Water Right Applications 30325, 30326, 31043, and 31047

Water Right Applications 30325, 30326, 31043, and 31047

The project consists of water right Applications 30325, 30326, 31043, and 31047 filed with the State Water Resources Control Board in 1993 and 2000. Under TRC's seven water right permits issued in March 2006 plus these four permits, TRC will divert a maximum of 15,000 acre-feet per annum (afa) of water by direct diversion and storage, to be used for the purposes of irrigating alfalfa, almonds, grain forage, grapes, olives, pistachios, walnuts, and stock watering on WRMWSD and TRC lands. On March 19, 2001, the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) filed a protest against Applications 30325, 30326, 31043, and 31047. DFG protested on the basis of the project's potential adverse effects on wildlife or plant populations, including several State and federally listed species, or the indirect destruction or adverse modification of habitat essential to their continued existence. By letter dated February 3, 2006, DFG narrowed the scope of its protest to issued related to the Tehachapi Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps stebbinsi) and the Yellow-Blotched Salamander (Ensatina eschscholtzii croceater), and bypass flow for riparian vegetation on El Paso and Tejon Creeks. On September 14, 2006, DFG and TRC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) thereby resolving the outstanding protest issues. As a result DFG withdrew its protest against Applications 30325, 30326, 31043, and 31047. Only July 14, 2004, WRMWSD, as lead agency under the CEQA, certified a Final EIR for the project. The State Water Board considered the Final EIR prepared and certified by WRMWSD, and two additional technical reports submitted by TRC in June 2004, Tejon Ranch Historical Riparian Vegetation Analysis and July 2005, Tejon Ranch Predevelopment, Existing, and Proposed Project Riparian Vegetation Analysis, to analyze the environmental effects of issuing permits for water diversion from El Paso and Tejon Creeks.

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