Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout20170185 Ver 1_Division 7 LIBR TE Plant Memo_20170214MEMO To: Tim Jordan, PE — Mott MacDonald From: Robert Lepsic, PWS Date: June 30, 2016 Copies: File Arcadis Project No.: NC612002 � /�RCJaD I S �esign & Consultancy furnaturatand built assets Subject: Division 7 LIBR Threatened and Endangered Plant Survey Results Arcadis G&M of North Carolina, Inc. 801 Corporate Center Drive Suite 300 Raleigh North Carolina 27607 Tel 919 854 1282 Fax 919 854 5448 ARCADIS G&M of North Carolina, Inc. NC Engineering License # C-1869 NC Surveying License # C-1869 On June 28, 2016, ARCADIS G&M of NC Inc. (ARCADIS) conducted surveys for federally listed threatened and endangered plant species at 16 low impact bridge replacement sites in NCDOT Division 7. The results of the survey are presented below. Three plants are listed as potentially occurring within the counties the LIBR projects are located. Small Whorled Pogonia (Isotria medeolodies) is listed for Guilford County. Michaux sumac (Rhus michauxii) and Smooth Coneflower (Echinacea laevigata) are listed for Orange County. Smooth Coneflower is listed for Rockingham County. Small whorled pogonia occurs in young as well as maturing (second to third successional growth) mixed- deciduous or mixed-deciduous/coniferous forests. It does not appear to exhibit strong affinities for a particular aspect, soil type, or underlying geologic substrate. In North Carolina, the perennial orchid is typically found in open, dry deciduous woods and is often associated with white pine and rhododendron. The species may also be found on dry, rocky, wooded slopes; moist slopes; ravines lacking stream channels; or slope bases near braided channels of vernal streams. The orchid, often limited by shade, requires small light gaps or canopy breaks, and typically grows under canopies that are relatively open or near features like logging roads or streams that create long-persisting breaks in the forest canopy. Michaux's sumac, endemic to the inner Coastal Plain and lower Piedmont, grows in sandy or rocky, open, upland woods on acidic or circumneutral, well-drained sands or sandy loam soils with low cation exchange capacities. The species is also found on sandy or submesic loamy swales and depressions in the fall line Sandhills region as well as in openings along the rim of Carolina bays; maintained railroad, roadside, power line, and utility rights-of-way; areas where forest canopies have been opened up by blowdowns G:\TRA\612002_NCDOT DivOnCa112012_SubtoHMM\HMM 16 Bridges Division\T&E Memo.docx Page: 1/3 MEMO and/or storm damage; small wildlife food plots; abandoned building sites; under sparse to moderately dense pine or pine/hardwood canopies; and in and along edges of other artificially maintained clearings undergoing natural succession. In the central Piedmont, it occurs on clayey soils derived from mafic rocks. The plant is shade intolerant and, therefore, grows best where disturbance (e.g., mowing, clearing, grazing, periodic fire) maintains its open habitat. Smooth coneflower, a perennial herb, is typically found in meadows, open woodlands, the ecotonal regions between meadows and woodlands, cedar barrens, dry limestone bluffs, clear cuts, and roadside and utility rights-of-way. In North Carolina, the species normally grows in magnesium- and calcium- rich soils associated with gabbro and diabase parent material, and typically occurs in Iredell, Misenheimer, and Picture soil series. It grows best where there is abundant sunlight, little competition in the herbaceous layer, and periodic disturbances (e.g., regular fire regime, well-timed mowing, careful clearing) that prevents encroachment of shade-producing woody shrubs and trees. On sites where woody succession is held in check, it is characterized by a number of species with prairie affinities. Habitat is present at each bridge for the species listed for that County. Pedestrian surveys were conducted within the habitat for each species and each bridges. No individual plants were identified. Habitat Present Project # County and plant Species within Study �dentified within Bridge # Area Study Area Small Whorled 17BP.7.R.89 Guilford, 108 Pogonia (Isotria Yes No medeolodies) Small Whorled 17BP.7.R.90 Guilford, 210 Pogonia (Isotria Yes No medeolodies) Small Whorled 17BP.7.R.91 Guilford, 270 Pogonia (Isotria Yes No medeolodies) Small Whorled 17BP.7.R.92 Guilford, 382 Pogonia (Isotria Yes No medeolodies) Michaux sumac (Rhus michauxii) and 17BP.7.R.93 Orange, 18 Smooth Coneflower Yes No (Echinacea laevigata) Michaux sumac (Rhus 17BP.7.R.94 Orange, 51 michauxii) and Smooth Coneflower Yes No (Echinacea laevigata) Michaux sumac (Rhus michauxii) and 17BP.7.R.95 Orange, 84 Smooth Coneflower Yes No (Echinacea laevigata) 17BP.7.R.96 Orange, 104 Michaux sumac (Rhus michauxii) and Yes No arcadis.com G:\TRA\612002_NCDOT DivOnCa112012_SubtoHMM\HMM 16 Bridges Division\T&E Memo.docx Page: 2/3 MEMO Smooth Coneflower (Echinacea laevigata) Michaux sumac (Rhus 17BP.7.R.97 Orange, 137 michauxii) and Yes No Smooth Coneflower (Echinacea laevigata) Michaux sumac (Rhus 17BP.7.R.98 Orange, 189 michauxii) and Yes No Smooth Coneflower (Echinacea laevigata) Michaux sumac (Rhus 17BP.7.R.99 Orange, 209 michauxii) and Yes No Smooth Coneflower (Echinacea laevigata) 17BP.7.R.100 Rockingham, 7 Smooth Coneflower (Echinacea laevigata) Yes No 176P.7.R.101 Rockingham, 39 Smooth Coneflower Yes No (Echinacea laevigata) 17BP.7.R.102 Rockingham, 171 Smooth Coneflower Yes No (Echinacea laevigata) 17BP.7.R.103 Rockingham, 248 Smooth Coneflower (Echinacea laevigata) Yes No 17BP.7.R.104 Rockingham, 283 Smooth Coneflower (Echinacea laevigata) Yes No Please feel free to contact me if you have any question. arcadis.com G:\TRA\612002_NCDOT DivOnCa112012_SubtoHMM\HMM 16 Bridges Division\T&E Memo.docx Pag2: 3/3