Swain Meadow Restoration Project

Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board

9 April 2021

To Interested Parties

Notice of Intent to Adopt a Mitigated Negative Declaration and Opportunity to Provide Comments on the Proposed Swain Meadow Restoration Project, Plumas County

The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (Central Valley Water Board) is the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lead agency for the Swain Meadow Restoration Project (Project). A proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) describing potential adverse environmental impacts and associated mitigation measures has been prepared by the Central Valley Water Board in connection with this Project. This request for comments is intended to provide interested individuals, organizations, and agencies the opportunity to comment on the environmental effects of the Project as described in the proposed MND. An electronic or hard copy of the proposed MND may be requested via an email to [email protected] or via a phone request to Lynn Coster at (530) 224-2437.

A copy of the proposed MND is also available to the general public for review at Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, 364 Knollcrest Drive, Suite 205, Redding, CA 96002.

Project Location:

The Project is located within the Swain Meadow Management Area, Almanor Ranger District, Lassen National Forest. Swain Meadow encompasses approximately 236 acres and is located within the Robbers Creek Watershed. The Project site includes the entire meadow to the tree line as well as the potential borrow area and Forest Service access road. The potential borrow area is located offsite on private land.

Project Description:

The overall objective of the Swain Meadow Restoration Project is to restore meadow hydrologic function. Swain Meadow has had a significant decline in hydrologic function due to historic uses and narrowing floodplains. The design elements include reconstructing riffles (also known as riffle augmentation) in the creek channels and constructing Beaver Dam Analogs (BDA) in the upper reaches, downstream of the existing beaver dams and where willows are present. In addition, roads and former ditches will be contoured to match natural topography and larger trees will be placed along the meadow margin. The Project partners include California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire), Point Blue Conservation Science, U.S Forest Service (USFS), Sierra Institute for Community and Environment, and Forest Creek Restoration, Inc.

Regulatory Process:

Project implementation will require the Central Valley Water Board to take regulatory action through the issuance of a Clean Water Act section 401 Water Quality Certification. This notice serves as a notice of intent to adopt a mitigated negative declaration for this project pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15072.

Comment Deadline and How to Submit Comments:

Please submit your comments on the proposed MND via email to [email protected]

with the subject line “Swain Meadow Restoration Project” no later than close of business on 9 May 2021.

For questions or additional information, please contact Lynn Coster, Central Valley Water Board senior staff, by email at [email protected] or by phone at (530) 224-2437.