Draft EIS_072312.pdf - Middle Fork American River Project ...

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20120723-4002 FERC PDF (Unofficial) 07/23/2012 project agreements in which improvement of a road under the jurisdiction of one party is to be financed in whole or in part from funds or resources provided by the other party. The current agreement expired on December 31, 2011. PCWA has also undertaken road improvement projects in accordance with the provisions of project-specific Special Use Permits issued by the Forest Service. Forty-six roads (totaling 19.7 miles) and eight trails (totaling 0.5 mile) are used for ongoing project operation and maintenance. Most of the inventoried roads, 10.73 miles, are in good condition, 1.82 miles are in poor condition and 7.23 miles range from good/fair to poor condition. PCWA did not evaluate conditions on 1.2 miles of these roads. No traffic safety concerns related to blind spots, poor sight distances, or inadequate signage were identified on the inventoried roads. PCWA identified a total of 18 project and public roads that are potentially used by the public to access dispersed concentrated use areas near the project. PCWA inventoried the trails it uses for operation and maintenance and determined they are in good condition except for one trail that is in poor condition (PCWA, 2008b). Wildland Fire Large, catastrophic fires have occurred in the project vicinity since 1908. Most recently (2001) the Star Fire burned across 17,500 acres of forest within the Eldorado and Tahoe National Forests and on private land. Fire management in the project vicinity is the responsibility of the Forest Service and local fire districts. The Forest Service uses two main strategies for landscape-level fuels management: (1) containing fires with linear fuelbreaks and defensible fuel profile zones; and (2) using a spatial arrangement of dispersed vegetation treatments and prescribed fires to interrupt the spread of fire. 3.3.5.2 Environmental Effects Recreation This section presents the environmental effects of (1) the recreation plans filed by PCWA and the Forest Service (condition no. 33); (2) funding for recreation facility operation and maintenance (condition no. 34); (3) recreation improvements at Cache Rock (condition no. 35); (4) improvements to Hell Hole administrative site (condition no. 36); (5) reservoir minimum pool elevations and reservoir level objectives (condition no. 37); (6) reservoir fish stocking (condition no. 38); and (7) streamflow requirements below Oxbow powerhouse (condition no. 39). Recreation Plan PCWA proposes to implement the Recreation Plan filed with the license application (Proposed Recreation Plan [PCWA, 2011a]) to ensure quality experience for recreation users while protecting natural and cultural resources. This plan states PCWA would be entirely responsible for all routine and heavy maintenance at project recreation facilities. Heavy maintenance items identified in the plan as well as reconstruction or 214
20120723-4002 FERC PDF (Unofficial) 07/23/2012 removal of existing facilities would be accomplished within 6 years of license issuance. PCWA also proposes to reimburse the Forest Service for its administrative oversight associated with the project recreation facilities. Proposed new developments and changes to existing facilities include: • removal of Upper Hell Hole Campground; • reduction of Hell Hole Campground; • reduction of Ralston Afterbay Picnic Area; • reduction of Poppy Campground; • consolidation of the McGuire Boat Ramp Parking Area and associated facilities; • conversion of McGuire Picnic Area to a Group Campground; • enhancements to Ahart Campground; • enhancements to Indian Bar Rafter Access; • development of a primitive use recreation site in the Duncan Creek Diversion area; • formalization of the Ralston Afterbay Sediment Removal Access Point as a public boat launch; and • extension of French Meadows and Hell Hole boat ramps. Forest Service condition no. 33 specifies that PCWA implement a Recreation Plan filed with its preliminary 4(e) conditions (Alternative 1 Recreation Plan [PCWA, 2011c). Provisions in this plan are similar to PCWA’s Recreation Plan but, in general, it specifies later implementation dates, includes additional recreation facilities, and describes detailed actions PCWA would implement when reconstructing facilities. Table 3.3.5-6 summarizes notable recreation facility differences 19 between the two plans. We analyze specific items in the recreation plans in the following categories: (1) recreation plan—implementation and plan organization; (2) recreation facility operation and maintenance, (3) facility removal, reduction, reconfiguration and construction; (4) trails and access developments; (5) water system developments; (6) boat ramp extensions; and (7) recreation management programs. 19 The Alternative 1 plan contains numerous detailed treatments such as “construct drainage control measures” that we do not consider materially different from PCWA’s Recreation Plan. Consequently, we do not present these types of differences in the table. 215
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41 Table 3.3.1-1. Average number of
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43 Site/Release Location Gravel Ini
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45 a Q 1 - TSR, Table G-1 (PCWA, 20
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69 Table 3.3.2-3. Hydrology for sel
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71 Exceedances and Summary Statisti
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91 Figure 3.3.2-6. Fish passage bar
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105 Location American River below M
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135 Species Name Status a Butte Cou
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145 Table 3.3.3-5. Special-status w
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275 Table 4-2. Summary of annual co
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279 Enhancement/Mitigation Measures
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303 c Base 2010 costs were provided
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307 Resource No-Action Alternative
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319 Table 5-2. Staff-recommended mi
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321 Location Middle Fork American R
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