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Vantage to Pomona Heights Chapter 4 230 kV Transmission Line Project FEIS Environmental Consequences PAGE 4-16 impacts on identified special status species and their habitats; delineating populations of special status plants for avoidance during construction; and developing plant protection plans to identify specific measures for the protection of special status plants. It is anticipated that no impacts would occur to White Bluffs bladderpod or its habitat with the construction of the proposed Project. 4.2.4 Impacts Specific to Route Segments Long-term impacts to vegetation were assessed for each route segment and are presented in Table 4.2-4. Impacts for each route segment are discussed in detail in the following sections. Impacts to agricultural land, disturbed/developed areas, and water are discussed in detail in Land Jurisdiction and Land Use (Section 4.4), Water Resources (Section 4.14), and Soil and Geology (Section 4.15) and are not discussed in this section. 4.2.4.1 Route Segment 1a/NNR-1 General Vegetation Route Segment 1a/NNR-1 parallels Sage Trail Road and an existing distribution line. Construction of Route Segment 1/aNNR-1 would result in approximately 4.9 acres of long-term ground disturbance to vegetation (Table 4.2-4). Long-term disturbance to vegetation communities would occur in 0.3 acre of annual grasslands and noxious weeds, 0.9 acre of rabbitbrush/annual grassland, and 3.7 acres of big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) perennial grassland (Table 4.2-4). Short-term disturbance would occur to approximately 5.2 acres of vegetation. Short-term disturbance would occur in work areas, turn around areas, and pulling and tensioning sites. Refer to Chapter 2 for a description of these sites. Impacts to vegetation along this route segment are similar to those described above for all route segments (Section 4.2.3) and include vegetation removal, introduction and spread of noxious weeds and invasive weeds, and fragmentation of connected vegetation types. Disturbance would be minimized by RDFs designed to reduce impacts to vegetation resources. RDFs include using existing public roads to access structure sites where practicable, minimizing blading and disturbance to plant communities, revegetating following construction, and implementing a Noxious Weed and Invasive Plant Management Plan. Refer to Section 2.3 - Required Design Features Common to Action Alternatives for a complete list and description of RDFs. With the implementation of RDFs, long-term impacts to vegetation from the construction of Route Segment 1a/NNR-1 include 0.5 mile of no identifiable, 1.2 miles of low, and 0.7 mile of moderate due to long recovery times for sagebrush. Special Status Species and Priority Ecosystem No special status plant species are known to occur within one mile of Route Segment 1a/NNR-1 (Table 4.2-5). No known WNHP priority ecosystems would be disturbed through construction of Route Segment 1a/NNR-1. No special status plant surveys were conducted on Route Segment 1a/NNR-1 because there are no federal or state lands within this route segment’s 44.1-acre survey corridor. All of Route Segment 1a/NNR-1 is comprised of non-federal or state land and was not surveyed (Table 3.2-3). As this route segment corridor was not surveyed, impacts could occur to special status plant species. Long-term disturbance could occur to potential habitat for special status plants, including 0.7 acre of suitable, 1.1 acres of marginal, and 0.4 acre unsuitable habitat (Table 4.2-5). In addition to RDFs described above to reduce impacts to general vegetation, the following RDFs would be implemented during construction, operation, and maintenance to minimize impacts to special status plants: taking appropriate action to avoid adverse impacts on identified special status species and their habitats; delineating populations of special status plants for avoidance during construction; and developing a Plant Protection Plan to identify specific measures for the protection of special status plants.