BOULDER CITY, NEV. - The Bureau of Reclamation and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California today issued a Draft Environmental Assessment/Initial Study-Negative Declaration for a proposed 635-acre conservation area to be created as part of the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program.
The Draft EA/IS-ND, released for public review and comment, details Metropolitan’s proposed granting of an easement for conservation purposes to Reclamation for the establishment of a conservation area on land owned by Metropolitan. It describes Reclamation’s development and maintenance of cottonwood-willow and honey mesquite land cover types at the conservation area on behalf of the LCR MSCP. The conservation area would be named after Dennis B. Underwood, a former Reclamation Commissioner who also served as Metropolitan’s General Manager.
The LCR MSCP is a 50-year multi-stakeholder Federal and non-Federal partnership that was created to balance the use of lower Colorado River water resources with the conservation of native species and their habitats in compliance with the Endangered Species Act.
The Draft EA/IS-ND, which was prepared in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act and the California Environmental Quality Act, is available for public review and comment. It will be posted on Reclamation’s internet site at: www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g2000/envdocs.html and Metropolitan’s internet site at http://mwdh2o.com/CEQA. Comments must be postmarked by November 9, 2018. Please send written comments to the Bureau of Reclamation, Attn: Faye Streier, National Environmental Policy Act Coordinator, P.O. Box 61470, Boulder City, NV 89006. Electronic comments may be submitted to prj-lcr-nepa@usbr.gov.
To request a compact disk or paper copy of the FONSI and EA, or for questions, please contact Ms. Streier at 702-293-8132.
Source: Bureau of Reclamation
