Water Quality Certification Public Notices
Water Quality Certification Actions - Applicants for federal permits that involve dredge or fill activities in surface waters (including wetlands) are required to obtain certification from the state verifying that the activity will comply with state water quality standards. Most of these federal permits are referred to as 404 permits (in reference to Section 404 of the federal Clean Water Act). Applicants for some other types of federal license or permits (ex. FERC licenses) that authorize activities that may result in discharges to waters of the United States are also required to obtain state certification. This state certification is called 401 Certification (in reference to Section 401 of the Clean Water Act). In California, 401 certification actions are the responsibility of the State and Regional Water Quality Control Boards. It is the policy of this Regional Board to provide public notice of pending 401 Certification actions in order to gather comments from concerned agencies and the public. The following list contains notification of pending 401 Certification actions.
| Project Name | WDID | County | Location | Description | Comment period | Contact Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Conner Creek Channel Rehabilitation Project | 1A15175WNTR | Trinity | 40.747575, -123.0635669 | The proposed Project would restore the aquatic habitat and geomorphic processes associated with the Upper Connor Creek segment of the Trinity River to ecological reference condition. The Project would implement a number of rehabilitation activities to reestablish the floodplain connection to the river corridor. Project activities may include: recontouring the channel and floodplain lowering, revegetation, placement of large wood, and placement of alluvial materials. More specifically, the Project would lower the floodplain surface so that it is inundated at flows ranging from 500 cfs to 3,500 cfs and would include the addition of large wood features, and construction of in-channel features including riffles, medial bars, and lateral bars to increase mainstem complexity and raise the low-flow water surface elevation. | May 7 through May 27 | Jake Shannon Jacob.Shannon@Waterboards.ca.gov |
| Red Cap Creek Floodplain Restoration Project Phase II | 1B22113WNHU | Humboldt | 41.20965, -123.55730 | The project will restore and enhance instream and floodplain habitat along an approximately 2,800-foot reach of Red Cap Creek. It will entail the following actions:1) Install up to 15 engineered log structures (ELJ’s) and add a total of 85 large trees to the Red Cap mainstem that will either be utilized in the ELJs, or serve as individual pieces and/or placed within side channels; 2) Construct a 9,750 foot off-channel rearing pond; 3) Create two constructed gravel bars near the off-channel rearing pond where two wood structures will be installed; 4) Grade and enhance a 350-foot-long floodplain side channel to create spawning and rearing habitat for Coho Salmon; 5) Inject spawning sized gravel/cobble into the mainstem at selected locations; 6) Rearrange large boulders at previously constructed boulder weirs to create floodplain connectivity; and 7) Excavate a winter rearing alcove at bottom of disconnected large floodplain channel. | April 22 through May 12 | Jake Shannon Jacob.Shannon@Waterboards.ca.gov |
| Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge Unit 2/3 Reroute Project | 1A24042WNSI | Siskiyou | 42.0027, -121.8248 | The project will make water conveyance improvements to allow for more efficient delivery of water from the Ady Canal to the Central Canal. Project improvements will include construction of a new 32,000 linear foot long bypass canal (average bottom width of 25 feet) and associated berms (up to 6.5 feet high) designed to convey up to 200 cubic feet per second (cfs) of irrigation water. This flow rate represents the maximum volume of water that may be diverted to the LKNWR from the Ady Canal based on current water rights, anticipated future water rights (pending purchase), and drain water that may be re-routed within the irrigation system. The new bypass channel and berm would extend east from the Ady Canal to the eastern extent of Unit 1, at which point the bypass canal would be routed south under SR 161 (likely via pipelines or an open box culvert) and into a basin/ditch system in Unit 3. Another canal would be constructed from the Unit 3 basin to connect to the Central Canal. New water control infrastructure would be installed at the Ady Canal and Central Canal to allow water to be directed into and through the new bypass canal, as well as along the new berm alignment to provide a more reliable water source to managed wetlands and agricultural fields in Unit 1. Habitat features, including shallow swales and depressions, would be constructed in the marginal wetland areas on the west side of Unit 1 to disperse water and improve habitat diversity. The agricultural fields on the east side of Unit 1 would be graded to improve water dispersal and drainage during the growing season. Up to 200 acres of marginal wetland habitat in Unit 1 and over 13,000 acres of managed wetlands supplied by the Central Canal would benefit from the water delivery and habitat enhancement features proposed under the project. | April 22 through May 12 | Jake Shannon Jacob.Shannon@Waterboards.ca.gov |
| Town Creek Restoration and Education Project | 1B22056WNME | Mendocino | 39.791032, -123.255347 | The primary ecological goals of the project are to restore riparian forest conditions and improve wildlife habitat along a 600-foot reach of Town Creek using willow baffles, native willow and cottonwood cuttings, and coir lifts. | April 22 through May 12 | Jake Shannon Jacob.Shannon@Waterboards.ca.gov |
| Big Meadows Restoration Project Phase 2 | 1A24037WNSI | Siskiyou | 41.584728, -123.046618 | The goals of the Project are to restore meadow habitat for the Endangered Franklin’s bumble bee, improve water quality and flows for the Threatened Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast (SONCC) Coho salmon, and restore and conserve rare and declining aspen forest habitat. The Project is the second phase of a two-phase restoration project. To achieve these goals this project will construct 25 acres of wildlife friendly fence to exclude cattle from and allow for the passive restoration of the wet meadows and aspen stands. Low tech process-based techniques, including stacking slash and on-site materials like sod and stones into degraded gullies, and construction of beaver dam analogs and post assisted log structures in the creeks, will arrest hydrological degradation and encourage aggradation, allowing increased ground water storage and improved downstream water quality. | April 22 through May 12 | Jake Shannon Jacob.Shannon@Waterboards.ca.gov |
