Purpose and Need. A Partnership is needed because water supply shortages for in-stream and out-of-stream uses currently exist and will be intensified by climate change and increases in future demand. The
Purpose and Need. The purpose of this Agreement is to enhance the reintroduction and long-term recovery of LCT within the NWDPS by encouraging private landowners to voluntarily create, enhance, maintain, or restore LCT habitat. The primary objective of this Programmatic Agreement is to encourage voluntary habitat restoration, maintenance, or enhancement activities to benefit LCT by relieving a landowner, who enters into, and implements, the provisions of a Cooperative Agreement with NDOW, from any additional Section 9 liability under the Act beyond that which exists at the time the Cooperative Agreement is signed (baseline responsibilities). In other words, the objective is to give landowners “safe harbor” from added liability. A SHA encourages landowners and assures them that they will not be subjected to increased threatened species restrictions should their beneficial stewardship efforts result in an increased threatened species population. As long as landowners carry out agreed upon conservation measures on their property and maintain their baselines, they may continue or undertake future management activities. A large percentage of the existing LCT populations and designated recovery streams within the NWDPS occur on private lands somewhere within their perennial reach. As of the writing of this agreement there are 53 streams that have been identified in recovery plans or have active management occurring on them. Of these 53 streams (~470 miles) there are only 6 streams that do not flow through private lands. Efforts to recover this species without involving and incorporating these private lands and landowners may impact our ability to make measurable progress towards LCT recovery. It is with this acknowledgement that NDOW intends to enroll any private landowners who are willing to allow the introduction or expansion of LCT within their private lands and waters into conservation agreements. These Cooperative Agreements will offer protections and assurances to allow for inadvertent takings of LCT for individuals who agree to provide voluntary conservation benefits to the species within their private holdings. Additionally, the enrollee may cancel this agreement at anytime and return to the established baseline conditions, which were present prior to enrollment.
Purpose and Need. The Authority, with FRA, will develop a project Purpose and Need Statement for each Section, which is required by NEPA and documents why a project is undertaken, and includes the description of project objectives for CEQA. (Purpose and Need Statements are being prepared for all seven Sections and activities undertaken in developing purpose and need statements after the effective date of this Agreement are potentially eligible under this Statement of Work.)
Purpose and Need. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) received an application for an Enhancement of Survival Permit (Permit), pursuant to the provisions of section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA) (16 United States Code [U.S.C.] 1531, et seq., 1539(a)(1)(A)) from Rayonier Operating Company, LLC (Applicant) on behalf of its affiliates and subsidiaries (including entities holding and operating on recently acquired Xxxx Resources lands) on July 1, 2020, regarding its forestland management activities. In accordance with applicable agency regulations, Applicant also submitted a Safe Harbor Agreement (SHA) outlining proposed conservation measures that could provide a net conservation benefit to the marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus), federally listed as threatened on September 28, 1992 (57 FR 45328-45337). Implementation of the proposed individual SHA is intended to provide a net conservation benefit for the marbled murrelet (covered species) over and above those benefits that are accruing through Applicant’s growing, protecting, and restoring mature and complex forest stands that are retained in riparian buffers, channel migration zones, and on unstable slopes through compliance with Washington’s Forest Practices Program. Applicant’s proposed SHA identifies and commits to protect “Presumed Marbled Murrelet Habitat” or “Presumed Habitat” as part of the conservation commitment contributing to providing a net conservation benefit for the species. If the Permit is issued, in exchange for committing to the terms of the proposed SHA, Applicant would obtain incidental take assurances under the ESA that would apply to the Enrolled Lands for a period of approximately 36 years, through June 5, 2056, giving the proposed SHA the same expiration date as the Washington Forest Practices Habitat Conservation Plan (FPHCP). Renewal of the SHA may be requested by Applicant for a term coextensive with any renewal of the FPHCP. Applicant owns and manages approximately 416,000 acres within western Washington. Proposed SHA-Enrolled Lands are 212,443 acres located in Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Kitsap, King, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, Pierce, Thurston, and Wahkiakum counties. The Enrolled Lands are comprised of 60,802 acres of Forests & Fish Buffers, 149,573 acres of Adjacent Forests, and 2,068 acres of Occupied Marbled Murrelet Sites, totaling 212,443 acres. Included within the Enrolled Lands is 453 acres of Presumed Habitat that would vo...
