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New Melones Lake, Stanislaus, California

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New Melones Lake, Stanislaus, California ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEM ENT NEW M ELONES LAKE STA N ISLA U S, RIVER,CALIFORNIA PREPARED BY U S. ARMY ENGINEER DISTRICT, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA M AY 1 9 7 2 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT NEW MELONES LAKE STANISLAUS RIVER, CALIFORNIA Prepared by U. S. ARM! ENGINEER DISTRICT, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA May 1972 SUMMARY New Melones Lake, Stanislaus River Basin, California ( ) Draft (X) Final Environmental Statement Responsible Office: U.S. Army Engineer District, Sacramento, California 1. Name of Action; (X) Administrative ( ) Legislative 2. Description of Action: New Melon2s Lake project consists of a 625-foot high dam across the Stanislaus River to impound up to 2,400,000 acre-feet of water. The Corps of Engineers will maintain the Stanislaus River below the dam to a capacity of 8,000 cubic feet per second and provide for the protection of fish and wildlife resources. Access roads to the dam area, resident engineer facilities, downstream public overlook and safety scaling of the damsite have been completed. Currently, construction of the diversion and outlet tunnel is underway and is scheduled for com­ pletion in August 1973. The construction contract for the dam and spill­ way is scheduled to be awarded in the fall of 1972. To construct the dam, about 16,000,000 cubic yards of material will be excavated from the spillway and adjacent borrow areas. Additional work will include road and utility relocations, powerhouse, switchyard, surge tank, reservoir clearing and initial recreation facility construction. When completed the project will be integrated with the Central Valley Project and will be operated by the Bureau of Reclamation. The Central Valley Project is cribed in appendix C. 3. a. Environmental Impacts: Flood protection will be provided for existing and potential agricultural lands and suburban areas of several communities. Other project benefits are'general recreation, conservation yield, hydroelectric power generation, water quality control flows and fish and wildlife. Salmon and other anadromous species will be enhanced in the downstream areas. About 10,700 acres of land, much of which is used by wildlife, will be inundated along with 16 miles of river. Existing Melones Dam and Reservoir will be inundated. b. Adverse Environmental Effects: The Stanislaus River reach that „ is presently used by whitewater boating enthusiasts will be inundated. There will be a net loss in wildlife population even though establishment of a wildlife management area and wildlife improvement features will partially mitigate the loss. A number of caves and archeological sites will be inundated. Project benefits will induce development in the region resulting in further loss of natural resources. Project construc­ tion and periodic drawdown of the reservoir will cause some scarring of the landscape. 4. Alternatives; Smaller reservoir; larger reservoir; reservoir at different sites; channel and levee improvement; flood plain management; and no action. 5. Comments Received: Environmental Protection Agency Sierra Club - Yokut Wilderness Department of Interior Group Department of Commerce Sierra Club - National Director Forest Service Audubon Society Soil Conservation Service National Speleological Society State of California Environmental Defense Fund City of Modesto The Wildlife Society Calaveras County American River Touring Association South San Joaquin and Oakdale Wilderness World Irrigation Districts 6. Draft statement to CEQ 15 March 1972. Environmental Statement New Melones Project Stanislaus River, California TABLE OF CONTENTS Paragraph Subject Page SECTION I - PROJECT DESCRIPTION 1 Authorization and current status of project 1 2 Location 1 3 Dam and reservoir data 1 4 Reservoir operation 2 5 Land requirements 4 6 Relocations 5 7 Recreation 5 8 Lake area clearing 6 9 Lower Stanislaus River 6 10 Basis of determining cost and benefits 8 11 Summary of cost and benefits 10 SECTION II - ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING WITHOUT THE PROJECT 12 General description of Stanislaus River Basin 12 13 Climate 12 14 Streamflow 13 15 Flood potential 15 16 Water quality^ 15 17 Anadromous fish 18 18 Resident fisheries 20 19 Vegetation 20 20 Wildlife 22 21 History and archeology 24 22 Geological features and groundwater 26 23 Recreation resources 27 24 Land resources and uses 28 25 Socio-economic conditions 29 Paragraph Subject Page SECTION III - ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THE PROPOSED ACTIONS 26 Effect on hydrology 31 27 Effect on recreation 36 28 Effect on historical and archeological features AO 29 Effect on geology and ground water A1 30 Effect on water quality ^"'42 31 Effect on fisheries 53 32 Effect on land use 59 33 Effect on wildlife 63 34 Effect of project construction and