Environmental Impact Statement - Sonoma Land Trust

California Department of Fish and Game
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Section 3.5. Biological Resources
such conduct.” Harm is defined as “any act that kills or injures the species,
including significant habitat modification.” In addition, Section 9 prohibits
removing, digging up, cutting, and maliciously damaging or destroying federally
listed plants that may occur at sites under federal jurisdiction, such as the Sears
Point project site.
Section 7, Consultation and Authorization of Take. Section 7 of the ESA
provides a means for authorizing take of threatened and endangered species by
federal agencies. It applies to actions that are conducted, permitted, or funded by
a federal agency. Under Section 7, the federal agency conducting, funding, or
permitting an action (the lead agency) must consult with USFWS or NOAA, as
appropriate, to ensure that the proposed action will not jeopardize endangered or
threatened species or destroy or adversely modify designated critical habitat. If a
proposed project “may affect” a listed species or designated critical habitat, the
lead agency is required to prepare a biological assessment (BA) evaluating the
nature and severity of the expected effect. In response, USFWS or NOAA issues
a biological opinion (BO) with a determination of one of the following findings.
The proposed action may either:
• jeopardize the continued existence of one or more listed species (jeopardy
finding);
• result in the destruction or adverse modification of critical habitat (adverse
modification finding);
• not jeopardize the continued existence of any listed species (no jeopardy
finding); or
• not result in adverse modification of critical habitat (no adverse modification
finding).
The BO issued by USFWS or NOAA may stipulate discretionary “reasonable
and prudent” conservation measures. If a proposed action under review would
not jeopardize a listed species, USFWS or NOAA would issue an incidental take
statement to authorize the proposed activity.
The USFWS and NOAA Fisheries would complete an internal project review
process pursuant to Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act. The outcome of
the Section 7 process will be a Biological Opinion, as discussed above.
Clean Water Act
The federal Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law protecting the
quality of the nation’s surface waters, including lakes, rivers, and coastal
wetlands. As such, it empowers the United States Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) to set national water quality standards and effluent limitations and
establishes permit review mechanisms to enforce them, operating on the principle
that all discharges into the nation’s waters are unlawful unless specifically
authorized by a permit.
Most of the CWA’s provisions are at least indirectly relevant to the management
and protection of biological resources because of the link between water quality
Sears Point Wetland and Watershed Restoration
Project Final Environmental Impact
Report/Environmental Impact Statement
3.5-3
April 2012