SFPUC 2001 Alameda Watershed Management Plan

III. ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING AND IMPACTSE. NATURAL RESOURCESNesting raptors and other birds roost and nest in areas such as willow riparian and valley oakwoodland, and are protected by California Fish and Game Code Section 3503 and the MigratoryBird Treaty Act. Harassment of birds (noise, damage to trees or nests) during the nesting seasonas a result of human activity along new trails could alter nesting behavior, jeopardize eggs andyoung, and reduce parental attentiveness. Over time there could be a decline in bird speciesnumbers and fecundity (fertility) rates, and an increase in local extinction rates of these species.The increase in public access and use of the Watershed as a result of new trails could alsoadversely affect wildlife. Increased human disturbance, such as excessive noise or vegetationtrampling, could result in wildlife harassment if the disturbance were intense and prolonged, thespecies sensitive, or the disturbance led to changes in wildlife or plant community composition(Foin et al., 1977). Knight and Gutzwiller (1995) demonstrated human disturbance to wildlife, inwhich they found that rapid movements by joggers had a greater effect on wildlife than didwalkers and equestrians. In general, the researchers found that human recreational use of an areawill lower its wildlife productivity and diversity over time. Human intrusion can also reduce theeffectiveness of foraging bald eagles, a Watershed special-status species, when feeding young oron wintering grounds (Garret, 1981).Table III.E-5 links those management actions that could result in physical effects with the fullrange of management actions that could be required to reduce the potential physical effects.Under the Management Plan, the most important means of reducing potential impacts on wildlifefrom an increase in public access and use is Action des5. This management action establishesdesign guidelines for new construction and renovation of existing facilities. Action wil10institutes seasonal prohibition of recreational activities during breeding periods and enacts othermitigation measures to protect species of concern.Implementation of design guidelines and seasonal restrictions on recreational activities wouldreduce the potential impacts on wildlife from increased public access and use. In addition,actions described in Section III.I, Aesthetics, under the heading Increase in Public Access andUse, would reduce the potential impacts related to wildlife disturbance. Implementation of theseactions, as described above and in Section IV.E, would reduce potential natural resourcesimpacts associated with increased public access and use to a less than significant level. Nounavoidable significant program-level natural resources impacts related to increased publicaccess and use have been identified in this EIR. However, the San Francisco PlanningDepartment would require examination of many specific management actions proposed in theManagement Plan at the time they are proposed for implementation to determine if furtherenvironmental review at a more detailed project-specific and site-specific level were necessary.Table II-1 identifies the specific management actions that are likely to require such study.Increase in Invasive Plant SpeciesInvasive plant species are prominent on the Watershed. Viable populations of yellow star thistle(Centaurea solstitialis) and purple star thistle (Centaurea calcitrapa) are well established in nonnativegrasslands as a result of land disturbance, including cattle grazing.NOP 96.223E: Alameda Watershed Management Plan III.E-31 ESA / 930385January 2001