California Pilot Test of the Ecological Approaches to Environmental Protection Developed in Capacity Research Projects C06A and C06B (2013) / Chapter Skim
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Contents 1 Executive Summary 1 Summary Findings from C06 Product Test 4 CHAPTER 1 Introduction 5 Who: Partners 5 Who: Key Stakeholders 6 CHAPTER 2 Step 1. Planning Region and Stakeholders 6 Step 1A.
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52 Regulatory and Permitting Issues 57 CHAPTER 9 C06 and C01 Tools Assessment 57 Partner Feedback on C06 and TCAPP Tools 64 References 68 APPENDIX A Description of Highway 37 Future Scenarios 71 APPENDIX B Valuation Approach
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1 Executive Summary Like much of the US, California relies upon three scales of planning for transportation – project, corridor, and region. Each scale informs the others, leading to the development of state programming of projects, described in corridor and regional plans.
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2 Table ES.1. Steps of the Ecological Framework SHRP 2 C06 Step Findings Step 1: Build and Strengthen Collaborative Partnerships, Vision The planning region boundary included the study highway and portions of five counties and several other state highways and interstates that share traffic with the highway.
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3 effects. The team further recommends that the liaison program be expanded to provide supported regulatory agency staff time to participate in the assessment phase of early planning, to improve connection between assessment and permits.
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4 CHAPTER 1 Introduction Corridor planning is an important geographic and time-scale intermediate step between regional and long-range planning and project delivery. The team chose this scale because it provides opportunities for including regional and local ecological, economic, transportation, and community information and needs early in transportation planning and project development.
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5 These issues and the circulation requirements for the highway make it an ideal test case for an integrated ecological assessment framework and collaborative plan development among a wide range of stakeholder types. Who: Partners The project was led by UC Davis' Road Ecology Center, in partnership with Caltrans.
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6 CHAPTER 2 Step 1. Planning Region and Stakeholders Build and Strengthen Collaborative Partnerships, Vision.
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7 Figure 2.1. Highway 37 (within red box insert)
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8 Partners The intent of this study was to provide opportunities for internal collaboration among DOT Offices and Divisions, as well as external collaboration between the DOT and local agencies and organizations. Explicit support was provided at the proposal stage through the initial stages of the project from several DOT Offices, including System Planning, Environmental, and Maintenance.
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9 participation. The meetings were held in Novato (far west end of highway)
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10 framework of the project and opened a discussion to further identify stakeholder interests and concerns. At this meeting, in addition to regulatory, transportation, and environmental interests, participants included tribal representatives and private landowners.
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11 transportation planning. The framework is oriented toward spatial information about locations of species and habitats of concern, waterways, and other ecological attributes and processes that may be affected by transportation projects.
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12 CHAPTER 3 Step 2. Characterize regional plans and data Develop an overall conservation/restoration strategy that integrates conservation/restoration priorities, data, and plans, with input from and adoption by all conservation and natural resource stakeholders identified in Step 1, addressing all species, all habitats, and all relevant environmental issues.
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13 water storage; water quality maintenance; biodiversity preservation; carbon storage and socioeconomic benefits such as recreation. These services contribute to the Bay area economy and quality of life.
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14 • Change Hits Home: Adaptation Strategies for the San Francisco Bay Area, 2011. San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association.
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15 CHAPTER 4 Step 3. Development of Integrated Ecological Framework Integrate the conservation and restoration strategy (data and plans)
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16 species and ecological processes and, to a lesser extent, to buffer the effects of storms and sea level rise on coastal infrastructure. Caltrans objectives are to provide access to communities and other amenities via the corridor and to provide mobility and safety along the corridor, while minimizing impacts to environmental and community conditions adjacent to the corridor.
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17 lands that support oats, hay and grains, and cattle and sheep. Salt production is the largest industrial use of the marsh, covering approximately 20% of the area.
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18 of only seven marshes selected for intensive study by the Point Reyes Bird Observatory (based on a total of 50 discrete marshes similar to the San Francisco Bay)
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19 wetlands (Zedler and Kercher 2005)
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20 Figure 4.1. Protected species and habitats near highway 37.
