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Home My WebLink AboutRE_ Canyon Loop Trail Improvement Project Additional WorkCAUTION: This message originated outside of our City of Diamond Bar network. **Please exercise caution when opening attachments or clicking links, especially from unknown senders.** Ryan, I heard back from UFSWS privately with some modifications to the avoidance measures (see attached). They’re a little concerned that the last time protocol surveys were conducted was in 2020, so they wanted to take that into account with their revised language. I’ve copied two versions below, the first with additions and deletions shown so you can see what they changed and then again clean with all changes accepted so you can see their final proposed text. Keep in mind that these measures are specifically geared toward gnatcatchers and don’t relieve the project of complying with other relevant requirements from the MMRP (e.g., a non-gnatcatcher nest would still trigger restrictions). With edits * To minimize impacts to gnatcatchers as the nesting season begins, work within 500 feet of known territories based on the 2020 survey results will be prioritized outside the gnatcatcher breeding season over work outside of 500 feet. * If construction is to occur past February 14, beginning February 15, the biological monitor will perform a minimum of three focused surveys, on separate days, to determine the presence of gnatcatcher nest building activities, egg incubation activities, or brood rearing activities within 500 feet of any project construction proposed during the breeding season. If construction is to occur past February 14, a A full-time biological monitor will be required for all work occurring within 500 feet of a known California Gnatcatcher territory, based on territories mapped during 2020 protocol surveys until territory locations have been updated based on current survey results and/or incidental detections. and/or any updated territory locations/extents incidentally observed during current updated surveys and/or biological monitoring. To minimize impacts to gnatcatchers as the nesting season begins, work within 500 feet of known territories will be prioritized over work outside of 500 feet. Work outside of 500 feet from a known territory will not require a full-time monitor and will proceed with the current weekly check-in schedule for biomonitoring. Additional surveys will be done once a week during project construction in the breeding season. These additional surveys may be suspended as approved by the CFWO. * Because the project does not possess an incidental take permit, if the biological monitor detects gnatcatcher breeding activity/nesting within 500 feet of construction, all work within a 500-foot buffer of the gnatcatcher’s territory will be required to cease for the duration of the nesting season, or until authorization is otherwise granted by the USFWS to proceed again at an earlier date. The USFWS will be notified of any gnatcatcher breeding activity within 24 hours of detection. Work outside of a 500-foot buffer from established gnatcatcher territories/nesting may continue to proceed unless weekly surveys and/or biological monitoring detect gnatcatcher nesting activity within 500 feet. but consistent with MMRP Measure BIO-3 if more than 7 days have elapsed since the last time work occurred in that area, a nesting bird survey with negative results will be required prior to work re-initiating. Clean * To minimize impacts to gnatcatchers as the nesting season begins, work within 500 feet of known territories based on the 2020 survey results will be prioritized outside the gnatcatcher breeding season over work outside of 500 feet. * If construction is to occur past February 14, beginning February 15, the biological monitor will perform a minimum of three focused surveys, on separate days, to determine the presence of gnatcatcher nest building activities, egg incubation activities, or brood rearing activities within 500 feet of any project construction proposed during the breeding season. A full-time biological monitor will be required for all work occurring within 500 feet of territories mapped during 2020 protocol surveys until territory locations have been updated based on current survey results and/or incidental detections. Additional surveys will be done once a week during project construction in the breeding season. These additional surveys may be suspended as approved by the CFWO. * Because the project does not possess an incidental take permit, if the biological monitor detects gnatcatcher breeding activity/nesting within 500 feet of construction, all work within a 500-foot buffer of the gnatcatcher’s territory will be required to cease for the duration of the nesting season, or until authorization is otherwise granted by the USFWS to proceed again at an earlier date. The USFWS will be notified of any gnatcatcher breeding activity within 24 hours of detection. Work outside of a 500-foot buffer from established gnatcatcher territories/nesting may continue to proceed unless weekly surveys and/or biological monitoring detect gnatcatcher nesting activity within 500 feet. Regarding the biologist who will conduct the gnatcatcher surveys, Carol clarified with the following language, “The gnatcatcher biologist will be a trained ornithologist with at least 40 hours of independent gnatcatcher observation in the field and documented experience of at least 20 hours of locating and monitoring gnatcatcher nests. If necessary, more than one biologist may be used.” She also stated that due to workload they don’t have a lot of time to vet biologists for this requirement but if needed the City could send resumes to them. This would be a different process than the CDFW approval, which as we saw was focused more on monitoring experience and less so on having extensive gnatcatcher experience. For this reason I’m thinking that probably two biologists would be required any time the gnatcatcher nesting survey is occurring. This is because one biologist meeting CDFW’s less stringent requirements would need to be present with the crew at all times, while the other meeting the more stringent requirements above would be surveying up to 500 feet away for gnatcatcher breeding activity and may