State of California – Natural Resources Agency GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE CHARLTON H. BONHAM, Director Bay Delta Region
2825 Cordelia Road, Suite 100
Fairfield, CA 94534
(707) 428-2002
www.wildlife.ca.gov
Conserving California’s Wildlife Since 1870
June 1, 2023
Daniel Chavarria
City of Richmond
450 Civic Center Plaza
Richmond, CA 94804
[email protected]
Dear Mr. Chavarria:
Amendment of Streambed Alteration, Notification No. 1600-2019-0169-R3, Via Verdi Slope Stabilization Project
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has received your request to amend Streambed Alteration Agreement 1600-2019-0169-R3 (Agreement) and the required fee in the amount of $1752.50 for a major amendment. Your request to amend the Agreement includes:
• Modifications to complete the installation of containerized site revegetation efforts by no later than August 31, 2023.
• The inclusion of the synthetic geotextile fabrics used at the project site and the rock lined channel located above the culvert.
• Modifications to Measure 3.1.2 to submit a Standard Agreement for the Rheem Creek mitigation project from the original date of August 1, 2021, to the new date of June 15, 2023.
• Modifications to Measure 3.1.3 to ensure that a deposit of $780,000.00 will be made by the City of Richmond into an escrow account for Contra Costa County Flood Control District for the Wildcat Creek Fish Ladder Retrofit Project, contingent upon receiving full funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
CDFW hereby agrees to amend the agreement with addition of the following conditions (additions in bold italics and deletions in strikethrough):
1. Per the original Agreement Measure 2.55: CDFW hereby authorizes the use of geo- textile fabrics according to the project design (e.g., in the rock lined drainage above the culvert). Geo-textile fabrics shall not be used as part of project activities in any other fashion. If there is an unforeseen need for the use of geo-textile fabrics, Permittee shall explore biodegradable options first, and present a basis of design report to CDFW if not selected.
2. Per the original Agreement Measure 3.1.2 : For the Project related impacts to the riparian vegetation of San Pablo Creek caused by 1.62 acres of permanent impacts, in addition to 3.4 acres of temporary impacts, Permittee shall either: (1) replace and enhance 1,850 linear feet accompanying 2.27 acres of riparian vegetation along Rheem Creek adjacent to Contra Costa College; or (2) if the enhancement of Rheem Creek is deemed infeasible for reasons beyond financial support, Permittee may propose an DocuSign Envelope ID: D855AA0C-D643-40D0-B41F-15A1A9EFDE75
Daniel Chavarria
June 1, 2023
alternative compensatory riparian vegetation mitigation project and plan to CDFW for approval in coordination with other permitting agencies.
The success of the compensatory riparian vegetation mitigation shall be held solely to the responsibility of Permittee. Permittee shall submit an application for a Standard Agreement (found at: https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Environmental- Review/LSA/Agreement-Types#55230748-standard-agreement) for the Rheem Creek project to CDFW no later than June 15, 2023. compensatory riparian vegetation mitigation and monitoring plan (Plan) to CDFW for review and approval no later than August 1st, 2021, by email (see Contact Information section). The Plan shall include a proposed time schedule for implementation, with start of work preferably occurring during January 2022 (e.g. invasive tree removal in Rheem Creek), and no later than January 2023. All regulatory permit applications for the Plan shall be submitted as soon as possible, yet shall not hinder the submittal of the Standard Agreement no later than October 1st, 2021.The Plan shall include, at the minimum, the following criteria:
• A description and amounts of plant species, planting ratios and spacing, name(s) of supplying nurseries, description of baseline conditions, map with indicated vantage points for future photo tracking, and photos depicting baseline conditions. Nursery stock plants shall be native species adapted to the lighting, soil, and hydrological conditions of the restoration site. Hydroseed mixes shall be comprised only of native seed. Trees and shrubs shall be identifiable through unique numbering on the map. • A monitoring and maintenance plan that outlines adaptive management strategies to achieve the following success criteria goals:
o All plantings and trees shall have a minimum of 80-percent survival at the end of 10 years.
o Vegetation cover shall consist of no new invasive plant species rated as “moderate” or “high” by the Cal-IPC at the end of 10 years. o Vegetation cover of extant invasive plant species shall not exceed 20-percent at the end of 10 years.
o If the survival and/or cover requirements are not meeting the success criteria goals provided in the Plan, Permittee is responsible for replacement planting, additional watering, weeding, invasive species eradication, or any other practice necessary to achieve these requirements over subsequent years until the success criteria is met. Replacement plants shall be subject to the same monitoring, survival, and growth requirements as the initial plantings. o Monitoring shall be conducted for a period of 10 years following the criteria found in Measure 4.7 of this Agreement to determine whether the success criteria provided in the Plan have been met. If the survival and/or cover requirements are not projected to meet these goals based on annual monitoring, Permittee is responsible for taking corrective actions as previously mentioned, in conjunction with performing additional years of monitoring to ensure the success criteria of the compensatory offsite mitigation is achieved.
o An implementation schedule that outlines timing of plantings, monitoring schedules, and estimated success criteria benchmarks.
