California Endangered Species Act. (Cal. Fish & Game Code Section 2050, et seq.);
California Endangered Species Act. (CESA) DWR’s application for issuance of an incidental take permit under Section 2081(b) of the CESA submitted in October, 2016, includes spring outflow criteria that are slightly different than the spring outflow criteria presented in the Biological Assessment. Consistent with the discussion in Section 3.3.1, page 3-83 of the Biological Assessment, the different spring outflow criteria are proposed to meet the mitigation requirements for longfin smelt, a species listed under the CESA. As these spring outflow criteria are included in DWR’s 2081(b) application and essentially revise the description of the Proposed Action, Reclamation has requested that this information be considered as part of the proposed action analyzed in this Opinion.
California Endangered Species Act. CDFW is responsible for ensuring appropriate conservation of fish and wildlife resources including threatened, endangered, and/or candidate plant and animal species, pursuant to CESA. CDFW recommends that a CESA Incidental Take Permit (ITP) be obtained if the Project has the potential to result in “take” (Fish & G. Code § 86 defines “take” as “xxxx, pursue, catch, capture, or kill, or attempt to xxxx, pursue, catch, capture, or kill”) of State-listed CESA species, either through construction or over the life of the Project. State-listed species with the potential to occur in the area include, but are not limited to: winter- and spring-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), Shasta salamander (Hydromantes shastae), Crotch’s bumble bee (Bombus crotchii; candidate endangered). The EIR should disclose the potential of the Project to take State-listed species and how the impacts will be avoided, minimized, and mitigated. Please note that mitigation measures that are adequate to reduce impacts to a less-than significant level to meet CEQA requirements may not be enough for the issuance of an ITP. To facilitate the issuance of an ITP, if applicable, CDFW recommends the EIR include measures to minimize and fully mitigate the impacts to any State-listed species the Project has potential to take. CDFW encourages early consultation with staff to determine appropriate measures to facilitate future permitting processes and to engage with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and/or National Marine Fisheries Service to coordinate specific measures if both State and federally listed species may be present within the Project vicinity.
