Amended in Senate July 16, 2015

Amended in Assembly May 22, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 28, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 8, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 498

Introduced by Assembly Member Levine

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(Coauthors: Senators Hertzberg and Pavley)

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February 23, 2015

An act to amend Sections 1797.5, 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 to encourage, wherever feasible and practicable, voluntary steps to protect the functioning of wildlife corridors through various means, as applicable.

Existing law provides for the establishment of conservation banks, defined as publicly or privately owned and operated sites that are to be conserved and managed for habitat protection purposes in accordance with an agreement with the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Existing law provides for the issuance of credits by a conservation bank to, among other things, reduce adverse impacts to fish or wildlife resources from certain activities. Existing law also provides for the establishment of mitigation banks, as defined.

This bill would include within the authorized purposes of a conservation bank the protection of habitat connectivity for fish and wildlife resources.

This bill would provide that a project applicant may receive advance mitigation credits for investing in a mitigation bank that protects habitat connectivity for affected fish and wildlife resources, and would further provide that the fact that a project applicant does not take voluntary steps to protect the functioning of a wildlife corridor prior to initiating the application process for the project shall not be grounds for denying a permit or requiring additional mitigation beyond what is otherwise required by law to mitigate project impacts.

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 1797.5 of the Fish and Game Code is
amended to read:

1797.5.  

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms
shall have the following meanings:

(a) “Bank” means a conservation bank, mitigation bank, or
conservation and mitigation bank.

(b) “Bank enabling instrument” means a written agreement with
the department regarding the establishment, use, operation, and
maintenance of the bank.

(c) “Bank sponsor” means the person or entity responsible for
establishing and operating a bank.

(d) “Conservation bank” means a publicly or privately owned
and operated site that is to be conserved and managed in accordance
with a written agreement with the department that includes
provisions for the issuance of credits, on which important habitat,
including habitat for threatened, endangered, or other special status
species, exists, has been, or will be created to do any of the
following:

(1) Compensate for take or other adverse impacts of activities
authorized pursuant to Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section
2050) of Division 3.

(2) Reduce adverse impacts to fish or wildlife resources from
activities, authorized pursuant to Chapter 6 (commencing with
Section 1600) of Division 2, to less than substantial.

(3) Mitigate significant effects on the environment pursuant to
the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13
(commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code)
and Guidelines for Implementation of the California Environmental
Quality Act (Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 15000) of
Division 6 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations).

(4) Establish mitigation in advance of any impacts or effects.

(5) To the extent feasible and practicable, protect habitat
connectivity for the affected fish and wildlife resources.

(e) “Conservation easement” means a perpetual conservation
easement, as defined by Section 815.1 of the Civil Code, covering
the real property that comprises the bank site.

(f) “Mitigation bank” means either of the following:

(1) A bank site or mitigation bank site as defined by Section
1777.2.

(2) Any publicly or privately owned and operated site, other
than those defined by Section 1777.2, on which wetlands exist,
have been, or will be created, and that is to be conserved and
managed in accordance with a written agreement with the
department for any of the purposes described in paragraphs (1) to
(4), inclusive, of subdivision (d).

(g) “Person” has the meaning set forth in subdivision (b) of
Section 711.2.

(h) “Prospectus” means a written summary of the proposed bank
containing a sufficient level of detail to support informed
department review and comment.

SEC. 2.  

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 begin delete well being end delete
begin insert well-being end insert 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 and connecting high-quality habitat for wildlife
can create habitat strongholds.

(e) Increasingly fragmented habitats threaten the state’s wildlife
species.

(f) There is an opportunity to provide incentive for private
landowners to maintain and perpetuate significant local natural
areas in their natural state.

(g) Efforts to preserve natural areas have been fragmented
between federal, state, local, and private sectors.

(h) Analysis of the state’s habitat connectivity benefits from the
consideration of all relevant data, including information from
private and public landowners.

(i) The department’s existing mapping activities and products
should be developed and sustained.

(j) The importance of wildlife corridors to assist in adapting to
climate change has been recognized by such groups as the Western
Governors’ 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 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 important wildlife
corridors and habitat linkages where feasible and practicable.

SEC. 3.  

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) (1) It is the policy of the state to promote the voluntary
protection of wildlife corridors and habitat strongholds 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 to
encourage, wherever feasible and practicable, voluntary steps to
protect the functioning of wildlife corridors through various means,
as begin delete applicable. end delete

begin delete As end delete applicable and to the extent feasible and practicable, those
means may include, but are not begin delete necessarily end delete limited to:

(A) Acquisition or protection of wildlife corridors as open space
through conservation easements.

(B) Installing of wildlife-friendly fencing.

(C) Creation of mitigation and conservation banks that protect
habitat connectivity for affected fish and wildlife resources.

(D) Provision of roadway undercrossings, oversized culverts,
or bridges to allow for movement of wildlife between habitat areas.

(2) Consistent with Chapter 7.9 (commencing with Section
1797) of Division 2, a project applicant may receive advance
mitigation credits for investing in a mitigation bank that, to the
extent feasible and practicable, protects habitat connectivity for
affected fish and wildlife resources. The fact that a project applicant
does not take voluntary steps to protect the functioning of a wildlife
corridor prior to initiating the application process for a project
shall not be grounds for denying a permit or requiring additional
mitigation beyond what would be required to mitigate project
impacts under other applicable laws, including, but not limited to,
the California Endangered Species Act (Chapter 1.5 (commencing
with Section 2050) of Division 3) and the California Environmental
Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of
the Public Resources Code).

(d) The Legislature finds and declares that there are a number
of existing programs, including, but not begin delete necessarily end delete limited to,
programs involving working landscapes, such as timberlands,
agricultural lands, and rangelands, that are already working to
achieve the policy described in subdivision (c).

(e) Subdivision (c) shall not be construed to create new
regulatory requirements or modify the requirements of the
California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing
with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code).

(f) For purposes of this chapter, 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.