North Texas Municipal Water District’s Proposed Lower Bois d’Arc Creek Reservoir Presented by: Jim Parks

Major North Texas Water Providers

NTMWD Treated Water Service Area 13 Member Cities Allen Farmersville Forney Frisco Garland McKinney Mesquite Richardson Plano Princeton Rockwall Royse City Wylie 49 Customer Cities, Towns & Water Supply Corporations

NTMWD Raw Water Supply Sources

2007 State Water Plan for NTMWD

Lower Bois d’Arc Creek Reservoir Fannin County, TX Area: 16,526 acres Storage: 367,609 ac-ft Supply: 113 MGD Average Depth: 22 ft Maximum Depth: 70 ft Lake Elevation: 534 ft msl

Water Right Application Submitted - December 2006 Administratively complete - June 2007 Interbasin transfer meetings -September 2007 Supplemental application: 401 & 404 applications Outstanding Requests for Information: Instream Flow Study Reservoir Operating Plan Downstream Impacts Mitigation Plan

404 Permit Application Submitted to USACE – June 2008 EIS Determination – March 2009 EIS Contractor Selected August 2009 Public & Agency Scoping Meetings – December 2009

404 Permit Application Required by USACE: Jurisdictional Determination Report  Habitat Evaluation Study – Reservoir Site  Geomorphic Assessment of Streams  Environmental Report  Archeological Report – (begin spring 2010)

Land Acquisition NTMWD Board approved - November 2007 Reservoir Site Land needed – 22,590 acres Acquisitions to date - 9,991 acres (44%) Riverby Ranch Mitigation Area 14,958 acres

Riverby Ranch Mitigation Area 14,958 acres Potentially meets all mitigation needs: Created wetlands Stream restoration Uplands Very unique opportunity Riverby Ranch is currently for sale (closed on Feb 8th?). It is a working cattle ranch that has been significantly over grazed. Water naturally stands on the property. Drainage improvements have been made. Simple steps of removing cattle and restoring the original hydrology can greatly improve the quality of the land (mitigation credits). There are plenty of opportunities to gain credits for forested and emergent wetlands, upland buffers and stream restoration. There is a approx 2,600 acres of land along Bois d’Arc Creek that in the Wetland Reserve Program (WRP). This may or may not provide any opportunities for credits in this acreage. Need to do more research. It does provide the opportunities for eco-boosts and protections. The Riverby ranch currently separates 2 WRP properties. This property is truly a unique opportunity. The Corps staff in Tulsa managing the Section 404 Permit have been very positive to the approach the District has taken in pursuing this very unique mitigation opportunity.

Riverby Ranch Mitigation Area Developing partnership with USFS to manage site Double USFS lands within the region USFS staff has shown strong support Designated themselves as a “cooperating agency” Mr. Jim Crooks, the Caddo National Grasslands District Ranger, and Ms. Linda Brett, Forest Supervisor (head of USFS in Texas), both stated that the USFS would be a “cooperating agency” for this project. Not only did the USFS and USDA staff show strong support at the January meeting in Decatur, a senior USDA staff member from USDA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. termed the District’s approach to building this reservoir and providing adjacent mitigation lands, “the perfect project which meets almost all of the Secretary’s priorities.” She later asked if District Staff would be willing to brief the Secretary of Agriculture on the project in Washington at some future date. As a commentary to the USFS/USDA positive response, I believe that the District’s proactive approach to including all of the key state and federal agencies as active stakeholders has been critical to the warm response they have received from both the Corps and the Forest Service.

Lower Bois d’ Arc Reservoir Schedule