Assessment of Davio Danielson Property Off Barnes Road, Oak Bluffs, MA As Habitat for Rare Insect Species Listed in the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act

Assessment of Davio Danielson Property off Barnes Road, Oak Bluffs, MA as Habitat for Rare Insect Species Listed in the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act Mark J. Mello Research Director Lloyd Center for the Environment 430 Potomska Rd. Dartmouth, MA 02748 report to: Davio Danielson 9 Mountain St. Plainfield, MA 01070 Douglas Cooper Cooper Environmental; Services, LLC RR1 Box 306 Edgartown, MA 02539 September 6, 2011 Lloyd Center Report #2011-4 INTRODUCTION The Massachusetts Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program (NHESP) has identified four species of moths listed in the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act (MESA) has having priority habitat within the property on Barnes Road owned by Davio Danielson (NHESP Tracking No.: 10-28567). Three are oak-feeders as larvae: Catocala herodias gerhardi (Gerhard's Underwing – Special Concern) Stenoporpia polygrammaria (Faded Gray Geometer – Threatened) Zale lunifera (=”sp. 1”) (Pine Barrens Zale – Special Concern) and the remaining is a pitch pine feeder as larvae: Eacles imperialis (Imperial Moth - Threatened). In order to determine if and where appropriate habitat for the aforementioned species occurs on the Davidson property, the Lloyd Center was contracted to conduct an assessment of the habitat on this property relative to the likely presence of MESA listed species. A site visit was undertaken on July 26, 2011 during which time the extensive network of trails was traversed on foot. GPS coordinates of major concentrations of pitch pine was recorded in the field. This information was plotted on Google Earth satellite imagery and the distribution of pitch pine then extrapolated from these points. RESULTS The Davidson property is primary a black oak, white oak and pitch pine-dominated mature woodland with an understory primarily of black huckleberry and blue huckleberry, with lesser amounts of lowbush blueberry. Scrub oak is virtually absent, and post oak occurs as widely scattered individuals. The only open habitats occur along the gasline easement that is colonized by grasses and forbs and bordered by sapling pitch pines, and small patches of dead trees with a dense black huckleberry understory. Pitch pine occurs both as scattered mature trees amid oak-dominated woodland and as varying sized groves, particularly in the southern to southeastern portion of the property (Figures 2 and 3). The widely scattered pitch pines might only be occasionally used by Eacles imperialis, but the larger groves likely provide suitable consistent breeding habitat for this species. The approximate footprint for this pitch pine habitat is mapped from Google Earth aerial imagery in Figure 4. The red line is the approximate boundary of the Danielson property, the light green is the approximate footprint of pitch pines and “pp” indicates specific GPS coordinates for pitch pine groves. A more detailed mapping could be done from higher resolution aerial photography, especially from a winter image where the pitch pines would distinctly stand out. The three oak-feeding species are barrens specialists that generally utilize scrub oak- dominated barrens, feeding on scrub oak, dwarf chestnut oak and/or post oak. However they can and will feed on other tree oak species. The critical component is a barrens element, and with the exception of Stenoporpia polygrammaria, which I have found occasionally in at least young black/white oak woodlands lacking scrub oak, Catocala herodias and Zale lunifera likely either do not breed at this property or use it only marginally. Stenoporpia might occasionally be found throughout the property, but in very low numbers. RECOMMENDATIONS Approximately fifty percent of the property contains pitch pine that might be considered habitat for Eacles imperialis. Development of this property should strive to minimize its footprint in this habitat in order to minimize any acreage needed for mitigation and to avoid the most sensitive habitat. It is my assessment that the oak dominated woodland contains at best, marginal habitat for the three oak-feeding species. Thus, development of the woodland portions of the property would not have a measurable impact on the regional population of these oak- feeding species. Ultimately, however, it is NHESP's call whether or not they would require an actual inventory to confirm this. If they do require an inventory, flight periods for these three species are late May – early June for Zale lunifera, mid-June – early July for Stenoporpia polygrammaria, and July for Catocala herodias. An informal meeting should be set up with NHESP, probably on site to determine what their perceptions are on this site, and what additional information or surveys they might require. At this meeting a general concept plan for use of this property would be useful, but not a fully delineated engineered plan with house lots, roads, etc. If the property is to be developed, the northern half of the property would impact the least amount of Eacles imperialis habitat, although it is likely that some amount would be affected. There are two approaches that could be considered. 1. Impact the minimum amount possible and propose that there would be an incidental take, but it would not impact the local population, or 2. Put under permanent conservation and management the highest quality pitch pine areas in the southeast corner of the property at a 2:1 ratio (required by NHESP) as mitigation for pitch pine acreage lost due to development. This would likely require deeding a conservation restriction to an agency willing to hold the restriction and manage the property for Eacles imperialis. .

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