Finding of No Significant Impact and Programmatic Environmental Assessment for Implementing Fish Habitat Improvement Measures in Four Mountain Snake Province Subbasins under Action 149 of the December 2000 Fish Habitat Improvement Measures in Four Mountain Snake Province Subbasins, Idaho

摘要

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) Biological Opinion (BiOp) on December 21, 2000. NMFS concluded that the continued operations of the FCRPS would constitute jeopardy under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for 8 of the 12 listed Evolutionarily Significant Units (ESUs) of salmon and steelhead, unless their Reasonable and Prudent Alternative (RPA) was implemented. The RPA included 199 actions that must be implemented by Federal agencies, including Reclamation, to avoid a jeopardy decision. Action 149 required Reclamation to do habitat improvements as off-site mitigation for the effects of the main stem Columbia River dams. Habitat improvements implemented under Action 149 are expected to result in overall, long-term benefits to ESA-listed and other anadromous and resident fish. Implementation of Action 149 is a Federal action and Reclamation is required to follow procedures of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). To comply with NEPA, Reclamation has prepared a Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) which addresses the potential impacts associated with fish habitat improvement measures in four of the 15 subbasins considered in Action 149: the Lemhi, Upper Salmon, Middle Fork Clearwater, and Little Salmon Subbasins. Habitat improvement measures will take place on private lands with willing participants. Because the specific locations and numbers of participants are not known, and the choice of specific measures cannot be determined at this time, the EA was prepared at a programmatic level. The PEA addressed the broad range of implementation measures proposed to comply with Action 149.