Biological Technical Report South Lake Solar and Energy Storage Project Fresno County, California Prepared for Andy Flajole Jess Melin South Lake Solar LLC Prepared by Dudek September 2017 Revised September 2018 BIOLOGICAL TECHNICAL REPORT SOUTH LAKE SOLAR AND ENERGY STORAGE PROJECT Prepared for South Lake Solar LLC 700 Universe Boulevard MS JES/JB Juno Beach, Florida 33408 Prepared by Dudek 605 Third Street Encinitas, California 92024 800.450.1818 September 2017 Revised September 2018 South Lake Solar and Energy Storage Project, California Biological Technical Report CONTENTS 1.0 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Document Overview ..................................................................................................................... 1 2.0 Project Location ................................................................................................................................ 2 3.0 Project Description ............................................................................................................................ 5 3.1 Solar Energy Generation System .................................................................................................. 5 3.2 On-Site Substation ........................................................................................................................ 6 3.3 Energy Storage System ................................................................................................................. 6 3.4 Generation Tie Line ...................................................................................................................... 6 3.5 Ancillary Facilities ........................................................................................................................ 7 3.6 Construction .................................................................................................................................. 7 3.6.1 Construction Activities ......................................................................................................... 7 3.6.2 Construction Schedule .......................................................................................................... 8 3.6.3 Traffic ................................................................................................................................... 9 3.6.4 Water Use ............................................................................................................................ 10 3.6.5 On-Site Electrical Distribution ............................................................................................ 11 3.7 Operation and Maintenance ........................................................................................................ 11 3.8 Decommissioning ....................................................................................................................... 11 4.0 Regulatory Setting .......................................................................................................................... 13 4.1 Federal......................................................................................................................................... 13 4.2 State............................................................................................................................................. 14 4.3 Regional ...................................................................................................................................... 17 5.0 Biological Setting ............................................................................................................................ 18 5.1 Climate ........................................................................................................................................ 18 5.2 Soils............................................................................................................................................. 18 5.3 Terrain ......................................................................................................................................... 18 5.4 Land Uses.................................................................................................................................... 18 5.5 Hydrologic Features .................................................................................................................... 18 6.0 Methods........................................................................................................................................... 19 6.1 Literature Review ........................................................................................................................ 19 6.2 Field Reconnaissance .................................................................................................................. 19 6.2.1 Vegetation Community and Land Cover Mapping ............................................................. 20 6.2.2 Flora .................................................................................................................................... 21 6.2.3 Fauna ................................................................................................................................... 21 6.2.4 Special-Status and Regulated Resources ............................................................................ 21 6.3 Survey Limitations ...................................................................................................................... 23 September 2017, Revised September 2018 Page i Biological Technical Report South Lake Solar and Energy Storage Project, California 7.0 Results ............................................................................................................................................. 24 7.1 Vegetation Communities, Land Covers, and Floral Diversity ................................................... 24 7.1.1 Row-Crop Agriculture ........................................................................................................ 24 7.1.2 Developed ........................................................................................................................... 24 7.2 Common Wildlife ....................................................................................................................... 24 7.3 Special-Status/Regulated Resources ........................................................................................... 25 7.3.1 Special-Status Plant Species ............................................................................................... 25 7.3.2 Special-Status Wildlife Species .......................................................................................... 25 7.3.3 Hydrologic Feature Assessment .......................................................................................... 42 7.4 Wildlife Corridors and Habitat Linkages .................................................................................... 42 8.0 Project Impacts ................................................................................................................................ 47 8.1 Definition of Impacts .................................................................................................................. 47 8.1.1 Direct Impacts ..................................................................................................................... 47 8.1.2 Indirect Impacts................................................................................................................... 48 8.1.3 Cumulative Impacts ............................................................................................................ 48 8.2 Impacts to Vegetation Communities and Land Covers ............................................................... 48 8.3 Impacts to Special-Status Plant Species ...................................................................................... 48 8.4 Impacts to Special-Status Wildlife Species................................................................................. 51 8.4.1 Direct Permanent Impacts ................................................................................................... 51 8.4.2 Short-Term Indirect Impacts ............................................................................................... 53 8.4.3 Long-Term Indirect Impacts ............................................................................................... 55 8.5 Impacts to Wildlife Corridors and Habitat Connectivity ............................................................ 57 8.6 Impacts to Hydrologic Features .................................................................................................. 57 8.7 Impacts to Regional Resource Planning ..................................................................................... 57 8.8 Cumulative Impacts .................................................................................................................... 57 8.8.1 Cumulative Study Area ....................................................................................................... 58 8.8.2 Cumulative Impacts to Special-Status Wildlife Species ..................................................... 58 9.0 Significant Impacts ......................................................................................................................... 63 9.1 Explanation