US Army Corps of Engineers® Los Angeles District Prado Basin Ecosystem Restoration and Water Conservation Study APPENDIX C C1: Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act Report C2: Response to CAR Recommendations This page intentionally left blank. U.S. States Department of the Interior FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE Ecological Services Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office ~ 2177 Salk Avenue, Suite 250 . ·''{/ Carlsbad, California 92008 In Reply Refer to: FWS-OR-19B0097-20CPA0162-20E03380 August 19, 2020 Sent Electronically Colonel Julie A. Balten U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District 915 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 930 Los Angeles, California 90017-3409 Subject: Final Coordination Act Report for the Proposed Prado Basin Ecosystem Restoration and Water Conservation Project, Riverside County, California Dear Colonel Balten: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has prepared this Final Coordination Act Report (Final CAR) for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) on the proposed Prado Basin Ecosystem Restoration and Water Conservation Project (Project) to describe ecological resources, project-area opportunities and constraints, and provide recommendations related to the conservation and enhancement of fish and wildlife resources. The proposed action would consist of water conservation and ecological enhancement activities. The Project area involves the Santa Ana River and several tributaries upstream and downstream of the Prado Basin reservoir; it encompasses portions of Riverside County, San Bernardino County, and Orange County, California. The Corps worked with the Orange County Water District (OCWD) to complete a Draft Feasibility Report and Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (FR/EIS/EIR) in February 2019 for the proposed Project (Corps 2019a). The Corps is the lead Federal Agency and the OCWD is the lead agency under the California Environmental Quality Act for the FR/EIS/EIR. INTRODUCTION The Corps is the Federal lead agency for the proposed Project, pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act. The proposed Project consists of two main components, water conservation and ecosystem enhancement. The “Water Conservation Plan” component would increase the allowable temporary storage for water conservation to a greater volume of water impoundment behind Prado Dam, and it would reduce the water flow releases from Prado Dam during flood seasons (as compared to the future without the proposed project after a temporary 5- year deviation expires in 2023).1 Water conservation is currently occurring up to elevation 505 1 While the instantaneous maximum water volume at elevation 505 feet held within Prado Basin would not effectively change with the proposed project, by making the allowable water surface elevation 505 feet on a permanent year-round basis, the volume of water held behind the dam would increase on an average daily basis or average yearly basis with all else being equal. The proposed project would make permanent a higher temporary pool Colonel Julie A. Balten (FWS-OR-19B0097-20CPA0162-20E03380) 2 feet during the non-flood season, and is occurring up to 505 feet on a temporary basis as part of a five-year deviation during the flood season. This water conservation change would assist OCWD in reducing overdraft of a primary groundwater aquifer downstream in Orange County, reduce reliance by OCWD on imported water, and increase OCWD’s local water supply. Implementation of the Project water conservation measure would result in a dam operation regulation modification by the Corps to accommodate a higher temporary pool impoundment in the basin behind Prado Dam during the fall and winter flood seasons. This extra impounded water would then be released from Prado Dam at a generally reduced rate (compared to current operations) that is optimal for OCWD’s groundwater recharge facilities that percolate water into aquifers associated with downstream reaches of the Santa Ana River. The “Ecosystem Restoration Plan” component of the Project would potentially enhance some functions of aquatic and riparian sites in the Project area. A combination of biological management measures would be implemented as part of the proposed Project, consisting of invasive plant management, native plantings, cowbird trapping, channel restoration, and sediment management. The Ecosystem Restoration Plan measures are partially designed to benefit the following species: Santa Ana sucker (Catostomus santaanae), least Bell’s vireo (Vireo bellii pusillus), southwestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus), yellow-billed cuckoo [western DPS (Coccyzus americanus)], and California gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica californica). The Project direct footprint would be located within and near Prado Basin on the Santa Ana River where the boundaries of Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties come together. Prado Dam is an earth-fill dam across the Santa Ana River near Corona in Riverside County, with the resulting impounded water creating Prado Basin reservoir. Prado Dam is located at a natural geomorphic constriction about 30.5 miles upstream from the Pacific Ocean in Lower Santa Ana River Canyon. Prado Dam’s primary purpose is flood risk management, and it is the downstream element of the Corps’ Santa Ana River flood risk management system. Prado Dam and Prado Basin also provide water storage for OCWD’s groundwater recharge operations downstream. This Final CAR is provided in accordance with the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (FWCA) of 1958, as amended (48 Stat. 401; 16 U.S.C. 661 et seq.), the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973, as amended (87 Stat. 884; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and the scope of work agreed upon by the Corps and the Service. This CAR does constitute the report of the Secretary of the Interior as required by section 2(b) of the FWCA. It does not constitute a Biological Opinion (BO) under section 7 of the ESA. The purpose of this CAR is to deliver information and recommendations for use by the Corps in developing goals, objectives, alternatives, and conservation measures for the Project. The FWCA requires Federal agencies proposing water resource development projects, or involved in issuance of related permits or licenses, to consult with the Service and provide equal consideration to the conservation, rehabilitation, and enhancement of fish and impoundment that was previously authorized for only five years (expiring 2023), with the result being the potential for a higher average inundation level overall. Colonel Julie A. Balten (FWS-OR-19B0097-20CPA0162-20E03380) 3 wildlife resources with other project purposes. This document constitutes the Service’s Final CAR for the Corps’ proposed Prado Basin Ecosystem Restoration and Water Conservation Project. The findings of this report are based on information provided in our 2020 BO FWS- WRIV-19B0097-20F0606, available data, the FR/EIS/EIR for the proposed Project, field investigations, past relevant BOs, and results of biological surveys. Our report addresses the proposed Project-related potential beneficial and adverse effects on fish and wildlife resources and provides recommendations for conservation of those resources. In this Final CAR we emphasize the ecological river processes operating on floodplains and in river channels that create characteristic stream and vegetation structures that form and maintain important fish and wildlife habitats on the Santa Ana River, particularly those that support sensitive species and highly productive natural communities. The Santa Ana River is a fluvial system, and fluvial systems naturally change through time. Like almost all California river systems, the Santa Ana River is presently in considerable state of additional flux as a result of substantial anthropogenic changes to water and sediment regimes and channel hydraulics. Many aquatic and riparian ecosystems in the United States have been damaged or destroyed by anthropogenic activities, including drainage for agriculture, dewatering and altered flow regimes by dams, groundwater pumping and stream water diversions, floodplain filling/development, gravel mining, flood damage reduction measures, and other activities (Tiner 1984; Patten 1998; Graf 1999; Brinson and Malvarez 2002). Of substantial growing concern is the ongoing and increasing human demand for water for agricultural and domestic purposes, particularly in arid and semiarid regions of the West. This demand is intensifying the pressure on rivers and their adjacent riparian areas, wetlands, and groundwater systems and is threatening the functioning and long-term viability of these areas (Pringle 2000; Baron et al. 2002). The economic and ecological importance of streams and rivers has led to significant restoration and rehabilitation efforts, in an attempt to return these systems towards a more natural and “healthy” condition (Karr and Chu 1999). The nature of these restoration activities is diverse and ranges from simple habitat/natural community improvement processes, such as the exotic plant control and planting of native riparian vegetation, to the implementation of environmental flows of water, hydrological experimentation, and ecological channel engineering (Palmer et al. 1997; Rutherfurd et al. 1998; Smokorowski et al. 1998). FISH AND WILDLIFE COORDINATION ACT The FWCA of 1934 included requirements that were the first formal expressions in U.S. law of a duty to minimize the negative environmental impacts of major water resource development projects and to compensate