SU0004094 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

4. ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS 4.9 BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES habitats, including grasslands and oak woodlands. They are also known to use an agricultural _ matrix of row crops, irrigated pasture, orchards,vineyards,and grazed annual grasslands (USFWS, 1998). The CNDDB (2004)includes a record of San Joaquin kit fox from less than two miles west of the Proposed Project area in 1992. San Joaquin kit fox tracks were detected on _ Hospital Creek at the Interstate-5 underpass (Monk and Associates 1995 in the Final Environmental Impact Report for the Koster Road Quarry Excavation). The SJMSCP emphasizes the maintenance of a north/south trending movement corridor for kit foxes through the southwest portion of San Joaquin County in order to maintain connectivity between populations to the north and south;these areas are located west of the Delta Mendota Canal. Although the likelihood of use of the Proposed Project area by San Joaquin Kit fox is low due to barriers to movement across the Delta Mendota Canal,the species may occasionally use the Proposed Project area. However,development of the Proposed Project would not conflict with the development of north/south movement corridors for kit foxes under the SJMSCP. California red-legged frogs occur in the Diablo Range, and the Proposed Project area is located in the eastern portion of the East San Francisco core area as identified in the Recovery Plan for the California Red-legged Frog(USFWS, 2002). This core area is a source for other populations and provides connectivity between populations. Although aquatic habitat is limited in the Proposed _ Project area, California red-legged frogs may occur in or near Hospital Creek,especially when the creek is flowing. Under Haul Route Option 1,impacts to California red-legged frogs are not anticipated. Under Haul Route Option 2,California red-legged frogs may be directly impacted by project activities occurring in Hospital Creek,especially when water is present, and indirectly impacted by the impounding of Hospital Creek. Under both Haul Route Options,tree-and shrub-nesting birds may be disrupted during breeding, causing their nests to fail; in addition to being disturbed during breeding,burrowing owls may be trapped in burrows and killed as a result of earth-moving activities. In addition, Swainson's hawk may be adversely impacted by the proposed project through the temporary removal of suitable foraging habitat(e.g.,grasslands and certain row-crops, but not orchards and vineyards). For Swainson's hawks, the CDFG considers foraging habitat within 10 miles of a nest site that has shown to be active within the past five years important to species' viability (CDFG, 1994). Based on a search of Swainson's hawk nest sites in the area(CNDDB, 2004), at least one nest has — shown activity within the past five years approximately 4.7 miles of the project site. As described in Section 4.3,the Proposed Project contains 687 acres of farmland, approximately half of which is orchard. All of the Proposed Project area in Stanislaus County is orchard and is not suitable foraging habitat for Swainson's hawk. This farmland would be actively mined in phases for 26 to 60 years and then reclaimed,resulting in an ultimate end use of agricultural land and open space. The reclaimed agricultural land would not likely be suitable for orchard crops due to a thin available root zone. The phased and temporary conversion of non-orchard farmland to mining activities would not result in the permanent conversion of potential Swainson's hawk foraging _ habitat,and is therefore not likely to result in a significant impact. RMC Pacific Vernalis Quany Mining and Reclamadon Project 4.9-12 ESA/203015 Adau.nuadve Dnft ERR March 2004