Appendix E Lists the Wildlife Species Detected
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BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT FOR ROUTINE FLOOD CONTROL MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA June 2012 Prepared by: County of Marin Department of Public Works P.O. Box 4186 San Rafael, CA 94913-4186 (415) 473-4301 [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................... IV 1.0 INTRODUCTION AND METHODS ...................................................................... 6 2.0 EXISTING CONDITIONS ....................................................................................... 9 2.1 SETTING .................................................................................................................... 9 2.2 PLANT COMMUNITIES AND WILDLIFE HABITATS ...................................................... 9 California Annual Grassland ....................................................................................... 10 Northern Coastal Salt Marsh ....................................................................................... 10 Diked Baylands ............................................................................................................. 11 North Coast Riparian Scrub/Forest ............................................................................. 12 Mixed Evergreen Forest ............................................................................................... 12 3.0 SPECIAL-STATUS BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES ............................................ 13 3.1 SPECIAL-STATUS PLANTS ....................................................................................... 13 3.2 SPECIAL-STATUS WILDLIFE .................................................................................... 16 Invertebrates .................................................................................................................. 17 Fish ................................................................................................................................ 17 Amphibians ................................................................................................................... 18 Reptiles .......................................................................................................................... 19 Birds .............................................................................................................................. 20 Mammals ....................................................................................................................... 23 3.3 WILDLIFE MOVEMENT CORRIDORS AND HABITAT FRAGMENTATION ..................... 25 3.4 SENSITIVE NATURAL COMMUNITIES ....................................................................... 26 3.5 WETLANDS AND OTHER WATERS OF THE U.S. ....................................................... 26 Hydrophytic Vegetation ................................................................................................. 26 Soils ................................................................................................................................ 28 Hydrology ...................................................................................................................... 29 Jurisdictional Determination ......................................................................................... 29 4.0 AVOIDANCE AND MINIMIZATION MEASURES .......................................... 30 4.1 GENERAL MEASURES.............................................................................................. 30 4.2 AVOIDANCE AND MINIMIZATION MEASURES FOR PLANTS ..................................... 35 4.3 AVOIDANCE AND MINIMIZATION MEASURES FOR INVERTEBRATES ........................ 35 4.4 AVOIDANCE AND MINIMIZATION MEASURES FOR FISH .......................................... 36 4.5 AVOIDANCE AND MINIMIZATION MEASURES FOR AMPHIBIANS ............................. 37 4.6 AVOIDANCE AND MINIMIZATION MEASURES FOR REPTILES ................................... 38 4.7 AVOIDANCE AND MINIMIZATION MEASURES FOR BIRDS ........................................ 39 4.8 AVOIDANCE AND MINIMIZATION MEASURES FOR MAMMALS ................................ 42 5.0 SITE-SPECIFIC ANALYSIS ................................................................................. 45 6.0 PERMITTING IMPLICATIONS .......................................................................... 46 Federal Jurisdiction – United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) ................... 46 Federal Jurisdiction - United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) .................... 47 State Jurisdiction - California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) ....................... 48 Marin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District – Biological Assessment October 2011 i State Jurisdiction - Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) ........................ 49 7.0 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 50 8.0 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................ 52 Marin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District – Biological Assessment October 2011 ii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Project Areas ............................................................................................................ 7 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Wetland Indicator Status of Common Plant Species Detected Within and Adjacent to Potential Wetlands ..................................................................................................... 27 Table 2. Soils Mapped at the Work Sites ............................................................................. 28 Table 3. Work Windows ....................................................................................................... 32 LIST OF APPENDICES A. FEDERAL AND STATE SPECIAL-STATUS SPECIES B. PRELIMINARY LIST OF PROJECT SITES WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS C. PROJECT AREA AND SITES MAPS D. PLANT SPECIES DETECTED E. WILDLIFE SPECIES DETECTED F. SITE ASSESSMENT DATA SHEET Marin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District – Biological Assessment October 2011 iii SUMMARY The Marin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District (District) is proposing to conduct annual vegetation maintenance, vegetation removal, and sediment removal activities at 96 project sites along several creeks in Eastern Marin County and Stinson Beach area within its jurisdiction. We prepared this biological assessment of the study area to determine the potential for the occurrence of special-status plant or animal species, or sensitive vegetation communities, within the areas to be affected by the project. The majority of the vegetation maintenance and sediment removal work occurs in eastern county creeks draining into San Pablo Bay, from Novato Creek in the north to Coyote Creek in the south. There are only three project sites in western Marin County on Easkoot Creek in Stinson Beach, draining to the Pacific Ocean. Most of the maintenance activities occur within urbanized, residential and commercial land uses. Some of the lower reaches include tidally-influenced land reserved for wildlife and flood control purposes; these lands, while having been subject to human activity, now represent the more natural areas within the program scope. Most of the land in the upper reaches is largely undeveloped open space or grazing land. Vegetation communities present within and adjacent to the study area include California annual grassland, northern coastal salt marsh, diked baylands, north coast riparian scrub/forest, and mixed evergreen forest. We pulled endangered species listings from the USFWS for the following USGS quads: Bolinas, Petaluma Point, Novato, San Rafael, and San Quentin. We also checked the State and Federally Listed Endangered, Threatened, and Rare Plants of California (CDFG 2010a), Special Vascular Plants, Bryophytes, and Lichens (CDFG 2010b), State and Federally Listed Endangered and Threatened Animals of California (CDFG 2010c), Special Animals (CDFG 2009) lists and the California Wildlife Habitat Relationship System (CDFG 2008), as well as the online Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants (CNPS 2010) for Marin County. Based on these searches, a literature and database review and a familiarity with the flora within the project region, we created the list of special status species. Altogether, there are 113 species on the list, of which 41 are listed or candidates for listing, and 72 are federal or state species of concern. Special Status Species Reported or Potentially Occurring at the Project Sites is included in Appendix A. For plants, there are 12 listed species in the selected USGS quadrangles. From the species of concern lists, which are not linked to quad maps, we pulled the species that occur in Marin County, based on CNPS lists, records in the CNDDB, and/or range information from CWHR, resulting in 21 species of concern. Based on the data available, none of the listed species and four of the species of concern are likely or somewhat likely to occur in the project sites. Similarly, for animals, there are 29 listed species in the selected quads, and 46 species of concern. Based on the data available, eight of the listed species and six of the species of concern are likely or somewhat likely to occur in the project sites. Marin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District – Biological Assessment October 2011 iv The project sites in West Marin