Llagas Creek Bridge and Day Use Area Project

Joint letter logos

February 21, 2023

Lucas Shellhammer, Planning Manager
Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority
33 Las Colinas Lane San José, CA 95119
Via email to: lshellhammer@openspaceauthority.org

Re: Llagas Creek Bridge and Day Use Area Project, SCH# 2023010436 1

The Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society and the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter are local environmental organizations that work to protect birds and other wildlife species and to promote the enjoyment of nature. We thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on the Llagas Creek Bridge and Day Use Area Project (Project).

The Project involves the replacement and maintenance of an existing cattle ford across Llagas Creek with a pedestrian and equestrian accessible bridge within the Rancho Cañada del Oro Open Space Preserve. The project would also extend the existing Llagas Creek Loop Trail to the new bridge and develop a new accessible loop trail on the south side of the bridge within the meadow area. Accessible seating areas, a pedestrian/equestrian connector trail, fencing, and interpretive signage would also be developed. Here are our comments:

  1. General comments:
    Page 1 of the IS/MND: “PROJECT: MALECH ROAD PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT”. Please correct this error.
  2. Mitigation Measures: Qualifications of biologists.
    1. Please provide the names of the candidate firms and/or describe the relevant experience of the qualified biologists who will be providing preconstruction surveys.
    2. We are especially concerned with the experience and qualifications of a prospective biologist who will conduct surveys for Crotch Bumble Bee Nest Colonies. In our research, we have not been able to find any pictures or photographs of Crotch Bumble Bee Nest Colonies. Descriptions of where nest colonies may be found are very broad “Nests are often located underground in abandoned rodent nests, or above ground in tufts of grass, old bird nests, rock piles, or cavities in dead trees”2 - basically, anywhere!
      1. To ensure that nests are not overlooked, biologists performing the survey should have demonstrated experience in identifying Crotch Bumble Bees in nature, and skill in locating the nests by tracking the bumble bees from foraging to their nests.
  3. Mitigation Measures: Biological Resources
    The Llagas Creek Bridge and Day Use Area Project is a relatively small project in scope and therefore, it should be possible to provide mitigation measures that are directly relevant to the specific life history and behavior of special-status species. We ask for the following.
    1. Raptors in this area may start scouting for nesting sites in December, and actively nesting in January. Please include preconstruction surveys in December and January for all species of raptors (not only “common” raptors as specified in Bio-3).
    2. Please avoid construction-related activities that involve vehicles or earthwork during the nesting season. This will provide better protection to migratory birds, Crotch bumble bees, and Pallid bats.
    3. Please avoid construction-related activities that involve vehicles or earthwork during rainy days and for 5 days after rainy days. This will provide better protection to amphibians. Please note that a speed limit of 15 miles per hour is not likely to be effective for amphibians. Salamanders and newts move slowly and “freeze” when they perceive a threat (like a vehicle), so specifying a slower driving speed may be inadequate to insure their survival.
    4. The most effective mitigation would restrict construction to occur in the months of August - October. This period would avoid the nesting season for most species, and the season when amphibians are most active. It should be feasible to construct this project, small in scope and scale, within these three months.
  4. Fencing The project will replace and relocate some barbed wire fencing. This is an opportunity to consider wildlife-friendly fencing in locations that do not increase the likelihood of roadkill. Please specify whether the proposed “The barbed wire fence would be 4 feet in height with strands of smooth and barbed wire strung through the posts at varying heights'' will be permeable and safe for local wildlife species.
  5. Trail maintenance It is not clear why maintenance includes both “herbicide spraying within 1 foot of the trail twice per year (around February and April)” and “removal of vegetation within 3 feet of the trail around four times per year.”
    1. These practices would create a wide trail corridor in a natural setting where the width of man-made infrastructure should be minimized to reduce or avoid impacts to local wildlife species. 3 We ask that the combined width of the trail and the vegetation-free shoulders should not be wider than 8 feet, equal to the width of the bridge.
    2. Herbicides are potentially damaging to the environment directly where they are applied, and are also implicated in their significant contribution of greenhouse gas to earth's atmosphere 4 . Therefore, herbicides should be used only when less potentially damaging methods are not available, effective, or feasible. 5 With vegetation clearing four times a year, the introduction of herbicides into the meadow should be avoided. Spraying herbicides in addition to removal of vegetation is unnecessary and excessive.


Respectfully,

Shani Kleinhaus
Environmental Advocate
Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society

James Eggers
Senior Chapter Director
Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter

1 https://ceqanet.opr.ca.gov/2023010436

2 https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/44937582/46440211

3 https://www.fs.usda.gov/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr191/psw_gtr191_0610-0612_holmes.pdf and https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-relationship-between-trail-width-and-the-proportion-of-days-95-confide nt-intervals_fig2_322766904

4 https://www.panna.org/sites/default/files/202212ClimateChangeEngFinal.pdf

5 https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5386111.pdf and https://www.beyondpesticides.org/assets/media/documents/infoservices/pesticidesandyou/documents/Updated ROW.pdf