Prospect Island Tidal Habitat Restoration Project

PROJECT DESCRIPTION The fundamental purpose and overarching goal of the Prospect Island Tidal Habitat Restoration Project is to restore tidal action to the interior of Prospect Island. The proposal is intended to partially fulfill the California Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) 8,000-acre tidal habitat restoration obligations contained within Reasonable and Prudent Alternative (RPA) 4 of the 2008 United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Biological Opinion on the Coordinated Operations of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project (2008 USFWS BiOp) and Condition 7 of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) 2009 Incidental Take Permit for Longfin Smelt (ITP No. 2008-2009-001-03). The 2008 USFWS BiOp RPA 4 restoration obligations were carried forward as baseline conditions in the USFWS Biological Opinion for the Reinitiation of Consultation on the Coordinated Operations of the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project, Service File Number: 08FbTD00-2019-F-0164 (2019 USFWS BiOp) issued on October 21, 2019. In 2021, the United States Bureau of Reclamation requested a reinitiation of consultation on the Biological Opinion. On November 8, 2024, the USFWS issued the 2024 Biological Opinion Reinitiation of Consultation on the Coordinated Long-Term Operation of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project (Reference: 2022-0059509). The 2024 BiOp states that “Reclamation and DWR propose to finish restoring and protecting the remainder of the 8,000 acres and an additional 396.3 acres of intertidal and associated subtidal habitat restoration in the Delta and Suisun Marsh by 2026.” In addition, Section 9.1.1 of the ITP for Long-Term Operation of the State Water Project in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (2081-2019-066-00) (2020 LTO ITP), issued by CDFW on March 31, 2020, carried forward the 8,000-acre tidal habitat restoration requirement and added 396.3 acres for Delta Smelt, aligning itself with the 8,396.3 acres required in the 2024 BiOp. The 2020 LTO ITP also added an additional 396.3 acres for Longfin Smelt for a new total of 1,196.3 for the species. A new ITP for the Long-Term Operation of the State Water Project in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (2081-2023-054-00), hereinafter 2024 LTO ITP, was issued to DWR on November 1, 2024, and replaced the 2020 LTO ITP. The restoration acreage requirements for both Delta Smelt and Longfin Smelt were carried forward from the 2020 LTO ITP and remained unchanged. In 2019, a Final Environmental Impact Report for the Prospect Island Tidal Habitat Restoration Project was prepared by DWR in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act and was certified by DWR in February 2019 (https://ceqanet.opr.ca.gov/2013052056/3). The 2019 FEIR evaluated the impacts and mitigation measures associated with the Prospect Island Tidal Habitat Restoration Project. This third Addendum evaluates a proposed refinement to the site-clearing activities described in the 2019 FEIR. Under the proposed refinement, 220 acres of existing trees and woody vegetation within the shallow subtidal elevation band (0.0 to 2.1 feet NAVD 88) would be retained where located outside the construction footprint and associated buffer areas. This represents a change from the Project described in the 2019 FEIR, which included vegetation-clearing treatments across all subtidal elevations. Under the FEIR, existing trees and woody vegetation within shallow subtidal habitats would be removed, while vegetation within moderate and deep subtidal habitats below 0.0 feet NAVD 88 would be cleared and disked in place. Under the proposed refinement, only trees and woody vegetation located outside the construction footprint and associated buffer areas within the shallow subtidal elevation band would be retained; all other vegetation-clearing activities would remain as described in the 2019 FEIR.