Gem to Jordan Valley (Line 234)—transmission line maintenance: special-status plant survey report

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Idaho Power Company (IPC) notified the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that we would be conducting required maintenance on the Gem to Jordan Valley 69 kilovolt (kV) transmission line (Line 234) in 2013. The required maintenance activities would occur, in part, on public lands administered by the BLM. BLM, under the authority of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of October 21, 1976, granted Idaho Power Right-of-Way (ROW) IDBL-056088 to construct, operate, and maintain this transmission line. The BLM ROW grant authorizes a 40-footwide ROW. The maintenance work will follow guidelines set in the Routine Operation and Maintenance section in the ELM/Idaho Power Master Agreement (BLM-MA-ID-001) dated April 6, 2012. Because the ROW is near the McBride Creek Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC)—an area with known occurrences of special status plants (SSPs)—the BLM requested IPC conduct a botanical survey prior to maintenance activities. The BLM Owyhee Field Office botanist/ecologist provided a list of SSPs known to occur in this area. Areas in the ROW were surveyed on May 1, 2013. Areas near poles planned for removal and replacement were surveyed more intensely as greater disturbance is likely to occur in these areas. A return trip on May 23, 2013, was made to re-survey sections of the ROW where an unidentifiable milkvetch species (Astragalus sp.) was observed on May 1st. This document is the botanical survey report; it contains location information, a list of potential SSPs, survey methods, and results for the Line 234 ROW SSP survey.

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Reference Code: U13FUN01IDUS

Full Citation: Funk, Sarah. 2013. Gem to Jordan Valley (Line 234) - transmission line maintenance: special-status plant survey report. Idaho Power Company, Boise, Idaho. 22 pp plus 2 shapefiles

Location: ELECTRONIC FILE - BOTANY: MULTIPLE SPECIES