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4. ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS 4.9 BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES - communities including oak woodland, wetlands, and riparian woodland. Intensive agricultural _ and urban development has resulted in a reduction of these habitats. Agricultural production (including cattle ranching) is the main use for land in San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties. In San Joaquin County,row crops, orchards, and hay crops comprise the majority of agricultural — production. Row crops,rice,alfalfa,and hay crops characterize agricultural production within central Stanislaus County. The remaining native plant communities occur in isolated remnant patches within urban and agricultural landscapes, or in areas where varied topography has limited — disturbance. The Proposed Project area ties at the extreme northern end of the northern half of the Solyo 7.5' — USGS quadrangle, and elevations range between approximately 140 and 220 feet. As described in Section 4.7,soils in the area include Zacharias clay loam, Vernalis clay loam,Capay clay,and Cortina gravelly sandy loam. Some of the soils in the area may be alkaline, and while undisturbed soils may contain seasonal wetlands or vernal pools,the entire Proposed Project area has been disturbed by agricultural activities including straightening Hospital Creek. Soil temperature regimes are thermic, and moisture regimes are xeric(Miles and Goudey, 1997). PLANT COMMUNITIES AND WILDLIFE HABITATS Wildlife habitats are described here using CDFG's A Guide to Wildlife Habitats(Mayer and Laudenslayer, 1988). Wildlife habitats generally correspond to plant communities. Plant communities are assemblages of plant species that occur together in a given area,and are defined by species composition and relative abundance. The plant communities within wildlife habitats in this document were classified using A Manual of California Vegetation(Sawyer and Keeler- _ Wolf, 1995). The Proposed Project area predominantly consists of agricultural land with small inclusions of two habitats including annual grassland and valley foothill riparian. Agricultural The Proposed Project area is almost entirely composed of actively farmed agricultural lands, — predominantly almond and apricot orchards and row crops. Surrounding fields also support orchard, hay,and grain crops as well as grapes and other row crops. Cultivated lands provide little habitat for native plant species,however natural vegetation can occur along field edges and — irrigation features such as ditches. Cultivated fields provide important over-wintering forage base for many species of waterfowl, shorebirds,and raptors. Irrigated rice fields serve as freshwater wetland habitats for a variety of wildlife including waterfowl and shorebirds. — Annual Grassland Annual grassland occurs in narrow strips adjacent to crops,including the spaces between orchard rows. Commonly found constituents of this habitat type found within the Proposed Project area are barnyard grass(Echinochloa crus-galli),feather fmgergrass(Chlorin virgata),tumbleweed (Salsola tragus),yellow star-thistle(Centaurea solstitialis),Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon), cheeseweed(Malva parvii lora),common purslane(Portulaca oleracea), ripgut brome(Bromus RMC Pacific VemaUs Quary Mining and Reclamation Pwimt 4.9-2 ESA 1703015 Administmdve Dmf(Eat Mach 2004