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DocuSign Envelope ID: 117C5B91-97C1-4BD1-9378-E46B8768498C Mr. Mark Meissner City of Lathrop April 13, 2020 Page 5 of 7 "Burrowing Owl Assessment and Avoidance: Prior to the initiation of Project activities, including ground disturbing work, the Qualified Biologist shall conduct surveys following the methodology described in Appendix D: Breeding and Non-breeding Season Surveys of the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) Staff Report on Burrowing Owl Mitigation (Staff Report), which is available at https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentlD=83843. In accordance with the CDFG 2012 Staff Report, a minimum of four survey visits should be conducted within 500 feet of the Project area during the owl breeding season which is typically between February 1 and August 31. A minimum of three survey visits, at least three weeks apart, should be conducted during the peak nesting period, which is between April 15 and July 15, with at least one visit after June 15. Pre-construction surveys should be conducted no-less-than 14 days prior to the start of construction activities with a final survey conducted within 24 hours prior to ground disturbance. Detected burrowing owls shall be avoided pursuant to the buffer zones prescribed in the CDFG 2012 Staff Report and any passive relocation plan shall be subject to CDFW review." Additionally, CDFW recommends that the City incorporate and implement measures to avoid or minimize the loss of burrowing owl nesting and/or foraging habitat. To offset loss of foraging habitat, CDFW recommends that the Project proponent should be required to purchase and protect in perpetuity compensatory mitigation lands at a minimum of a 1:1 mitigation ratio as a condition of Project approval. If active burrows or winter roosts are found onsite and take cannot be avoided, the mitigation ratio should be increased to a minimum of 3:1 (mitigation: loss). The long-term demographic consequences of exclusion techniques have not been thoroughly evaluated, and the survival rate of evicted or excluded owls is unknown. All possible avoidance and minimization measures should be considered before temporary or permanent exclusion and closure of burrows is implemented in order to avoid "take". Comment 5: Special-Status Plants CDFW recommends that the Project area be surveyed for special-status plants by a qualified botanist following the "Protocols for Surveying and Evaluating Impacts to Special-Status Native Plant Populations and Natural Communities," which can be found online at https:Hwildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Survey-Protocols. This protocol, which is intended to maximize detectability, includes identification of reference populations to facilitate the likelihood of field investigations occurring during the appropriate floristic period. In the absence of protocol-level surveys being performed, additional surveys may be necessary. If a state-listed or state Rare' plant is identified during botanical surveys, consultation with CDFW is warranted to determine if the Project can avoid take. If take cannot be avoided, acquisition of take authorization through an ITP issued by CDFW pursuant to Fish and Game Code Sections 2081(b) and/or Section 1900 et seq is necessary to comply with Fish and Game Code CESA and the Native Plant Protection Act. 1 In this context, "Rare"means listed under the California Native Plant Protection Act.