Biological Resources Assessment Biological Resources Assessment City of Shasta Lake Wastewater Treatment Facility Upgrade
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APPENDIX D BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES ASSESSMENT BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES ASSESSMENT CITY OF SHASTA LAKE WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY UPGRADE NOVEMBER 2014 PREPARED FOR: City of Shasta Lake 1650 Stanton Drive Shasta Lake, CA 96019 BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES ASSESSMENT CITY OF SHASTA LAKE WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY UPGRADE NOVEMBER 2014 PREPARED FOR: City of Shasta Lake 1650 Stanton Drive Shasta Lake, CA 96019 PREPARED BY: Analytical Environmental Services 1801 7th Street, Suite 100 Sacramento, CA 95811 (916) 447-3479 www.analyticalcorp.com TABLE OF CONTENTS BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES ASSESSMENT FOR THE CITY OF SHASTA LAKE WWTF UPGRADE PROJECT 1.0 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Project Location and Description ................................................................................................. 1 2.0 Regulatory Overview ..................................................................................................................... 6 2.1 Federal ......................................................................................................................................... 6 2.2 State ............................................................................................................................................. 7 2.3 Local ............................................................................................................................................ 8 3.0 Methodology ................................................................................................................................... 9 3.1 Preliminary Data Gathering and Literature Review ..................................................................... 9 3.2 Field Surveys ............................................................................................................................. 10 4.0 Environmental Setting ................................................................................................................. 10 4.1 Climate ....................................................................................................................................... 10 4.2 Soil Types .................................................................................................................................. 10 4.3 Vegetation Communities and Wildlife ........................................................................................ 12 5.0 Results .......................................................................................................................................... 17 5.1 Habitat Types ............................................................................................................................. 17 5.2 Special Status Species .............................................................................................................. 20 6.0 Impacts And Mitigation Measures .............................................................................................. 32 6.1 Sensitive Habitat Impacts .......................................................................................................... 32 6.1 Waters of the U.S. ..................................................................................................................... 32 6.2 Trees .......................................................................................................................................... 33 6.3 Special Status Plants ................................................................................................................. 33 6.4 Special Status Wildlife ............................................................................................................... 33 7.0 References .................................................................................................................................... 35 Analytical Environmental Services i City of Shasta Lake WWTF Upgrade Project November 2014 Appendix D - Biological Resources Assessment LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Regional Location ............................................................................................................... 2 Figure 2 Site and Vicinity ................................................................................................................... 3 Figure 3 Aerial Photograph ............................................................................................................... 4 Figure 4 Site Layout .......................................................................................................................... 5 Figure 5 Soils Map .......................................................................................................................... 11 Figure 6a Photograph Locations ....................................................................................................... 13 Figure 6b Site Photographs ............................................................................................................... 14 Figure 7 Habitat Types .................................................................................................................... 15 Figure 8 Wetland Features and Other Waters. ............................................................................... 16 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Habitat Types by Acreages within the Study Area ............................................................ 17 Table 2 Regionally Occurring Federal Special Status Species ..................................................... 21 LIST OF ATTACHMENTS Attachment 1 USFWS, CNDDB, and CNPS Species Lists Attachment 2 Plant Species Observed Analytical Environmental Services ii City of Shasta Lake WWTF Upgrade Project November 2014 Appendix D - Biological Resources Assessment 1.0 INTRODUCTION This Biological Resources Assessment (BRA) documents sensitive biological habitats and special status species that have the potential to be affected by the proposed Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF) Upgrade Project (Proposed Project), located in the City of Shasta Lake, Shasta County, California (Figure 1). This BRA has been prepared on behalf of the City of Shasta Lake (City) and may be used in support of permit applications and environmental review conducted in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). 1.1 PROJECT LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION The WWTF is located at 3700 Tibbitts Road within the incorporated boundaries of the City of Shasta Lake, Shasta County, California. The City-owned property consists of three parcels with corresponding assessor’s parcel numbers (APN) 064150070000, 064160005000, and 064160007000. For the purpose of this BRA, the study area only includes areas of the City’s property with the potential to be directly impacted by the Proposed Project. The approximately 106-acre study area is shown on Figures 2 and 3. The study area is bounded by Pine Grove Avenue to the north, Ashby Road to the west, and Churn Creek, a perennial stream that is a direct tributary to the Sacramento River, to the east. Regional access to the WWTF is provided by I-5. The study area is situated on Township 32 North, Range 5 West, Section 1 of the Shasta Dam U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle (quad) (USGS, 1980). The centroid of the study area is 40° 39’ 46.7” North, 122° 23’ 00.4” West. The existing WWTF was designed to meet Title 22 requirements for reuse purposes and is currently regulated on a variety of biological, chemical, and physical contaminant parameters under Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (CVRWQCB) Order No. RS-201400052, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit No. CA0079511, and Time Schedule Order R5-2014-0052 adopted on March 28, 2014. Treated effluent at the WWTF is discharged into Churn Creek at two discharge points (001 and 002), and used to irrigate approximately 60-acres of sprayfields in the southeast portion of the study area. Additionally, the City provides recycled water to three contracted users. Under the current NPDES Permit, discharge of wastewater to Churn Creek, or its tributaries, is limited to the winter months (October 16th to April 14th) when the10:1 dilution requirement (receiving water to effluent flow) can be met. Sprayfield irrigation is used almost year round for the disposal of treated effluent, but especially during the summer months when the WWTF cannot discharge to Churn Creek. The Proposed Project consists of various upgrades to the City’s WWTF which would result in the production of high-quality effluent that could be discharged to Churn Creek year-round under a direct discharge NPDES Permit with no dilution requirements. The spray fields and 400-acre-foot reclaimed water reservoir would be taken off line and abandoned in place. The City would continue to serve existing recycled water users using effluent that would be stored for short-term in the existing chlorine contact basin. Additionally, the Proposed Project includes a new effluent discharge pipeline, cascade re‐aeration structure, and replacement of the Churn Creek outfall at discharge point 001. The specific location of the replacement effluent discharge pipe alignment is still being determined. Discharge point 002 would be abandoned in place. As shown in Figure 3 and 4, with the exception of the improvements to the effluent pipeline and outfall structure in the riparian area of Churn Creek, the majority of proposed improvements would take