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Alameda County Altamont Landfill Open Space Fund Castleridge Property Acquisition Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park East Soy Regional Park District tailed deer and ring-tailed cat. Large, contiguous corridors populated by expanses of ideal habitat provide wildlife species with optimal opportunities for foraging, shelter and breeding. Acquisition of this property by EBRPD will support the plant and animal species listed above by protecting the habitat corridor created by the contiguous preserved open space of EBRPD's Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park, the City's 237-acre Augustin Bernal Park. the SFPUC's open space lands surrounding their San Antonio and Calaveras Reservoirs and EBRPD's Mission Peak Regional Preserve and Sunol/Ohlone Regional Wilderness. According to the California Natural Diversity Database the property likely hosts special status amphibians and reptiles known to inhabit riparian corridors such as the Alameda whipsnake, California red-legged frog and California tiger salamander. In 2006, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service designated the Hayward-Pleasanton Ridge area as one of six critical habitat units for the Alameda whipsnake staring that it contains, "...a mosaic of scrub and chaparral vegetation and rocky outcrops considered essential to the conservation of the subspecies." This unit is included in the designated critical habitat because it contains features essential to the conservation of the Alameda whipsnake; is currently occupied by the subspecies; and represents the southwestern portion of the subspecies' range and one of the five population centers. The County's East County Area Plan discusses the Pleasanton Ridgelands as a focal open space area. It establishes policies and programs centered on cooperative collaboration with east county cities, the Livermore Area Recreation and Park District (LARPD) and EBRPD to protect the ridgelands as permanent open space within the Bay Area Greenbelt system and implement management guidelines aimed at preserving biological resources and important habitat corridors therein: The County shall preserve a continuous band of open space consisting of a variety of plant communities and wildlife habitats to provide comprehensive, rather than piecemeal, habitat conservation for all of East County... The City of Pleasanton General Plan 2005 — 2025 also recognizes the unique setting of the Pleasanton Ridgelands and the opportunity to sustain biodiversity in the area. It enumerates policies and programs aimed at achieving the objective of preserving and enhancing wildlife habitats, corridors and streambeds in its jurisdiction while promoting sensitive recreation in these areas.