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3.0 Environmental Setting

Wildfires

The Los Angeles County Fire Department (County Fire Department) designates lands within
Los Angeles County that are determined to be highly vulnerable to wildfire as VHFHSZs (Los
Angeles County Code, Title 32). The Antelope Valley area, including the Project site, is
designated as a VHFHSZ. Project site characteristics that contribute to this designation
include (a) access; (b) lack of existing adequate fire flows; (c) topography; and (d) vegetative
cover. Because of this designation, development of the Project is subject to the County Fire
Department’s Fuel Modification Plan Guidelines and specific development standards. Please
refer to Section 5.3.3, Fire Safety, for more information regarding wildfire potential on and
around the Project site.

Cultural and Historic Resources

The Project site as a whole contains numerous prehistoric and historic archaeological sites
and paleontological localities. All but three of the sites in the western portion of the Project
site have been determined not to be significant. The three significant sites will remain in
open space and will not be affected by the current project. Prehistoric and historic
archaeological sites in the eastern portion of the Project site are considered significant until
further study confirms otherwise.

Biological Resources

Vegetation and Wildlife Habitat

As discussed above in Section 3.1, Physical Setting, there is a variety of vegetation types on
the Project site; however, the site is dominated by grasslands, with wildflower fields in some
portions of the grasslands. The other main groups of vegetation types identified on the site
include scrub and chaparral, oak woodland, riparian and bottomland habitat, and bog and
marsh.

Some vegetation types are considered “special status” by various agencies, such as the
California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). Special status vegetation types on the
Project site include the following: Wright’s buckwheat scrub; mixed oak woodland; alluvial
scrub; cottonwood woodland; riparian herb; rush riparian grassland; southern arroyo
willow riparian; southern cottonwood–willow woodland; southern willow scrub;
unvegetated wash; valley oak riparian woodland; willow riparian forest; willow riparian
woodland; alkali meadow; Baltic rush; coastal and valley freshwater marsh; seeps and
ephemeral ponds; and native perennial grasslands and wildflower fields that are coincident
and mixed with annual grasslands and other vegetation types.

Special Status Plant and Wildlife Species

The Project site supports a variety of special status plant and wildlife species either year
round or seasonally. Populations of special status plants—including California androsace,
round-leaved filaree, Mojave spineflower, Sylvan microseris, and Piute Mountains
navarretia—occur in a patchy distribution scattered across the grassland areas of the site.

R:\Projects\PAS\CEN\000306\Draft EIR\3.0 EnvSet-051117.docx 3-15 Centennial Project
Draft EIR