Appendix F-1
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APPENDIX F-1 BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES FOR THE CITY OF SANTA CRUZ GENERAL PLAN UPDATE Prepared for The City of Santa Cruz Department of Planning and Community Development 809 Center Street Room 206 Santa Cruz, CA 95060 Prepared by EcoSystems West Consulting Group 819 ½ Pacific Avenue, Suite 4 Santa Cruz, CA 95060 January 2009 APPENDIX F-1 Biological Resources for the City of Santa Cruz General Plan Update TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................... 7 METHODS .................................................................................................................................... 7 DOCUMENT REVIEW AND CONSULTATION WITH LOCAL EXPERTS ............................................... 7 FIELD SURVEYS ........................................................................................................................... 7 REGULATORY SETTING ......................................................................................................... 7 FEDERAL SPECIAL-STATUS SPECIES ............................................................................................ 7 STATE OF CALIFORNIA SPECIAL-STATUS SPECIES ....................................................................... 8 SENSITIVE NATURAL COMMUNITIES .......................................................................................... 10 WETLANDS AND WATERS OF THE U.S ....................................................................................... 10 CITY OF SANTA CRUZ RIPARIAN SETBACK GUIDELINES ............................................................ 11 TREE PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION ORDINANCE .................................................................. 9 RESULTS .................................................................................................................................... 10 HABITAT TYPES ......................................................................................................................... 11 SENSITIVE HABITATS ................................................................................................................. 20 DISPERSAL CORRIDORS .............................................................................................................. 23 SPECIAL-STATUS PLANTS ........................................................................................................... 25 SPECIAL-STATUS AND SENSTIVE WILDLIFE PROTECTED UNDER CEQA.................................... 34 VACANT PARCEL SURVEY ......................................................................................................... 63 CONSTRAINTS .......................................................................................................................... 64 GAPS IN THE EXISTING DATA ............................................................................................ 71 COASTAL PRAIRIE ...................................................................................................................... 71 DISPERSAL CORRIDORS .............................................................................................................. 71 MONARCH BUTTERFLIES ........................................................................................................... 71 BIRDS ......................................................................................................................................... 71 BATS .......................................................................................................................................... 71 VACANT PARCEL SURVEY ......................................................................................................... 71 REFERENCES AND LITERATURE CITED ......................................................................... 72 PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS ......................................................................................... 87 APPENDIX A. NESTING BIRDS ........................................................................................... A-1 APPENDIX B. SPECIAL-STATUS AND SENSITIVE BIRDS SPECIES KNOWN TO OCCUR BUT UNLIKELY TO REQUIRE PROTECTION UNDER CEQA .................... B-1 EcoSystems West Consulting Group ii January 2009 APPENDIX F-1 Biological Resources for the City of Santa Cruz General Plan Update LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. City of Santa Cruz riparian setback requirements (Santa Cruz Department of Planning and Community Development 2006). ........................................................................................................ 8 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. City of Santa Cruz biological resource data contained in nine feature classes within the project geodatabase. ................................................................................................. 10 Table 2. Birds Known to Utilize Coastal Habitat for Roosting and/or Breeding within the City of Santa Cruz. ..................................................................................................................... 22 Table 3. Status, habitat, and location of special-status plants occuring in the City of Santa Cruz, California. ......................................................................................................................... 26 Table 4. Status, habitat requirements, and location of special-status wildlife occuring in the City of Santa Cruz, California. .................................................................................................. 35 Table 5. Constraints on development of lands supporting sensitive biological resources within the City of Santa Cruz. ................................................................................................... 65 EcoSystems West Consulting Group iii January 2009 APPENDIX F-1 Biological Resources for the City of Santa Cruz General Plan Update INTRODUCTION EcoSystems West Consulting Group (EcoSystems West) was contracted by the City of Santa Cruz (City) Department of Planning and Community Development to update existing biological resource background data for the development of the City of Santa Cruz General Plan. The focus of this effort was to update information on special-status plant and wildlife species (as defined by CEQA) and sensitive habitats within the City‘s planning jurisdiction, excluding the University of Santa Cruz and City lands outside of the City proper. To this end, EcoSystems West reviewed all available documents on these resources, consulted with local experts, and groundtruthed existing data where possible. In addition, as requested by the City of Santa Cruz, EcoSystems West conducted surveys of monarch butterfly habitat, seabird roosts and rookeries, and 172 vacant parcels that were at least 6,000 square feet (0.14 acres), to update information on these resources. This report is a summary of findings, including tables and narratives of special-status species, sensitive habitats, and a summary of the results of focused surveys. An accompanying geographic information system (GIS) database (geodatabase) provides spatial data created or updated as part of our work. EcoSystems West Consulting Group 7 January 2009 APPENDIX F-1 Biological Resources for the City of Santa Cruz General Plan Update METHODS Document Review and Consultation with Local Experts EcoSystems West met with City staff, reviewed all available data, technical studies, documents, EIRs, and the draft Citywide Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) (unpublished) (Entrix 2004a,b; H.T. Harvey and Associates 2004). We reviewed the vegetation communities, sensitive species and habitat characterization of the City‘s existing GIS database, as well as more detailed information presented in the City‘s open space management plans and master plans. Up-to-date status information for species listed as ‗Threatened‘ or ‗Endangered‘ under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), and federal ‗Proposed‘ and ‗Candidate‘ species was obtained from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Up-to-date status information for State of California listed species was obtained from the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG). For special-status plants we also reviewed the current California Native Plant Society's (CNPS) Inventory of Rare and Endangered Vascular Plants of California electronic database (CNPS 2007). Distribution and habitat information in standard regional floras (Munz and Keck 1973; Thomas 1960; and Hickman 1993) was reviewed. Status information was also obtained from Tibor (2001) for CNPS-listed species, including species on CNPS Lists 1 and 2 that are legally protected under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). EcoSystems West reviewed current California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB) records for occurrences of special-status species recorded in that database. In addition, we consulted with the following experts and organizations on local biological resources to identify additional occurrences of sensitive species: the local chapter of the California Native Plant Society, Dr. Richard Arnold and his Buggy Database regarding invertebrates, John Dayton and Tim Hyland on monarch butterflies, David Suddjian and Steve Gerow of the Santa Cruz Bird Club, as well as Brian Walton of the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group, in an effort to acquire updates on nesting birds, as well as preferred foraging and nesting locations of special-status birds. Based on this review, we identified all known sensitive habitats, special-status plants and animals documented within