RARE PLANT SURVEY AND ASSESSMENT FOR FOREST LAWN MEMORIAL-PARK, HOLLYWOOD HILLS ASSESSOR'S PARCEL NO.'S: 5581-007-015, -018, -019, -020, -021, -022, -023, -024, 5581-002-002, -005, -009, -010, 5581-003-012, -011, 5581-004-014, -015, 5581-005-002, -004 Prepared for: The City of Los Angeles, California and Forest Lawn Memorial-Park Association 1712 South Glendale Avenue Glendale, California 91205 Prepared by: TERACOR Resource Management 27555 Ynez Road, Suite 207 Temecula, California 92591 (951) 694-8000 Fax: (951) 694-8035 Report Preparers: Samuel Reed, I. Swift and J. Reed 31 August 2010 Rare Plant Assessment TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 1 2.0 METHODS ................................................................................................................................................ 7 3.0 RESULTS.....................................................................................................................................................11 4.0 IMPACT ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDED MITIGATION MEASURES .............................................. 31 5.0 CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................................................... 33 LIST OF APPENDICES, EXHIBITS, AND TABLES APPENDIX A - FLORAL SPECIES OBSERVED .................................................................................... A - 1 APPENDIX B - ALTERNATIVE TREE CANOPY REPLACEMENT PROGRAM ..................................... B - 1 APPENDIX C - REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... C - 1 EXHIBIT 1 - REGIONAL LOCATION MAP ........................................................................... attached in order EXHIBIT 2 - USGS TOPOGRAPHIC MAP ........................................................................... attached in order EXHIBIT 3 - GEOLOGIC MAP - UNDEVELOPED AREAS .................................................. attached in order EXHIBIT 4 - SITE PHOTOGRAPHS ..................................................................................... attached in order EXHIBIT 5 - VEGETATION COMMUNITIES - 2008 AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH ..................... attached in order EXHIBIT 6 - CNPS-LISTED PLANT LOCATIONS ................................................................ attached in order EXHIBIT 7 - CNPS-LISTED PLANT IMPACTS - ALTERNATIVE 1 ...................................... attached in order TABLE 1 - METEOROLOGICAL DATA ......................................................................................................... 8 TABLE 2 - RARE PLANT ASSESSMENT TABLE ....................................................................................... 21 TABLE 3 - CONTAINER STOCK COMMERCIAL TREES CANOPY COVER ............................................ B-1 i Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, Hollywood Hills Los Angeles, California 31 August 2010 Rare Plant Assessment 1.0 INTRODUCTION PURPOSE All vascular flora present on the Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, Hollywood Hills (“Forest Lawn Property”) has been inventoried and listed in TERACOR Resource Management’s (“TERACOR”) general biological assessment entitled GENERAL BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT FOR FOREST LAWN MEMORIAL-PARK, HOLLYWOOD HILLS, dated 27 April 2010. TERACOR was requested by Forest Lawn Memorial-Park Association (“Forest Lawn”) to also perform a rare plant survey and assessment for the Forest Lawn Property. The purpose of this rare plant survey and assessment was to determine the following: 1) If any federally or state-designated rare, threatened, or endangered plants occur on the Forest Lawn Property; 2) If any California Native Plant Society (“CNPS”)-designated rare plants occur on the Forest Lawn Property; and 3) If any locally-designated rare plants occur on the Forest Lawn Property. This assessment inventories biotic resources on the Forest Lawn Property based on habitat conditions at the time of the survey and discusses those conditions present relative to habitat requirements for floral species listed above. Information contained herein is based on year-round field reconnaissance of the Forest Lawn Property, available scientific literature, and TERACOR field personnel knowledge of the floral species of Los Angeles County and Santa Monica Mountains and the biological conditions in the general vicinity. FOREST LAWN PROPERTY LOCATION The Forest Lawn Property is located at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive in the Hollywood Hills area of the City of Los Angeles (“City”). The Forest Lawn Property, which is comprised of approximately 444 acres, is bounded by Forest Lawn Drive, the Los Angeles River Flood Control Channel and the 134 Freeway on the north, Griffith