3. Per the original Agreement Measure 3.2 Remediation and Erosion Control.: Areas that have become either barren of vegetation, slated for erosion control, or where ground disturbance has occurred, shall be revegetated with local native plant species consistent DocuSign Envelope ID: D855AA0C-D643-40D0-B41F-15A1A9EFDE75
Daniel Chavarria
June 1, 2023
with the vegetative composition immediately up and downstream of the project site as described in the Project Description. If project areas are slated for seeding or hydroseeding (e.g., topsoil capped RSP, etc.), a native seed mix of a CDFW-approved native plant species list shall be applied. The native seed mix shall reflect local species and include an equal parts mixture of at least: one perennial grass, one annual grass, one annual forb, and one perennial forb. Revegetation efforts including hydroseeding and container planting shall occur prior to the onset of winter rains within the year initial impacts take place no later than August 31, 2023. To ensure revegetation efforts succeed, onsite plantings and seeded areas shall meet the following success criteria:
• Baseline conditions, including absolute percentages of ground cover and shrub cover, shall be quantified by the Qualified Biologist prior to project activities. The baseline narrative and representative photographs shall be submitted with the biological surveys for each project site (see Measure 4.3, below). • Vegetation cover shall consist of no new invasive plant species rated as “high” by the Cal-IPC at the end of 10 years. Reinvasion of extant invasive species found onsite during baseline condition surveys shall not exceed 20-percent of the total revegetated area at the end of 10 years.
• If nursery stock purchased for revegetation was grown within a county that is quarantining or regulating nursery stock for interstate sales due to the presence of Phytophthora ramorum, the source nursery shall be in compliance with annual inspections under 7 CFR 301.92 et seq. Permittee shall view the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) website to view the most recent list of approved nurseries from quarantined and regulated counties, found at https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/pe/InteriorExclusion/SuddenOakDeath/. Permittee shall view, and if possible obtain, a copy of the annual inspection certificate under 7 CFR 301.92-f et seq. regarding P. ramorum
(http://www.suddenoakdeath.org/diagnosis-and-management/hosts-and- symptoms/). If a selected nursery cannot provide this annual certificate of inspection, the nursery shall not be used as a source for plant material, soils or other materials that could transmit the disease organism.
Permittee and all contractors shall follow sanitation protocol specified in the Sanitation Guidelines for Professional Crews issued by the California Oak Mortality Task Force (https://www.suddenoakdeath.org/diagnosis-and- management/sanitation-reducing-spread/) prior to entering, during construction, and prior to leaving the site. If the project site is within five miles of a confirmed sudden oak death infestation (refer to http://www.oakmapper.org/) or contact the appropriate County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office. A discussion of sudden oak death shall be included in the pre-construction training.
CDFW has partially declined your request to modify the original Agreement Measure 3.1.2.
CDFW expects the application for a Standard Agreement be submitted for the Rheem Creek project to be submitted without respect to other agencies input on the project.
CDFW has partially declined your request to modify the original Agreement Measure 3.2.
Deeming revegetation efforts as “complete” shall be assessed and associated by CDFW at the end of the annual reporting periods of the Agreement.
DocuSign Envelope ID: D855AA0C-D643-40D0-B41F-15A1A9EFDE75
Daniel Chavarria
June 1, 2023
CDFW has declined your request to modify the original Agreement Measure 3.1.3. Permittee shall provide funding for the Wildcat Creek Fish Ladder Retrofit Project without a contingency reliant on funding from any other source for any part or total amount of the previously agreed-to sum of $780,000.00. Please refer to the Notice of Non-Compliance of the Agreement dated April 20, 2022.
All other conditions in the Agreement remain in effect unless otherwise stated herein.
Please sign and return one copy of this letter to acknowledge the amendment. Copies of the Agreement and this amendment must be readily available at project worksites and must be presented when requested by a CDFW representative or agency with inspection authority.
If you have any questions regarding this letter, please contact CDFW Environmental Scientist at (707) 266-2878 or by email at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Melissa Farinha
Environmental Program Manager
ec: California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Clint Garrett, Captain
CDFW Law Enforcement Division
[email protected]
Ryan McCoy, Lieutenant (Supervisory)
CDFW Law Enforcement Division
[email protected]
Jacob Gonsalves, Warden
CDFW Law Enforcement Division
[email protected]
Michelle Battaglia, Senior Environmental Scientist (Supervisory) Bay Delta Region
[email protected]
Andrew Chambers, Environmental Scientist
Bay Delta Region
[email protected]
Katie Hart
San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board
[email protected]
DocuSign Envelope ID: D855AA0C-D643-40D0-B41F-15A1A9EFDE75
Daniel Chavarria
June 1, 2023
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I hereby agree to the above-referenced amendment.
Print Name: _______________________________ Date: ____________________
Signature: ________________________________
DocuSign Envelope ID: D855AA0C-D643-40D0-B41F-15A1A9EFDE75 Daniel Chavarria 6/1/2023