Special-Status Plant Survey Badger Street Bridge Replacement Project
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Special-Status Plant Survey for Badger Street Bridge Replacement Project Amador County, California California Department of Transportation District 10 City of Sutter Creek 10AMA – Badger Street Bridge (No. 26C0036) Over Sutter Creek Federal Aid Number: BRLS 5215 (011) 25 September 2013 Special-Status Plant Survey CONTENTS Badger Street Bridge Replacement 1.0 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Site Location .................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Existing Site Conditions .................................................................................................................. 3 1.2.1 Vegetation Communities ....................................................................................................... 3 1.2.2 Wetland Delineation .............................................................................................................. 5 1.2.3 Soils ....................................................................................................................................... 5 2.0 METHODS ..................................................................................................................................... 8 3.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .................................................................................................... 9 3.1 Previously Documented Special-Status Plant Occurrences ............................................................. 9 3.2 Target Species ................................................................................................................................. 9 3.3 Species Accounts ........................................................................................................................... 11 3.3.1 Hoover's Calycadenia........................................................................................................... 11 3.3.2 Tuolumne Button Celery ...................................................................................................... 12 3.3.3 Parry's Horkelia .................................................................................................................... 12 3.3.4 Sanford's Arrowhead ............................................................................................................ 13 3.3.4 Prairie Wedge Grass ............................................................................................................ 13 3.4 Field Survey Results ...................................................................................................................... 13 4.0 CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................................... 14 5.0 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 15 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Project Site and Vicinity ............................................................................................................... 2 Figure 2. Vegetation Map ............................................................................................................................ 4 Figure 3. Wetland Delineation ..................................................................................................................... 6 Figure 4. Natural Resources Conservation Service Soil Types ................................................................... 7 Figure 5. CNDDB Occurrences of Special-Status Plant Species ............................................................... 10 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 –Target Species .............................................................................................................................. 11 LIST OF ATTACHMENTS Attachment A – Statement of Qualifications Attachment B – Target Species Reference Source Attachment C – California Natural Diversity Database Plant Occurrence Records for the “Amador City, California” 7.5-minute Quadrangle Attachment D – Plant Species Observed On-Site (2 July 2013) 1.0 INTRODUCTION A special-status plant survey for the approximately 1.63-acre Badger Street Bridge site (Project) in Amador County, California was conducted to identify and map the locations of special-status plant species observed within the site. For the purposes of this report, “special-status species” refers to those plant species which: Are listed, proposed for listing, or candidates for future listing as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act (FESA); Are listed or candidates for future listing as threatened or endangered under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA); Meet the definitions of endangered or rare under Section 15380 of the CEQA Guidelines; Are considered by the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) to be "rare, threatened, or endangered in California" [California Rare Plant Rank (CRPR) 1B and 2 (formerly CNPS List 1B and 2)]; or Are listed as rare under the California Native Plant Protection Act (Fish and Game Code of California, Section 1900 et seq.). CRPR 3 and 4 species (Review List and Watch List, respectively) for Amador County were not considered to be target species for this survey. If any of these species were encountered during the course of the survey, the locations were mapped and included within the discussion section of this report. 1.1 Site Location The proposed project is located in the City of Sutter Creek along Badger Street, approximately 0.1 mile west of Old Highway 49 in Amador County, California (Figure 1. Project Location and Vicinity). The site corresponds to portions of Sections 6 and 7, Township 6 North, and Range 11 East [(Mount Diablo Base and Meridian (MDBM)] of the “Amador City, California” 7.5-minute United States Geological Survey (USGS) topographic quadrangle [U.S. Department of the 1 2012-106 Rare Plant Report PROJECT §6,7, T.06N, R.11E, MDB&M Latitude 38° 23' 42.98" N Longitude 120° 48' 28.78" W Upper Mokelumne Watershed (18040012) PROJECT Scale in Feet I 1 " = 2,000 ' 0 1,000 2,000 Amador City, California 7.5-minute Topographic Quadrangle US Geological Survey, 1962. Map Date: 7/10/2013 Location: N:\2012\2012-106 Sutter Creek-Badger Street Bridge\MAPS\Site_Vicinity\SCBSB_Vicinity_v1(AltB).mxd (JDS, 7/10/2013) - ekeethe Service Layer Credits: Copyright:© 2012 DeLorme Figure 1. Project Location and Vicinity 2012-106 Sutter Creek-Badger Street Bridge Interior, Geological Survey (USGS) 1962], and within the Upper Mokelumne River Watershed [Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) #18040012, U.S. Department of Interior, Geological Survey (USGS) 1978]. 1.2 Existing Site Conditions The Project site is situated at an elevation of approximately 1,150 to 1,200 feet above mean sea level. The bridge is located approximately 1,170 feet above mean sea level in the center of the Project site. Sutter Creek and its floodplain are at the lowest elevation on site (approximately 1,150 feet) and elevations rise to approximately 1,200 feet on the west side of the Project site, sloping upwards towards Cemetery Road. 1.2.1 Vegetation Communities The Project site contains six vegetation communities or habitat types, including oak woodland, intermittent drainage, perennial creek (Sutter Creek), riparian scrub, ruderal/disturbed, and developed (existing roads and other paved surfaces and residences) (Figure 2. Vegetation Map). Two oak woodland areas occur including one area west of the existing bridge/roadway and a second area that is along the edge of Badger Street southeast of the existing bridge. The dominant trees include blue oak (Quercus douglasii), Valley oak (Quercus lobata), and Interior live oak (Quercus wislizenii). The understory is mostly herbaceous grasses and forbs including wild oat (Avena fatua), rip-gut brome (Bromus diandrus), and rose clover (Trifolium hirtum). An intermittent drainage occurs along the western fringe of Badger Street north of the existing bridge. Vegetation within the intermittent drainage includes a variety of plant species commonly found in wetlands, including narrow-leaf cattail (Typha angustifolia), tall flatsedge (Cyperus eragrostis), horsetail (Equisetum arvense), Himalayan blackberry (Rubus armeniacus), common velvet grass (Holcus lanatus), and rice cutgrass (Leersia oryzoides). 3 2012-106 Rare Plant Report Figure 2. Vegetation Map Map Features Project area Bridge Crossing Over Vegetation Vegetation Types Oak Woodland - 0.21 acres Perennial Creek - 0.10 acres Intermittent Drainage - 0.05 acres Riparian Scrub - 0.36 acres Ruderal/Disturbed - 0.33 acres Developed - 0.59 acres - ekeethe (KOrtega, 7/17/2013) Location: N:\2012\2012-106 Sutter Creek-Badger Street Bridge\MAPS\Vegetation\Vegetation\v1\SCBS_Veg_NES_alt.mxd 2012-106 Sutter Creek-Badger Street Bridge Scale in Feet Map Date: 7/17/2013 1 " = 100 ' 0 100 I Riparian scrub occurs within the Project site, and is located on both banks of Sutter Creek. The dominant trees within the riparian scrub community are arroyo willow (Salix lasiolepis) and sandbar willow (Salix exigua). Other trees include white alder (Alnus rhombifolia) and Fremont’s cottonwood (Populus fremontii). Herbaceous species found within the riparian scrub community include cattail, soft rush (Juncus effusus), rice cutgrass, tall flatsedge, common velvet grass, and horsetail. A portion of the perennial Sutter Creek occurs within the Project site.