Purpose and Need. The purpose of this Agreement is to enhance the reintroduction and long-term recovery of Lahontan cutthroat trout within the Northwest Geographic Management Unit by encouraging private landowners to voluntarily create, enhance, maintain, or restore Lahontan cutthroat trout habitat. The primary objective of this Agreement is to encourage voluntary habitat restoration, maintenance, or enhancement activities to benefit Lahontan cutthroat trout by relieving a landowner, who enters into, and implements, the provisions of a Cooperative Agreement with the Department, from any additional section 9 liability under the Endangered Species Act beyond that which exists at the time the Cooperative Agreement is signed (baseline responsibilities). In other words, the objective is to give landowners “safe harbor” from added liability. A Safe Harbor Agreement encourages landowners and assures them that prohibitions against incidental take will not occur if those conservation efforts introduce or attract Lahontan cutthroat trout to the enrolled properties or result in increased numbers or distributions of Lahontan cutthroat trout already present on the enrolled properties. As long as landowners carry out agreed upon conservation measures on their property and maintain their baselines, they may continue or undertake regular ranching activities.
Purpose and Need. A plan and legal agreement are needed to provide the framework to make a limited amount of Pine River Project irrigation water available for other miscellaneous non- irrigation uses in order to address existing and future domestic, municipal, and industrial (M&I) water needs of the increasing population in the area2. More specifically, purposes include (1) providing a method for the District to address the existing and potential future M&I water needs in the area brought about by residential growth; (2) confirming that existing M&I water uses are in compliance with Reclamation law, specifically the Act of February 25, 1920 (41 Stat. 451), referred to as the “1920 Act”; and (3) protecting the existing irrigation purposes of the Pine River Project.
Purpose and Need. Describe the goals of the proposed project and the existing need which it intends to address. Project Status Provide a brief project history, including all actions taken and other state or federal agencies involved. If preliminary plans, survey work, 30% design, or other work has been completed, mention it here.
Purpose and Need. The purpose of this Safe Harbor Agreement (Agreement) is threefold: 1) to establish a program for the conservation of the Chiricahua leopard frog (Rana chiricahuensis), a species listed as Threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act (Act) of 1973, as amended, on private and other non-Federal lands in the Malpai Borderlands area of Arizona and New Mexico; 2) to provide regulatory assurances to landowners in the Malpai area who voluntarily participate in this program that their conservation efforts will not result in significant new land use restrictions that might otherwise apply due to the listing of Chiricahua leopard frog under the Act; and 3) to provide similar assurances to Malpai landowners who do not directly participate in the conservation program established under this Agreement, but may desire regulatory assurances due to their proximity to program participants, or other lands harboring Chiricahua leopard frogs. This Agreement is needed to provide incentives through regulatory assurances for non-Federal Malpai area landowners to undertake voluntary conservation measures for the Chiricahua leopard frog on their lands. As of the effective date of the Agreement, such measures are currently not required by the Act and are therefore entirely voluntary. In return, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has indicated its willingness to utilize a new program under the Act, the Safe Harbor Agreement program, to ensure that such measures will not result in new, unpredictable, or prohibitive regulatory restrictions on the use of Malpai lands beyond what is established in the Agreement. Such assurances will be provided by the Agreement and an associated enhancement of survival permit issued to the Malpai Borderlands Group (Malpai) pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Act. Program participants will be provided assurances through Certificates of Inclusion to the Malpai’s permit. In its final rule to list the Chiricahua leopard frog under the Act, the Service included a rule under section 4(d) of the Act that authorizes take of Chiricahua leopard frogs as a result of livestock use of or maintenance activities at livestock tanks located on private, State, or tribal lands (67 Federal Register 40790). Rules under section 4(d) only apply to Threatened species. In the event that the Chiricahua leopard frog is reclassified to Endangered under the Act, the section 10(a)(1)(A) permit that would be issued in association with this Agreement would provide c...
