Nonpoint Source Permitting on Federal Lands in the North Coast Region

Announcement

On August 15, 2024, General Waste Discharge Requirements for Nonpoint Source Discharges Related to Certain Land Management Activities on Federal Lands in the North Coast Region, Order R1-2024-0012 (Federal Lands Permit), was adopted by the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board and is now in effect. The Federal Lands Permit and its supporting Environmental Impact Report are available to download and review using the links below. Please review the Federal Lands Permit documents below and contact the appropriate North Coast Water Board liaison (see Federal Lands Permit Liaison Contact Information section below) for questions regarding Federal Lands Permit implementation.

Below are several noteworthy components or requirements of the Federal Lands Permit. Please review the Federal Lands Permit in entirety for a complete understanding of its requirements.


-Projects currently enrolled under Orders R1-2004-0015, R1-2010-0029, R1-2015-0021, and R1-2020-0021 (previous Waivers) may proceed under the conditions of those previous Waivers until August 24, 2025, after which time coverage will be administratively terminated. Projects enrolled under previous Waivers that will operate past August 24, 2025, must enroll under the Federal Lands Permit.

-Federal agency staff seeking project enrollment under Category B of the Federal Lands Permit must complete and submit a signed project application form, called the Notice of Intent (Attachment D). Please see Attachment B for activities that qualify as Category B and as such require project enrollment under the Federal Lands Permit.

-The term Legacy Sediment Site (LSS) used in the former Federal Waivers was replaced by the term Controllable Sediment Discharge Source (CSDS) in the Federal Lands Permit.

-Project-level CSDS treatment is not required by the Federal Lands Permit for Category B projects. (However, projects designed specifically to address CSDS are an eligible activity that must apply for Category B coverage). CSDS treatment is required through the Watershed Assessment and Recovery Program, or WARP. These requirements are outlined in Attachment F of the Federal Lands Permit.

-The Federal Lands Permit includes regulatory requirements that apply to the federal land agencies’ management of livestock grazing. The Permit covers the activity of grazing, rather than individual grazing projects. As such, all grazing activities on federal lands in the North Coast Region are automatically enrolled in the Federal Lands Permit. Grazing activities must comply with Federal Guidance Documents and specific conditions in Section II.F of the Order and Section VII of the MRP.

-All activities undertaken by Federal Agencies must comply with Federal Agency-specific Federal Guidance Documents, as defined in Attachments G and H of the Federal Lands Permit, and applicable federal BMPs for water quality protection identified in Section II.C.3-5 of the Order.

Federal Lands in the North Coast Region

Federal lands are a significant part of the North Coast, comprising 46% of the total Region. The Federal Lands Permit (FLP, or permit) focuses on three agencies that manage the most federal land in the Region – the United States Forest Service (USFS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and National Park Service (NPS).  The USFS manages 88.5% of the federal lands in the Region, the BLM manages 7% and NPS manages 2.5%. There are several other federal agencies that cumulatively manage 2% of federal lands in the Region, including the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, US Army Core of Engineers, and US Coast Guard.  These agencies do not often conduct permit-eligible activities, so as such are not the focus of the permit. (They can however enroll in the permit when they conduct eligible projects, and only certain conditions will apply.)  Each of the three primary federal agencies are comprised of several Administrative Units, which the permit defines as individual USFS National Forests, BLM Field Offices, and NPS Parks or Monuments.

Regulatory Background

The North Coast Water Board has regulated forest management activities on federal lands since 2004 when the State Water Resources Control Board adopted the Policy for Implementation and Enforcement of the Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Program, or the Nonpoint Source Policy. The Nonpoint Source Policy requires nonpoint source discharges in California to be permitted through Waste Discharge Requirements, Waivers of Waste Discharge Requirements, or discharge prohibitions. In response to the Nonpoint Source Policy, the North Coast Water Board adopted its first regulatory program for federal lands in 2004, a Waiver of Waste Discharge Requirements, and subsequently updated it in 2010 and 2015. The fourth iteration, the Federal Lands Permit, was adopted on August 15, 2024. It is a General Waste Discharge Requirements permit that, unlike Waivers, will not expire every five years. Please review the Federal Lands Permit Overview and Permit Documentssections for more Federal Lands Permit information and documents.

