The Sacramento Metropolitan area is one of the most at risk areas for flooding in the United States. The purpose of the American River Watershed Common Features project (ARCF) is to improve the existing infrastructure to reduce flood risk along the American and Sacramento Rivers. The bank protection work and associated mitigation you are seeing along the LAR is a small piece of this larger project. In order to complete the life and safety work, we have to improve the levee and riverbank conditions in the parkway. This work occurring under the ARCF project results in impacts to the existing habitat which must be mitigated for according to the biological opinions.
Mitigation is an action taken to reduce the severity and intensity of the proposed work on the existing environment. Mitigation of impacts can apply to many things such as noise, air or water quality, traffic and special status species. The mitigation process begins with construction designing. During design the project team works to balance the project purpose with the existing environment that it needs to occur in. Then, project design and its footprint are refined, all avoidable impacts are identified and removed, and once impacts can be reduced no further, is compensation required.
Once all phases of ARCF 2016 are complete, the Sacramento and American Rivers will provide better quality habitat and a more scenic views thanks to the native vegetation that will be planted at every site.
Restoration is an action taken to repair, renovate, or replace the lost form and function of an altered or degraded habitat. For information on Sacramento District environmental projects, please visit our website: https://www.spk.usace.army.mil/Missions/Environmental-Projects/