A03-_Redacted_J A_Redds_Monitoring.pdf

Control Number SPK 14 - _55____

“REDACTED”

Single Source Justification

US Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), Simplified Acquisitions

1. Contracting Activity:

US Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District, Englebright Dam Reach, Lower Yuba River, Yuba County, California.

2. Description of Action.

Contract action is for a firm-fixed price, commercial contract to perform Oversight and Monitoring of Spawning Gravel Placement and Redd Monitoring and Mapping in the Englebright Dam Reach of the Yuba River. The reach is located in the steep canyon off Highway 20, about 23 miles east of Marysville, California. The term “Redd” is a spawning nest, such as a hollow in sand or gravel on a river bed, scooped out as a spawning place by salmon, trout, or other fish. The project tasks required include oversight and monitoring of the spawning gravel placement and surveying, monitoring, recording, and mapping of salmon/steelhead nests (Redds) in the Englebright Dam Reach of the Yuba River resulting from the placement of those spawning gravels. Completion of these tasks are required to meet the conservation measures of the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) Biological Opinions (BO) as amended under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for the routine operations of Daguerre Dam and Yuba River operations.

Supporting background information for the project directives:

In December 2006, the South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL) and Friends of the River, filed suit in U.S. District Court against both the Corps and NMFS under the Administrative Procedures Act. The suit was amended on March 12, 2007, after a required 60-day notice period, to include complaints under the ESA. The plaintiffs alleged that NMFS unlawfully issued an inadequate biological opinion and failed to reinitiate consultation with the Corps. The suit further alleged that the Corps has failed to comply with the requirements of the biological opinion, including improving the effectiveness and reliability of the existing fish ladders at Daguerre Point Dam, developing a plan to remove sediment from the ladders and egress at Daguerre Point Dam, and augmenting spawning gravels in reaches downstream of Englebright Dam.

In 2009 NMFS published the Public Draft Recovery Plan for the Evolutionarily Significant Units of Sacramento River Winter-Run Chinook Salmon and Central Valley Spring-Run Chinook Salmon, and the Distinct Population Segment of Central Valley Steelhead (Draft Recovery Plan). The Draft Recovery Plan included an extensive analysis of the status of these species and addressed aspects of habitat condition in the Yuba River watershed. Historically, there were 18 or 19 viable independent populations of spring-run Chinook salmon in the Central Valley, with 11 of those populations occurring in the Northern Sierra Nevada Diversity Group, including the Yuba River population that historically spawned at elevations higher than 500m (Lindley et al. 2004). Currently, there is only 1 viable independent spring-run Chinook salmon population (Butte Creek) in the Central Valley (NMFS 2011). It is clear that more viable independent populations of spring-run Chinook salmon are needed to recover that species.

The Draft Recovery Plan for Central Valley Chinook Salmon and Steelhead (Draft Recovery Plan) has

Control Number SPK 14 - _55____ identified the Yuba River upstream of Englebright Dam as a primary area to reintroduce spring-run Chinook salmon (NMFS 2009). Re-establishing a viable independent population of spring-run Chinook salmon in the Yuba River will directly contribute to meeting the recovery criteria identified in the Draft Recovery Plan.

In 2010 the U.S. Fish and wildlife Service (USFWS) published flow-habitat relationships for spring and fall-run Chinook salmon and steelhead/rainbow trout (rainbow trout are a non-anadromous, resident O.

mykiss) in the lower Yuba River (USFWS 2010a-c). The analyses included flows for spawning, redd success, and juvenile survivorship (USFWS 2010a-c). Flow-habitat relationships were derived for spring- and fall-run Chinook salmon and steelhead/rainbow trout spawning in the Yuba River between Englebright Dam and the Feather River. Habitat availability was evaluated using a two-dimensional hydraulic and habitat model, while habitat suitability criteria were derived using logistic regression and a technique to adjust for availability of deeper waters with suitable velocities and substrates (Gard 1998). The USFWS conducted the investigations on anadromous salmonid habitat in the Yuba River between Englebright Dam and the Feather River, as part of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) Instream Flow Investigations—a 6-year effort which began in October, 2001. Title 34, Section 3406(b)(1)(B) of the CVPIA, P.L. 102-575, requires the Secretary of the Interior to determine instream flow needs for anadromous fish for all Central Valley Project controlled streams and rivers, based on recommendations of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service after consultation with the California Department of Fish and Game. The purpose of these investigations was to provide scientific information to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Central Valley Project Improvement Act Program to assist in developing flow recommendations for Central Valley rivers. The objective of the scientific inquiry was to produce models predicting habitat discharge relationships in the Yuba River for spring and fall-run Chinook salmon and steelhead/rainbow trout spawning, redd success, and juvenile survival.

The Englebright Dam Reach will receive spawning gravels, which will be overseen by PSMFC and then the gravels will be monitored, recorded, and mapped for Redds. Funding has been approved by congressional appropriation.

3. The rationale or circumstances for limiting competition.

Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC) is an interstate compact established by Congress in 1947 (PL 232, 80th Congress, 61 Stat. 419) specifically for the purpose to promote the better utilization of anadromous fisheries and to develop a joint program of protection of such fisheries in all of those areas of the Pacific Ocean and adjacent waters. The Commission has the necessary expertise working within the Lower Yuba River and has the required manpower, equipment and knowledge of the Yuba River to start work on this project within the required compressed timeframe. The award to any other source would violate the intent of the BioIogical Opinion and result in unacceptable delays which would likely slip the implementation schedule for monitoring the gravel placements outside of the timeframes developed to minimize adverse effects of the proposed project to Federally-listed salmonids.

No other individuals have the specific technical expertise and experience to perform work and advise on actions considered to preclude a compromise of noncompliance with the Biological Opinion.