Johnny O'Neil Late Successional Reserve Habitat Restoration and ...

Direct and Indirect Effects
Effects to these bats are similar to those for Pallid bats. Roost sites could be disturbed in the
short term by project activities within or adjacent to suitable habitat, but loss of habitat features
are not expected except in the event individual trees >20” DBH are removed as deemed
necessary for operational safety.
Cumulative Effects
Proposed activities in the reasonably foreseeable future that might affect suitable habitat include
the Checkerboard Hazard project, which proposes to remove snags, dying trees, or small trees
limiting drivers’ visibility along the road system in a very small portion of the project area
containing potentially suitable habitat. This may affect individual habitat elements or may result
in disturbance to individuals but these would occur within reach of the road so would be limited
given the scope of this analysis and the availability of habitat occurring in this landscape.
Overall, cumulative effects from the Checkerboard or other actions are not expected to be
measurable given the scope of habitat available to the Townsend’s big eared bat. These effects
would be limited to areas adjacent to roadsides. There are no other known ongoing or proposed
non-federal actions that would combine with the action alternatives to cause cumulative effects
to Townsend’s big-eared bats or their habitat, beyond the project’s direct and indirect effects.
Determination - Due to these factors, the Johnny O’Neil Project may affect individual
Townsend’s big eared bat but is not expected to result in a trend toward federal
listing or loss of viability.
Northwestern Pond Turtle (Clemmys marmorata marmorata)
Environmental Baseline
The northwestern pond turtle is recognized as a subspecies of the western pond turtle (Stebbins
2003), and is found throughout California excepting desert regions (Morey 2000). Western pond
turtles are a highly aquatic species that can be found in ponds, lakes, streams, rivers, marshes,
and irrigation ditches that have a muddy or rocky bottom and abundant vegetation (Stebbins
2003). They feed on aquatic plants, insects, worms, fish, and carrion (ibid).
Western pond turtles use terrestrial habitat for nesting and sometimes for overwintering. Females
lay their eggs in soil and have been recorded nesting up to 300’ from water (Holland 1991).
Reese and Welsh (1998) reported that individuals moved an average of 600’ from water to their
overwintering sites.
Surveys for pond turtles have not been conducted for the Johnny O’Neil Project. Potential low
quality habitat for northwestern pond turtles is present in the lower reaches of Horse Creek, in
addition to the Klamath River and the Klamath’s larger tributaries such as Seiad Creek, Grider
22