March 2, 2015 Ashley Gungle Land Use/Environmental Planner County of San Diego Planning and Development Services 5510 Overland Avenue, 3rd Floor San Diego, CA 92123 Subject: Biological Letter Report for the Private Horse Keeping and Grape Planting Project; PDS2013-LDGRMJ-00015; PDS2015-HLP-15-002; ER 15-08-003 Prepared for the County of San Diego Ms. Gungle: REC Consultants, Inc. has prepared this letter report to address potential impacts of the proposed private horse keeping and grape planting project to biological resources. The project proponent is Harmony Grove Partners L.E., 1000 Pioneer Way, El Cajon, California, 92020. SUMMARY The proposed private horse keeping and grape planting project will develop the entire 42.8-acre site and result in significant impacts to approximately 20.1 acres of sensitive Diegan coastal sage scrub and 14.6 acres of non-native grassland, a pair of coastal California gnatcatchers, two coastal whiptails, two kestrels, red-tailed hawk, turkey vulture, and Cooper’s hawk. These impacts will be significant and require mitigation. Mitigation for habitat impacts will be provided by purchasing 40.2 acres of coastal sage scrub and 7.3 acres of non-native grassland in Daley Ranch Conservation Bank. Mitigation for impacts to the wildlife species will be provided through habitat-based mitigation, for which the coastal sage scrub and non-native grassland mitigation will be adequate. These mitigation measures, in conjunction with standard avoidance measures such as avoiding grading during avian breeding season, will reduce the project’s impacts to below a level of significance. Because the coastal sage scrub on-site is occupied, a Habitat Loss Permit will be required. INTRODUCTION, PROJECT DESCRIPTION, LOCATION, SETTING The proposed project (“Project”) consists of grading the site in order to develop a private horse keeping facility and a non-commercial grape-growing area. The Project site has been the subject of past approved land uses. Specifically, it was mined for gravel, and it was approved and partially developed with three house pads, around which fuel management zones are maintained. As part of the permitting process for another proposed grading plan, Everett and Associates performed a California gnatcatcher protocol survey and prepared a survey report in 2006 and March 2015 Private Horse Keeping and Grape Planting REC Consultants, Inc. Biological Resources Letter Report prepared a biological technical report in 2007 (Everett 2007), and a Habitat Loss Permit (HLP 06-004, June 2008) was issued for proposed impacts to 20 acres of coastal sage scrub on-site. Project Description The Project involves grading the site and constructing two grape-growing areas, a barn, a horse pen, a private horse arena, and a pasture. No off-site impacts are anticipated. Project Location and Setting The Project site is located on Assessors’ parcel numbers 228-400-022, 228-400-016, and 232- 030-015 within the County of San Diego, between the City of San Marcos and the City of Escondido. This location is approximately 0.3 mile south of State Route 78, 1 mile west of Interstate 15, and southwest of the intersection of Country Club Lane and Auto Park Way. A map of the regional location is provided in Figure 1, and the site location and vicinity are illustrated on United States Geological Survey (USGS) 7.5’ topographic quadrangle map(s) in Figure 2. This location occurs at the intersection of four USGS 7.5’ quadrangle maps: San Marcos, Rancho Santa Fe, Escondido, and Valley Center. The site is bordered by residential development, Country Club Drive, and industrial development to the north; residential development and the new Palomar Medical Center to the east; an undeveloped field and then residential development to the south; and fields, residential, and light industrial development to the west. The site includes steeply to gently sloping terrain, with a high point of roughly 900 feet above mean sea level (AMSL) at a hilltop near the eastern boundary, sloping down toward the southwest to a low of roughly 710 feet AMSL along the southwestern side. An inactive gravel pit is located in the hillside in the northern part of the site. According to the Soil Survey, San Diego Area, California (Bowman 1973), the following soil types are present on-site: Vista coarse sandy loam, 5 to 9% slopes, 9 to 15% slopes, and 15 to 30% slopes; and Cieneba coarse rocky sandy loam, 9 to 30%, eroded. The Vista series consists of well-drained, moderately deep and deep coarse sandy loams derived from granodiorite or quartz granodiorite within elevational ranges of 300 to 2,500 feet. The Cieneba series consists of excessively drained, very shallow to shallow coarse sandy loams formed in materials weathered in place from granitic rock on rolling to mountains uplands, at elevations of 500 to 3,000 feet. REGIONAL CONTEXT The Project region (near the intersection of Interstate 15 and State Route 78) includes land within the jurisdictions of San Diego County, the City of Escondido, and the City of San