be away from the crew for several hours. The MMRP requires a nesting bird survey at the beginning of construction during the nesting season or whenever construction is stalled for longer than 7 days. The revised second measure above would require three nesting bird surveys focused specifically on gnatcatchers on three separate days beginning February 15, and then once per week after that until construction is completed, regardless of when the project starts or any gaps in construction. These surveys would need to occur within 500 feet of the entire project until such time that contemporary territory locations can be mapped. On the plus side because they’re focused on gnatcatchers they would only need to be in gnatcatcher habitat, which largely restricts them to the areas south of the trail, with only a few isolated areas north of the trail. Although this is more restrictive than what we had proposed, I think this is still a win for the project if it allows work to just get done now rather than waiting another year with an incomplete project. Should this measure be triggered by the project going past February 14, the City currently does not have anybody under contract to conduct nesting bird surveys. We expected construction to be completed prior to the nesting season so conducting nesting bird surveys is not a part of Endemic’s scope of work, they’re only scoped to monitor the construction and provide daily reports. With that in mind, I’d be happy to conduct the surveys myself, although I’m guessing we won’t have a really accurate idea of how the scheduling will proceed until we get to late January/early February. Rather than processing another change order for additional budget, it may be preferable to just reallocate some of the funds that are currently set aside for Endemic for us to use instead, particularly since we did that big overestimate of full-time monitoring days in early November that didn’t pan out. Please let me know if you’d like to schedule a call between the four of us to discuss, thanks! Ryan Winkleman | Project Manager/Senior Biologist/Certified Senior Ecologist 5 Hutton Centre Drive, Suite 500 | Santa Ana, CA 92707 | [O] 949-330-4115 | [M] (949) 533-0918 ryan.winkleman@mbakerintl.com | www.mbakerintl.com <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.mbakerintl.com%2f&c=E,1,b4LtC9LDrnIW5zhRnrGQFDMl1yU5p_8-6kVMICqL_siItJRcwXpz1amcxfFoFoTQXeP 5PZ5pZbrixknnsmR7XTao7GEEnI36P5Ktluio5ssmtdPdBz8sjg,,&typo=1> <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fmbakerintl.com%2fmedia%2f5024%2fs21_f_061907_icons.jpg&c=E,1,-c3aG25ANxxhfCDTd65 5A5FVO97c7Q1gabWxBxRZhJhH4Fe6u9OQei6JWRehKv5bzdqUsehzm8wFb2j-tym4-GEMg_IjDe5y58Ff4kqd7S26ewkH8gw,&typo=1> From: Winkleman, Ryan Sent: Wednesday, January 4, 2023 2:52 PM To: Roberts, Carol <carol_a_roberts@fws.gov> Cc: Kershek, Lauren <lauren_kershek@fws.gov>; Ryan Wright <RWright@DiamondBarCA.Gov>; Greg Gubman <GGubman@DiamondBarCA.Gov>; Ashimine, Alan <aashimine@mbakerintl.com> Subject: Canyon Loop Trail Improvement Project Additional Work Hello Carol, Happy New Year and I hope you had a good holiday season! As we previously discussed last month, the City of Diamond Bar has been considering conducting additional improvements to the Canyon Loop Trail in response to trail performance with rainfall this season. These additional improvements are primarily focused on containing erosion and controlling run-off to the extent possible in areas that have been observed thus far to be more susceptible to rainfall damage even with existing work, and would still occur within the existing approved footprint of the project. I have been notified by the City that they have approved the additional cost for the construction contractor to implement these additional improvements, which would occur after the current construction finishes. Based on the conversation that you and I had, the City has agreed to implement the following avoidance and minimization measures for this additional work: * If construction is to occur past February 14, a full-time biological monitor will be required for all work occurring within 500 feet of a known California Gnatcatcher territory, based on the territories mapped during my 2020 protocol surveys and/or any updated territory locations/extents incidentally observed during current biological monitoring. To minimize impacts to gnatcatchers as the nesting season begins, work within 500 feet of known territories will be prioritized over work outside of 500 feet. Work outside of 500 feet from a known territory will not require a full-time monitor and will proceed with the current weekly check-in schedule for biomonitoring. * Because the project does not possess an incidental take permit, if the biological monitor detects gnatcatcher breeding activity/nesting within 500 feet of construction, all work within a 500-foot buffer of the gnatcatcher’s territory will be required to cease for the duration of the nesting season, or until authorization is otherwise granted by the USFWS to proceed again at an earlier date. The USFWS will be notified of any gnatcatcher breeding activity within 24 hours of detection. Work outside of a 500-foot buffer from established gnatcatcher territories/nesting may continue to proceed but consistent with MMRP Measure BIO-3 if more than 7 days have elapsed since the last time work occurred in that area, a nesting bird survey with negative results will be required prior to work re-initiating. Please let me know if you have any modifications to these measures or any concerns with moving forward in this direction. Thank you! Ryan Winkleman | Project Manager/Senior Biologist/Certified Senior Ecologist 5 Hutton Centre Drive, Suite 500 | Santa Ana, CA 92707 | [O] 949-330-4115 | [M] (949) 533-0918 ryan.winkleman@mbakerintl.com <mailto:ryan.winkleman@mbakerintl.com> | www.mbakerintl.com <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.mbakerintl.com%2f&c=E,1,J4G0U55FZFWisOl5xFqEC0Zr6sL UtCOvqrEhnFOR8nAbRtNmGnKWZf4Ey483YqPpT_bmFQSiAQcNTgO12VwC3VQvsBarTf9j6X4wdZycU3W4QUYld_E,&typo=1> <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fmbakerintl.com%2fmedia%2f5024%2fs21_f_061907 _icons.jpg&c=E,1,d_qPFh5SodR-hDdXJNXG3dkKtewa6iat_vcLb4MCIV0973XI9weDGrR5egfGSt8ygJtw2qjFhKbZyNKpPLMPJfpKT36MyVpldQ8_EHZa81M,&typo=1> Email