By supporting these regulations, the Government remains committed to implementing further salmon restoration programs along the Pacific coast. The San Joaquin Institution, which would be implemented at p. 27, provides a model for how stakeholders can come together to rebuild historic salmon populations and restore communities. We are open to exploring how this model could be used to implement other similar recovery strategies. We fully recognise and appreciate the importance of involving relevant third parties in the implementation of the Regulation, and several steps have been taken to include them significantly in the development and implementation of the Regulation. Prior to the execution of the settlement documents, copies of the draft documents were made available in Sacramento, Fresno and San Francisco for review by interested third parties, subject to confidentiality agreements. representatives of water users on the west side of the Central Valley; water users of the tributaries of the San Joaquin River downstream of the Friant Dam; exchange contractors who receive water from the delta instead of water they would otherwise drain from the San Joaquin River under the Friant Dam; and other parties dealing with river management issues (collectively, ”third parties”) took the opportunity to review the settlement documents. In addition, the parties to the colonization held numerous information sessions throughout the Central Valley, attended by approximately 70 representatives of third parties. During these briefings, the parties to the settlement reviewed the proposed regulations in detail, answered questions and listened to comments. As a result of these information sessions, several companies submitted written comments on the regulatory documents. Its main concerns concerned the provisions of ESA Take, operation and maintenance, financing, meaningful participation in the implementation of the programme and water use rights. After reviewing third party comments, the parties to the resolution made changes to some of the settlement documents deemed appropriate and also provided third parties with a full written response to their written comments. In addition, the wording was included in the legislation before its introduction in order to strengthen the protection of the interests of third parties.
The program`s restoration area covers 150 miles of the San Joaquin River, from the base of friant Dam to the river`s confluence with the Merced River downstream. In 2018, the RPRSS underwent a planning process that resulted in the Limited Funding Framework. Below is a map showing the scope, important landmarks, and key co.mponents of the frame (click here for a printable version of the map below). For an interactive overview map, click here The settlement parties have carefully studied the restoration of the San Joaquin River for many years and have identified within the framework of the colony the most priority measures and projects necessary to achieve the restoration objective. These include expanding the capacity of the canal, improving and modifying it to allow fish to cross or bypass certain structures in the river channel. Year-round currents in the San Joaquin River are also needed, including areas that have been without continuous rivers for decades. This would be done to restore and maintain fish populations in good condition, including populations of Chinook salmon and other naturally reproducing fish that remain within the 153-mile stretch of the river between friant Dam and the confluence of the Merced River. With the exception of flood protection, the Friant Dam/Millerton Lake is operated to meet the minimum requirements of the river downstream and maximize water supply. As a result, approximately 60 miles of the 153 river miles between Friant Dam and the confluence of the Merced River have dried up for most years, except during seasonal flood protection discharges. Prior to the construction of the Friant Dam, the downstream section of the dam promoted healthy fishing, including salmon runs, which the dam effectively eliminated. Completed in 2018, the Spring and Fall Chinook Salmon Fisheries Framework outlines goals and targets for establishing self-sustaining populations of Chinook salmon in the recovery region in the spring and fall.
The Fisheries Framework also provides the scientific context for habitat management measures and objectives and describes the proposed adaptive management process and implementation plan for the fisheries measures. Habitat targets aim to reduce physical, biological and environmental threats or stressors in the river that currently limit the survival of healthy fish populations. Fisheries objectives describe how management activities related to habitat, hatcheries and meaningful measures of fishing success will achieve the restoration objective. As we mentioned earlier, there is some initial funding and the authority for the Interior to work with our government partners to initiate environmental planning and assessment activities, and that is exactly what we have done. Interior, through Reclamation and the Fish and Wildlife Service, cooperates with other parties to the settlement, the State of California, relevant third parties (see below) and other federal agencies regarding the implementation process and other related matters. An interagency program management team that includes the Department of California. The Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service and Reclamation have begun to launch an implementation process, including awareness, planning, design and environmental assessments. This inter-agency team is currently developing a Programme Management Plan (PMP), to be finalized this spring, outlining the implementation process, the scope and timing of activities, the studies to be carried out, and the process of involving and receiving input from interested third parties and the general public. The PMP will consider strategies to achieve both the restoration objective and the water management objective outlined in the regulations.
Further proof of the Government`s commitment to implement this regulation, the President`s budget for the 2008 financial year for the recultivation of the income from the repayment of the capital of the Rehabilitation Fund to the newly created San Joaquin Restoration Fund; It also involves the allocation of $7.5 million in funds from the CVSA Restoration Fund to the San Joaquin Restoration Fund. .