Appendix F Detailed Cover Type Tables - USDA Rural Development

Bemidji – Grand Rapids
Biological Assessment and Evaluation
• Habitat review and species surveys will focus on areas of appropriate habitat along each route.
The CNF and the DNR have provided the Applicants with forest stand information that will be
used to determine areas of appropriate habitat. Outside the CNF and state forests, appropriate
habitat will be identified using GAP data, aerial photography, visual identification, other relevant
data, and professional knowledge of the area.
• Surveys will typically be limited to a 250‐foot wide (125 feet on either side of the likely
centerline) survey area that covers the potential Project rights‐of‐way on Federal, State, and
tribal lands and public rights‐of‐way. The Applicants will make these surveys available in GIS
format. In cases where the surveys identify target species, the survey area on these lands may
be expanded up to the full 1,000‐foot wide route (if appropriate habitat is present) in an
attempt to locate a route that avoids impacts to the target species. The 250‐foot‐wide survey
area will not be expanded on lands where survey permission has not been granted to the
Applicants.
• The Applicants will conduct surveys on public property and from public rights‐of‐way as
permitted by the Federal, Tribal, State, and county property administrators, in areas of suitable
habitat (Figure 4). Surveys will not be conducted on private properties, unless access permission
is currently available. This protocol does not include obtaining access to additional private lands.
• Field surveys for TES are not required in survey areas that do not have suitable habitat for that
target species.
• Field surveys for TES will not be conducted if the species would not be impacted by the Project,
even if suitable habitat is present.
• TES surveys completed within the CNF and LLR (for BGR, pipelines and other projects) will not be
repeated unless specific species were not included in the previous surveys.
Detailed survey techniques were developed for target species, such as call point surveys for songbirds
and screening procedures/survey timing criteria for plants. The more detailed survey techniques can be
found in the Bemidji to Grand Rapids 230 kV Project – USFWS, CNF, LLR and DNR Biological T&E Species
Survey Protocol (May 2009), which was previously submitted.
3.9 Species to be Considered
In consultation with USFWS, USFS, DNR, and DRM representatives, species were identified for surveys
and analysis. Further analysis and consultation with all of the above agencies regarding project
alternatives indicated that habitat for some species is not present within the Study Area, and/or project
activities are not expected to impact certain habitats for species considered during initial consultation.
The following complete list indicates the status of species listed by the USFWS, USFS, DNR, and DRM.
The species listed include federally threatened or endangered, CNF Regional Forester Sensitive Species,
DNR threatened or endangered, and DRM sensitive. The table also indicates whether and why species
are fully evaluated in this BA/BE. If a No Evaluation determination was reached, the reason for nonconsideration
is provided, and the species is not considered further in this report.
July 2010 Survey Coordination and Methods Page 3‐8