Supplemental Environmental Assessment for McCloud River Remote Site Incubator Project and the Remote Captive Broodstock Project

This Supplemental Environmental Assessment (Supplemental EA) is intended to supplement the Final Environmental Assessment (Final EA) for the Issuance of an Endangered Species Act Section 10(a)(1)(A) Permit to the U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service for Hatchery and Genetic Management Plans associated with Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery (LSNFH 10(a)(1)(A) Permit). The Final EA for the LSNFH 10(a)(1)(A) Permit was issued on September 29, 2017. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is proposing to amend the LSNFH 10(a)(1)(A) Permit to include an additional action on the McCloud River using Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon eggs from the Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery (LSNFH) and an action to initiate a Remote Captive Broodstock Project at the University of California, Davis (U.C. Davis). The proposed action expands on the preferred alternative and the Action Area in the Final EA. No other changes to the 10(a)(1)(A) or the Final EA are proposed. This Supplemental EA is being prepared using the 2020 CEQ NEPA Regulations. The effective date of the 2020 CEQ NEPA Regulations was September 14, 2020, and reviews begun after this date are required to apply the 2020 regulations unless there is a clear and fundamental conflict with an applicable statute. 85 Fed. Reg. at 43372-73 (§§ 1506.13, 1507.3(a)). This Supplemental EA began on May 31, 2022, and accordingly proceeds under the 2020 regulations.