Draft Environmental Impact Report - East Bay Municipal Utility District

Estates Reservoir Replacement Draft Environmental Impact ReportBiological Resourcesand lakes. The jurisdictional limits of the CDFG are defined in Section 1602 of theCalifornia Fish and Game Code as the bed, channel, or bank of any river, stream, or lake.The CDFG regulates activities that would result in the deposit or disposal of debris,waste, or other materials into any river, stream, or lake and requires a StreambedAlteration Agreement for such activities. For purposes of determining significance inthis EIR, impacts to the resource areas subject to the jurisdiction of CDFG would beconsidered significant.Oak Woodlands Conservation ActCalifornia Senate Bill 1334, the Oak Woodlands Conservation Act, became law onJanuary 1, 2005 and was added to the CEQA statutes as Section 21083.4. This new law,applicable to counties but not to cities or other public agencies, protects oak woodlandsthat are not protected under the State Forest Practice Act. This statute requires that acounty determine whether or not a project would result in a significant impact on oakwoodlands; if the project would result in a significant impact on oak woodlands, thecounty must implement one or more of the following mitigation measures:Conserve oak woodlands through the use of conservation easements.Plant an appropriate number of trees, including maintenance of plantings andreplacement of failed plantings.Contribute funds to the Oak Woodlands Conservation Fund for the purpose ofpurchasing oak woodlands conservation easements.Implement other mitigation measures developed by Alameda County.Alameda County has developed additional measures for trees in the County rightof-wayknown as the County’s “Tree Ordinance”, as defined in the County Code(Regulation of Trees in County Right-of-Way, Ordinance number: 0-2004-23,Title 12, Chapter 12.11).Local Tree OrdinancesPursuant to California Government Code Section 53091, EBMUD, as a local agency andutility district serving a broad regional area, is not subject to building and land use zoningordinances (such as tree ordinances) for projects involving facilities for the production,generation, storage or transmission of water. However, it is the practice of EBMUD towork with host jurisdictions and neighboring communities during project planning and toconform to local environmental protection policies to the extent possible. The treeordinance of the City of Oakland is addressed in section 3.4-4, below.Plant Communities and Wildlife Habitats at Estates Reservoir SiteThe Project site has no natural plant communities as defined by A Manual of CaliforniaVegetation (Sawyer and Keeler-Wolf, 1995). Nearly all shrubs and trees on the site wereplanted to create a visual barrier to mitigate the visual impact of the covered reservoir onthe surrounding community. The site is actively landscaped and surrounded bysb09_001.doc 3-4.6 7/22/2009