North Grasslands Wildlife Area Drainage and Nutria Structure
Summary
SCH Number
2021040569
Public Agency
California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Central Region 4
(CDFW)
Document Title
North Grasslands Wildlife Area Drainage and Nutria Structure
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
4/23/2021
Document Description
The Salt Slough Hunter Check Station serves as the primary field office and supply/equipment storage facility for CDFW’s nutria eradication field operations. This site will receive an accessory structure to hold captive nutria for the Program’s telemetered “Judas” nutria strategy. This strategy will be critical for locating remnant nutria across the landscape and ensuring the eradication is successful for the protection of California’s resources and infrastructure. This developed site/storage yard experiences extensive and regular flooding during the winter and spring. To alleviate flooding from the equipment storage area, the site requires a wastewater tank to receive the outflow from the nutria structure and the site’s drinking water treatment system; once filtered, the tank water and surrounding flood waters will be pumped to the adjacent pond basin for percolation.
Contact Information
Name
Bob Stafford
Agency Name
California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Location
Cities
Los Banos
Counties
Merced
Other Location Info
The Project will occur at North Grasslands Wildlife Area – Salt Slough Hunter Check Station (8885 Wolfsen Road, Los Banos, California 93635) in Merced County.
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Categorical Exemption
Type, Section or Code
Type – Class 1; California Code of Regulations, title 14, section 15301
Reasons for Exemption
Approval of this Project is subject to categorical exemption from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA, Pub. Resources Code §21084). These exemptions have been made upon a finding that the projects will have no significant effect on the environment. This Project is exempt under Class 1: Existing Facilities. Class 1 consists of the operation, repair, or maintenance or minor alteration of existing public or private structures, facilities, mechanical equipment, or topographical features, involving negligible or no expansion of use beyond that previously existing... (California Code of Regulations, Title 14, §15301).
This project will take place at the North Grasslands Wildlife Area’s Salt Slough Hunter Check Station site, which is a developed site consisting of both private and public structures and facilities. The site includes a large, gravel parking area and equipment storage yard, where the project will take place. The additional structure (~1200 sq. ft. cement slab, roof, storage structure) and wastewater tank will be placed within the developed gravel yard, which is not an environmentally sensitive area. Additionally, the installation of the water pump constitutes a maintenance activity (i.e., flood management) for the equipment storage yard. The water pumped from the gravel yard will be conveyed to the adjacent, primarily dry, pond basin, which is already part of the Wildlife Area’s wetlands management regime of manual flooding/draining.
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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