Rio Vista Specific Plan EIR and Specialized Ecological Studies

FCS prepared a project-level EIR for a proposed Rio Vista Specific Plan Project and conducted specialized studies of a 13,000-year-old clone of a Palmer’s oak (Quercus palmeri) located on the project site. The project included a new Specific Plan that superseded and replaced the approved Rio Vista Specific Plan No. 243. The proposed Specific Plan included approximately 1,200 dwelling units, a 12-acre school site, an 11.4-acre Community Park, and 511 acres of open space for conservation, including an area designated for protection of the Palmer’s oak clone. Working closely with planners at the City of Jurupa Valley, FCS provided peer review of environmental documentation prepared to support the EIR, and prepared specialized studies and documentation that analyzed aspects of the ecology of the Palmer’s oak clone. FCS Biologists performed a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) study of the subsurface bedrock beneath the Palmer’s oak clone locality and documented the results in a report that included a literature review detailing the hydrological characteristics of the site, and a proposed process for conveyance of surface water through upslope bedrock fissures and perching of water within a subsurface bedrock concavity beneath the oak clone locality. FCS produced a second study that reviewed the potential extent of the root system of the Palmer’s oak clone and provided recommendations for avoidance buffer distances established to protect the oak. 

The studies of the Palmer’s oak clone were directed by FCS Principal Biologist Dr. Michael Tuma, who authored two reports detailing the results of the studies and presented the findings of the studies at public Planning Commission and City Council meetings. FCS Associate Biologists and Certified Arborists Hannah Carney and Kelly Evans and FCS Associate Biologist Gina Culver assisted with the documentation.