Fremont - Monday, November 14, 2005, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Fremont Main Library, 2400 Stevenson Boulevard (near Fremont BART station)

San Francisco - Tuesday, November 15, 2005, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

San Francisco State University, 425 Market Street, Room 301 (near Embarcadero BART station)

The scoping meetings are to receive public comments on the scope and content of the project’s environmental impact analysis and information to be contained in the Environmental Impact Report being prepared for project. Please attend one of these meetings and insist that the dam replacement project include adequate water releases from Calaveras Reservoir to restore steelhead trout in Alameda Creek below the dam, fish passage for migratory fish past the new dam, and removal of the Alameda Diversion Dam.

The ACA has the following problems with the project as proposed:

-          The dam replacement project is proposed and described purely as an engineering project, without a restoration component. The existing dam is operated in violation of state environmental laws and the rebuilt dam will continue to impact migratory and resident fish downstream of the dam. The SFPUC cannot undertake a major infrastructure project like this without including restoration measures.

-          The project needs to include minimum water releases from Calaveras adequate to support all native fish downstream, including steelhead trout. The 6,300 acre-feet of water mentioned in the project description is misleading and was intended for enhancing limited habitat for resident trout, not for migratory fish. The actual amount of water SFPUC would release would be much lower, as the proposed project would allow natural stream flow to meet most of this flow requirement.

-          The project needs to include fish passage for migratory fish past Calaveras Dam and the Alameda Diversion Dam.

-          The project needs to include removal or re-operation of the Alameda Diversion Dam, which diverts most of the flows of upper Alameda Creek and blocks fish migration.

-          The project needs comprehensive surveys for endangered and threatened species around the construction sites. Numerous listed species, such as red-legged and yellow-legged frog, tiger salamander, and Alameda whipsnake live around the reservoir.

-          The proposed construction roads and borrow and disposal areas for dirt fill need to avoid habitat for listed and sensitive species.

-          The project must include facilities and hardware that allows for stream restoration downstream, including release of the full range of needed stream flows and downstream transport of spawning gravels; adequate fish screens should also be installed at water intakes to protect reservoir fish.

Written comments will also be accepted at these meetings and until the close of business on November 30, 2005. Written comments should be sent to the San Francisco Planning Department, Attn: Paul Maltzer, Environmental Review Officer, Calaveras EIR, 30 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 4150, San Francisco, CA 94103, or provided via email to diana.sokolove@sfgov.org.

The SFPUC’s information about the Calaveras Dam replacement can be found at: http://sfwater.org/detail.cfm/MSC_ID/60/MTO_ID/NULL/MC_ID/7/C_ID/2703/holdSession/1

If you would like to be removed from this list, please notify me by return e-mail.

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Jeff Miller, Director

Alameda Creek Alliance

P. O. Box 192

Canyon, CA 94516

(510) 499-9185

Web site www.alamedacreek.org

“Protecting and restoring the natural ecosystems of the Alameda Creek watershed”