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Salton Sea Species Conservation Habitat

Salton Sea Species Conservation Habitat. Stakeholders Meeting • June 10, 2010. Meeting Purpose. Provide updates on Salton Sea activities Provide opportunity to hear informally from Stakeholders Provide information on Species conservation Habitat (SCH) Project to interested Stakeholders.

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Salton Sea Species Conservation Habitat

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  1. Salton Sea Species Conservation Habitat Stakeholders Meeting •June 10, 2010

  2. Meeting Purpose • Provide updates on Salton Sea activities • Provide opportunity to hear informally from Stakeholders • Provide information on Species conservation Habitat (SCH) Project to interested Stakeholders

  3. Agenda • Introductions • Follow-up to last Stakeholders meeting • Salton Sea Funding Assistance Program • SCH Project update

  4. Introduction of Presentation Team • Rick Davis – Davis Group • Kim Nicol – California Department of Fish and Game • Rob Thomson – ENTRIX, Inc. • Ramona Swenson – ENTRIX, Inc.

  5. March StakeholdersMeeting Follow-up Response to Action Items

  6. Request for More Stakeholder Participation • Topic-specific workshops • Review of materials as they are available and appropriate under NEPA/CEQA • Need to balance Stakeholder participation with schedule management

  7. Period 1 Activity Status • Natural Resources Agency working with Department of Finance for clarification on whether SCH is a Period 1 activity • Potential legislation to clarify spending authority under Section 2930 et seq.

  8. Restoration Fund Update

  9. Salton SeaFunding Assistance Program

  10. Two types of applications Habitat restoration Study, monitoring, or pilot projects Patterned after CalFED and Fisheries Grant Programs Currently is not a grant program Applications must be a nonprofit or public agency Applications must be consistent with the Salton Sea Restoration Act Funding Assistance Program

  11. Funding Assistance Program • Selection process • Administrative review • External science review • Technical review • Selection panel • To assure objective evaluation of proposals, reviewers or their organization must not have advocated in the past for any project • Applicants must have completed their environmental compliance, including all permits, to receive funds • Since they are State funds, CEQA must be completed

  12. Salton Sea SCH Project Review and Update

  13. Overview of Major Activities • SCH alternatives development and refinement • Goals and objectives/purpose and need • Critical screening criteria • Conceptual engineering • Public outreach (NOI/NOP, scoping) • Impact assessment planning • Significance thresholds • Key issues • Process and schedule • Special studies

  14. Alternatives Development and Refinement • Goals and objectives/purpose and need • Critical screening criteria • Conceptual engineering • Species habitat requirements • Range of potential components

  15. Public Outreach • Notice of Intent/Notice of Preparation • Anticipated scoping period — June/July • Anticipated scoping meetings • July 7 • UCR Palm Desert (1:00 p.m.) • Torres Martinez Administrative Building (6:30 p.m.) • July 8 • Calipatria Inn and Suites (1:00 p.m.) • Brawley Elks Club (6:30 p.m.)

  16. Impact Assessment Planning • Significance thresholds based on • Initial Study checklist • Salton Sea Programmatic EIR • Review of potential project impacts • Key environmental issues • Biological resources • Effects on common and special status fish and wildlife, habitat loss/degradation, potential for disease • Hydrology/water quality • Construction-related impacts, changes in pond water quality, potential reduced freshwater inflow into the Sea, reduced downstream river flows • Complete list in NOI and NOP • Process and schedule

  17. Anticipated Schedule • NEPA/CEQA scoping – June/July 2010 • Draft NEPA/CEQA document – late 2010, early 2011 • Draft permit applications – early 2011 • Final NEPA/CEQA document – mid 2011 • Final design – mid to late 2011 • Permits complete – mid to late 2011 • Begin construction – late 2011, early 2012

  18. Special Studies • UC Riverside • Hydrology, temperature, and water quality • Selenium ecorisk • Soil and water contaminants • Fish tolerance • UC Berkeley • Assessing selenium issues/pilot study

  19. Special Studies • Scripps • Bathymetric surveys • EIS/EIR Team • Focused surveys for southwestern willow flycatcher and least Bell’s vireo to fill data gaps • If needed, other surveys will fill critical data gaps • Geotechnical studies

  20. SCH Project Workshop Updates

  21. Morning Workshop Highlights • SCH Project goals and objectives • Critical screening criteria • Construction challenges

  22. Selenium Expert Workshops • Problem • Selenium in the water and sediments poses a potential ecological risk for fish and wildlife at the SCH Project • Purpose of expert workshops • To obtain expert input on treatment technologies and management strategies to reduce potential effects of selenium on fish and wildlife

  23. Workshop 1:Selenium Treatment Technologies • Purpose • Review potential selenium treatment technologies • Identify promising treatment techniques to test in pilot studies • Participants • Working group of scientists with selenium expertise • Familiar with Salton Sea issues • Provided technical input on Salton Sea PEIR

  24. Workshop 1: Approach • Reviewed effectiveness, feasibility, cost and applicability of several treatment technologies • Physical – reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, ion filter • Chemical – zero valent iron • Biological – constructed wetlands, algal, bacterial • Identified information gaps and research questions for the most promising technologies

  25. Workshop 1: Recommendations • Biological treatment of water most promising technique • Constructed wetlands • Algal treatment (Controlled Eutrophication Process) • Anaerobic bacterial reduction • Physical treatments extremely costly • Chemical treatment complex, intensive, and costly • Recommendations to be summarized in technical memorandum

  26. Workshop 2:Selenium Management Plan • Purpose • Develop comprehensive plan to reduce SCH selenium ecorisk • Identify remediation measures to reduce selenium ecorisk • Approach • Working group of scientists with selenium expertise • Late August/September workshop • Review applicable treatment techniques/best management practices • Recommendations summarized in a technical memorandum

  27. SCH Information Dissemination • Website (www.water.ca.gov/saltonsea) • Stakeholders meetings/workshops • Periodic newsletters • Public meetings

  28. Contact Information • DFG Contact: Kim Nicol, Environmental Program ManagerCalifornia Department of Fish and Game78078 Country Club Drive, Suite 109Bermuda Dunes, CA 92203(760) 200-9178 knicol@dfg.ca.gov • USACE Contact: Lanika Cervantes, Project ManagerSan Diego Section, Regulatory DivisionU.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Los Angeles District6010 Hidden Valley Road, Suite 105Carlsbad, CA 92011(760) 602-4838 Lanika.L.Cervantes@usace.army.mil

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