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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I oon8~3 measures are required in order to comply with federal, state and local laws and regulations, regardless of whether they are specifically identified in the 2000 FSEIS. 2.1.2 Project Compensatory Mitigation The Project compensatory mitigation program is designed to implement mitigation measures that will compensate for or reduce the level of the unavoidable impacts to the extent practicable as required by laws, regulations and policies. As stated above compensatory mitigation includes development, restoration and enhancement as well as preservation and protection measures. 2.1.3 Project Monitoring Project monitoring will be used to evaluate the effects of the Project, with an emphasis in verifying the impact analyses disclosed in the 2000 FSEIS, Monitoring will distinguish between construction-related and operation-related effects. Reclamation may adjust its mitigation commitments based on the results of Project monitoring, Therefore, distinguishing Project effects from pre-existing or non-Project effects is essential for the monitoring program. The environmental commitments in Chapter 5 of the 2000 FSEIS (with additional detail supplied in Chapter 3) describe the types of monitoring that will be conducted for the ALP Project. The primary purpose of the monitoring program is to: 1. Evaluate impacts resulting from the construction and operation of the ALP Project, with an emphasis to verify level of significance as disclosed in the 2000 FSEIS. 2. To gather additional data and to refine existing databases, 3, Evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation measures after they are implemented. The monitoring program for the ALP Project will include baseline monitoring, effectiveness monitoring, trend monitoring and compliance monitoring, Baseline monitoring will be used to characterize existing, pre-Project environmental conditions as they pertain to each potentially affected resource, Baseline information will be assimilated from existing data and reports completed for the Project, as well as from other studies conducted in the area that are applicable to the Project. Additional field data may be needed to provide the necessary baseline information for certain disciplines. Establishing an accurate baseline database will be necessary to evaluate Project effects, refine conceptual mitigation into detailed site-specific plans, and to evaluate long-term response to Project operation and mitigation efforts. Effectiveness monitoring will be used to evaluate whether specific mitigation measures have been implemented correctly and are having the desired results. Specific mitigation criteria will be established to quantitatively determine whether a specific mitigation measure has achieved its desired effect. 7