Marcos. This area is rapidly urbanizing, especially to the southwest of the freeway interchange, where light industrial development is expanding. An aerial photograph showing the regional context of the Project site is provided in Figure 3. The Project site is in north San Diego County, within the draft North County Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP), and is designated as outside any draft Pre-Approved Mitigation March 2015 Private Horse Keeping and Grape Planting REC Consultants, Inc. 2 Biological Resources Letter Report Area (PAMA). The closest draft PAMA is approximately one mile south along Escondido Creek, and the closest edge of the proposed core California gnatcatcher area is approximately 3.3 miles southwest. Some private and County preserves have been created in the region, including the 774-acre Del Dios Highlands County Preserve, the 784-acre Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve (both more than 2.5 miles south-southwest of the Project), and areas managed by The Escondido Creek Conservancy, but the Project is not near these preserves or Escondido Creek. The Project site is located within the watershed of Escondido Creek, which drains to San Elijo Lagoon (SELC 2013), but the Creek is approximately one mile south of the Project site without direct connectivity. HABITATS / VEGETATION COMMUNITIES Existing biological resources on the Project site were investigated through field reconnaissance and literature review by REC biologists. Literature review consisted of a search and review of CNDDB records of rare and special-status plant and animal species within the Project USGS 7.5’ quadrangles (Rancho Santa Fe, San Marcos, Valley Center, and Escondido), review of SanBIOS special-status animal records within a 5-mile radius of the site, review of the 2007 Everett and Associates biological resources report for the site (Everett 2007), recent and historical aerial photographs of the site and surrounding areas, and soil maps and descriptions from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Soil Survey, San Diego Area, California (Bowman 1973). A general survey of the Project site was conducted by a senior REC biologist and botanist, Catherine MacGregor, to document current biological resources, including plants, animals, and habitats; and separate focused site visits were conducted to confirm the presence of California gnatcatcher and survey wildlife on-site. Field notes were maintained by REC biologists throughout the surveys. All on-site habitats were mapped, and all observed plant and animal species were documented. Plant species that could not be identified in the field were collected for later identification, and wildlife species were identified directly by sight or vocalizations and indirectly by scat, tracks, burrows, or nests. All observed special-status species were documented and mapped, and suitability of habitat for special-status species was evaluated. Habitats and wildlife on surrounding adjacent off-site properties were observed from the site or public roadways, but no surveys were conducted on private property other than this Project site for this report. Mapping of existing resources on the Project site was conducted on an aerial photograph scaled at 1 inch = 200 feet. Scientific nomenclature and common names for animal species in this letter report follow American Ornithological Union (AOU 2012) for birds, Center for North American Herpetology (CNAH 2013) for reptiles and amphibians, Baker et al. (2003) for mammals, and Powell and Hogue (1979) for insects, as well as the San Diego Natural History Museum butterfly, spider, amphibian, reptile, bird and mammal checklists for subspecies (SDNHM 2002, 2005, and undated). Taxonomy and scientific nomenclature for plants follow the Jepson Manual, second edition (Baldwin et al. 2012) and common names are primarily from Rebman and Simpson March 2015 Private Horse Keeping and Grape Planting REC Consultants, Inc. 3 Biological Resources Letter Report (2006), with some rare plant common names from the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) Rare Plant Inventory (CNPS 2013). Table 1 summarizes the survey types, dates, times, temperature conditions, sky conditions, and wind speeds during the general and focused surveys for the Project. Table 1. Surveys Conducted on the Project Site Temp Wind Date Time Sky Survey Type Personnel (F) (mph) California Begin: 1000 Begin: 67 Begin: 2-4 2/22/2013 Clear gnatcatcher update Ron Rizo End: 1630 End: 69 End: 2-4 (non-protocol) Sunny, Begin: 0855 Begin: 59 Begin: 0 General, habitat, Catherine 5/24/2013 hazy at End: 1135 End: 68 End: 0-2 botanical MacGregor start Begin: 0645 Begin: 65 Overcast to Begin: 0 Catherine 8/19/2013 Wildlife End: 1110 End: 75 sunny, hazy End: 0-5 MacGregor During REC’s site surveys, two vegetation communities/habitats and two other land cover categories were observed: coastal sage scrub, non-native grassland, disturbed land, and developed land; these habitats are shown in Figure 4 and are described below.