BILL NUMBER: AB 498 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 8, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Levine
FEBRUARY 23, 2015
An act to amend Sections 1930 and 1930.5 of the Fish and Game
Code, relating to fish and wildlife.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 498, as amended, Levine. Wildlife conservation: wildlife
corridors.
Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to
administer the Significant Natural Areas Program, and requires the
department, among other things, to develop and maintain a spatial
data system that identifies those areas in the state that are most
essential for maintaining habitat connectivity, including wildlife
corridors and habitat linkages. Existing law requires the department,
contingent upon the provision of certain funding, to investigate,
study, and identify those areas in the state that are most essential
as wildlife corridors and habitat linkages and prioritize vegetative
data development in those areas. Existing law requires the department
to seek input from representatives of other state agencies, local
government, federal agencies, nongovernmental conservation
organizations, landowners, agriculture, recreation, scientific
entities, and industry in determining essential wildlife corridors
and habitat linkages.
This bill would declare that it is the policy of the state and all
state agencies, with regard to a project proposed in an area
identified as a wildlife corridor, to encourage the project proponent
to consult with the department, and, wherever feasible and
practicable, take steps to protect promote,
protect, or restore the functioning of the wildlife corridor
through various means, as applicable.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1930 of the Fish and Game Code is amended to
read:
1930. The Legislature finds and declares that:
(a) Areas containing diverse ecological and geological
characteristics are vital to the continual health and well being of
the state's natural resources and of its citizens.
(b) Many habitats and ecosystems that constitute the state's
natural diversity are in danger of being lost.
(c) Connectivity between wildlife habitats is important to the
long-term viability of the state's biodiversity.
(d) Preserving, restoring, and connecting high-quality habitat for
wildlife can create habitat strongholds.
(d)
(e) Increasingly fragmented habitats threaten the state'
s wildlife species.
(e)
(f) There is insufficient incentive for private
landowners to maintain and perpetuate significant local natural areas
in their natural state.
(f)
(g) Efforts to preserve natural areas have been
fragmented between federal, state, local, and private sectors.
(g)
(h) Analysis of the state's habitat connectivity
benefits from the consideration of all relevant data, including
information from private and public landowners.
(h)
(i) The department's existing mapping activities and
products should be developed and sustained.
(i)
(j) The importance of wildlife corridors to assist in
adapting to climate change has been recognized by such groups as the
Western Governor's Association, which unanimously approved a policy
to protect wildlife migration corridors and crucial wildlife habitat
in 2007. Individual local, state, and federal agencies have also
adopted policies aimed at protecting wildlife corridors and restoring
habitat connectivity, in order to protect ecosystem health and
biodiversity and to improve the resiliency of wildlife and their
habitats to climate change. However, these efforts could be enhanced
through establishment of a statewide policy to protect and restore
important wildlife corridors and habitat linkages where feasible.
SEC. 2. Section 1930.5 of the Fish and Game Code is amended to
read:
1930.5. (a) Contingent upon funding being provided by the
Wildlife Conservation Board from moneys available pursuant to Section
75055 of the Public Resources Code, or from other appropriate bond
funds, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the department shall
investigate, study, and identify those areas in the state that are
most essential as wildlife corridors and habitat linkages, as well as
the impacts to those wildlife corridors from climate change, and
shall prioritize vegetative data development in these areas.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the Wildlife
Conservation Board use various funds to work with the department to
complete a statewide analysis of wildlife corridors and connectivity
to support conservation planning and climate change adaptation
activities.
(c) It is the policy of the state to promote the protection of
wildlife corridors , habitat strongholds, and habitat
linkages in order to enhance the resiliency of wildlife and their
habitats to climate change, protect biodiversity, and allow for the
migration and movement of species by providing connectivity between
habitat lands. In order to further these goals, it is the policy of
the state and all state agencies, with regard to a project proposed
in an area identified as a wildlife corridor, to encourage the
project proponent to consult with the department, and, wherever
feasible and practicable, take steps to protect
promote, protect, or restore the functioning of the
wildlife corridor through various means, as applicable. Those means
may include, but are not necessarily limited to, acquisition or
protection of wildlife corridors as open space through conservation
easements, installing of wildlife friendly
wildlife-friendly fencing, and provision of roadway
undercrossings and oversized culverts and bridges to allow for
movement of wildlife between habitat areas, as applicable.
(d) In adopting the policy described in subdivision (c), it is not
the intent of the Legislature to create new regulatory requirements.
The Legislature finds and declares that there are a number of
existing programs, including, but not necessarily limited to,
programs involving working landscapes, such as timberlands and
rangelands, that are already working to achieve the policy described
in subdivision (c).
(d)
(e) For purposes of this chapter, "wildlife
the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) "Habitat stronghold" means high-quality habitat that supports
wildlife in being more resilient to increasing pressures on species
due to climate change and land development.
(2) "Wildlife corridor" means a
habitat linkage that joins two or more areas of wildlife habitat,
allowing for the movement of wildlife from one area to another.