

The LMRRP fish passage element seeks to improve upstream and

downstream fish passage on the Lower Mokelumne River and to provide the

opportunity to pass water of varying temperatures and pulse flows

downstream of WID's diversion while maintaining WID's access to its

water rights. Proposed alternative methods for implementing Element 1

are described below under ``Alternatives Being Considered.''

Element 2: Improve fish screening at Woodbridge Canal and North San

Joaquin Water Conservation District Diversions

Improving fish screening at Woodbridge Canal and North San Joaquin

Water Conservation District diversions would upgrade the fish screening

facilities at the two largest diversions on the Lower Mokelumne River

below Camanche Dam. New screens would be designed to meet all

applicable DFG and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) criteria to

ensure effective fish passage and minimize entrainment and impingement.

Element 3: Install or Upgrade Fish Screens on Riparian Diversions

The riparian fish screening element would provide state-of-the-art

fish screens at 58 unscreened or underscreened riparian diversions on

the Lower Mokelumne River between Camanche Dam and its confluence with

the Cosumnes River near Thornton. All new screens would be designed to

meet all applicable DFG and NMFS criteria to ensure effective fish

passage and minimize entrainment and impingement.

Element 4: Enhance Riparian Corridor

The riparian corridor enhancement element includes bank erosion

control, riparian plantings, the creation of buffer zones, and other

techniques to restore and protect riparian vegetation to provide shaded

riverine aquatic habitat for fish, reduce water temperatures, increase

food production, and serve as a barrier between the river and adjacent

land uses.

Alternatives Being Considered

The project sponsors are considering alternatives to improve fish

passage while maintaining WID's access to its

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water rights. A first-phase screening process was conducted to narrow a

list of 14 alternatives to a list of 5 feasible alternatives to be

analyzed in the EIR/EIS. These alternatives include:

1. No action. Under the No-Action Alternative, no physical changes

to the structure or functions of Woodbridge Dam or the Woodbridge fish

screen and bypass system would be made. The dam, fish screen, and

bypass system would continue to operate as they currently operate.

2. Build new fish passage facilities at Woodbridge Dam and replace

fish screen bypass at Woodbridge Canal. Under this alternative, the

problems with Woodbridge fish passage facilities would be corrected.

Because upgrading existing facilities to state-of-the-art

specifications is not feasible, new facilities would be built on the

right abutment (facing downstream) of the dam. Another element of this

alternative is the construction of a predator-isolation berm. This berm

would extend east to west across the channel that connects the river to

the oval, static portion of Lodi Lake. The berm would assist in

separating predator species in the static portion of Lodi Lake from

salmon and steelhead in the river.

3. Remove Woodbridge Dam and pump water into Woodbridge Canal.

Under this alternative, Woodbridge Dam would be removed and water to

serve WID customers would be obtained by pumping water from the

Mokelumne River into the Woodbridge Canal. A pump station with a state-

of-the-art fish screen would be constructed near the existing diversion

structure. Additionally, a river control structure would need to be

constructed to direct river flows toward the pumps and to keep the

pumps submerged.

4. Replace Woodbridge Dam with a new dam incorporating state-of-

the-art fish passage facilities (proposed project). The proposed

project involves removing the existing Woodbridge Dam and constructing

an adjustable weir dam immediately upstream. This dam would include new

state-of-the-art fish passage facilities, a downstream hydraulic

control system to manage tailwater elevations at the entrances to the

fish ladders, a gated system for the downstream release of water from

different strata for temperature control, and the capability of

providing releases across a wider spectrum of flow levels (0-800 cubic

feet per second [cfs]) without spillage across the dam face to improve

responsiveness to fish flow needs. It would also include the predator-

isolation berm described under Alternative 2.

5. Shorten period of flashboard placement in Woodbridge Dam and

install diversion pumps. This alternative is based on the assumption

that significant improvements to fish migration can be achieved by

removing the flashboards at Woodbridge Dam from March through June to

improve downstream migration of juvenile salmon and steelhead. To

accommodate WID's need to divert water during that period, diversion

pumps would be installed and a river control structure would be

constructed to direct river flows toward the pumps and to keep the

pumps submerged. This alternative would also include the predator-

isolation berm described under Alternative 2.

The project sponsors are also considering the following option

which could be implemented with any of the alternatives that include a

dam.

Construct a stratification sill in front of the WID diversion

structure and a new deepwater discharge outlet in the dam. This option

is based on the assumption that a shortage of cool water below

Woodbridge Dam is a limiting factor for salmon during their smolt out-

migration life stage and that such cool water is available in Lodi

Lake. The intent is to provide warm water for the Woodbridge Canal and

to allow cool water to flow downstream of Woodbridge Dam. The cool

water would also be used to guide fish away from the diversion to the

bypass canal that would lead them to the river below the dam.

Scoping Process

Scoping is an early and open process designed to determine the

significant issues and alternatives to be addressed in the EIR/EIS.

Following are significant issues that have been identified: fisheries,

riparian and wetland habitats, wildlife, water quality, aesthetics,

recreation, and public health and safety.

Special Services

If special services are required at the meeting, contact Anders

Christensen. Please notify Mr. Christensen as far in advance of the

meetings as possible but no later than December 30, 1998, to enable WID

to secure the needed services. If a request cannot be honored, the

requestor will be notified. A telephone device for the hearing impaired

(TDD) is not available.

Dated: December 22, 1998.

Jeffrey McCracken,

Acting Regional Director.

[FR Doc. 98-34501 Filed 12-29-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310-94-P