BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES TECHNICAL REPORT CASCADA VERDE RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT CITY OF CARLSBAD SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Prepared for: Lanshire Housing Partners LLC 2633 South Fairfax Avenue Culver City, California 90232 Contact: Matt Nelson Prepared by: LSA Associates, Inc. 703 Palomar Airport Road, Suite 260 Carlsbad, California 92011 (760) 931-5471 LSA Project No. IKN1301 March 2015 LSA ASSOCIATES, INC. BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES TECHNICAL REPORT MARCH 2015 CASCADA VERDE RESIDERESIDENTIALNTIAL DEVELOPMENT PRPROJO JOJJE C T CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION 1.0: SUMMARY OF FINDINGS ......................................................................................... 1 SECTION 2.0: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 2 2.1 PROJECT DESCRIPTION ....................................................................................................... 2 2.2 BIOLOGICAL STUDY AREA ................................................................................................ 2 SECTION 3.0: METHODS .................................................................................................................... 4 3.1 LITERATURE AND DATABASE REVIEW .......................................................................... 4 3.2 GENERAL BIOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE SURVEY ................................................. 4 3.3 FOCUSED PLANT SURVEYS ................................................................................................ 5 3.4 COASTAL CALIFORNIA GNATCATCHER FOCUSED SURVEY ..................................... 5 3.5 JURISDICTIONAL DELINEATION ....................................................................................... 5 SECTION 4.0: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .................................................................................... 7 4.1 VEGETATION COMMUNITIES ............................................................................................ 7 4.1.1 Riparian Woodland....................................................................................................... 7 4.1.2 Coastal Sage Scrub ....................................................................................................... 7 4.1.3 Native Grassland .......................................................................................................... 9 4.1.4 Nonnative Grassland .................................................................................................... 9 4.1.5 Eucalyptus Woodland................................................................................................... 9 4.1.6 Landscape/Ornamental ................................................................................................. 9 4.1.7 Disturbed Land ............................................................................................................. 9 4.1.8 Developed ..................................................................................................................... 9 4.2 TOPOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................ 9 4.3 SOILS ...................................................................................................................................... 10 4.4 SPECIAL-STATUS SPECIES ................................................................................................ 10 4.4.1 Special-Status Plants .................................................................................................. 11 4.4.2 Special-Status Wildlife ............................................................................................... 11 4.5 USFWS CRITICAL HABITAT AREAS ................................................................................ 13 4.6 WILDLIFE CORRIDORS ...................................................................................................... 13 4.7 AQUATIC RESOURCES ....................................................................................................... 13 SECTION 5.0: IMPACT DETERMINATIONS .................................................................................. 16 5.1 PROJECT-SPECIFIC IMPACTS ........................................................................................... 16 5.1.1 Permanent Impacts ..................................................................................................... 16 5.1.2 Temporary Impacts..................................................................................................... 16 5.2 VEGETATION COMMUNITIES .......................................................................................... 16 P:\IKN1301-Ikon\BTR\Cascada Verde BTR.docx (3/8/2015) i LSA ASSOCIATES, INC. BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES TECHNICAL REPORT MARCH 2015 CASCADA VERDE RESIDERESIDENTIALNTIAL DEVELOPMENT PRPROJO JOJJE C T CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA 5.3 SPECIAL-STATUS PLANT SPECIES .................................................................................. 18 5.4 SPECIAL-STATUS WILDLIFE SPECIES ............................................................................ 18 5.4.1 Special-Status Invertebrate Species ............................................................................ 18 5.4.2 Special-Status Avian Species and Nesting Birds ....................................................... 18 5.4.3 Special-Status Mammal Species ................................................................................ 18 5.5 USFWS CRITICAL HABITAT AREAS ................................................................................ 18 5.6 WILDLIFE MOVEMENT CORRIDORS .............................................................................. 19 5.7 AQUATIC RESOURCES ....................................................................................................... 19 5.7.1 Avoidance and Minimization of Jurisdictional Impacts ............................................. 19 5.7.2 Permanent and Temporary Impacts ............................................................................ 19 SECTION 6.0: MITIGATION AND AVOIDANCE, AND MINIMIZATION OF IMPACTS TO BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES.............................................................................................................. 22 6.1 VEGETATION COMMUNITIES .......................................................................................... 22 6.2 POTENTIALLY JURISDICTIONAL AREAS ...................................................................... 22 6.3 POTENTIAL ON-SITE CREATION, RESTORATION, AND ENHANCEMENT .............. 23 6.4 WILDLIFE CONSTRAINTS .................................................................................................. 23 6.5 MITIGATION MEASURES ................................................................................................... 24 SECTION 7.0: REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 25 FIGURES Figure 1: Project Location ...................................................................................................................... 3 Figure 2: Vegetation Map ....................................................................................................................... 8 Figure 3: Potential Resource Agency Jurisdiction Map ....................................................................... 14 Figure 4: Vegetation Impacts Map ....................................................................................................... 17 Figure 5: Potential Resource Agency Jurisdiction Impacts Map ......................................................... 21 TABLES Table A: Vegetation Communities within the BSA ............................................................................... 7 Table B: Criteria for Evaluating Special-Status Plant and Wildlife Species Potential for Occurrence (PFO) .......................................................................................................................... 11 Table C: Potential Corps and RWQCB Jurisdictional Waters of the U.S. within the BSA ................. 15 Table D: Potential CDFW Jurisdiction within the BSA ....................................................................... 15 Table E: Anticipated Impacts by Vegetation Community Type (Acres) ............................................. 16 Table F: Potential Impacts to Corps and RWQCB Jurisdictional Waters of the U.S. .......................... 19 Table G: Potential Impacts to CDFW Jurisdiction (acres) ................................................................... 19 Table H: Mitigation for Impacts to Vegetation Communities .............................................................. 22 Table I: Mitigation for Impacts to Potentially Jurisdictional Areas ..................................................... 22 P:\IKN1301-Ikon\BTR\Cascada Verde BTR.docx (3/8/2015) ii LSA ASSOCIATES, INC. BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES TECHNICAL REPORT MARCH 2015 CASCADA VERDE RESIDERESIDENTIALNTIAL DEVELOPMENT PRPROJO JOJJE C T CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA APPENDICES APPENDIX A: Plant Species Observed List APPENDIX B: Wildlife Species Observed List APPENDIX C: Coastal California Gnatcatcher Focused Survey Report APPENDIX D: Jurisdiction Delineation Report APPENDIX E: Special-Status Species Occurrence Table APPENDIX F: Site Photographs P:\IKN1301-Ikon\BTR\Cascada Verde BTR.docx (3/8/2015) iii LSA ASSOCIATES, INC. BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES TECHNICAL REPORT MARCH 2015 CASCADA VERDE RESIDERESIDENTIALNTIAL DEVELOPMENT PRPROJO