Agenda - Environmental Policy Board - 10/15/2018

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Under post -development conditions, turtles attempting to move through or into the RTC site will encounter many physical obstacles. Examples include curb and gutter, retaining walls, discontinuous waterways, stormwater control structures such as skimmers and submerged culverts. These barriers also impact other reptiles, amphibians and mammals attempting to move though the site. Summary of Environmental Impact. Natural Communities: Table 10.1 summarizes changes in cover types, including natural communities for post -development conditions. The most significant impacts will be to wetlands and forest/woodlands. No impact to the floodplain forest community on the Mississippi River island is expected. Fish and Wildlife Habitat: Wildlife that currently use the mixture of agricultural land, forest, grassland and wetland will likely be eliminated or reduced in proportion to acres of habitat converted to other land uses. Additional impacts are expected to occur due to increased mortality related to traffic and other accidents, predation by domestic animals and pesticides and other chemicals concentrated by stormwater runoff. Blanding's Turtles: Blanding' s turtles potentially occur within the project area, either as individuals of nearby populations passing though in route to other areas, or as individuals using specific habitats within the RTC site. Under post -development conditions, turtles may continue to use portions of the site, namely some of the wetlands clustered around the north and northwest portions of the site. These turtles will likely encounter many obstacles and hazards and for this reason the project could be a sink to nearby turtle populations. Mitigation element. Natural Communities: Item 12 of this report addresses wetland mitigation fully. Mitigation for loss of forest/woodland can be accomplished though additional tree planting within some areas of the site listed in Table 10.1 as containing grassland communities. Additional forest/woodland planting can be incorporated into planting plans for the infiltration/wetland system extending south from the RTC site to the Mississippi River. The edges of the wetlands and infiltration areas could be established as an oak savanna/woodland natural community. Wildlife Habitat: Several strategies are proposed to mitigate impacts to wildlife. These include: 1). Establish Greenwav Corridor Though the Site. A proposed greenway corridor is shown in Figures 6.1, 12.5 and 12.6. The corridor will incorporate a system of wetland treatment ponds, infiltration ponds and constructed wetlands. Areas of the corridor up to the 100-year flood elevation will be planted to a mixture of native short grasses and forbs. Although this corridor will not extend though the site completely, it will provide an 11-4