Federal Lands Permit Overview

The Federal Lands Permit reflects North Coast Water Board staff’s experience implementing the Federal Waiver, along with input received from North Coast Water Board members, federal land management agencies, California Native American Tribes (Tribes), and other organizations and communities of interest in the North Coast Region. The intent of many of the changes made to the existing permit was to better accommodate fuels management and fire recovery actions on federal lands, reduce threats to communities from catastrophic wildfires, require monitoring that is consistent with existing federal efforts and that will yield consistent data, and provide a flexible approach to effectively address controllable sediment discharge sources (CSDS) and improve watershed conditions through the Watershed Assessment and Recovery Program (WARP). See the WARP section below for more information.


The Federal Lands Permit and the associated Monitoring and Reporting Program (MRP) rely on permit conditions, existing federal best management practices, and the standards and guidelines contained in federal agency guidance documents to demonstrate compliance with water quality standards. Key requirements of the Federal Lands Permit include steady treatment of CSDS across federal agencies via the WARP, retention of natural shade within designated riparian zones, and implementation of best management practices designed to prevent and minimize discharges of pollutants to surface waters.

Changes from 2015 Federal Waiver

The Federal Lands Permit contains several key changes with respect to the 2015 Federal Waiver including, but not limited to, the following:

  1. a new approach to treating CSDS through a treatment credit system (the WARP) across federal agency land;
  2. a revised regulatory approach to livestock grazing; and
  3. updated monitoring requirements to better align with federal agency protocols and state monitoring standards.

Watershed Assessment and Recovery Program

The WARP establishes regulatory requirements designed to steadily advance the treatment of CSDS over time. The WARP relies on a performance-based credit system developed for each Administrative Unit and tailored to the specific water quality conditions and land management activities on its respective lands.

Each Administrative Unit is assigned a credit obligation that must be satisfied annually (beginning with the 2025 calendar year), with compliance assessed as a five-year average, to address CSDS and accrue treatment credits. The WARP also provides some limited compliance flexibility through alternative actions that protect or improve water quality, including but not limited to aquatic habitat restoration activities, forest resilience/climate adaptation treatments, and certain monitoring and adaptive management actions. Federal agency requirements are intended to be adjusted over time, as CSDS treatments are applied, impairment conditions change, and management activities evolve.

Please refer to Attachments F and F1 for additional information about the WARP, including the annual treatment credit obligations for each Administrative Unit, credit generating activities and their associated values, credit multiplies, how annual treatment credits may be reduced over time, and more. An example of the annual WARP reporting form can be found in Attachment C2.

Livestock Grazing

The Federal Lands Permit now covers all permitted livestock grazing activities on federal lands. The required conditions for grazing include grazing best management practices contained in Federal Guidance documents, management measures taken from other North Coast Water Board permits, and plans and policies that apply to grazing such as the Standards and Guidelines for the Northwest Forest Plan.

On USFS grazing allotments, each National Forest is required to evaluate twenty percent of active allotments, up to a maximum of four, using the National Best Management Practice Evaluation Protocol or the California Rapid Assessment Method, and submit results to the North Coast Water Board in its annual report. If observations of apparent water quality impacts are identified, indicator bacteria monitoring of that allotment may be required to evaluate potential impacts to water quality.

Each National Forest is required to submit a copy of all approved Annual Operating Instructions (or equivalent) issued on each allotment. Any corrective actions identified in the National Best Management Practices assessments or in North Coast Water Board staff inspection documents is required to be addressed and incorporated into the following year’s Annual Operating Instructions. Each National Forest or federal agency is required to submit a certification to the North Coast Water Board that all allotments meet Federal Guidance standards and that the federal agency transmitted a copy of the permit and requirements to the grazing permittee.

Monitoring and Reporting

The Federal Lands Permit MRP applies to the USFS, BLM, and NPS, and leverages their existing monitoring practices, where appropriate. For example, it requires federal agencies to submit in-channel monitoring information for their Administrative Units that utilize National River and Stream Assessment (NRSA), Aquatic and Riparian Effectiveness Monitoring Plan (AREMP), or similar monitoring protocols in order to continue to provide the North Coast Water Board with information about in-channel conditions across federal lands.

Permit Documents

 

Federal Lands Permit Liaison Contact Information

Please contact the appropriate North Coast Water Board staff liaison listed below for questions related to the Federal Lands Permit.

United States Forest Service

Bureau of Land Management – Devon Rabellino, devon.rabellino@waterboards.ca.gov, (707) 576-2701

National Park Service – Devon Rabellino, devon.rabellino@waterboards.ca.gov, (707) 576-2701

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