Environmental Impact Statement - Sonoma Land Trust

California Department of Fish and Game
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Chapter 1. Introduction, Purpose, and Need
Need for Project
NEPA requires that the lead agency also identify the need for the action. As
discussed in detail below, the project is primarily needed for the following three
reasons:
• to reestablish aquatic habitats and hydrologic connections including
restoration of tidal wetlands in San Pablo Bay for the benefit of the larger
San Francisco Bay estuary system;
• to provide public recreational opportunities not currently available at the site;
and;
• to contribute to the recovery of numerous species protected under the federal
Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the California Endangered Species Act
(CESA).
Approximately 90% of the original tidal wetlands of San Francisco Bay have
been destroyed. This destruction is the result of the diking and filling of the tidal
wetlands for purposes of agriculture, urban development, and salt production.
The overall health of ecosystems within the San Francisco Bay estuary system
has been the focus of a recent collaborative effort undertaken as part of the San
Francisco Bay Area Wetlands Ecosystem Goals Project (Goals Project). The
Goals Project’s primary guidance document, the Baylands Ecosystem Habitat
Goals Report (San Francisco Bay Area Wetlands Ecosystem Goals Project 1999),
identifies the Sears Point site as a key tidal restoration area, specifically to
preserve and restore a large contiguous band of tidal marsh and to provide habitat
for endangered, threatened, and common native species. The project would serve
to restore aquatic habitats in the larger estuary system by reestablishing a variety
of sub-tidal and inter-tidal habitats and reconnecting these and upland habitats to
open water habitats in San Pablo Bay. It would also serve to enhance and manage
non-tidal marsh habitats on agricultural lands. Overall, the project would meet
many of the restoration needs identified in the Bay Ecosystem Habitat Goals
Report, as well as the habitat needs established in the San Francisco Bay Joint
Venture Implementation Strategy. At the same time, the project also seeks to
retain agricultural uses at the site to the extent feasible. As such, the project does
not propose to restore the site entirely; rather, it seeks to balance the broader
goals of ecosystem restoration with the preservation of existing compatible land
uses.
Reclamation of historic tidal marsh in the late 1800s resulted in a loss of habitats
supporting numerous species. In restoring and enhancing diked baylands to tidal
marsh, enhancing and expanding seasonal wetlands, and enhancing riparian
corridors across the project site, the project provides an opportunity to improve
ecosystem function and connectivity, thereby benefiting protected species that
depend upon these ecosystems for their survival, including but not limited to
California black rail, California clapper rail, salt marsh harvest mouse, California
red-legged frog, peregrine falcon, Steelhead Central Valley and Central
California Coast Distinct Population Segments (DPS), and green sturgeon
Southern DPS. At the same time, the project also seeks to retain agricultural uses
at the site to the extent feasible. As such, the project does not propose to restore
Sears Point Wetland and Watershed Restoration
Project Final Environmental Impact
Report/Environmental Impact Statement
1-8
April 2012