Appendix P San Joaquin Valley Greenprint

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1 Appendix P San Joaquin Valley Greenprint TCAG 2014 Regional Transportation Plan

2 San Joaquin Valley Greenprint Data Supplement for SCS Planning And Impact Assessment 3/25/2013 This document is intended to provide a series of maps that can be used in combination with SCS plans to evaluate the spatial impact of those plans on some of the natural resources in the San Joaquin Valley region. This document has two parts: first, a description of the recommended way to use each of the datasets provided; and second, a brief description of each dataset and how it was produced. Section 1 Suggested use of San Joaquin Valley Greenprint compiled data for SCS impact assessments These data are already publicly available, and may have been used in the initial SCS planning efforts in your region. However, they are provided here primarily as an opportunity for planners and consultants to determine what the spatial impacts of preferred and alternate development plans might be after the SCS plans have been developed. We suggest that the spatial maps of SCS plans be overlaid with each of these GIS layers in turn, the amount of impact from different growth policies be shown in a table. In this way, a rapid comparison of impacts between scenarios, and for a preferred scenario can be identified. In turn these impacts (in acres) may eventually be able to be tied to carbon accounting, when carbon values for the resources identified are quantified. Each dataset has a field called SJVGreen that contains the categories of interest for summarization. The resulting table can look something like this: Impact Analysis for the SCS plan of County X Layer SubType Acres Prime, Statewide, Unique 120,000 Prime 60,000 Statewide 40,000 Unique 20,000 Grazing 100,000 Groundwater Recharge 75,000 Riparian 25,000 Vernal Pools 50,000 Present 10,000 Present with disturbance 30,000 Former 10,000 Critical Habitats 8,000 Soil Salinity 2,000 Moderately Saline 1,000 Strongly Saline 1,000 P - 1

3 Note that the SJV Greenprint project does not endorse the use of these data layers for an authoritative projection of the impacts that cities and counties will be required to mitigate for. This is because the maps provided may be out of date, or may not have captured all the elements that a parcel-level inventory (as typically conducted as part of environmental mitigation) may find. Section 2 Description of the datasets provided This section identifies six GIS layers that are provided for use in the impact assessment, and two additional datasets that are still under evaluation. The data is accessible at: The themes for these datasets are: Currently Available Prime, Statewide, and Unique Importance Farmlands Grazing Lands Groundwater Recharge Areas Hardwoods Vernal Pools Critical Habitats Saline Soils Under Review Riparian For each of the layers, the paragraph below describes where the data to make the map came from, and how it was reviewed and compiled. In each case the data are from recognized national or state publications, and can reasonably be expected to be used in mitigation assessments. This means that the data are also useful in estimating impacts from preferred and alternate plans of urban development and transportation that are the result of the planning process for SCS. However, in many cases we simplified categories within the maps. This is because in some cases several maps were combined to create the layer provided here. Prime, Statewide, and Unique Importance Farmlands AND Grazing Lands Agricultural land, whether high capability crop lands or grazing and ranching lands are a key component to both the San Joaquin Valley s economy and its identity. Protecting space that supports both of these is a priority for the Sustainable Community Strategies across the San Joaquin Valley. These dataset P - 2

4 provide us with a basic outline of the lands that are of high importance for protecting and enhancing the regions agricultural identity and economy. Because grazing lands and farmlands were both identified in the input maps, these two categories are combined into the single GIS layer provided here. These are two independent datasets both derived from the 2010 Farmland Mapping and Monitoring (FMMP) dataset produced by the Division of Land Resource Protection in the California Department of Conservation. These two datasets are the result of merging the FMMP datasets for all 8 San Joaquin Valley Counties into a single dataset, reprojecting it to California Albers NAD83, and then extracting the polygons with polygon_ty (polygon type) in P, S, or U into the dataset called Prime_Statewide_Unique_Farmland.shp and polygon_ty = G into Grazing.shp. The following table lists the landcover types in the GIS layer, which can be analyzed as shown in the table in the first section. Dataset Polygon_type Name Prime_Statewide_Unique_Farmland.shp P Prime Importance Farmland Prime_Statewide_Unique_Farmland.shp S Statewide Importance Farmland Prime_Statewide_Unique_Farmland.shp U Unique Importance Farmland Grazing.shp G Grazing Groundwater Recharge Areas The San Joaquin Valley is a water limited region. Surface water availability can vary widely on an annual basis making ground water an essential component of the region s water supply. Implicit in this is the need to protect areas that contribute to recharging groundwater supplies. This dataset was derived by the California Water Institute from the NRCS SSURGO and STATSGO datasets based primarily on drainage class. Additional criteria based on slope and Storie Index were also used for some soil categories. This dataset is has only a single category indicating that the area is a likely recharge zone. Hardwoods Oak woodlands and other hardwood forests provide rich habitat for a wide range of species, both common and threatened or endangered. These oak woodlands serve as a transition and connectivity space between the valley floor and the higher elevations surrounding the Valley. As such they serve as a critical linkage for species, and are an opportunity area for developing guidance for creating compatibility between multiple uses. Several datasets were compared to aerial imagery to determine which one to use for a hardwood range map. These datasets were: A) the 2002 FRAP (State Department of Forestry and Fire Protection s Fire and Resource Assessment Program) Best available multi-source land cover; B) the 1990 FRAP Hardwood Rangeland Vegetation; C) the 2006 National Land Cover Database (NLCD 2006); and D) the 2010 California Augmented Multisource Land Cover Map (CAML), a UC Davis product. The 2002 FRAP Best P - 3

