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05/21/98 16:15 $9169792770 FISH & WILDLIFE Q001 sST OF T~F Z� a United States Department of the Interior y 9 7 FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office 3310 El Camino Avenue,Suite 130 IN af.YrtEYExTO: Sacramento,California 95821 1-1-98-TA-1321 May 21, 1998 Mr. Thomas Gau San Joaquin County Community Development Department Development Services Division 1810 East Hazelton Avenue Stockton, California 95205 Subject: Potential Take of Protected Species Associated with Application Number QX-98-1, Lockeford, San Joaquin County, California Dear Mr. Gau: This letter has been prepared in response to your May 1, 1998, request to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) for comments on a Quarry Excavation application (QX-98-1) to excavate up to 1,800,000 cubic yards of fill dirt from a quarry located on the north bank of the Mokelumne River. The site is located 1,000 feet southeast of the point where Peltier Road turns north and becomes Tully Road northeast of Lockeford, San Joaquin County, California. Information contained in Service files indicates federally listed, proposed, and candidate species may be present in the vicinity of the proposed quarry excavation (Enclosure A). Section 9 of the Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act) and its implementing regulations prohibit the "take" of federally listed species of wildlife. Take is defined by the Act as "to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect" any such wildlife species. Take may include significant habitat modification or degradation where it actually falls or injures wildlife by significantly impairing essential behavioral patterns, including breeding, feeding, or sheltering. The Service strongly recommends San Joaquin County (County) obtain species lists from the Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office (contact: Harry Mossman, (916) 979-2753) for any future projects in your planning area. Your early receipt of project-specific species lists from the Service would facilitate the County's compliance with the Act. Based on a site visit conducted by Mr. Chris Davis and Mr. Frank Muth of my staff and Mr. Bob Allen (applicant) on May 19, 1998, the Service has concluded the proposed excavation may result in the take of valley elderberry longhorn beetle, a federally threatened species, and western spadefoot toad, a California protected species. Many elderberry bushes (Sambucus sp.), some with stems greater than one inch in diameter, were present on the quarry property adjacent to the Mokelumne River. In addition, western spadefoot toad tadpoles were present in a scraped pool within the quarry area. The Service therefore recommends the County reject the proposed negative declaration for application QX-98-1. If the project is modified to incorporate avoidance of disturbance to elderberry shrubs, it may be appropriate for the County to adopt a mitigated negative declaration. If the applicant or landowner chooses to disturb or destroy the elderberry shrubs, the Service should be contacted for guidance on completing appropriate compensatory mitigation.