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4.7 BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES If constructed as proposed, the Buckeye Ranch project would result in a loss of critical nesting habitat and foraging habitat for the threatened Swainson's hawk. Prior to the time when the application for the Buckeye Ranch development was filed, a small segment of Brovelli Woods was logged in preparation of the golf course construction. This could be considered a taking of habitat for a state threatened species under the California fish and Game Code, Section 2080. If the golf course project is completed as proposed, the daily presence of golfers, plus fairway maintenance personnel and equipment on the fairways which are proposed within and adjacent to Brovelli Woods, would create a disturbance factor for nesting hawks which is prohibited in Section II-1-A of the CDFG Mitigation Guidelines. It is noted in making this projection that the proposed golf course is presently slated for the exclusive use of the future residents of the 26 homes proposed for the site and their guests, thus, on some days traffic in the woodland fairways may be minimal. However, heavy weekend use, plus occasional tournaments, would seem sufficient to create a disturbance factor. An additional disturbance factor would result from the equestrian trail proposed through Brovelli Woods. The loss of a number of acres of old growth foothill/riparian woodland, a preferred nesting habitat for this raptor, has occurred as an initial part of the golf course construction project. These concerns over human disturbance of nesting hawks are based on statements by Estep, 1989, and the DFG Management Guidelines for this species. It is also noted that local intolerance of human presence may be contrary to the behavior of this raptor in the eastern portion of the United States. One other practice associated with golf course management which may also impact the Swainson's hawk and all other avian and mammalian carnivores is that of using rodenticides to periodically reduce small rodent numbers in the fairway and green areas. Not only does such a control program reduce the supply of prey adjacent to nesting sites, but it also creates a situation in which hawks may occasionally die as a result of catching and eating dying, poisoned rodents. Presently, the most popular rodenticide for ground squirrels and gophers is oats laced with zinc phosphide. This chemical reacts when wetted by saliva to produce a phosphide-type gas in the mouth and throat. This gas then enters the respiratory system during subsequent inhalations and eventually blocks neural conduction throughout the body, causing death. Although many squirrels retreat into their burrows when first confrontedwith the effects of the gas, some become disoriented and move away from burrow areas in an uncoordinated fashion. It is such individuals which hawks and other predators are most likely to catch,and if some dried poison grain had been stored in the squirrel's cheek pouches prior to consumption, this material would then become volatile in a raptor's crop or stomach. An additional consideration is the potential loss of foraging habitat for the Swainson's hawk as a result of the proposed project. Direct loss would occur through the conversion of approximately 49 acres for lots bordering the two lakes as depicted on the applicant's site plan. Because rodent production was observed to be optimal in the lightly grazed areas near the lakeshores, hawk foraging habitat would be 4.7-26