Natomas Levee Improvement Program - SAFCA

Revised Draft NLIP Mitigation Construction Cost Estimates
January 9, 2011
Page 3
and the USACE. Impacts were estimated using GIS data (polygons) extrapolated from tree canopy
outlines on aerial photography overlain with the NLIP design CAD drawings.
Land acquisition costs are attributed as follows: for Reach A, an average of the Dry Creek land costs
($10,000/acre for 28 acres) and the “in-basin” land costs ($27,000/acre for 23.2 acres) was used. All
other reaches were based solely on an estimate of $27,000/acre cost. Long term management costs
were assumed to be $136 per acre per year per SAFCA’s revised draft cost estimate and endowment
costs were $3,208 per acre.
Managed Grasslands – 645.6 acres; this estimate is based on design drawings of the flood control
features converted to GIS polygons and used to estimate acreages. It was assumed that the landside
and the waterside of the NCC and the Pleasant Grove Creek Canal (PGCC), and the landside of the
SREL and the Natomas East Main Drainage Canal (NEMDC) would be restored as a managed
grassland habitat type.
No land acquisition costs or long-term management costs are associated with this habitat as it is
attributed to the flood control construction costs’ estimate.
Canals: The canal habitat cost estimate is based on a plant procurement contract issued by SAFCA to
independent plant propagation vendors and the restoration planting contract (SAFCA Contract No.
4067) awarded which will complete the installation of habitat features in the previously constructed and
graded (i.e. functional for drainage systems) canal system and initial plant maintenance/establishment.
Approximate acres required:
Upper Canal – 23 acres (Giant Garter Snake aquatic and upland habitat) including 12.5 acres (waters
of the US/State)
Lower Canal – 32.8 acres (Giant Garter Snake aquatic and upland habitat) including 10.6 acres
(waters of the US/State)
The “approximate acreages required” estimates are based on the amount of canal (new canal, nonreplacement)
that SAFCA is required to construct, as described in the NLIP Phases 2, 3, 4a, and 4b
Biological Opinions (BOs) received by the USACE and SAFCA, the Phase 2 and Phase 3 DFG 2081
permits, and the USACE Phase 2, 3a, and 3b Clean Water Act (CWA) 404 and corresponding Central
Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board CWA 401 permits. Canal mitigation is based on the BOs’
and the 2081 permits’ requirement for a 1:1 (acre:acre) replacement for permanent impacts to canal
habitats and the USACE/CV RWQCB requirement for replacement of jurisdictional waters of the
US/State. The canal segments simultaneously (not additively) provides for Giant Garter Snake
aquatic/upland habitat and compensation for impacts to jurisdictional waters of the US/State.
Land acquisition costs for Reach C (the upper canal) were estimated at $5,000/acre based on
negotiations with the Sacramento County Airport System (SCAS). Land acquisition costs for Reach B
(the lower canal) and all other reaches were estimated at “in-basin” costs which are $27,000/acre. Longterm
management costs have been estimated by SAFCA to be approximately $619 per acre per year by
the NBC and $893 per acre per year by Reclamation District (RD) 1000, per the draft agreements with
the NBC and the RD 1000 for long-term management. Primary construction (grading and excavation)
costs were estimated at an average of $2,645,200 total or $80,646 per acre in Reach B (Lower Canal)
and $1,038,000 total or $43,250 in Reach C (Upper Canal) in addition to a restoration construction cost
of $3,800 per acre. Endowment costs were estimated to be $4,903 per acre.