Title
Chief Administrative Office, Parks Division, recommending the Board approve and authorize the Chief Administrative Officer to sign Agreement 22-CO-11051700-010 with the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S Forest Service Truckee Ranger District for the work on Off Highway Motor Vehicle Grant G18-03-06-P01, Planning Grant on the Rubicon Trail.
FUNDING: State Parks Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Grant.
Body
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
El Dorado County entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with California State Parks, Eldorado National Forest Service, Tahoe National Forest Service, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit and Placer County on November 19, 2019. The MOU was fully executed on March 11, 2020. The purpose of the MOU is to document the cooperation between the parties to manage, maintain and enhance the Rubicon (Attachment C). Section IV of the MOU states, “El Dorado County shall: A. Cooperate and confer with other MOU partners across agency jurisdictions, which may consist of law enforcement, maintenance, operations, grant writing and administration, and environmental monitoring.” Although the MOU states grant writing is agreed upon, each grant submitted has a letter from the agency agreeing to the grant submitted.
El Dorado County, working with the Tahoe National Forest Service (TNFS), submitted a Planning grant in 2019 for an important reroute of the Rubicon Trail. There is an area around Miller Creek which was identified in a survey from California Geological Survey as the biggest threat to a trail closure because of a potential landslide making the trail impassable. The reroute of the trail is approximately one half mile long and will bypass this area and another environmentally sensitive area.
This agreement is to reimburse the Forest Service for the completion of required NEPA analysis and documentation for the reroute around sensitive areas of approximately 1/2 mile of the trail on Tahoe National Forest system lands. TNFS has resources internally to complete the studies and NEPA document at a greatly reduced rate.
ALTERNATIVES
The Board could choose not to approve this agreement.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION
19-1506 - November 19, 2019, MOU
20-0019 - January 28, 2020, Grant Agreement
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
County Counsel has approved this agreement.
CAO RECOMMENDATION / COMMENTS
Approve as recommended.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The total project cost is $35,554. Of this, $25,000 is to be paid from the County to the Forest Service, and $10,554 in volunteer time and other non-cash contributions will be paid for by the Forest Service. The County portion is to be paid for by the State Parks Off-Highway Motor Vehicle grant funds. As the grant administrator, Parks will and receive 15% administrative charges ($5,333). Funding is included in the FY 2021-22 Parks budget.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
N/A
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
Infrastructure
CONTACT
Vickie Sanders
Parks Manager