Draft Environmental Impact Report - California Off Highway Vehicle ...

Chapter 1.0 – Introduction
1.0 Introduction
This draft environmental impact report (DEIR) provides an evaluation of the environmental
effects associated with the implementation of the Clay Pit State Vehicular Recreation Area General
Plan (Clay Pit SVRA General Plan or General Plan). The intent of this DEIR is to inform decision
makers and the public of the environmental consequences of implementation of the Clay Pit SVRA
General Plan, including construction and operation of a specific near‐term improvement project,
the headquarters facilities. Figures 1‐1 and 1‐2 show the location of Clay Pit State Vehicular
Recreation Area (Clay Pit SVRA or SVRA) near the City of Oroville in Butte County, CA. This DEIR
was prepared in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) of 1970 (Public
Resources Code [PRC] Section 21000 et seq.) and the State CEQA Guidelines (California Code of
Regulations [CCR] Section 15000 et seq.). The Off‐Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation (OHMVR)
Division of California State Parks (State Parks) is the CEQA lead agency for this project.
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the environmental review process required
under CEQA, background information related to the proposed project (the Clay Pit SVRA General
Plan), agency roles and responsibilities, and the organization used in this DEIR.
1.1 Type, Purpose, and Intended Use of This Environmental Impact Report
The purpose of an environmental impact report (EIR), under the provisions of CEQA, is “to identify
the significant effects on the environment of a project, to identify alternatives to the project, and to
indicate the manner in which those significant effects can be mitigated or avoided” (PRC Section
21002.1[a]). CEQA requires that all state and local governmental agencies consider the
environmental impacts of projects over which they have discretionary authority and balance the
benefits of a proposed project against its unavoidable environmental consequences. If
environmental impacts are identified as significant and unavoidable, the agency may still approve
the proposed project if it believes that social, economic, or other benefits would outweigh the
unavoidable impacts.
This DEIR was prepared by the OHMVR Division to assess the potential environmental impacts
that could arise in connection with actions related to approval and implementation of the Clay Pit
SVRA General Plan. It is intended to address the potentially significant adverse effects of the
project on the physical environment to the extent that such effects are reasonably foreseeable at
this time.
Because the General Plan is a planning document that provides goals and guidelines for future
development, rather than specific and detailed projects, a program EIR was determined to be the
appropriate CEQA document to analyze the potential environmental impacts of adopting and
implementing the Clay Pit SVRA General Plan.
Clay Pit State Vehicular Recreation Area
Draft EIR 1-1 February 2012