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21 is likely to continue and worsen with regional population growth. Expanded capacity along Highway 37 is unlikely to make things better and may even exacerbate the situation if it becomes easier to commute from inland areas to Marin and Sonoma Counties.
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22 A B Figure 4.2. Areas in the North San Francisco Bay potentially at risk from sea level rise.
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23 Transportation Highway 37 constitutes a major regional east-west vehicular transportation corridor in the northern Bay Area, connecting the North Bay from US 101 in Marin County to Interstate-80 (I80) in Solano County (Figure 4.3)
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24 study region. The Marin County Travel Demand Model was used for this exercise.
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25 Table 4.1. Traffic Volumes as Average Annual Daily Travel (AADT)
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26 CHAPTER 5 Step 4. Assess Land Use and Transportation Effects on Resource Conservation Objectives Identified in the REF The corridor provides commuting access between residential areas inland of the San Francisco Bay and service and commercial jobs in coastal Marin and Sonoma Counties.
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27 through loss of habitat and increased mortality, as well as indirectly by causing ecological changes in the "road-effect zone," hindering habitat connectivity, and fragmenting habitat patches (Jonsen and Fahrig 1997, Chapin et al., 1998, Rosenberg et al., 1999, Baker and Knight 2000)
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28 plant communities)
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29 if regional highway-specific and cumulative impacts are to be understood and used in transportation planning. Noise Effects Findings There are various ways that noise effects can be accounted for to inform credits, valuation, and decision-making.
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30 Figure 5.1. Noise impacts from traffic on planning region highways.
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31 Figure 5.2. Traffic noise impact area for sound intensities >50 dBA.
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32 Table 5.2. Traffic Noise Affected Areas Under Different Timeframes and Improvement Scenarios Habitat Type 2010 Affected Area Ha (>40 dBA)
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33 www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/facts.htm)
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34 CHAPTER 6 Step 5. Establish and Prioritize Ecological Actions Caltrans is currently developing a Corridor Management Plan for State Highway 37.
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35 level of continued and new impacts.
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36 term negative impacts, but for all scenarios, the long-term environmental benefits, if any, should be considered, and in some cases those long-term benefits may far outweigh any short term impacts. Some possible specific actions to pursue are listed here: • Floodplain and Bayland enhancement, and wildlife habitat connectivity, as part of watershed-wide multi-benefit projects.
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37 CHAPTER 7 Step 6. Description of Credit and Valuation Approach The crediting system described by C06 Step 6 is intended to provide a consistent approach to measuring impacts and using a formal equivalent to impacts (e.g., acres)
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38 and management attributes (A)
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39 Figure 7.1. Relative value among types of concern along the corridor.
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40 values for the corridor context. Stakeholder process participants were also invited to take the survey (n = 49 completed surveys)
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41 The third set of questions used the same criteria as listed above, but asked each respondent to consider each planning criteria again as it relates to one of the five possible scenarios for the future of Highway 37. Respondents rated each scenario's ability to support each planning criteria on a five-point scale.
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42 A B Figure 7.2. Institutional and sector representation of stakeholder respondents.
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43 Travel Behavior: One way to compare the stakeholder process participants with the community at large is based on their responses to the survey. Survey respondents were queried about their travel use of Highway 37.
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44 Sea Level Rise and Wetlands: Another way to compare community members and participants in the stakeholder process is based upon their knowledge and familiarity with sea level rise and wetlands. Both of these concepts played a large role in discussions about future scenarios for the highway.
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45 Providing public transportation options 72% 62% Providing a bicycle/pedestrian path (or bike lanes) 68% 47% Minimal or no impact to the natural environment 91% 73% Environment Protection of wildlife and their habitat 90% 82% Restoring the Bay marshes and the natural processes related to them 90% 69% Wetland health and adjustment to sea-level rise 88% 69% Restoring tidal action now blocked by the highway structure 79% 50% Providing safer animal migration 86% 63% Highway Planning and Management A travel option that can easily be changed if needed 53% 75% Minimal financial cost 50% 70% Provides access to work, recreational, and other destinations 92% 93% The results in the table show that traffic congestion, safety concerns, and access are the most valued criteria for community members.
