April 29, 2019 11719 Amy Newby Director, Parks & Recreation City of San Carlos 600 Elm Street San Carlos, California 94070 Subject: Biological Resources Constraints Assessment for the City of San Carlos Fuel Management Project, San Carlos, San Mateo County, California Dear Ms. Newby: At the request of the City of San Carlos, Dudek conducted a biological constraints assessment for the proposed Fuel Management Project (project) that includes four distinct public parks in the City of San Carlos, San Mateo County, California: Big Canyon Park, Crestview Park, Eaton Park, and Highlands Park (Figures 1 and 2). The currently proposed project would entail a series of vegetation management activities that will abate hazardous vegetation in the four city parks. These parks are largely undeveloped with walking trails that intersect the landscape. Specific goals of the vegetation management project include the following: (1) conduct targeted fuel reduction treatments using hand crews, masticators, track chippers, herbicides, and herbivory to reduce highly combustible underbrush and chaparral within the defensible space zone of adjacent private ownerships, (2) create strategic fuel breaks using hand crews, masticators, track chippers, and herbivory to reduce highly combustible underbrush and chaparral along access roads and ridgelines, and (3) remove dead/diseased and non-native trees as part of a comprehensive fuel reduction effort. As part of the assessment, a reconnaissance-level field survey was conducted to identify and characterize existing biological conditions within the project site including the nature and extent of both common and sensitive natural vegetation communities, wetlands and other aquatic features potentially under the jurisdiction of state and federal resource agencies, and the potential for special-status plant and animal species to occur. Based on the field survey as well as on a review of appropriate literature and biological databases, potential constraints to proposed fuel management from on-site biological resources were identified. This report provides a description of the project sites, a summary of the proposed project and purpose, methodology and results of the review of available database and literature searches as well as the field survey, and a discussion of potential constraints posed by biological resources to project implementation. Suggested measures and actions to avoid and/or minimize these constraints are also provided. Site Locations and Description The project discussed herein consists of four sites: Big Canyon Park, Crestview Park, Eaton Park, and Highlands Park in the City of San Carlos, California (Figure 1). Combined, the four portions of the project site consist of approximately 131.4 acres. The four parks are maintained and operated by the City of San Carlos and located east 11719 1 April 2019 Ms. Amy Newby Subject: Biological Resources Constraints Assessment for the City of San Carlos Fuel Management Project, San Carlos, San Mateo County, California of Interstate 280. From Interstate 280, the Big Canyon, Crestview, and Eaton Parks may be accessed via Crestview Drive and Brittan Avenue within the residential neighborhood of Crestview. Highlands Park may be accessed via Melendy Drive within the residential Beverly Terrace neighborhood. The location data for each site is provided in Table 1 and shown in Figure 1. Table 1. Project Site Location Information Other Location Information (Section, Project Site Geographic Coordinates Township (T), Range (R)) Big Canyon Park 37.485806, -122.280332 Section 22, T5South, R4West Crestview Park 37.484645, -122.285913 Section 22, T5South, R4West Eaton Park 37.484565, -122.274626 Section 23, T5South, R4West Highlands Park 37.495417, -122.275832 Section 14, T5South, R4West The project sites are located west of the Mt. Diablo Meridian and are all located within the “Woodside, CA” U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 7.5-minute quadrangle. The project sites are characterized generally as undeveloped public city parks adjacent to residential neighborhoods. Geography and Soils All four sites are generally located east of the Pulgas Ridge Open Space Preserve in San Carlos, California. Terrain is variable within each site and ranges from hilly to flat. Elevations of the four parks range from approximately 220 feet to 700 feet, National Geodetic Vertical Datum. Specific soil data is described for each project site in Table 2 and Figure 3, and the soil types are described in more detail below. Table 2. Soil Data Project Site USDA Soils Types Big Canyon Park Fagan loam, 15 to 50 percent slopes; Maymen gravelly loam, 30 to 50 percent slopes; Urban land-Orthents, cut and fill complex, 5 to 75 percent slopes Crestview Park Orthents, cut and fill, 0 to 15 percent slopes; Urban land-Orthents, cut and fill complex, 5 to 75 percent slopes Eaton Park Los Gatos loam, 30 to 75 percent slopes, MLRA 15; Orthents, cut and fill-Urban land complex, 5 to 75 percent slopes; Urban land-Orthents, cut and fill complex, 5 to 75 percent slopes Highlands Park Orthents, cut and fill, 0 to 15 percent slopes; Orthents, cut and fill-Urban land complex, 5 to 75 percent slopes; Urban land; Urban land-orthents, cut and fill complex, 5 to 75 percent slopes Source: USDA 2019. Fagan Series Soils. Fagan series soils consists of deep, well-drained soils that are of a very high run-off class derived from weathered sandstone and shale, typically found in hill landforms (USDA 2019). 