5 available multi-source land cover dataset was selected because it best matched the patterns seen in aerial imagery for hardwood woodlands and forests. The following California Wildlife Habitat Relationship System (WHR) landcover categories from the FRAP map were combined to create our hardwoods coverage: Blue-Oak-Foothill Pine (BOP), Blue Oak Woodland (BOW), Coastal Oak Woodland (COW), Montane Hardwood-Conifer (MHC), Montane Hardwood (MHW), Montane Riparian (MRI), Ponderosa Pine (PPN), Valley Oak Woodland (VOW), and Valley Foothill Riparian (VRI). Vernal Pool Complexes Vernal pools, gathered into groupings called complexes, are one of the most protected systems in the San Joaquin Valley. They are home to species that are listed under both the State and Federal Endangered Species Acts. Any further degradation to vernal pool habitats will be subject to intense scrutiny and will require costly mitigation. The Great Valley Vernal Pool Distribution GIS shapefile was created by Dr. Robert Holland and the Placer Land Trust. It contains coverage of vernal pool habitats for the baseline period ( ), 1997, and We used the 2005 data since it is the most recent. The original dataset had 9 vernal pool types that we condensed into 3 categories using the following crosswalk. Note that the 2005 map has some polygons that are labled Not Used. These represent areas that were not resurveyed, and we were recommended to use the 1997 attribute for those locations. Vernal Pool Type Description Category Cut-outs e.g. a cultivated field surrounded by habitat Present Low Density Pools are small, widely and patchily scattered. At least 2 and usually 5 or more pools within the delineated vernal pool complex Present Medium Density Pools are larger, more numerous, and more pervasively scattered, although still patchy within the delineated vernal pool complex Present High Density Pools are all sizes and numerous. Pools are distributed over the entire delineated vernal pool complex. Also includes large, isolated playa-like pools Present Cultivated Pools are present and persist in spite of cultivation, usually of dryfarmed hay or grain or in mowed areas adjacent to runways and landing strips Present with Disturbance Low Density with Disturbance Obvious signs of disturbance Present with Disturbance Medium Density with Disturbance Obvious signs of disturbance Present with Disturbance High Density with Disturbance Obvious signs of disturbance Present with Disturbance Former Habitat Former habitat now extirpated Former Habitat P - 4

6 Critical Habitats Critical Habitats are areas defined under the US Endangered Species Act(ESA) as essential to the recovery of species listed under the ESA. Development or disturbance of lands within these designated critical habitats will be costly and require substantial mitigation if it is feasible at all. This dataset was created by combining all available Critical Habitat datasets (as required for species recovery plans under the US Endangered Species Act) from the USFWS Critical Habitat Portal ( The boundaries were then dissolved to provide a single layer indicating whether an area is in at least one critical habitat definition. Saline Soils Saline soils represent potential locations where new urban growth would not adversely affect other resources in the valley. Therefore, saline soils can potenially be used in the opposite manner from other datasets in this collection, in that urban development on these lands is less likely to encounter regulatory requirements. The Saline Soils dataset provided is the result of an analysis done by the soil scientists at the Davis offices of the US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service. The soil scientists wish to make it clear that while this is the best available information for planning purposes, but that the SSURGO dataset from which it is derived has been created from many data sources and with evolving methods. There are likely locations where the soil is either more saline than indicated or less for a variety of reasons including changes to the soil chemistry or error in mapping and measuring soil properties. The dataset is classified into the following categories of salinity as measured through the use of electrical conductivity. -1 Classes Electrical Condutivity (mmhos cm ) Moderately saline 8-16 Strongly saline 16 Riparian: Data only available for limited part of the San Joaquin Valley P-5

7 Like hardwoods, riparian areas are home to, preferred foraging grounds, and preferential dispersal habitats for many animal species. These lands also provide a wide variety of ecosystem services including (but not limited to) flood mitigation, groundwater recharge, water filtration, species habitat, foraging, movement, and reproduction, and scenic and recreational uses. On review of the available data there does not appear to be either a single sufficient dataset, or an appropriate combination of other available datasets that can be used that does not have either gaps in the data, or classification problems that render the data inappropriate for use. Suitable data is available for a subset of the area relating to the delta, but our opinion is that having a dataset for examination by the RTP/SCS process that does not cover the entire area is problematic. Notable areas of missing data include the Sierra Foothills and most of the Southern San Joaquin Valley. We include the data available with the caveat that where no riparian is mapped does not mean that no riparian is present. Graphics: P - 6

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