FERC Project No. 2079 - PCWA Middle Fork American River Project ...

Application for New License Middle Fork American River Project (FERC Project No. 2079)
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this Biological Assessment/Biological Evaluation (BA/BE) is to evaluate
Placer County Water Agency’s (PCWA) Middle Fork American River Project (MFP or
Project) to determine the effect of the Project relicensing (Proposed Action) on federally
listed threatened, endangered, candidate, and proposed species, or on any trend
toward a Forest Service Sensitive (FSS) species becoming federally listed. This BA/BE
is prepared in accordance with legal requirements set forth under Section 7 of the
federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) (16 United States Code [USC] §1531 et seq.)
and with the standards established in the Forest Service Manual (FSM 2672.42 and
2672.43). This document also follows other guidance from the United States
Department of Agriculture-Forest Service (USDA-FS) (USDA-FS 1996) and the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) (FERC 2001a).
The Project is located within the Middle Fork American River Watershed (Watershed),
the majority of which is located in Placer County, California (BA/BE Map 1). A small
component (a portion of Ralston Afterbay Dam) is located in El Dorado County,
California. The Project occupies 1,883 acres of land within the Tahoe National Forest
(TNF) and 1,385 acres of land within the Eldorado National Forest (ENF), both of which
are administered by the USDA-FS. Portions of the Project are located on privately
owned timberland.
Currently, the MFP serves as a multipurpose water supply and hydrogeneration project
designed to conserve and control waters of the Middle Fork American River, the
Rubicon River, Duncan Creek, North Fork Long Canyon Creek, and South Fork Long
Canyon Creek. The Project consists of two major storage reservoirs, two medium
regulating reservoirs, three small diversion pools, and five powerhouses that began
operation in 1967. The Project’s major storage reservoirs, French Meadows and Hell
Hole, have a combined capacity of 342,583 acre-feet (ac-ft). The Project has a total
dependable generation capacity of 223.7 megawatts (MW) and has an average annual
energy production of 1,039,078 megawatt-hours (MWh).
In February 2008, PCWA was designated as the nonfederal representative for the
purpose of conducting Section 7 consultation, pursuant to the ESA, with the United
States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for the relicensing of the MFP. The MFP is
being relicensed using the FERC’s Integrated Licensing Process (ILP).
This assessment of sensitive resources was based on a review of existing information
relevant to the Project facilities, extensive agency and other stakeholder consultation,
and field surveys. Detailed descriptions of the methods and results are included as
supporting documents in PCWA’s Application for New License (License Application)
(Exhibit E – Supporting Document [SD] A). These documents are incorporated by
reference into this BA/BE.
Special-status species are defined as any species that is granted status by the USFWS
as threatened (FT), endangered (FE), candidate (FC), proposed (FP) species, or
species that have been delisted (FD), as well as FSS species. BA/BE Tables 1 and 2
February 2011 1-1