11719 2 April 2019 Ms. Amy Newby Subject: Biological Resources Constraints Assessment for the City of San Carlos Fuel Management Project, San Carlos, San Mateo County, California Maymen Series Soils. Maymen series soils consists of shallow, somewhat excessively drained soils that formed in residuum weathered from shale, schist, greenstone, sandstone, and conglomerate, typically found in mountain/hill landforms (USDA 2019). Urban land-Orthents Series Soils. Urban land-Orthents series soils are well drained and primarily occur in the surrounding developed areas of the parks (USDA 2019). Los Gatos Series Soils. Los Gatos series soils are well drained with a very high run-off class and are members of the fine-loamy, mixed, mesic family of Typic Agrixerolls (USDA 2019). This soil type is derived from weathered sedimentary rock, and typically has brown, light clay loam, granular, slightly acid A1 horizons, brown and yellowish red, slightly and medium acid clay loam and gravelly clay loam Bt horizons over sandstone bedrock (USDA 2019). Drainage refers to the frequency and duration of periods when the soil is saturated with water. The above soil types are non-hydric, although hydric inclusions may occur. The soil types on site are not known to support edaphic special status plant species (i.e., the soils of the site are neither serpentine nor alkaline). Hydrology The project sites vary in elevation from approximately 220 feet above mean sea level at Eaton Park to 700 feet above mean sea level at Crestview Park. Crestview and Highland parks do not contain wetland or waterways and are not hydrologically connected to any major waterways or bodies of water, and do not contain features, such as established banks and wetland or riparian vegetation, that would fall under jurisdictional waters of the United States. Big Canyon Park and Eaton Park contain hydrological features. These features are defined by the steep terrain throughout the two parks, where unnamed ephemeral drainages intersect the properties. The ephemeral drainages contain distinct beds and banks and were flowing lightly during the time of the survey, during the height of the 2019 rain season. No deep-plunge pools (>6 inches in depth) were observed in the drainages. Ephemeral drainages capture and channel rainwater in the parks to the stormwater system of the surrounding neighborhoods. This water enters an unnamed creek to the east of the two parks, which then channels water northeast to the San Francisco Bay, which is a traditional navigable water, as defined by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE). Thus, the drainages on site are potentially jurisdictional features. Preliminary Site Evaluation The surveys were conducted on foot to visually cover each of the four project sites. Aerial photography with an overlay of the project boundaries was utilized to map the vegetation communities and record any special-status or sensitive biological resources while in the field. Data regarding biological and jurisdictional resources present within the project sites was obtained through a review of pertinent literature and field reconnaissance. The results of the preliminary site evaluation are described in detail below. Special-Status Species Special-status biological resources present or potentially present on the project site were identified through a literature and database search using the following sources: US Department of Agriculture soil series maps (USDA 11719 3 April 2019 Ms. Amy Newby Subject: Biological Resources Constraints Assessment for the City of San Carlos Fuel Management Project, San Carlos, San Mateo County, California 2019) (Figure 3); the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Information, Planning and Conservation (IPaC) Trust Resource Report (USFWS 2019); the CDFW California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB) (CDFW 2019); and the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) online Inventory of Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Plants (CNPS 2019a). Searches of the above-referenced databases were completed for the Woodside and eight surrounding U.S. Geological Survey