DRAFT San Bernardino County Regional Conservation Investment Strategy December 2018 PREPARED BY Draft San Bernardino County Regional Conservation Investment Strategy Prepared for: Prepared by: 605 3rd Street Encinitas, California 92024 Contact: Mike Howard DECEMBER 2018 Printed on 30% post-consumer recycled material. Draft San Bernardino County Regional Conservation Investment Strategy TABLE OF CONTENTS Section Page No. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...........................................................................................................v 1 INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................... 1-1 1.1 Background .......................................................................................................... 1-1 1.2 Purpose and Need ................................................................................................ 1-3 1.3 Intended Uses ....................................................................................................... 1-3 1.4 RCIS Area ............................................................................................................ 1-4 1.5 Conservation Elements ........................................................................................ 1-8 1.6 Planning Process .................................................................................................. 1-8 1.7 Relationship to Other Planning .......................................................................... 1-10 1.8 Document Content and Organization................................................................. 1-10 2 LANDSCAPE CONTEXT AND SETTING ................................................................ 2-1 2.1 Ecoregions............................................................................................................ 2-1 2.2 Climate ................................................................................................................. 2-2 2.3 Geomorphology, Topography, and Soils ............................................................. 2-7 2.4 Hydrology ............................................................................................................ 2-8 2.5 Land Ownerships, Designations, and Jurisdictions ........................................... 2-11 2.6 Other Resource Conservation and Management Plans and Programs .............. 2-20 2.7 Land Uses and Reasonably Foreseeable Development ..................................... 2-22 2.8 Regional Pressures and Stressors ....................................................................... 2-22 3 CONSERVATION STRATEGY .................................................................................. 3-1 3.1 Conservation Elements ........................................................................................ 3-2 3.1.1 Valley Subarea ......................................................................................... 3-2 3.1.2 West Desert Subarea .............................................................................. 3-23 3.2 Conservation Analysis ....................................................................................... 3-34 3.2.1 Valley Subarea ....................................................................................... 3-38 3.2.2 West Desert Subarea .............................................................................. 3-42 3.2.3 Analysis Limitations .............................................................................. 3-47 3.3 Conservation Goals and Objectives ................................................................... 3-48 3.3.1 Valley Subarea (V) ................................................................................ 3-49 3.3.2 West Desert Subarea (WD) .................................................................... 3-54 3.4 Conservation and Mitigation Actions and Priorities .......................................... 3-59 3.4.1 Actions ................................................................................................... 3-60 3.4.2 Guidelines for Prioritizing Actions ........................................................ 3-73 i December 2018 Draft San Bernardino County Regional Conservation Investment Strategy TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED) Section Page No. 4 IMPLEMENTATION FRAMEWORK....................................................................... 4-1 5 LIST OF PREPARERS AND REVIEWERS .............................................................. 5-1 6 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 6-1 APPENDICES A Focal Species Summaries B Key Data Descriptions FIGURES 1-1 San Bernardino Valley and West Desert RCIS Area ....................................................... 1-5 2-1 Reference Map ................................................................................................................. 2-3 2-2 RCIS Area Landscape Context ........................................................................................ 2-5 2-3 Landforms and Topography ............................................................................................. 2-9 2-4 Hydrology ...................................................................................................................... 2-13 2-5 Land Ownership and Jurisdiction .................................................................................. 2-15 2-6 Land Designations ......................................................................................................... 2-17 2-7 Habitat Conservation Planning in the Region ................................................................ 2-23 2-8 Existing and Reasonably Foreseeable Development ..................................................... 2-25 3-1 Habitat Linkages .............................................................................................................. 3-5 3-2 Vegetation Communities ............................................................................................... 3-11 3-3 Focal Species Habitat Heat Map .................................................................................... 3-19 3-4 Focal Species Richness Classes ..................................................................................... 3-21 3-5 Conservation Prioritization Factors ............................................................................... 3-75 3-6 Aggregate Conservation Prioritization .......................................................................... 3-77 ii December 2018 Draft San Bernardino County Regional Conservation Investment Strategy TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED) Page No. TABLES 2-1 Land Ownership in San Bernardino County .................................................................. 2-11 2-2 Land Designations in San Bernardino County ............................................................... 2-19 2-3 Existing Resource Conservation and Management Planning and Programs Relevant to the SBC RCIS ............................................................................................. 2-20 3-1 Habitat Groups for the Focal Species in the Valley Subarea ........................................... 3-3 3-2 Vegetation Communities and Land Covers in the Valley Subarea.................................. 3-8 3-3 Focal Species List for the Valley Subarea ..................................................................... 3-15 3-4 Focal Species Habitat in the Valley Subarea ................................................................. 3-17 3-5 Focal Species Richness in the Valley Subarea .............................................................. 3-18 3-6 Habitat Groups for the Focal Species in the West Desert Subarea ................................ 3-24 3-7 Vegetation Communities and Land Covers in the West Desert Subarea....................... 3-26 3-8 Focal Species List for the West Desert Subarea ............................................................ 3-31 3-9 Focal Species Habitat in the West Desert Subarea ........................................................ 4-33 3-10 Focal Species Richness in the West Desert Subarea ..................................................... 3-34 3-11 Habitat Group General Conservation Targets ................................................................ 3-37 3-12 Habitat Group Conservation Gap Analysis – Valley Subarea ....................................... 3-39 3-13 Focal Species Habitat Conservation Gap Analysis – Valley Subarea ........................... 3-40 3-14 Focal Species Richness Class Gap Analysis – Valley Subarea ..................................... 3-42 3-15 Habitat Group Conservation Gap Analysis – West Desert Subarea .............................. 3-43 3-16 Focal Species Habitat Conservation Gap Analysis – Valley Subarea ........................... 3-45 3-17 Focal Species Richness Class Gap Analysis – West Desert Subarea ............................ 3-46 3-18 Conservation Actions Summary for the Valley Subarea ............................................... 3-61 3-19 Conservation Actions Summary for the West Desert Subarea ...................................... 3-66 3-20 Conservation Prioritization Factors ............................................................................... 3-74 EXHIBIT 1 Hierarchical Structure of Conservation Goals, Objectives, and Priorities..................... 3-48 iii December 2018 Draft San Bernardino County Regional Conservation Investment Strategy INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK