“I am compelled to chime in here on two counts, one we need to remember why we do surveys at all, and the other is that professional biologists should be exercising their professional judgment when asked to do professional work. CEQA is a disclosure document, and the point is to identify potential impacts of a project, and then mitigate those impacts, or make findings as to why that was not feasible. In addition, the ESA and CESA regulate "take" of listed species, and surveys for those species have even more importance, since unauthorized take of listed species would be a violation of the state and/or federal acts. Identification of listed species on a project site (or their confirmed absence) is important responsibility of the consulting biologist to keep their clients from engaging in a violation via unauthorized incidental take of a listed species, and to keep the approving agency (City or County) from being an unwitting, but equally responsible, accomplice to an illegal act. The standard for doing rare plant surveys has included the requirement for doing a floristic survey and submitting a complete species list, and that standard has been in place since 1983, when DFG and CNPS first put together the Guidelines (which Roxanne so kindly distributed the newest soon-to-be-adopted version to everyone on the list). That would be for the last twenty five (25) years, the STANDARD for doing rare plant surveys includes doing a complete floristic survey... so Counties/Cities that accept something less are way behind the times. In addition, it requires that the surveys be done by knowledgeable individuals, at the appropriate time of year, and that associate disinformation be collected and reported. The guidelines disallows focused plant survey work (looking only for one or two T&E species); as well as "predictive" surveys since they do not identify what is on site, nor do they identify what is not on site, only what could be on site. Additionally, many, many occurrences of rare species have been discovered during floristic surveys...and some of those occurrences have been for species which were not known from any "potentially occurring" list that was based on an NDDB print-out...things like Plagiobothrys diffusus or Trifolium depauperatum hydrophyllum, both taxa thought to be extinct until sharp-eyed botanists identified them on site during floristic surveys. A professional botanist knows when it is too early, too late, or just too dry that year to detect plants which may occur on site, and should schedule multiple visits, or a recommendation to revisit the site the following season; all of that information should be in their report as well. This applies similarly to LBV, where there is a certain amount of professional judgment which has to be exercised. The very first part of the LBV protocol, which you can view at
http://www.fws.gov/ventura/sppinfo/p...guidelines.pdf, states that if unusual circumstances occur, the surveyor may request a reduced survey effort, with the example of "small, marginal, or extra-limital habitat" as possibly warranting a reduced effort. That path is always available to the surveyor, and should be exercised when an experienced professional surveyor believes that it is justified. The guidelines also indicate that if the experience surveyor believes that additional, more rigorous protocol with an extended season or additional visits is warranted, then they should be conducted. The purpose of rare plant surveys, as well as protocol surveys for animal species, is as important for what is NOT there, as it is for what is there. For the LBV surveys which provided the animal example, the Service and DFG rely on protocol level surveys to make the call of "not present", which then leads to the determination that no take would occur, and no permits required (and no mandatory finding of significance and no preparation of an EIR). Imagine what a bummer it is for the applicant to have a consultant say that their professional recommendation is to dispense with "7 unnecessary surveys" (or a complete botanical survey) and then have a listed species identified on site, delaying the project while permits are negotiated, and the environmental document re-written to address impacts to listed species. Again, I think that we need to remember why we do these surveys...for disclosure under CEQA, and to guide compliance with other state and federal laws...and follow recommendations of the public trust agencies, and organizations like CNPS, as to what constitutes a reasonable effort to identify sensitive resources on the project site.”