Habitat Conservation Plan
The Alameda Watershed Habitat Conservation Plan (AWHCP) would enable the SFPUC to implement its operation and maintenance activities as set forth in the Alameda Watershed Management Plan (adopted in 2000 to maintain and improve source water quality and supply while preserving and enhancing the watershed’s ecological resources).
The SFPUC-owned Alameda Watershed consists of 36,000 acres of rolling grasslands, native woodlands, scrub and freshwater marshes within the Southern Alameda Creek Watershed.
Habitat Conservation Plans are land-use and biological planning efforts that address the conflicts between human activities and endangered species protection. They provide comprehensive, long-term conservation measures for species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act, or species that could be listed in the future. The California Department of Fish and Game will be reviewing the Alameda Watershed Habitat Conservation Plan for consistency with the California Endangered Species Act.
Environmental Review Is Under Way
A combined community informational and scoping meeting on January 13 at the Dublin Civic Center marked the beginning of the approximately two-year environmental review process for the upcoming Alameda Watershed Habitat Conservation Plan.
Representatives of the San Francisco Planning Department, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Marine Fisheries Service discussed the environmental review process and received comments to assist in determining the scope and focus of the forthcoming joint Environmental Impact Statement and Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR).
SFPUC staff provided an informational exhibit and presented an overview of the proposed plan and recent updates. The presentation and materials are attached below.
The EIS/EIR will identify potential environmental effects of implementing the proposed Alameda Watershed HCP and ways to avoid or reduce those effects, either by mitigation or by implementation of an alternative to the plan. The document will fulfill national and state requirements for environmental review under both the National Environmental Policy Act and the California Environmental Quality Act. The draft is expected to be ready for public review early next year.
The SFPUC-owned Alameda Watershed consists of 36,000 acres of rolling grasslands, native woodlands, scrub and freshwater marshes within the Southern Alameda Creek Watershed.
Habitat Conservation Plans are land-use and biological planning efforts that address the conflicts between human activities and endangered species protection. They provide comprehensive, long-term conservation measures for species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act, or species that could be listed in the future. The California Department of Fish and Game will be reviewing the Alameda Watershed Habitat Conservation Plan for consistency with the California Endangered Species Act. Environmental Review Is Under Way
A combined community informational and scoping meeting on January 13 at the Dublin Civic Center marked the beginning of the approximately two-year environmental review process for the upcoming Alameda Watershed Habitat Conservation Plan.
Representatives of the San Francisco Planning Department, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Marine Fisheries Service discussed the environmental review process and received comments to assist in determining the scope and focus of the forthcoming joint Environmental Impact Statement and Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR).
SFPUC staff provided an informational exhibit and presented an overview of the proposed plan and recent updates. The presentation and materials are attached below.
The EIS/EIR will identify potential environmental effects of implementing the proposed Alameda Watershed HCP and ways to avoid or reduce those effects, either by mitigation or by implementation of an alternative to the plan. The document will fulfill national and state requirements for environmental review under both the National Environmental Policy Act and the California Environmental Quality Act. The draft is expected to be ready for public review early next year.
For questions about the environmental review, please contact Chris Kern, SF Department of City Planning, chris.kern@sfgov.org, (415) 575-9037, Gary Stern, National Marine Fisheries Service, gary.stern@noaa.gov, (707)575-6060, or Sheila Larsen, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, sheila_larsen@fws.gov, (916) 414-6685.
Announcements of future meetings will be posted on this page.
For further information about the Alameda Watershed Habitat Conservation Plan, please contact project manager Joanne Wilson, SFPUC Natural Resources, (650) 652-3205, jwilson@sfwater.org.
Learn more about Habitat Conservation Plans by visiting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) website. The contact person at the USFWS for the AWHCP is Sheila Larsen.
Attachments: (Help)
Alameda Watershed HCP Fact Sheet: Impact Analysis (161 KB) Alameda HCP Update - December 2008 (224 KB) Alameda HCP Study Area (522 KB) Alameda HCP Covered Activities - January 2009 (584 KB) Alameda HCP Covered Species - January 2009 (2928 KB) Presentation Handout January 13, 2009 (723 KB) AWHCP Scoping Presentation Final 20090113 (1461 KB) 