Biological Resources Assessment
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10336 Alder Avenue Industrial Project Appendix C General Biological Resources Assessment ALDER LOGISTICAL CENTER PROJECT May 2019 General Biological Resources Assessment Fontana United States Geological Survey 7.5-Minute Topographic Quadrangles Map San Bernardino Base and Meridian Township 1 South, Range 5 West, Sections 20 and 21. Assessor Parcel Numbers 025213103, 025213104, 025213136, 025213141 and 025213143 Owner SRPF B/10336 ALDER, L.L.C., a Texas limited liability company. Prepared By Lenny Malo MS, Lincoln Hulse BS, Dale Powell PhD and Erin Serra BS 16361 Scientific Way, Irvine, CA 92618 (949) 467-9100 General Biological Resources Assessment TABLE OF CONTENTS Section Page 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................. 1-1 2.0 PROJECT AND PROPERTY DESCRIPTION........................................................................................ 2-1 3.0 FOCUSED STUDY/SPECIES OF CONCERN ....................................................................................... 3-1 4.0 METHODS ...................................................................................................................................... 4-1 5.0 GENERAL BIOLOGICAL SURVEY RESULTS ...................................................................................... 5-1 5.1 Vegetation Communities and Land Cover Types ................................................................ 5-1 5.2 Wildlife ................................................................................................................................ 5-1 5.3 Special-Status Plants ........................................................................................................... 5-1 5.4 Special-Status Wildlife ......................................................................................................... 5-1 5.5 Wetland and Waterways ..................................................................................................... 5-2 6.0 IMPACTS ........................................................................................................................................ 6-1 7.0 PROPOSED MITIGATION MEASURES ............................................................................................ 7-3 8.0 CERTIFICATION .............................................................................................................................. 8-1 9.0 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................. 9-1 FIGURES Figure 1 Regional Location ................................................................................................................ 2-2 Figure 2 Site Vicinity .......................................................................................................................... 2-3 Figure 3 Vegetation Communities and Land Cover Types ................................................................ 5-3 Figure 4 Literature Review ................................................................................................................ 5-4 Figure 5 Critical Habitat .................................................................................................................... 5-5 Figure 6 Soils ..................................................................................................................................... 5-6 Figure 7 National Wetland Inventory ............................................................................................... 5-7 APPENDICES Appendix A Photograph Log Appendix B Special-Status Species Potential for Occurrence within the Project Site Appendix C Plant Species Observed within the Study Area Appendix D Wildlife Species Observed within the Study Area Page i General Biological Resources Assessment 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY NOREAS Inc. (NOREAS) is pleased to provide this Biological Technical Report for the Alder Logistical Center Project (hereafter referred to as the “Project”). The Project is located at the north terminus of Alder Avenue, near the Union pacific Rail Road tracks in Fontana, California (Figure 1). This report documents the findings of baseline biological resources surveys and habitat assessments for the Project. The intended use of this document is to disclose and evaluate Project conditions, to determine the potential for occurrence of common and special-status species, and their habitats, within study area limits. For the purposes of this report, the “study area” includes the Project’s proposed ground disturbance footprint (Project Site), and a buffer (Figure 2). Only developed and disturbed land cover types were detected within the study area during pedestrian surveys in 2019. As such, greater than 99% of the study area is comprised of developed, disturbed and/or non-native plant and wildlife habitats. The Project is not collocated with any United States Fish and Wildlife Service designated critical habitat, nor were any special status species detected within the study area during the 2019 field survey events. No nesting birds, remnant raptor nests, or bat guano were detected within the Project Site either. The extent of anthropogenic disturbance within the Project Site and in the region, have substantially decreased the Project Site’s value as suitable breeding, nesting, refuge and foraging habitat for native and special status species as well. The Project Site also has limited – if any, value as a low quality migration corridor - or overland dispersal habitat for wildlife, because the Project is severely movement constrained by surrounding residential and commercial developments, and public infrastructure (i.e., interstate highway, paved roads, rail roads, residential houses, vacant lots, parking and industrial complexes, etc.). Nonetheless, the study area is within the Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly (Rhaphiomidas terminatus abdominalis [DSF]) Jurupa Recovery Unit. To that end, portions of the Project Site have been mapped by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Soil Survey as being comprised of Delhi Sand soils. Delhi Sand soils are wind deposited (aeolian), the boundaries established by USDA- NRCS are not exact and change over time. Based on the results of the survey, surface soils present on the Project Site were determined not to contain clean Delhi Sand soils. As a result, the Project Site was determined not to have the potential to provide suitable habitat for DSF and it is assumed that DSF is absent from it. Further – and as detailed to some extent above, the Project Site is surrounded by existing development on all of its sides, and no longer has connectivity to areas containing clean Delhi Sands soils, or locales subject to Aeolian processes. Therefore, development of this Project would not be expected to impact DSF or impede the species recovery as defined by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) DSF Recovery Plan (1997). In summary, given the extent of disturbance present, the Project Site lacks the substantive habitat needed to support special status species; and any common species currently using these lands are assumed to be acclimated to the human influenced environment that exists there. Therefore, the permanent habitat loss associated with the Project would be considered an insignificant effect, as a result of the amount of higher value native vegetation communities and land cover types within the region that are already held in conservation (or designated as open space) in San Bernardino County. Page 1-1 General Biological Resources Assessment 2.0 PROJECT AND PROPERTY DESCRIPTION The Project will consist of an approximate 174,780 square foot high cube warehouse which is to include office space and parking in Fontana, California (Figure 1). For the purposes of this report, the “study area” includes the Project’s proposed ground disturbance footprint (Project Site) and a buffer (Figure 2). The Project can be found on the Fontana United States Geological Survey (USGS) 7.5-Minute Topographic Quadrangle Map within San Bernardino Base and Meridian – Township 1 South, Range 5 west, Sections 20 and 21 (USGS 1989). The vast majority of the study area is limited to disturbed and developed land cover types. Page 2-1 R T 1 S Randall Ave 5 W San Bernardino Ave San Bernardino Ave Alder Ave Alder Sierra Ave Sierra Marigold Ave Ave Cedar Valley Blvd ¨¦§10 Slover Ave Cedar Ave Cedar Alder Ave Alder Laurel Ave Laurel Ave Linden Maple Ave Maple Locust Ave Locust Sierra Ave Sierra Tamarind Ave Tamarind Juniper Ave Juniper ProductionAve Santa Ana Ave Jurupa Ave 5 Statewide Location Regional Location Miles ° Study Area 0 1,000 2,000 Project Site Feet Copyright: © 20131 National inch = 2,000 Geographic feet Society° Freeway (inset) Major Road (inset) Forest or Park (inset) Data Sources: - BLM accessed Jun 2019 Water Body (inset) - ESRI US Topo Maps accessed Jun 2019 - Lake Creek Industrial LLC 2018 The site is located in the City of Fontana, Map Prepared: 6-6-19 San Bernardino County, on the Fontana USGS 7.5-minute quadrangle map. San Bernardino Base and Meridian, Township 1 South, Prepared by: Range 5 West, Sections 20 and 21. Study Area Center coordinates are: Latitude 34.065616, Longitude -117.419255 C:\SRM\Noreas\AlderLogistics\Fig1. RegionalLocation.mxd Figure 1. Regional Location 0 0.125 0.25 Mile 1 inch = 0.25 mile ° Study Area (51 acres) Data Sources: Project Site (9.5 acres) - Bing accessed