activities 66 35 Visual effect of project 68 SECTION IV - ADVERSE ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS WHICH CANNOT BE AVOIDED 36 Whitewater boating loss 71 37 Historic, archeological, and geological loss 71 38 Scenic value losses 71 39 Water quality reduction 71 40 Wildlife and wildlife habitat losses 71 SECTION V - ALTERNATIVES 41 Alternative reservoir sites 73 42 Alternative reservoir sizes at the New Melones site 74 43 Alternatives to constructing a reservoir 76 44 Alternatives to the planned operation 77 SECTION VI - RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOCAL SHORT-TERM USES OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE MAINTENANCE AND ENHANCEMENT OF LONG-TERM PRODUCTIVITY 45 Long-term productivity 79 46 Short-term effects 80 TABLE OF CONTENTS (Cont'd) Paragraph Subject Page SECTION VII - IRREVERSIBLE AND IRRETRIEVABLE COMMITMENTS OF RESOURCES SHOULD THE PROJECT BE CONTINUED 47 Irreversible and irretrievable commitments 81 SECTION VIII - COORDINATION WITH OTHERS 48 Public participation 82 49 Government agencies 83 50 Citizen groups and others 84 51 Unreconciled conflicts 84 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Reservoir Data 2 Table 2 Land Requirements for New Melones Lake 4 Table 3 Average Annual Benefits 11 Table 4 Air Temperature at Sonora, California 12 Table 5 Average River Flows 14 Table 6 Surface and Ground Water Quality in the Stan­ islaus River Basin 16 Table 7 Annual Estimates of King Salmon Migrating up the Stanislaus River 18 Table 8 Preliminary Estimates of Stanislaus River Flows with New Melones in Operation and All New Conservation Yield Diverted Above Knights Ferry 32 Table 9 reliminary Estimates of Stanislaus River Flows with New Melones in Operation and with no Diversion of New Conservation Yield from the Stanislaus River 33 Table 10 Existing Recreational Use of Stanislaus River Between Melones Reservoir and Camp Nine 36 Table 11 Estimate of Recreation Use Pattern at New Melones Lake 38 Table 12 Temperature and Dissolved Oxygen Relationships for Stanislaus River Below Goodwin Dam 44 TABLE OF CONTENTS (Cont'd) Subject Page LIST OF TABLES (Cont’d) i Table 13 Estimated Annual Draft on Storage for Water Quality Control 45 Table 14 Minimum Flows in Stanislaus River for Fish 54 Table 15 Predicted Temperatures for Stanislaus River Downstream from Goodwin Dam 56 Table 16 Peoria Mountain Wildlife Management Area - Cover Type 65 LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix A Comments and Responses Appendix B References Cited Appendix C Description of Central Valley Project, California LIST OF ATTACHMENTS Attachment A - Photographs Photo 1 Existing Melones Reservoir Photo 2 Access road to Tuttletown area Photo 3 Tuttletown area Photo 4 Mark Twain area Photo 5 Stanislaus River, downstream, near Riverbank Photo 6 Natural Bridge, Coyote Creek arm hoto 7 Stanislaus River, whitewater area Photo 8 Stanislaus River above Camp Nine Attachment B - Charts Chart 1 General map of basin Chart 2 General recreation plan Chart 3 nvironmental inventory Chart 4 Temperature predictions TABLE OF CONTENTS (Cont'd) Subject LIST OF ATTACHMENTS (Cont’d) Attachment C - Correspondence Received Environmental Protection Agency U. S. Department of Interior U. S. Forest Service Soil Conservation Service Department of Commerce City of Modesto Calaveras County South San Joaquin and Oakdale Irrigation Districts Environmental Defense Fund Sierra Club - Yokut Wilderness Group Sierra Club - National Office Audubon Society National Speleological Society Wildlife Society American River Touring Association Wilderness World State of California Environmental Defense Fund, et. al. (complaint) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT NEW MELONES LAKE STANISLAUS RIVER, CALIFORNIA SECTION I - PROJECT DESCRIPTION 1. Authorization tnd current status of project. - The New Melones Lake project on Stanislaus River, California, was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 22 December 1944, substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in Flood Control Committee Document No. 2, 78th Congress, Second Session. That authorization was subsequently modified by the 1962 Flood Control Act (Public Law 87-874). Feasibility and project fomulation information are described in detail in the survey report (1) and an overall description of advanced planning and design information is presented in the general design memorandum (2), both prepared by the Sacramento District. Construction of the project was initiated in July 1966 with arard of a contract for construction ofaccess roads, initial resident engineer facilities, and the downstream public overlook area. This work vas completed in January 1968. By subsequent contracts, safety scaling of the damsite has been completed, the resident engineer's office has been expanded and public use facili­ ties have been provided at the downstream overlook. A contract for construction of the diversion and outlet works tunnel was swarded in June 1970. This
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