Draft Environmental Assessment for Proposed Habitat Conservation Plan and Incidental Take Permit Pioneer Trail Wind Farm Ford County and Iroquois County, Illinois July 2014 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Rock Island Ecological Services Field Office 1511 - 47th Ave Moline, Illinois 61265 DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT PIONEER TRAIL WIND FARM HCP Table of Contents 1 Purpose and Need ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 The Pioneer Trail Wind Farm ............................................................................................... 1 1.2 Regulatory and Policy Background .............................................................................................. 3 1.2.1 National Environmental Policy Act ...................................................................................... 3 1.2.2 Endangered Species Act ........................................................................................................ 6 1.3 Action Agency Purpose and Need ................................................................................................ 9 1.3.1 Decisions to be Made .......................................................................................................... 10 2 Alternatives ......................................................................................................................................... 11 2.1 Development of Alternatives ...................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Alternatives Retained for Detailed Analysis ............................................................................... 12 2.2.1 Elements Common to All Alternatives ............................................................................... 12 2.2.2 Alternative 1: No-Action Alternative.................................................................................. 15 2.2.3 Alternative 2: Preferred Alternative (ITP Issuance, HCP with 5.0 M/S Cut-in Speed Minimization and Mitigation Measures) ............................................................................................. 16 2.2.4 Alternative 3: Non-Restricted Operations (ITP Issuance, HCP with 3.5 m/s Cut-in Speed and Mitigation Measures Only) .......................................................................................................... 26 2.3 Alternatives Eliminated from Detailed Analysis ........................................................................ 27 2.3.1 Additional Covered Species Alternative ITP and HCP to Include Little Brown Bat ......... 28 2.3.2 ITP with Full Implementation of HCP and Reduced Permit Term (<43 years) ................. 28 3 Affected Environment ......................................................................................................................... 30 3.1 Overview of the Project .............................................................................................................. 30 3.1.1 Pioneer Trail Wind Farm .................................................................................................... 30 3.1.2 Winter Habitat Mitigation Project ....................................................................................... 31 3.1.3 Summer Habitat Mitigation Project .................................................................................... 32 3.2 Physical Environment ................................................................................................................. 32 3.2.1 Surface Water ...................................................................................................................... 32 3.2.2 Ground Water ...................................................................................................................... 37 3.2.3 Geology and Soils ............................................................................................................... 37 July 2014 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service i DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT PIONEER TRAIL WIND FARM HCP 3.2.4 Air Quality .......................................................................................................................... 38 3.2.5 Noise ................................................................................................................................... 39 3.3 Biological Environment .............................................................................................................. 40 3.3.1 Vegetation ........................................................................................................................... 40 3.3.2 General Wildlife .................................................................................................................. 40 3.3.3 Avian Resources ................................................................................................................. 42 3.3.4 Bat Resources ...................................................................................................................... 51 3.4 Socioeconomic Environment ...................................................................................................... 61 3.4.1 Economics and Environmental Justice................................................................................ 61 3.4.2 Land Use ............................................................................................................................. 63 3.4.3 Health and Safety ................................................................................................................ 63 4 Environmental Consequences ............................................................................................................. 66 4.1 Overview of the Effects Analysis ............................................................................................... 66 4.2 Physical Environment ................................................................................................................. 67 4.2.1 Surface Water ...................................................................................................................... 67 4.2.2 Groundwater ....................................................................................................................... 69 4.2.3 Geology And Soils .............................................................................................................. 71 4.2.4 Air Quality .......................................................................................................................... 73 4.2.5 Noise ................................................................................................................................... 76 4.3 BIOTIC Environment ................................................................................................................. 78 4.3.1 Vegetation ........................................................................................................................... 78 4.3.2 Wildlife ............................................................................................................................... 79 4.3.3 Avian Resources ................................................................................................................. 84 4.3.4 Bat Resources .................................................................................................................... 101 4.4 Socioeconomic Resources......................................................................................................... 113 4.4.1 Land Use ........................................................................................................................... 113 4.4.2 Health And Safety ............................................................................................................. 115 4.5 Cumulative Effects .................................................................................................................... 118 4.5.1 Wind Energy Development ............................................................................................... 119 4.5.2 Birds .................................................................................................................................. 120 4.5.3 Bats ................................................................................................................................... 125 5 CONSULTATION AND COORDINATION................................................................................... 131 July 2014 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ii DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT PIONEER TRAIL WIND FARM HCP 5.1 CONSULTATION AND COORDINATION........................................................................... 131 5.1.1 Agency Coordination ........................................................................................................ 131 5.1.2 Distribution of the Draft EA ............................................................................................. 131 6 List of Preparers ................................................................................................................................ 133 7 Literature Cited ................................................................................................................................. 134 LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1. Rare bird species and