Purpose and Need. The purpose of the proposed project is to generate up to 75 MWdc of PV solar energy for distribution to utilities and communities seeking to optimize their renewable and sustainable energy sources. The project was conceived in response to the growing need for sustainable energy sources and the State of Washington’s Renewable Electricity Standard, Revised Code of Washington (RCW) Title 19, mandate that by the year 2020, the state’s largest electric utilities meet 15 percent of their retail electric load with renewable electricity (for example, wind and solar energy). The standard first takes effect in 2012 with a requirement of 3 percent through 2015, then 9 percent from 2016 through 2019 and 15 percent thereafter. Oregon and California have adopted similar standards. Depending on the commercial terms available for the power sales, the utilities that may buy the power from the project could change over time. The Applicant proposes to develop the site described below to maximize its solar energy potential, based on its commitment to providing renewable energy and becoming the leading (in terms of energy production and environmentally sensitive development and management of its solar production site) sustainable energy production location in North America. The following factors will be analyzed to determine optimal location within the site defined below: • Significant solar radiation (insolation) • Site accessibility • Avoidance of environmentally sensitive areas • Limited visibility from offsite locations Site Setting The proposed project site is located approximately 4 miles northeast of Cle Elum, Washington, in Township 20N, Range 16E, within Sections 22, 23, and 27 (Figure 1). The site is located on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains on Cle Elum Ridge, which runs generally from east to west at elevations ranging from approximately 2,200 to 2,600 feet (Figure 2). The Teanaway River is approximately 1 mile to the northeast of Cle Elum Ridge. The site is accessed from Highway 970 by way of County roads such as Red Bridge Road (Figure 3), and private roads such as Loping Lane and Xxxxx Road. ATTACHMENT A PROJECT DESCRIPTION The proposed project area consists of 982 acres. Based on site surveys, the project will utilize approximately 580 acres within the proposed project area. The remaining acres are currently undeveloped open space, but may accommodate some future expansion of the project after appropriate surveys are conducted to address any environ...
Purpose and Need. The proposed Study Project provides for a conceptual framework to assess the expansion and design of an existing regional integrated conveyance system that would improve the reservoirs’ ability to store and manage imported and local water supplies making the San Diego Region (Region) more resistant to drought and water delivery service interruptions. The Study is not intended to create a new water supply but is expected to improve operational flexibility of local storage facilities through development of conveyance infrastructure (i.e., pipelines) and provide the opportunity to move and store water locally when water is available to put into storage. Since the inception of this Study, pumping restrictions on imported water supplies from Northern California have exacerbated water supply reliability issues in Southern California. This Study will also evaluate infrastructure needs within the framework of current and future imported water delivery restrictions. The reservoirs proposed for this study are: San Xxxxxxx, El Capitán, Loveland, Murray, and Sweetwater. Federal authority for this proposed Study Project is in Public Law 111-11, dated and authorizes a feasibility study. The Study Project is not intended to create a new water supply but is expected to improve operational flexibility of local storage facilities through development of conveyance infrastructure (i.e., pipelines) and provide the opportunity to move and store water locally when water is available to put into storage. Since the inception of this Study Project, pumping restrictions on imported water supplies from Northern California have exacerbated water supply reliability issues in Southern California. This Study Project will also evaluate infrastructure needs within the framework of current and future imported water delivery restrictions. Study area: The four reservoirs included in this Project are described below and shown on the attached map: • San Vicente Reservoir is owned and operated by the City and is currently capable of storing up to 89,312 acre-feet of water with a hydraulic grade line of 650 feet. Through an agreement between the San Diego County Water Authority (CWA) and the City of San Diego (City), the San Vicente Dam will be raised by approximately 117 feet to provide a total storage capacity of 247,000 acre-feet (242,000 acre-feet usable storage plus 5,000 acre-feet of dead storage) with a hydraulic grade line of 767 feet to supplement emergency and carry over storage in the ...
