News Release Archive

San Joaquin River Restoration Program Releases Framework for Completing Construction Work

Realistic budget and schedule in five-year increments

Media Contact: Erin Curtis, 916-978-5100, eccurtis@usbr.gov

For Release: July 30, 2015

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Bureau of Reclamation, on behalf of the five implementing agencies of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program, today released the Final Revised Framework for Implementation containing a revised budget and schedule in five-year increments for the duration of the Program. The Program is based on the Stipulation of Settlement in Natural Resources Defense Council, et al., v. Rodgers, et al., and the San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement Act (Title X of Public Law 111-11). The updated Framework will be used as the guiding document for schedule and priorities for construction projects and activities across the Program. The document is available under the 2015 section on the following page: http://www.restoresjr.net/documentsreports/program-documents/.

“This revised document reflects months of coordinated outreach and focused efforts to set out a realistic schedule and budget that prioritizes actions and activities for the Program. We are on the verge of major construction projects that have significant benefits to water supply, flood control, the agricultural community, wildlife habitat and recreation. We are excited about the future of this program and to begin turning dirt,” said David Murillo, Reclamation Mid-Pacific Regional Director.

“We have always known that the San Joaquin River Restoration Program was a long-term and ambitious undertaking. The revised Framework creates a marriage between the long-term vision and what’s realistic right now,” said Maria Rea, Assistant Regional Administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service’s West Coast Region. “It sets out critically important milestones for progress, making it all the more likely the reintroduction of salmon will be successful.”

“The revised Framework will facilitate collaboration with partners to incorporate new schedules for conveying flows and providing passage for the reintroduction of Chinook salmon” said Ren Lohoefener, Regional Director for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Settlement provided an aggressive schedule to construct major improvements in the river and reintroduce spring and fall-run Chinook salmon. The Settlement’s schedule represents the minimum time period the federal defendants calculated to complete the improvements. By 2011, it was evident that the timelines established in the Settlement were not going to be achieved.

In 2012, Reclamation began a process to prepare a revised schedule and budget for the Program. The resulting document was called the Working Draft Framework for Implementation, dated June 2012. The 2012 Framework was successful in establishing “core” projects and limiting actions that were being requested of the Program.

In 2014, the Program once again began working with the parties to prioritize the projects based on a better understanding of the amounts of state and federal funding available. This update seeks to sequence projects and phases of projects based on realistic funding and resources in a logical order to achieve Program goals. Reclamation prepared the Framework update in an open and inclusive process. Participants included representatives from the Friant Districts, Natural Resources Defense Council, the Exchange Contractors, conservation groups and downstream landowners and water districts to achieve as much agreement as possible.

The Framework prioritizes and limits actions to those that can be accomplished with no more than about $50 million in federal appropriations plus funds from the Central Valley Project Restoration Fund and the San Joaquin River Restoration Fund along with state funding sources.

A series of meetings were held between October 2014 and March 2015 to develop the Revised Framework. The meetings established common expectations on the process for updating the Framework; provided participants with an overview on the need and purpose for updating the Framework; established a common understanding of the Settlement, the Act, Program funding, and constraints that Reclamation faces in implementing the Settlement and the Act; and provided participants with a tool to develop their own schedule and funding for implementing the Settlement. Participants presented their ideas on how they would implement the Settlement within Reclamation’s constraints. Reclamation released the Framework document for a 30-day public comment period on May 15, 2015.

The Program is a comprehensive, long-term effort to restore flows to the San Joaquin River from Friant Dam to the confluence of the Merced River, restoring self-sustaining Chinook salmon populations in the river while reducing or avoiding adverse water supply impacts from those flows. The implementing agencies include Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, California Department of Water Resources and California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The Framework represents the federal views of the actions necessary to implement the Settlement and Settlement Act. Throughout the process for development of the Framework, some parties expressed differing views of what they believe to be the federal settling parties’ obligations in the Settlement and Settlement Act. Reclamation is embarking on a separate process to resolve these outstanding concerns.

For more information about the Program, please visit www.restoresjr.net.

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