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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1.12 Impact Assessment Environmental Solutions, Inc. 600 CR 216 Rifle, Colorado 81650 (970) 618-6841 phone ~ (970) 625-1673 fax email sdahmer@mailcw.com Created by: Environmental Solutions, Inc. Page 1 of 5 February 11, 2014 Colorado River Engineering Attn. Chris Manera PO Box 1301 Rifle, CO 81650 Chris : Per our discussion yesterday regarding the New Creation Church Preschool project, I have visited the church-owned building site (the “Property”) located along the north side of the I-70 corridor between New Castle and Canyon Creek to investigate the flora, fauna, potential for wetlands, habitat condition and current wildlife use on the Property to address the current Garfield County Land Use & Development Code requirements (Article 4, Division 2, Section 4-203(g)). The following letter presents my professional opinion regarding potential impacts to those environmental resources based on the site plans you provided for construction of a preschool facility and associated parking on the Property. Current Site Conditions: During my site visit February 11, 2014, I found the Property generally covered with snow, ranging in depth from 5-14 inches, depending on slope, aspect and drifting. The Property is geologically situated on an elevated bench above the Colorado River and at the toe of a steep slope of the mountain to the north. The Property is generally a dry, southern exposure. Approximately half of the Property is already developed or has been significantly disturbed, with surface features consisting of the main church building, an administrative building, tennis court, volleyball pit and a significant area of both paved and improved gravel-surface parking. Undeveloped areas of the Property (primarily the eastern half) are clearly manicured and landscaped, mainly consisting of irrigated lawn areas, landscape boulders, and planted trees and shrubs, which features offer little in the way of wildlife habitat. The eastern, undeveloped half of the Property has the potential to be irrigated (water right, ditch and infrastructure is in place) and was irrigated historically as part of a dairy operation, but the Property is not currently used for agricultural production and irrigation efforts are inconsistent, which is reflected in the vegetation community. The Property is bordered on the south by significant transportation corridors including Interstate 70, U.S. Highway 6 & 24 and the railroad. These transportation corridors effectively separate the Property from the Colorado River and the riparian habitat. The northern boundary of the Property is formed by County Road 138. There are single-family homes scattered north of the Property and a commercial storage facility immediately to the west. Vegetation: Existing vegetation is primarily composed of grasses and forbs, including smooth brome, orchardgrass, Kentucky bluegrass, kochia, redstem filaree, tansy mustard and other weedy annuals. The manicured lawn areas generally have a thick mat of bluegrass, fescue and bromegrass. The irrigated pasture areas are Created by: Environmental Solutions, Inc. Page 2 of 5 generally bromegrass, orchardgrass and a little clover and alfalfa. The non-irrigated sites are largely composed of cheatgrass, mullein, and weedy annual forbs. A few tree species occur on the Property, mostly along the perimeter or in landscaped planters around the buildings and parking areas. The native species naturally occurring around the Property perimeter include Gambel’s oak, pinyon pine and Utah juniper. A few Fremont cottonwoods, apple and apricot trees persist along the irrigation ditch that parallels County Road 138. Native shrubs persist around the edges of the Property as well, mainly on the northeast end, and include big sagebrush, rabbitbrush, Skunkbush sumac and Wood’s rose. Water Resources & Wetlands: There are no natural drainages, springs, seeps or other water sources on the parcel, no riparian corridors and no wetlands on the site. One small patch of Coyote willow and three mid-sized Fremont cottonwoods persist on the southeastern property boundary where irrigation runoff collects and flows out a storm drain under Hwy 6 and I-70 back to the Colorado River. Though hydrophytic vegetation persists in this one location, it is obviously supported by irrigation water and as such would be considered “agriculturally induced” and not subject to regulation under the Clean Water Act. That particular vegetation area is shown in the photographic documentation on page 5, and will be unaffected by the proposed development in any case. Wildlife Use & Habitat Suitability: Evidence of wildlife use on the parcel was sparse and included a half-dozen sets of elk tracks traversing the northern portion of the Property, with evidence of the animals having pawed through the snow to access a few spots of the irrigated lawn area. One set of coyote tracks were evident, also traversing the Property from west to east, and one cottontail rabbit was flushed along CR 138 on the northeast end of the Property. The relative lack of wildlife use on the parcel is not an unexpected finding based on the vegetative community and current land use on the Property, and the presence of the three transportation corridors, which form a significant barrier to terrestrial wildlife movement and habitat connectivity in the area. Also, adjacent properties are utilized as single-family dwellings and for commercial use, which also affects habitat suitability and use. Threatened, Endangered & Candidate Species: A search of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service iPaC system revealed 11 species potentially occurring or having suitable habitat in or near the project area. None of these species has any designated critical habitat in the area. The on-site habitat evaluation ruled out the possibility of occurrence of all eleven species. There is no suitable habitat available on the Property for any of the species listed, and there will be no water depletions that could affect any of the fish species listed. Mule Deer & Elk: Colorado Parks and Wildlife habitat mapping was also reviewed, with particular emphasis on mule deer and elk, as the Property’s southern exposure and low elevation would make it (at least historically) a candidate for critical winter range for these species. While the Property does fall within general winter range for both deer and elk, it is not classified as critical winter range for either species. This finding is supported by the long history of intense agricultural land-use on the Property, which removed native vegetation attractive to these species, and concentrated dairy cattle in a high-density feed-yard setting. The northwestern tip of the Property around the volleyball pit and tennis court is mapped within a winter concentration area for elk, but not for deer. A winter concentration area is defined as “that part of the winter range where densities are at least 200% greater than the surrounding winter range density during the same period used to define winter range in the average five winters out of ten.” In general terms, this would seem to be a correct designation as the bulk of the vegetation available on the Property is more Created by: Environmental Solutions, Inc. Page 3 of 5 suited to elk (a grazer focused on grasses and forbs) than for deer (a browser focused on woody shrubs). However, the mapping in this case should be questioned based on historic and current land uses, as well as the mapping scale and convention itself. Specifically, the noted elk concentration area includes a significant portion of the commercial storage yard west of the Property, part of the church parking lot and volleyball/tennis courts, which areas are obviously of no habitat value to elk during any period of the year. The current map also omits a significant area of native vegetation and irrigated fields west of the storage facility, which locations currently are suitable elk habitat and are particularly suited for winter concentration use (slope, aspect, elevation, food resources and security cover). It would appear that the habitat designation maps were drawn on a broad scale, which could promote site-specific errors at finer resolutions, and that the maps may not have been updated recently to reflect current land uses and habitat suitability in the area. Regardless of potential mapping errors, the proposed action will not affect the mapped concentration area on the Property. Proposed Changes: The applicant proposes to construct a building and associated paved parking for use as a preschool immediately east of the existing church building and north of the administrative office. This will require some change to surface gradients and construction activity on approximately 5 acres of the Property, a significant portion of which consists of previously-disturbed surfaces (existing gravel parking areas). Construction activities will temporarily affect some grass/forb vegetative cover within that envelope, though the vegetated areas to be affected are the inconsistently-irrigated pasture areas that are primarily populated with weedy annual species. None of the native trees and shrubs around the perimeter of the Property will be affected. Summary of Findings: Given the existing vegetative conditions on the Property, the lack of any designated critical habitat for any species in the area, and the fact that the majority of the proposed construction area currently consists of previously-disturbed gravel parking areas, it is my professional opinion that the construction proposal will have no long-term measurable effect to the vegetation, wildlife habitat or existing wildlife use of the Property. Standard BMPs for soil retention, erosion control and water quality protection should be applied during construction activities. Re-vegetating disturbed areas after construction is completed with a grass/legume seed mix could provide some benefit to elk and mule deer seasonally. Consistent application of available irrigation water would increase productivity on undeveloped portions of the Property and would promote growth of desirable plant species while limiting abundance of undesirable weed species. Please contact me if you have any questions or need further information. Steve D. Dahmer Created by: Environmental Solutions, Inc. Page 4 of 5 Photo 1: Proposed parking area and building site for preschool at New Creation Church. Photo facing east; church is behind camera and admin office is to the right. Photo 2: Evidence of elk grazing on irrigated lawn above church building. Photo facing west; volleyball pit and tennis court are upslope to the right. Created by: Environmental Solutions, Inc. Page 5 of 5 Photo 3: View of proposed new building location (note existing man-made building pad). Photo facing west from CR 138; admin office is behind school buses and existing church is upper-right. Photo 4: Small patch of willow and 3 cottonwood trees where irrigation water collects and drains off the Property and under Hwy 6 and I-70. Photo facing south taken from NE end of Property on CR 138.