Catch Creative, Lookout Slough Tidal Habitat Restoration [Photograph]. https://esassoc.com/projects/lookout-slough-tidal-habitat-restoration-and-flood-improvement-project/

BACKGROUND
The Yolo Bypass/Cache Slough Region, which includes the Lower Yolo Bypass and the Cache Slough Complex, is dominated by agricultural land uses. The area also includes important water supply facilities supporting local agencies, resident farmers, local reclamation districts (RD), and municipal water purveyors serving cities in Napa County and Solano County who divert water from the Cache Slough Complex through existing infrastructure under existing water rights for beneficial uses. The region also provides flood protection, supports existing wildlife areas, and is the focus of state-funded tidal and floodplain habitat restoration projects due to the region’s favorable conditions. As the construction of restoration projects occur and fish populations rebound, water intake operators in the area are concerned that listed fish species near their intakes may increase their risk and liability for continued operations under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) and California ESA, which, in turn, could affect the long-term security of their water supplies.

To address the potential increased risk to listed fish from entrainment and to provide regulatory assurances for diverters, federal and California Incidental Take Permits (ITPs) and the associated Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) are being developed through coordination with Federal, State, and Local agencies of the Yolo Bypass/Cache Slough Partnership (Partnership)¹ . The HCP is a planning document required as part of ITP applications. The ITPs and HCP are to provide ESA protections for local water intake owners and operators in the Cache Slough Complex area. The HCP plan area includes eastern Solano County and a portion of Yolo County along the Sacramento Deep Water ship channel (see HCP area map)

Solano County (County), in collaboration with the HCP Steering Committee, consists of local reclamation districts and water agencies, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), and the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency (SAFCA), is developing an HCP and ITPs on behalf of participating intake owners/operators. The County and DWR agreed through an MOU that DWR would fund the development of the HCP and other associated environmental documents, along with various associated studies and up to two screens for intakes (if accepted by intake owners). 

¹The Partnership is a 15-member consortium of federal, state, and local agencies established through a Memorandum of Understanding in 2015 to further multiple objectives in the Yolo Bypass/Cache Slough Region

LANDOWNER/INTAKE OPERATOR MEETINGS
District Meetings:

October 10, 2024, Thursday, 1 PM – Reclamation District 2068 Board, 7178 Yolano Rd. Dixon CA 95620

October 15, 2024, Tuesday, 2 PM - Maine Prairie Water District Board, 6595 Pitt School Rd, Dixon, CA 95620

UPDATES
FAQs
Landowner/Intake Operator Survey
HCP development schedule/timeline

ARCHIVED MEETING MATERIALS
2020 – HCP Overview/Kickoff Workshop Presentation and
          Video Recording
2021 – HCP Process and Conservation Plan Presentation and 
          Cache Slough Landowner & Resource Agencies Presentation 

RESOURCE LINKS
-- CA Water and Resource Delta Projects
-- CA Fish and Wildlife
-- US Fish and Wildlife Service Habitat Conservation Plans
-- National Marine Fisheries Service
-- Yolo Bypass Cache Slough Partnership

CONTACT US
[email protected]