SU0004097 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Biological Resources, MONK&ASSOCIATES Impacts and Mitigations Tracy Facility Expansion Site operated until 1946. In 1947, gravel production shifted to the Kerlinger Plant, located on Section 16 immediately adjacent to the project site. This plant resulted in extensive compaction and disturbance of project site soils. All remair..ing site features are illustrated on Figure 1, Site Plan. Other more recent disturbances to the proposed expansion site include overgrazing,which in combination with the above listed historical disturbances to the project site and those disturbances occurring immediately adjacent to the project site, have greatly modified the natural condition of the site. In short,the proposed expansion site is very disturbed and has little semblance of a native habitat. . 4. PROJECT SITE DESCRIPTION As stated in Section 3,the project site has had a long history of disturbance associated with past mining and related activities. Currently,the northern third of the project site is used for bee keeping and the southern third of the project site is grazed by sheep. The middle third of the project site is unused at this time. This middle portion of the project site is littered with mine tailip. Large mounds standing.between.10.and.30-feet high,are stacked over-thi portion•of the project site. This central portion of the project site averages 20 to 3.0 feet lower in elevation than the northern and southern thirds of the project site. This elevational change is due to years of mining activity. Corral Hollow Creek travels west to east along the middle third of the project site. It averages 30 feet wide between ordinary high water marks. This creek is ephemeral, drying by the mid-summer months in most years. It does not support a riparian canopy or aquatic and emergent vegetation. Vegetative cover on the project site is relatively uniform,with herbaceous plant species providing the vegetative cover,and tree and shrub species being noticeably absent. Vegetation is discussed further in Section 8. The project site is bordered by open grassland to the north,the existing Tracy Facility to the east,grassland that is grazed by sheep to the south, and Interstate 580 to the west. �I 5. PROJECT DESCRIPTION Based on past pro�'ect discussions with regulatory agency.personnel, Granite has greatly revised an to harvest sand and gravel from the proposed project site. Under the current plan, its plan excavation would occur over a six year period,with mining occurring in phases by geographic area. In.all, six mining areas would be established on the project site. Mining in Area 1 would start in the year 2000 and would finish in 2001. Mining in Area 2 would also start in the year 2000, finishing in the year 2002, and so on, continuing on to Area 6, with cessation of mining occurring in the year 2005. All of the excavated material would be transported to the existing processing plant located on the east side of the California Aqueduct by means of a conveyor bridge installed over the California Aqueduct. The Department of Water Resources (DWR)has approved the location and design of this temporary installation and will issue a permit upon their review of other applicable environmental clearances (e.g., incidental take permit for San Joaquin kit fox, U.S.Army Corps of Engineers permit). 3