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The purpose of this document is to describe the proposed Compensatory Wetland
Mitigation and Monitoring Plan (CWMMP) for mitigating the potential impacts
to wetlands that would result from the proposed University of California, Merced
(UC Merced) project. The UC Merced project consists of the establishment of a
major research university in Merced County that would ultimately support
25,000 full-time equivalent students and a contiguous, associated community
needed to support the university. This plan is intended to satisfy the anticipated
mitigation requirements of the Department of the Army (DA) permit for UC
Merced.
The proposed mitigation measures set forth in this Plan are intended to
compensate for UC Merced project impacts that would result from both the
Campus and the Community North. The proposed compensatory mitigation
measures described in this Plan address the direct, indirect, and cumulative
impacts associated with the proposed Campus and the Community North. A
separate plan will be prepared for impacts resulting from the Community South
and will incorporate preservation, enhancement, and restoration measures similar
to those contained in this Plan to the extent applicable.
The overall objective of the CWMMP is to ensure that there will be no net loss of
wetland function or area resulting from the construction and long-term operation
of UC Merced in accordance with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps)
compensatory mitigation policies as set forth in Regulatory Guidance Letter No.
02-2, (USACE 2002) as well as the Memorandum of Agreement between the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army
Concerning the Determination of Mitigation under the Clean Water Act Section
404(b)(1) Guidelines dated November 15, 1989. This Plan was designed to be
consistent with the Corps Sacramento District’s Habitat Mitigation and
Monitoring Proposal Guidelines, dated October 25, 1996 as updated on
December 30, 2004. On April 10, 2008, The Corps of Engineers and
Environmental Protection Agency issued a Final Rule governing compensatory
mitigation for activities authorized by permits issued by the Department of the
Army (Corps of Engineers 2008). Although this Final Rule does not apply to
applications received prior to the effective date of the regulation (June 9, 2008),this plan is intended to substantially comply with many of the provisions of that
Final Rule.
This document is a revision to the CWMMP submitted with the original
Department of the Army permit application. The Department of the Army permit
application for the UC Merced project has been subsequently revised. The
revised application modified the campus footprint with resulting in substantially
reduced wetland impacts. It also incorporated a portion of the University
Community (the Community North) into the application. The primary purpose of
this revision to the CWMMP, is to reflect the impacts that would result from the
modified Campus footprint and the Community North.

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