The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) is proposing a new water conveyance from the Sacramento River to a new forebay to be constructed adjacent to the existing Clifton Court Forebay in Contra Costa County. Water would be diverted from the Sacramento River through three fish-screened intakes on the Sacramento River between Clarksburg and Courtland and then conveyed by 45-mile-long tunnels to the new forebay below the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Water from the new forebay would be conveyed to the State Water Project’s California Aqueduct and the Central Valley Project’s Delta-Mendota Canal. DWR prepared a joint EIR/EIS to comply with CEQA and NEPA.

Horizon’s cultural resources staff have been involved in this project since the early 2000s and began preparing a Section 106 Programmatic Agreement for the project in 2012. Because the project had not yet been fully designed by the time the EIR/EIS had been completed, the Programmatic Agreement provided a vehicle by which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) could satisfy requirements of Section 106 in a programmatic manner that outlined the protocols for completing detailed studies once project design was advanced. The Programmatic Agreement was executed by the USACE, the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), and DWR in March 2017. Horizon also worked on the Programmatic Historic Properties Treatment Plan, which was accepted by the SHPO and Signatory/Concurring parties in June 2018. Horizon assisted with Native American consultation outreach during the course of Programmatic Agreement and plan preparation, and continues to provide a review and advisory role of cultural resources activities.