Type: report

Article abstract: The purpose of this report is to document biological baseline data for the County of San Diego's Furby‐ North Property (Property). The 78.53 acre1 Property is located in the southwestern portion of San Diego County (see Figure 1‐1) south of Otay Mesa Road and east of Interstate 805. The Property is located within the Multiple Habitat Planning Area (MHPA) preserve boundaries of the City of San Diego's Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP) Subarea Plan. It is managed by the County of San Diego Department of Parks and Recreation, and the information contained in this report will be used to direct future Property management and monitoring and the development of a Resource Management Plan. Inventory surveys conducted in 2011 included vegetation communities mapping, rare plant surveys and invasive species identification, butterfly surveys and habitat assessment for the Quino checkerspot butterfly, herpetological surveys using pitfall trap arrays, diurnal and nocturnal avian point count surveys and the identification of potential cactus wren habitat, active and passive bat surveys using Anabat, small mammal trapping, and medium/large mammal surveys using track stations and remote camera stations. Vegetation communities were mapped applying the new Vegetation Classification System for Western San Diego County (AECOM et al. 2011) and then cross‐walked to the Oberbauermodified Holland system (Oberbauer et al. 2008, Holland 1986). Surveys were conducted between the months of April and July 2011. The Property consists of 11 plant alliances, associations, or semi‐natural stands. The vegetation communities on‐site are dominated by high quality Diegan coastal sage scrub and maritime succulent scrub, but contain patches of non‐native grassland dominated by garland chrysanthemum in the northern portion of the Property, and a relatively dense unauthorized trail system from off‐road vehicle use in the southern portion of the Property. Trails and dirt roads traverse the entire Property, some of which are easements across the Property used by the City of San Diego and San Diego Gas and Electric. One potential vernal pool was observed in the northern portion of the Property and another potential vernal pool was observed adjacent to the northern boundary of the Property. A total of 115 plant taxa were observed on the Property during the 2011 surveys. Approximately 32 percent of these are non‐native species, many of which are gr