[njensen]

“I think that species checklists are an essential part of any CEQA document involving development in natural habitat. A good species checklist indicates that an adequate biotic survey was undertaken and provides valuable information on potential impacts to biodiversity, rare and endangered species or locally rare species. It is also a strong reflection of the biological credentials of the consulting firm conducting the survey. One tends to doubt the credibility of the entire environmental document when the species checklist is poorly done. Unfortunately, too many of these checklists are, at best, rudimentary and, at worst, contain gross errors, often including plants which are clearly out of range. In many cases, these lists are compiled using range maps from field guides or a CNDDB run and reflect no familiarity with the site. There seems to be a dearth of qualified botanists out there at present. At the City of Thousand Oaks, we bounce reports until they are properly done or, in some cases, go out there and do our own checklist. So, to reiterate, species checklists are very important.”