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<br />'" <br /> <br />o <br />o <br />00 <br />w <br /> <br />cleaning. Because this results in temporary and sporadic existence of prism habitat, its value <br />varies. Multiplying the total acres by the average WVI of sample wetland sites (0.39) shows <br />about 47.5 habitat units exist within the prism. <br /> <br /> Wetland Wetland Prism Prism ~ <br />Lateral System Acres Units Acres Units Trees <br />South (A) 170.5 66.5 37.2 14.5 461 <br />Loutzenhizer (D) 28.8 11.4 17.3 6.7 46' <br /> - <br />Selig (E) 143.5 57.2 28.2 11.0 164' <br />East (G) 73.0 29.9 33.5 13.0 78 <br />Garnet (H) -b 5.9 2.3 1 <br /> -- <br />Total 415.8 165.0 122.1 47.5 750 <br /> <br />Table 4 - Habitat Losses for each Lateral System <br /> <br />.. Number of tree. includu estima~ for the CIld.a of canall rccommc:ndcd for pipm, <br />b Moil of the QIlJDCI Canal and -H- laten-II are in .. suburban at'CIo md could Dot be RlJ'Vcycd. <br /> <br />Table 4 summarizes wetland, prism and mature tree losses for each system if placed in pipe. <br />Piping all laterals would cause a total loss of about 212 habitat units. Approximately 764 <br />mature cottonwood trees would be lost, with 215 of them concentrated along two short <br />laterals (ACC, AG) of the South system. <br /> <br />Revised Habitat Replacement Program <br /> <br />The study team also reformulated the habitat mitigation plan for improving the lateral <br />systems to control salinity. Current mitigation policies give first consideration to avoiding or <br />minimizing impacts. <br /> <br />In their "Draft Coordination Act Report" (FWS, 1992), the FWS identified specific laterals <br />that support many wetlands, and recommended Reclamation not improve these laterals to <br />avoid impacts. As cited, between 50-70 percent of the impacts would be avoided by not <br />treating 5 (out of 46) of the main laterals, and 4 of the 54 sublaterals. In response, <br />Reclamation reevaluated effects of not lining selected laterals, considering the number of <br />miles of laterals instead of the number of laterals involved. In terms of mileage, the five <br />specified laterals (AB, AM, Be, EQ, GF) cover 37 out of 121 miles of main laterals. <br />Avoidance of the 4 sublaterals (ABC, ABE, AMC, DFB) would delete approximately 12 out <br />of 85 miles of sublaterals. Not treating these specified segments would avoid about 61 <br />percent of the wetland impacts. However, not lining them also represents a loss of 24 <br />percent of the salinity control benefits. Reclamation believes these concentrated seepage <br /> <br />19 <br />