Western Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan Biological Monitoring Program 2016 Rare Plant Survey Report California beardtongue (Penstemon californicus) August 22, 2017 2016 Rare Plant Survey Report TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 GOALS AND OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................... 1 METHODS ..........................................................................................................................2 PROTOCOL DEVELOPMENT ....................................................................................................... 2 SURVEY METHODS ...................................................................................................................... 2 TRAINING ....................................................................................................................................... 4 DATA ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................................... 4 RESULTS ............................................................................................................................5 SENTINEL SURVEYS .................................................................................................................... 5 MONITORING SURVEYS .............................................................................................................. 5 INVENTORY SURVEYS ................................................................................................................ 7 DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................................7 RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................................. 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................8 LITERATURE CITED ........................................................................................................9 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Sentinel surveys in 2016 by target species. .......................................................... 5 Table 2. Locations of rare plant incidental observations in 2016 ...................................... 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Covered plant species detected in the Conservation Area in 2016. .................... 6 LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix A. Rare Plant Species Occurrence Objectives for Plants Surveyed in 2016. .. 10 Appendix B. Status of Rare Plant Species Objectives (2009-2016). ............................... 27 Appendix C. Rare Plant Survey Locations and Detections in 2016. ............................... 28 Western Riverside County MSHCP Biological Monitoring Program ii 2016 Rare Plant Survey Report NOTE TO READER: This report is an account of survey activities conducted by the Biological Monitoring Program for the Western Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan (MSHCP). The MSHCP was permitted in June 2004. Reserve assembly is ongoing and is expected to take 20 or more years to complete. The Conservation Area includes lands acquired under the terms of the MSHCP and other lands that have conservation value in the Plan Area (called public or quasi-public lands in the MSHCP). In this report, the term “Conservation Area” refers to these lands as they were understood by the Monitoring Program at the time the surveys were conducted. The Monitoring Program monitors the status and distribution of the 146 species covered by the MSHCP within the Conservation Area to provide information to Permittees, land managers, the public, and the Wildlife Agencies [i.e., the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW, formerly California Department of Fish and Game) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service]. Monitoring Program activities are guided by defined conservation objectives for each Covered Species, other information needs identified in MSHCP Section 5.3 or elsewhere in the document, and the information needs of the Permittees. A list of the lands where data collection activities were conducted in 2016 is included in Section 7.0 of the Western Riverside County Regional Conservation Authority (RCA) Annual Report to the Wildlife Agencies. The primary author of this report was the 2016 Botany Program Lead, Karyn Drennen. This report should be cited as: Biological Monitoring Program. 2017. Western Riverside County MSHCP Biological Monitoring Program 2016 Rare Plants Survey Report. Prepared for the Western Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan. Riverside, CA. Available online: http://wrc-rca.org/about-rca/monitoring/monitoring-surveys/. While we have made every effort to accurately represent our data and results, it should be recognized that data management and analysis are ongoing activities. Readers wishing to make further use of the information or data provided in this report should contact the Monitoring Program to ensure that they have access to the best available or most current data. Please contact the Monitoring Program Administrator with questions about the information provided in this report. Questions about the MSHCP should be directed to the Executive Director of the RCA. Further information on the MSHCP and the RCA can be found at www.wrc-rca.org. Contact Information: Executive Director Monitoring Program Administrator Western Riverside County Western Riverside County MSHCP Regional Conservation Authority Biological Monitoring Program Riverside Centre Building 4500 Glenwood Drive, Bldg. C 3403 10th Street, Suite 320 Riverside, CA 92501 Riverside, CA 92501 Ph: (951) 248-2552 Ph: (951) 955-9700 Western Riverside County MSHCP Biological Monitoring Program iii 2016 Rare Plant Survey Report INTRODUCTION The Western Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan (MSHCP) includes 63 rare plants as Covered Species (Dudek & Associates 2003). For most of these species, the MSHCP requires the confirmation of a number of occurrences, often at specified sites, within the Conservation Area. Unless a given species-specific conservation objective has requirements that are more rigorous, the Biological Monitoring Program is obligated to survey for the distribution of covered plant species at least once every 8 years, with the goal of verifying occupancy at ≥ 75% of the sites listed in the species objective. Some covered plant species also have a species objective that requires demonstration of a specific level of conservation. These species are not considered adequately conserved under the MSHCP until the terms of the species objectives (usually a specified number of locations with a minimum number of individuals of the species in question) have been met. Historic distribution information for covered plant species was consolidated for the MSHCP from a variety of sources including herbarium records (CCH 2010), field notes, gray literature, and species databases (Dudek & Associates 2001; CNDDB 2006). We reviewed the data and corrected the most obvious geo-referencing errors (e.g., locations outside the Plan Area, duplicate occurrences). Our aim was to reconcile the points aggregated in the historical database with the species-specific objectives set forth by the MSHCP (Dudek & Associates 2003). Please see Appendix A for the Monitoring Program’s interpretation of the species occurrence objectives for rare plant species that were surveyed in 2016. After refining the historic distribution information, we attempted to field-verify occurrence records for each of the 63 covered plant species, in order to ascertain whether species objectives were being met and to determine future long-term monitoring needs. This was the primary focus for the first 8 years (2005-2012) of the permit, the “inventory phase”. We are now in the “monitoring phase” of the program and have shifted our focus to monitoring Covered Species at verified locations at least once every 8 years, as stipulated by the MSHCP. In addition to monitoring verified occurrences, we continue to search for new occurrences as reserve lands are acquired or as additional information about habitat suitability is obtained. Please see Appendix B for the current status of rare plant species objectives. In 2016 we conducted targeted surveys for 19 rare plant species to monitor 33 occurrence objectives. Additionally, we looked for rare plant occurrences at 11 new locations, 6 of which would meet previously unmet occurrence objectives, 5 of which would expand known distributions. The goals for the Botany Program are as follows: Goals and Objectives 1. Improve knowledge of covered plant species distribution within the Conservation Area. a. Verify historical locations and document new locations of covered plant species in the Conservation Area. b. Monitor continuing presence of covered plant species at confirmed Western Riverside County MSHCP Biological Monitoring Program 1 2016 Rare Plant Survey Report locations at least once every 8 years. 2. Improve knowledge of covered plant species’ ecology and habitat suitability needs. a. Collect species-specific information at observation sites such as species abundance, phenology, and population size. b. Collect habitat information at survey sites to determine covariates associated with species presence. 3. Continue to test and refine the protocol for covered plant species surveys. METHODS