u.s. FISH & WII.DLlFE SERVICE e:::-.1 

United States Department of the Interior .~
 

FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE	 TAKE PRIDE 	 Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office INAMERICA 

2493 Portola.Roa~, sUi~ECE'VED Ventura, Califorma 93<t"\ .. IN REPLY REFER TO: 

2008-TA-0407 

MAY 1 3 2008 May 8, 2008 

Gerardo C. Rios	 Air Division, AIR - .3 

Chief, Air Permits Office U.S. EPA, REGION 9

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
 

75 Hawthorne Street
 

San Francisco, California 94105
 

Subject:	 Translocation Plan for Desert Tortoises at the Victorville 2 Hybrid Power Project, 

San Bernardino County, California (l-8-07-F-67) 

During our recent consultation on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's proposal to issue 

a prevention of significant deterioration permit to the City of Victorville for the Victorville 2 

hybrid power project, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed with other agencies, such as the 

California Energy Commission and California Department ofFish and Game, that we would 

complete the biological opinion prior to the development of a final translocation plan for any 

individuals ofthe federally threatened desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) that may be found 

onsite during construction. We issued our final biological opinion on January 23,2008. Inland 

Energy provided us a draft translocation plan, dated March 3, 2008, for our review. We offer the 

following specific comments on the translocation plan. 

Page 6, 4.0. Translocation Plan, Paragraph 2. The City ofVictorville proposes to move desert 

tortoises from areas of temporary disturbance to "adjacent lands where approved by the 

respective landowner." Determining the appropriate landowner at the time movement ofthe 

desert tortoises is necessary may be difficult; additionally, some landowners may not provide 

approval. For these reasons, the City ofVictorville should develop a contingency plan in the 

event these locations cannot be used for desert tortoises. Specifically, we recommend that such 

animals be relocated to the same location and in the same manner as desert tortoises from the 

power plant site. 

Page 7, 4.1. Consistency with Recovery Plan and Incidental Take Permits, Paragraph 2. As a 

point of clarification, the Service has not issued an incidental take permit for the proposed action 

and does not intend to do so. We issued a biological opinion, pursuant to section 7(a)(2) of the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act);. The biological opinion contains an 

incidental take statement that provides an exemption to the prohibitions against the taking of 

desert tortoises; these prohibitions are contained in section 9 of the Act. Incidental take permits 

are issued under the authorities of section lO(a)(l)(B) of the Act and are used when no Federal 

nexus exists for the proposed action. 

Page 9,4.2. Occupied Habitat Clearance Surveys, Last Paragraph. We recommend that the City 

ofVictorville also consider using small enclosures to.maintain desert tortoises within or adjacent 
Gerardo C. Rios 2 

to areas subject to temporary impacts from construction. Specifically, on some linear projects, 

authorized biologists have used such enclosures to prevent desert tortoises from moving into 

harm's way during construction. These enclosures have the advantages of possibly causing less 

stress to the desert tortoise by eliminating handling and of not requiring approval from adjacent 

landowners. Such enclosures would need to be designed so project workers are aware of their 

purpose but not serve as attractions to predators and people who might collect the desert 

tortoises. The size of the enclosure would be dependent upon the time the desert tortoise would 

be enclosed and the season. We recommend leaving these decisions to the authorized biologist, 

who can discuss specific issues with the agencies, as needed. If the authorized biologist is not 

familiar with the use of such enclosures, we can provide contact information for biologists who 

have used them successfully during other projects. 

Page 11,4.3. Desert Tortoise Handling and Transport, Last Paragraph on Page. We recommend 

that the City of Victorville specify an approximate size of desert tortoises that will be considered 

to be ''juvenile,'' rather than leaving the more subjective description currently in the translocation 

plan. 

Page 14,4.5. Translocation Scheduling. We interpret the sequence of events described in this 

section to be that the power plant site and staging areas will be fenced to prevent movement of 

desert tortoises in and out of the areas. After the fence is installed, biologists will survey the area 

to determine where desert tortoises are located. If desert tortoises are found, the areas where 

these animals are located will be fenced to hold them in these locations until fall, when 

translocation will occur. If this sequence of events is not what the City of Victorville intended, 

the translocation should be clarified to more clearly describe the proposed process. 

The translocation plan is not clear as to whether each desert tortoise will receive its own holding 

area or whether all the animals will be placed into one area. Moving all the desert tortoises into 

one area would likely be more stressful because the animals would be moved into possibly new 

surroundings, during the hottest and driest time ofthe year; they would also be confined to a 

limited area with other desert tortoises, with no opportunity to separate themselves from other 

individuals, if necessary. 

For these reasons, we recommend that each desert tortoise be fenced in where it was found, in a 

smaller area (e.g., 5 acres). The smaller area is likely appropriate because the desert tortoises 

would likely be moving less in the summer; consequently, a larger area would not be needed. 

We further recommend that the animals be regularly monitored; ifthey begin moving more than 

expected, they should be fed and watered on a schedule determined jointly by the authorized 

biologist, Service, and California Department of Fish and Game. 

Alternatively, we would support the City ofVictorville moving all the desert tortoises from the 

staging and power plant areas into a temporary captive location until they can be translocated to 

their ultimate destination in the fall. If a captive location is used, the animals must be kept 

separate from all other animals at all times, be fed and watered appropriately, if active, and 

regularly monitored by the authorized biologist. Day-to-day decisions on maintenance ofthese 

animals could be made jointly by the authorized biologist, Service, and California Department of 
Gerardo C. Rios 3 

Fish and Game; alternatively, the authorized biologist could make such decisions jointly with a 

person who has recognized expertise in the husbandry of desert tortoises. 

The City ofVictorville must inform us of the direction it intends to undertake prior to the onset 

of ground-disturbing activities. 

Page 24, 4.6. Translocation Area Options and Considerations. 

Option 1, Private Lands Located in Proximity to the Project Area. We do not support the option 

of acquiring lands in the vicinity ofthe power plant and translocating these animals to such 

lands. The ultimate conservation benefits ofsuch an acquisition and translocation would be that 

the acquired lands and translocated desert tortoises contribute to a large block ofmanaged lands 

that are occupied by desert tortoises functioning under habitat conditions that are as close to 

natural as possible. Ifthe City ofVictorville acquired lands adjacent to the power plant site, we 

expect that these lands would eventually be surrounded by urban development. The translocated 

desert tortoises mayor may not remain on such relatively small parcels; we expect that, 

eventually, these animals would succumb to either the direct or indirect effects of human 

activities. 

Option 2, Private Lands Located in the western Mojave Desert, away from the Project Area. The 

identified lands near Edwards Air Force Base may be suitable. We consider the primary 

drawback ofthis area as a translocation site to be the presence ofthe rail line to the north ofthe 

site. If monitoring indicates translocated desert tortoises consistently attempt to cross the rail 

line, the City ofVictorville should adaptively manage the situation to reduce the likelihood that 

these animals would be killed. Such measures could include fencing the rail line or temporarily 

confining the translocated individuals until they settle down. 

Option 3, Public Lands Located in the Vicinity ofthe Project Area. We do not support the 

translocation of desert tortoises from the power plant site to unclassified public lands that the 

Bureau of Land Management (Bureau) has designated for disposal. This option may merely 

delay the decision of where to move desert tortoises in the long term; it also defeats the purpose 

ofmoving the animals to an area where they would contribute to the long-term survival and 

recovery ofthe species. 

Moving the desert tortoises to public land that has been designated by the Service as critical 

habitat and is within a desert wildlife management area designated by the Bureau would likely be 

the option that provides these individual animals the best opportunity to survive and would 

contribute to the long-term survival and recovery ofthe species. We recognize that the existing 

recovery plan for the desert tortoise recommends against translocating desert tortoises into areas 

that are important for recovery (e.g., critical habitat). However, hundreds of desert tortoises are 

currently being translocated into critical habitat south of Fort Irwin. Additionally, the Service is 

currently revising the recovery plan for the desert tortoise and is considering the use of carefully 

implemented translocation programs as a tool to conserve desert tortoises. For these reasons, we 

suggest that the City of Victorville strongly consider areas of critical habitat within desert 

wildlife management areas as a translocation site. We understand that some areas of private 

lands within critical habitat and a desert wildlife management area are located reasonably near 

the project area. The acquisition ofsuch lands would serve to further protect the surrounding 
Gerardo C. Rios 4

public lands by preventing future development that would be incompatible with the conservation 

of desert tortoises; the acquired lands would also provide a safe haven for the translocated desert 

tortoises. Ifthe desert tortoises opted to leave the acquired lands, they would remain on public 

lands where the primary management objective is the conservation of desert tortoises. 

Page 30, 4.6. Translocation Site Preparation, First Paragraph. If the predator-proof enclosure is 

to be installed, the City of Victorville would need to ensure that it is not vulnerable to vandalism, 

possibly primarily by constructing it in an area that is not visible to users ofthe desert. 

We appreciate the Environmental Protection Agency's cooperation during this consultation. We 

request that the Environmental Protection Agency, California Energy Commission or City of 

Victorville provide us with documentation regarding the actions that are proposed in a final 

translocation plan. Such documentation may consist of an addendum to the draft plan in which 

the City of Victorville clarifies any changes it has decided to make based on comments and 

discussions with the reviewing agencies. 

If you have any questions, please contact Ray Bransfield ofmy staff at (805) 644-1766, 

extension 317. 

Sincerely, 

l

4~~ Car1-T. Benz 

Assistant Field Supervisor