Park on the south and east, undeveloped adjacent property also owned by Forest Lawn to the west, and Mount Sinai Memorial Park and the Junior Achievement Foundation to the north and northeast. The Forest Lawn Property is buffered from residential and commercial uses, and many of the Forest Lawn Property uses are not visible from surrounding areas due to the topography of this area. Exhibit 1 - Regional Location Map, attached, depicts the Forest Lawn Property relative to local thoroughfares. Geographically, the Forest Lawn Property is approximately 0.5 mile northeast of Cahuenga Peak in the Hollywood Hills. It is located within a non-sectioned area of Township 1 north, Range 14 west, of the Burbank, California United States Geological Survey 7.5 minute Quadrangle. Exhibit 2 - USGS Topographic Map, attached, illustrates the geographic location and topography of the Forest Lawn Property. 1 Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, Hollywood Hills Los Angeles, California 31 August 2010 Rare Plant Assessment BACKGROUND The Forest Lawn Property is located within the north-facing slopes of the Hollywood Hills within the Santa Monica Mountains. The Santa Monica Mountains contain a relatively high diversity of flora. Many rare or sensitive plants are known to occur within this locality. TERACOR field personnel have conducted several floral surveys over many years at the Forest Lawn Property. Floral survey results included in this report are derived from fieldwork performed from 21 April 2004 to 17 July 2010, as depicted in Table 1 - Meteorological and Field Survey Data below. The plant species evaluated for potential presence on the Forest Lawn Property included a total of 98 species, subspecies and varieties. These 98 plants were obtained from a variety of sources as detailed in Section 2.0 Methods. DESCRIPTION OF THE FOREST LAWN PROPERTY The Forest Lawn Property contains both natural and human-affected open areas. Human-affected areas include developed interment areas comprised primarily of lawn and non-native trees, walled garden interment areas, asphalt and gravel access roads, infrastructure installations, maintenance areas, storage areas, open undeveloped areas with little or no natural vegetation (disturbed), and areas under preparation for use for interment. Natural areas comprise approximately 119.8 acres within the Forest Lawn Property. Habitat values remain largely intact in this approximately 119.8-acre area. Floral diversity is moderate in some areas and relatively high in undisturbed areas. Currently, the approximate 444-acre Forest Lawn Property contains approximately 230 acres of developed memorial-park and associated support facilities, approximately 91 acres of disturbed areas, approximately three (3) acres of ornamental vegetation outside of the developed memorial-park, and approximately 119.8 acres of natural habitat. Coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia) woodland, California (western) sycamore (Platanus racemosa)-coast live oak, California walnut (Juglans californica) woodland, chaparral, and sage scrub are the dominant plant communities present across all of the relatively undisturbed north-facing slopes of the Hollywood Hills. TOPOGRAPHY AND SOILS The most recent U.S.G.S. mapping was produced in 1991 and photo-revised in 1994. TERACOR reviewed the existing conditions of the general area against this mapping to determine if there had been substantial topographic alteration on the Forest Lawn Property. Recent topographic mapping of the Forest Lawn Property indicates that approximately 324 acres of the Forest Lawn Property is relatively disturbed topographically, due to previous grading and development activities. TERACOR, with the assistance of LSA Associates, reviewed historic U.S.G.S. topographic mapping dated back to 1926. Additionally, historic aerial photographs from the University of California, Los Angeles Spence Air Photo Collection (“Spence”) dated back to 1945, the Whittier College Fairchild Collection (“Fairchild”) dated back to 1928, and a 1938 aerial photograph from the United States Department of Agriculture – Aerial Photography Field Office (“USDA-APFO”) from the archives of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (“ASCS”) were reviewed. 2 Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, Hollywood Hills Los Angeles, California 31 August 2010 Rare Plant Assessment The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (“USFWS”) Guidelines for Conducting and Reporting Botanical Inventories for Federally Listed, Proposed and Candidate Plants, dated January 2000, as well as the CDFG Protocols for Surveying and Evaluating Impacts to Special Status Native Plant Populations and Natural Communities, dated 24 November 2009, ("Protocols") requires that all botanical