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Chapter 4 Environmental Setting, Impacts, and Mitigation Measures D. Biological Resources ring-necked pheasant, California vole, striped skunk, black-tailed jackrabbit, gopher snake, and western fence lizard, The lack of protective cover in the open grasslands magnifies the importance of isolated trees and the dense riparian forest, which serve as nesting, denning, and retreat areas for a variety of birds and mammals, The Arroyo de la Laguna corridor is a feature of regional importance to wildlife, providing a source of drinking water, protective cover and nesting substrate, and serving as a movement corridor, The creek channel is used as a movement corridor for larger wildlife species such as grey fox, black-tailed deer, striped skunk, raccoon, and opossum. The creek supports aquatic amphibians, reptiles, and resident and migratory fish species, Areas with emergent vegetation and ponding are particularly attractive features to waterfowl and colonial nesting birds such as mallard duck, herons, egrets, and red-winged blackbird, Dense trees and shrubs provide important nesting and foraging habitat for numerous species of birds such as warbling vireo, ruby-crowned kinglet, dark-eyed junco, and California quail. The large crops of acorns from the scattered oaks and trees in the riparian forest provide an important source of food for numerous woodpeckers, jays, squirrels, and black-tailed deer in the fall. A red-tailed hawk nest was observed in a large valley oak tree along the eastern edge ofthe riparian forest during the January, 1995 survey, With the exception of the red-tailed hawk nest, evidence of essential nesting and denning habitat for other raptors and larger mam- mals was not observed on the project site at that time, No other raptor nests were observed in the trees, and no suitable nest locations for burrowing owl, which tends to occupy burrows of ground squirrel and other larger rodents, were observed during the survey, Existing trees provide perching, roosting, and nesting substrate for birds, many of which are typical of urban areas: these include house sparrow, house finch, American robin, and Euro- pean starling, Planted trees outside of the riparian area and the dry channel are considered to have a low habitat value due to their origin as landscape plantings, proximity to the active Bernal Avenue roadway corridor, and lack of use by sensitive bird species for nesting or roosting. (3) Special Status Species Special status plants and wildlife with potential to occur on the project site are described below and summarized in Appendix D, Table Dl, The descriptions include information from background research and studies conducted in the late 1990s and in 2005. a. Plant Taxa of Concern In the 1997/2000 EIR, it was determined that over 30 plant taxa with special status may have historically occurred on the project site, but extensive disturbance from agricultural production, flood control improvements, and intensive grazing eliminated suitable habitat for special-status plant populations in all but the riparian corridor along the Arroyo, No special-status plant taxa were detected during the systematic survey conducted in June, 1986 and no taxa of concern were believed to occur on the project site, 59