Bakersfield Field Office Draft RMP/Draft EIS APPENDIX J APPENDIX J Bakersfield Field Office Draft RMP/Draft EIS APPENDIX J – WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS SUITABILITY REPORT TABLE OF CONTENTS APPENDIX J – WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS SUITABILITY REPORT ............................................. J-1 APPENDIX J WILD AND SCENIC RIVER SUITABILITY REPORT FOR BAKERSFIELD FIELD OFFICE, CALIFORNIA July 2010 Prepared for: US Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management Bakersfield Field Office 3801 Pegasus Drive Bakersfield, CA 93308 Prepared by: Tetra Tech, Inc. 555 Market Street, 15th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 TABLE OF CONTENTS Section Page EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................. ES-1 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 1-1 1.1 Project Area ..................................................................................................... 1-1 1.2 Why Conduct a Suitability Study and Why Now? ............................................ 1-3 1.3 What Is a Wild and Scenic River? ................................................................... 1-3 1.4 Steps in the Wild and Scenic Study Process ................................................... 1-3 1.4.1 Eligibility Phase.................................................................................... 1-4 1.4.2 Suitability Phase .................................................................................. 1-5 2. METHOD ............................................................................................................................ 2-1 2.1 Suitability Criteria Used to Evaluate River and Stream Segments .................. 2-1 2.2 Data Sources and Methods ............................................................................. 2-3 2.2.1 BLM Resource Interdisciplinary Team ................................................. 2-3 2.2.2 Informational Sources .......................................................................... 2-3 2.2.3 Public Input .......................................................................................... 2-4 2.3 Suitability Determinations ................................................................................ 2-4 2.4 Interim Management of Suitable Segments .................................................... 2-4 3. SUITABILITY CRITERIA-BASED DATA AND DETERMINATIONS .............................................. 3-1 3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 3-1 3.2 Suitability Data and Determinations ................................................................ 3-2 3.2.1 Chimney Creek .................................................................................... 3-4 3.2.2 East Fork of the Kaweah River ............................................................ 3-9 3.2.3 Middle Fork of the Kaweah River ....................................................... 3-14 3.2.4 North Fork of the Kaweah River ........................................................ 3-18 3.2.5 Lower Kern River ............................................................................... 3-24 3.2.6 South Fork of the Kern River ............................................................. 3-29 3.2.7 Salinas River...................................................................................... 3-32 3.2.8 San Joaquin River ............................................................................. 3-36 3.3 Summary of Suitability Determinations.......................................................... 3-42 4. PROTECTIVE MANAGEMENT ............................................................................................... 4-1 5. LIST OF PREPARERS .......................................................................................................... 5-1 6. REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................... 6-1 APPENDIX A Wild and Scenic Rivers Eligibility Studies July 2010 Wild and Scenic River Suitability Report i BLM Bakersfield Field Office, California Table of Contents LIST OF FIGURES Section Page 1-1 BLM Project Area ....................................................................................................................... 1-2 1-2 Bakersfield Field Office Eligible Wild and Scenic Rivers ........................................................... 1-6 3-1 Chimney Creek .......................................................................................................................... 3-5 3-2 East Fork of the Kaweah River ................................................................................................ 3-10 3-3 Middle Fork of the Kaweah River ............................................................................................. 3-15 3-4 North Fork of the Kaweah River ............................................................................................... 3-19 3-5 Lower Kern River ..................................................................................................................... 3-25 3-6 South Fork of the Kern River ................................................................................................... 3-30 3-7 Salinas River ............................................................................................................................ 3-33 3-8 San Joaquin River .................................................................................................................... 3-37 LIST OF TABLES Table Page ES-1 Summary of Preliminary Suitability Determinations ...................................................................... 3 1-1 BLM Eligible Segments Studied for Suitability ........................................................................... 1-8 3-1 Summary of Preliminary Suitability Determinations ................................................................. 3-42 1 4-1 Interim Protection for SuiWild and Scenic Rivers ..................................................................... 4-1 5-1 Wild and Scenic River Suitability Report Preparers ................................................................... 5-1 July 2010 Wild and Scenic River Suitability Report ii BLM Bakersfield Field Office, California Table of Contents LIST OF ACRONYMS Acronym or Abbreviation Full Phrase ACEC Area of Critical Environmental Concern BKFO Bakersfield Field Office BLM United States Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management EIS environmental impact statement NPS US Department of the Interior, National Park Service NRHP National Register of Historic Places NWSRS National Wild and Scenic Rivers System ORV outstandingly remarkable value Reclamation US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation RMP resource management plan SRMA Special Recreation Management Area VRM visual resource management WSA Wilderness Study Area WSR Wild and Scenic River WSR Act Wild and Scenic Rivers Act July 2010 Wild and Scenic River Suitability Report iii BLM Bakersfield Field Office, California EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction The US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Bakersfield Field Office (BKFO) has completed the eligibility phase of a wild and scenic rivers (WSR) evaluation as part of a past resource management plan (RMP) revision process. In 1997, the BLM identified seven segments as eligible for inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System (NWSRS) as part of the Caliente RMP (BLM 1997a, 1997b). As part of this RMP revision, the BLM studied two additional rivers for eligibility, the Fresno and the San Joaquin, and found two segments along the San Joaquin River to be eligible for inclusion in the NWSRS. The cumulative result of these studies is that nine segments within the BKFO have been identified as eligible. However, Segment 2 of the San Joaquin River is withdrawn to the US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) for the Central Valley Project, in accordance with a 1969 land management contract between Reclamation and the BLM. The land management contract is supplemented by an Interagency Agreement between the two parties that gives the BLM the lead in making land management decisions pertaining to the withdrawn lands. The BLM is to coordinate with Reclamation on land allocation decisions. As such, any suitability determination for that stretch of river should be made in conjunction with Reclamation and a suitability determination is not made for Segment 2 in this report. The next step in the WSR process is evaluating eligible segments for suitability. The purpose of the suitability phase of the study process is to determine whether eligible rivers would be appropriate additions to the national system by considering tradeoffs between corridor development and river protection. This report describes the method used, data considered, and determinations made during the eligibility and suitability phases. All eligible segments were assessed for suitability, except for Segment 2 of the San Joaquin River. July 2010 Wild and Scenic River Suitability Report ES-1 BLM Bakersfield Field Office, California Executive Summary Project Area The project area for this suitability study includes all BLM-managed river segments in the BKFO that have been determined to meet the eligibility criteria for WSRs. The BKFO manages approximately 403,910 acres of public lands