BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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| SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER |
| Senator Fran Pavley, Chair |
| 2011-2012 Regular Session |
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BILL NO: AB 1973 HEARING DATE: June 12, 2012
AUTHOR: Olsen URGENCY: No
VERSION: April 11, 2012 CONSULTANT: Bill Craven
DUAL REFERRAL: No FISCAL: Yes
SUBJECT: Protected species: take: Ferguson Slide Permanent
Restoration Project.
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
1. California has provisions in the state endangered species act
(CESA) and the natural community conservation planning act
(NCCP) that authorizes the incidental take of threatened and
endangered species under specified conditions. However,
California has four fully protected species statutes that,
respectively, prohibit the take of fully protected mammals,
amphibians, birds, and reptiles. One of the fully protected
reptiles in California is the rare limestone salamander. This
species has a very limited range and is found only in the Merced
River canyon near Briceburg and along Bear Creek, a tributary of
the Merced River. It is not known to exist anywhere else in the
world.
In addition to its status as a fully protected species, it has
been listed as a threatened species under CESA since 1971. The
species is threatened with extinction due to, among other
things, its extremely limited range. The Department of Fish and
Game has established a Limestone Salamander Ecological Reserve
in Mariposa County that protects 120 acres of limestone
salamander habitat and the Bureau of Land Management has
designated 1,600 acres as the Limestone Salamander Area of
Critical Environmental Concern, which includes both confirmed
and potential limestone salamander habitat.
2. CalTrans is in the process of re-building SR 140, an
important east-west highway in Mariposa County that was closed
because of two major rockslides at a place called Ferguson
Ridge. The highway is a gateway to Yosemite National Park. In
its environmental review for the project, CalTrans has been
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unable to develop an alternative that would not affect the
limestone salamander.
3. Last year, the Legislature enacted SB 618 (Wolk), Chapter
596, Statutes of 2011, which allows a permit to be issued for
incidental take of a fully protected species as part of an NCCP
if the species is a covered species whose conservation and
management is provided for under the NCCP.
PROPOSED LAW
The April 11, 2012 version of this bill is the product of a
negotiated outcome in the Assembly that was successful in that
all of the opposition from conservation groups was removed. As
amended, the bill does all the following:
1. Creates a new section in the Fish and Game Code that applies
only to this highway project and the conditions that apply to
the take of the limestone salamander.
2. Requires the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) to determine
that CalTrans will adopt avoidance and mitigation measures to
protect the salamander through enforceable commitments. These
include commitments to prevent ground disturbance when the
salamander is active during the months of December through
March, fencing of known habitat to protect entry into the
construction zone, requiring the presence of a biological
monitor during the active building phase of the project, and
removal of any salamanders that, despite these precautions, is
found in the construction site.
3. Specified conservation standards of CESA would apply to any
permit granted by DFG to CalTrans for this project. These
include the provisions that any take to be minimized and fully
mitigated, compliance with regulations developed by the
department to implement any recovery strategy for species (there
is no recovery plan for this species at this time), and no
permit may be issued if it would jeopardize the continued
existence of the species, among other applicable conservation
standards. Additionally, consistent with the Wolk bill from last
year referenced earlier, the bill imports a more rigorous
conservation standard from the NCCP act and requires DFG to
ensure that CalTrans contributes to steps that will contribute
to the recovery of the salamander. Recovery, in this context,
means that the protections of CESA would no longer be necessary.
The bill requires DFG to ensure that whatever measures are
necessary to satisfy this standard are incorporated into the
project.
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ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
The author and the bill's supporters are committed to the
restoration of this highway and believe that the compromise
reached in the Assembly will allow the project to proceed with
appropriate safeguards for the limestone salamander. Many state
and federal agencies communicated to the author their support
for the restoration of the highway for various economic and
public safety purposes but without specifically endorsing the
legislation.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION
As amended in the Assembly, the conservation groups that once
opposed AB 1973 have all removed their opposition. These include
the Defenders of Wildlife, Friends of the River, California
Coastal Protection Network, the Endangered Habitats League, and
Sierra Club California.
SUPPORT
Mariposa County
Regional Council of Rural Counties
OPPOSITION
None Received to 4-11-12 version
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