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III. Environmental Setting, Impacts, and Mitigations F. Vegetation and Wildlife IMPACTS AND MITIGATION MEASURES Significance Criteria Section 15065(a)of the California Environmental Quality Act(CEQA)Guidelines specifies that a lead agency shall find that a project may have a significant effect on the environment when the project has the potential to"...substantially reduce the habitat of a fish or wildlife species,cause a fish or wildlife population to drop below self-sustaining levels,threaten to eliminate a plant or animal community,or reduce the number or a rare or endangered species...." The Guidelines (Appendix G)provide examples of impacts that normally are considered significant,including those that would: • "substantially affect a rare or endangered species of animal or plant or the habitat of the species;" • "interfere substantially with the movement of any resident or migratory fish or wildlife species;" • "substantially diminish habitat for fish, wildlife or plants." The Guidelines(Section 15380)further define "rare or endangered species" as those species officially listed as threatened,endangered,or rare under Federal or California law. In addition, the Guidelines provide that plant or animal species may be treated as "rare or endangered"even if not on one of the official lists if: • its survival and reproduction in the wild are in immediate jeopardy, • if the species is existing in such small numbers throughout all or a significant portion of its range that it may become endangered if its environment worsens,or • if it is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future and maybe categorized as "threatened" under federal law. However,recent case law(Sierra Club vs. City of Gilroy, 1990 222 Cal. App. 3d.30,47)may be interpreted as providing discretion to the lead agency as to whether a species is to be considered "rare or endangered" despite meeting one or more of these criteria. Given these standards,a project would be considered to have a significant adverse impact on biological resources if it would result in substantial disruption to,or destruction of, any special status species,their habitat, or breeding grounds(e.g., Swainson's hawk breeding/foraging habitat). Special status species include those plants and animals that are State and/or federally III.F.19