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46 Figure 7.4. Support from each future scenario for different values.
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47 The causeway (C) and no highway expansion (A)
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48 Highway 37. The team used traffic projections for 2035 to anticipate traffic noise impacts in order to improve valuation of the noise impact for future highway capacity scenarios.
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49 CHAPTER 8 Step 7. Develop Programmatic Consultation, Biological Opinion or Permit Develop Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs)
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50 Protection Agency (EPA) , National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
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51 some mechanism to support staff, both at regulatory agencies and within Caltrans, is essential in supporting earlier communication and participation for transportation projects. Attendance at an Early December Stakeholder Meeting Focused on Regulators Without exception, all contacted agencies participated in a stakeholder meeting in early December to discuss the strategic ideas that emerge from the World Café in October.
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52 Figure 8.1. State Highway 37 traversing wetlands and fresh/brackish impoundments.
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53 parks and protected lands in the vicinity of Highway 37. The San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge, managed by the U.S.
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54 • Best management practices (BMPs) ,and • Compensatory mitigation.
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55 Table 8.1. Agencies and Corresponding Permits Required for Actions Along the Highway 37 Corridor There were several interesting outcomes of the stakeholder process that included regulatory agencies: 1.
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56 2. Non-regulatory stakeholders felt that regulatory agency participation in early discussions and planning for the corridor was critical to eventual successes on the corridor.
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57 CHAPTER 9 C06 and C01 Tools Assessment Most project team members reported difficulty with taking advantage of the SHRP 2 materials available either as reports from C06, or on the TCAPP web site. However, at the same time, all project team members thought the overall C06 process, as implemented, was both an excellent way to get stakeholders and partner agencies involved in transportation planning and a suitable way of framing ecological, transportation, and community data and interests.
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58 C06 Steps Step 1: Build and Strengthen Collaborative Partnerships, Vision. Build a vision of what is most needed for natural resources in the region and commit to integrate and utilize transportation and environmental regulatory processes to address these greatest conservation and restoration needs and goals.
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59 corridor's low-income users. (If these plans exist the team is not aware of them.)
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60 The team has spent a great deal of time on this step, working over many options with an array of stakeholders. Based on their knowledge of environmental conditions, conservation objectives, and the connection between these and transportation infrastructure and plans, stakeholders and partners identified future scenarios for the corridor that supported these objectives.
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61 Step 6: Develop Crediting Strategy. Develop a consistent strategy and metrics to measure ecological impacts, restoration benefits, and long-term performance, with goal of having analyses throughout the life of the project be in the same units.
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62 issues might not have seen the light of day, such as the issue of supporting and sustaining local agricultural livelihoods, or the flood-protection role of privately-maintained levees. It also appears that, because normally Caltrans consults only with the regulatory side of natural resource agencies, not the conservation side, without the non-agency participants, Caltrans might not have seen the magnitude of the opportunities for ecological restoration that improvement of the corridor provides.
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63 COR-5. Approve Evaluation Criteria, Methods, and Measures There was no formal adoption of criteria, methods, or measures, primarily because most transportation partners saw this as an early stage in a corridor planning process, in contrast to conservation concerns, which were looking for shorter-term action.
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64 References Backstrom, M., U Nilsson, K
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65 Forman, R
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66 Madrone Associates Environmental Consultants.
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67 Rubin, E
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68 APPENDIX A Description of Highway 37 Future Scenarios SR 37 SCENARIO Relative Cost * Construction-Related Activity Traffic Operations Impacts Regional Transportatio n Impacts Community Impacts Environmental Impacts A)
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69 while building the other side.
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70 and Novato, with I-80 and 580 to the south, or with Highways 29 and 12/121/116 to the north harm to commuters from increased travel time and to certain local businesses without through traffic on former SR 37. Unknown positive impact of improved habitat quality, such as ecotourism.
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