Marin Municipal Water District Draft Biodiversity, Fire, and Fuels Integrated Plan September 15, 2016 One Embarcadero Center, Suite 740 San Francisco, CA 94111 650-373-1200 www.panoramaenv.com Marin Municipal Water District Draft Biodiversity, Fire, and Fuels Integrated Plan September 15, 2016 Prepared for: Marin Municipal Water District 220 Nellen Avenue Corte Mader, CA 94925 Prepared by: Panorama Environmental, Inc. One Embarcadero Center, Suite 740 San Francisco, CA 94111 650-373-1200 [email protected] One Embarcadero Center, Suite 740 San Francisco, CA 94111 650-373-1200 www.panoramaenv.com TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS Acronyms and Abbreviations ............................................................................................................ v ES Executive Summary .............................................................................................................. ES-1 ES.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ ES-1 ES.2 Background ........................................................................................................................ ES-1 ES.3 Threats, Trends, and Strategies ........................................................................................ ES-2 ES.4 Goals and Approaches .................................................................................................... ES-4 ES.5 Implementation of the BFFIP ............................................................................................ ES-5 ES.6 BFFIP Costs and Annual Work Plan .................................................................................. ES-9 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1-1 1.1 Overview of Marin Municipal Water District Watershed Lands ..................................... 1-1 1.2 Plan Goals .............................................................................................................................. 1-3 1.3 Plan Purpose and Need ....................................................................................................... 1-3 1.4 Plan Principles and Framework ........................................................................................... 1-4 1.5 History of Vegetation Management and Current Practices ......................................... 1-5 1.6 Current Plan Process ............................................................................................................. 1-8 2 Environmental Setting ............................................................................................................. 2-1 2.1 District-Owned Lands ........................................................................................................... 2-1 2.2 Surrounding Built Environment ............................................................................................ 2-5 2.3 Infrastructure on Watershed Lands .................................................................................... 2-5 2.4 Biological Resources, Hydrology, Functions, and Values ............................................. 2-13 3 Threats, Trends, and Strategies .............................................................................................. 3-1 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 3-1 3.2 Assets at Risk .......................................................................................................................... 3-2 3.3 Threats and Trends ................................................................................................................ 3-4 3.4 Strategies .............................................................................................................................. 3-16 3.5 Conceptual Zoning of the Landscape ........................................................................... 3-24 4 Goal and Approach Framework for Plan ............................................................................. 4-1 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 4-1 4.2 Plan Goals and Approaches .............................................................................................. 4-1 5 Implementation of Inventorying, Monitoring, and Planning Management Actions ......... 5-1 5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 5-1 5.2 Summary of Inventorying Management Actions ............................................................ 5-1 Draft Biodiversity, Fire, and Fuels Integrated Plan ● September 2016 i TABLE OF CONTENTS 5.3 Summary of Planning and Monitoring Management Actions ....................................... 5-7 5.4 Methods to Implement Actions .......................................................................................... 5-9 6 Implementation of Vegetation Management Actions ........................................................ 6-1 6.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 6-1 6.2 Vegetation Management Actions .................................................................................... 6-1 6.3 Methods to Implement Actions .......................................................................................... 6-8 7 Cost and Preliminary Work Plan ............................................................................................ 7-1 7.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 7-1 7.2 Summary of Costs and Activities ........................................................................................ 7-1 7.3 Anticipated Outcomes After Initial Five Years of Implementation of the BFFIP .......... 7-7 References .............................................................................................................................. 8-1 List of Appendices Appendix A: Marin Municipal Water District Policies Appendix B: History of Wildfires on MMWD Lands Appendix C: Reference List of Existing MMWD Data and Research Appendix D: Special-Status Species Known to Occur or with Potential to Occur on MMWD Lands Appendix E: Extirpated Plant Species on MMWD Lands Appendix F: MMWD Best Management Practices List of Tables Table ES-1 Conceptual Zones .................................................................................................... ES-2 Table ES-2 Goals and Approaches for the BFFIP ..................................................................... ES-4 Table ES-3 BFFIP Management Actions .................................................................................... ES-5 Table ES-4 Yearly BFFIP Costs ...................................................................................................... ES-9 Table 2-1 Biological Resources on District Lands ................................................................... 2-15 Table 3-1 Decline in Tanoak Dominated Forest Types 2004-2014 ....................................... 3-12 Table 5-1 Inventorying, Monitoring, and Planning Management Actions .......................... 5-2 Table 6-1 Vegetation Management Actions .......................................................................... 6-2 Table 6-2 Vegetation Management Toolbox .......................................................................... 6-8 Table 7-1 Summary of Costs for Inventorying, Monitoring, and Planning Management Actions ................................................................................................ 7-3 Table 7-2 Summary of Costs for Vegetation Management Actions .................................... 7-5 List of Figures Figure 1-1 Adaptive Management Schematic ........................................................................ 1-6 Figure 2-1 Lands Managed by Marin Municipal Water District .............................................. 2-3 Figure 2-2 Map of WUI .................................................................................................................. 2-7 Figure 2-3 Map of Road/ Trails and Facilities (Map 1 of 4) ..................................................... 2-9 Figure 2-4 Map of Road/ Trails and Facilities (Map 2 of 4) ................................................... 2-10 Figure 2-5 Map of Road/ Trails and Facilities (Map 3 of 4) ................................................... 2-11 Figure 2-6 Map of Road/ Trails and Facilities (Map 4 of 4) ................................................... 2-12 Figure 2-7 Map of Road and Trails at Nicasio and Soulajule Reservoirs ............................. 2-14 Draft Biodiversity, Fire, and Fuels Integrated Plan ● September 2016 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Figure 2-8 Occurrence of Special-Status Plants in the Mt. Tamalpais Watershed (Map 1 of 4) ........................................................................................... 2-19 Figure 2-9 Occurrence of Special-Status Plants in the Mt. Tamalpais Watershed (Map 2 of 4) ........................................................................................... 2-20 Figure 2-10 Occurrence of Special-Status Plants in the Mt. Tamalpais Watershed (Map 3 of 4) ..........................................................................................