BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2087
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Date of Hearing: April 12, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS, AND WILDLIFE
Marc Levine, Chair
AB 2087
(Levine) - As Amended April 5, 2016
SUBJECT: Regional conservation frameworks
SUMMARY: Authorizes the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW)
to approve regional conservation frameworks to guide
conservation of natural resources and infrastructure planning.
Specifically, this bill:
1)States legislative findings and declarations regarding the
need to identify wildlife and habitat conservation needs on a
regional scale, including actions to address climate change
and other stressors, and to guide investments in conservation,
infrastructure, sustainable community strategies, and
compensatory mitigation for impacts to species and wildlife
corridors. States the purpose of this bill is to promote
conservation of natural resources, including biodiversity and
ecological processes, and to identify conservation needs,
including actions needed to promote resiliency to the impacts
of climate change and other stressors.
2)Authorizes the DFW to approve a regional conservation
framework proposed by DFW or any other public agency.
Specifies that the purpose of a regional conservation
framework is to guide one or more of the following, as
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specified:
a) Identification of wildlife and habitat conservation
needs, including actions needed to address impacts of
climate change and other stressors;
b) Investments in natural resource conservation;
c) Infrastructure planning;
d) Identification of conservation priorities for land
use planning;
e) Identification of priority locations for
compensatory mitigation;
3)Identifies the elements that must be included in a regional
conservation framework to be approved by DFW. Required
elements include but are not limited to: a) an explanation of
the conservation purpose of the framework, b) the geographic
area and species covered by the framework, c) a summary of the
stressors and pressures on species in the region and
conservation goals and measurable objectives to address them,
d) a description of recommended conservation actions,
including habitat restoration and enhancements, and how such
actions were prioritized and selected, e) an explanation of
how the framework is consistent with or complements other
existing plans that overlap with the framework area, and f)
how the framework provides for climate change adaptation.
4)Further requires the framework to include a regional
conservation assessment that provides context at an
ecoregional or subecoregional scale for development of the
framework, as specified. If a regional conservation framework
has already been prepared it can be incorporated by reference
if it meets specified criteria.
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5)Requires the framework to include best available scientific
information and a brief analysis of existing gaps in
scientific information.
6)Authorizes DFW to approve a regional conservation framework
for a period of up to five years, and gives DFW discretion to
determine the level of detail necessary to be included in each
framework depending on the scope of the framework.
7)Requires a public agency preparing a regional conservation
framework, prior to submitting the framework to DFW, to hold
at least two public meetings, at least one of which must be in
the framework area, and to receive written and oral comments.
Requires DFW to make all regional conservation frameworks
available to the public on its Internet Web site for public
review and comment for at least 30 days, and to make all
approved regional conservation frameworks and any updates
available on its Internet Web site.
8)Authorizes conservation actions or habitat enhancements that
measurably advance the conservation objectives of an approved
regional conservation framework to be used to fulfill, in
whole or in part, compensatory mitigation requirements for
impacts to species, habitat, or other natural resources, if
the conservation action or habitat enhancement is implemented
in advance of the impacts. In order to be used for
compensatory mitigation purposes, a regional conservation
framework must include an adaptive management and monitoring
strategy, a process for updating scientific information and
evaluating the effectiveness of identified conservation
actions and habitat enhancements at least every five years,
and identification of an entity who will be responsible for
those updates and evaluations.
9)Specifies that a conservation action or habitat enhancement
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implemented in accordance with an approved regional
conservation framework may be used to fulfill, in whole or in
part, compensatory mitigation requirements in a California
Endangered Species Act (CESA) incidental take permit. Further
specifies that a regional conservation framework may be used
to fulfill compensatory mitigation requirements identified by
a state or local agency pursuant to the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), or any other regulatory
program within the agency's jurisdiction, if the agency
determines that the action meets the requirements for
mitigation for the impacts of the project, as identified in an
environmental impact report.
10)Allows conservation actions or habitat enhancements
implemented in accordance with an approved regional
conservation framework to be used to create mitigation credits
under a written mitigation credit agreement between DFW and
the person or entity that implements the action. The
agreement shall establish the type and number of mitigation
credits created and the terms and conditions under which the
credits may be used. Specifies the information in detail that
must be submitted to DFW to enter into a mitigation credit
agreement.
11)Clarifies that nothing in this bill is intended to limit or
impose additional conditions on the creation or sale of
mitigation credits by a conservation bank or mitigation bank
approved under existing law.
12)Clarifies that creation of mitigation credits under a
regional conservation framework shall not duplicate or replace
mitigation requirements set forth in a natural community
conservation plan (NCCP). Further clarifies that approval of
a regional conservation framework does not authorize a project
or create a presumption that a proposed project or impact will
be approved or authorized.
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EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the DFW in the Natural Resources Agency. The DFW
has jurisdiction over the conservation, protection, and
management of fish and wildlife, native plants, and habitat
necessary for biologically sustainable populations of those
species.
2)Under the CESA, prohibits the taking of an endangered or
threatened species, except as specified. The DFW may permit
the take of listed species if the take is incidental to an
otherwise lawful activity and the impacts are minimized and
fully mitigated.
3)Establishes that it is the policy of the State to conserve,
protect, restore and enhance natural communities. Further
declares 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.
4)Recognizes the need for broad-based planning to provide for
effective protection and conservation of the state's wildlife
heritage while continuing to allow for appropriate development
and growth. Authorizes the development of NCCPs to provide
comprehensive management and conservation of wildlife,
pursuant to specified requirements.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: This bill authorizes a new conservation planning tool
to identify wildlife habitat conservation needs on a regional
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scale, in order to help guide infrastructure planning and
development, improve the effectiveness of public expenditures
for conservation, and identify potential advance mitigation
solutions for large public infrastructure projects.
1)Author's Statement: Regional Conservation Frameworks will
identify wildlife, fisheries, and habitat conservation needs,
including actions needed to address climate change and protect
wildlife corridors, on a regional scale, in order to guide
public investments in conservation, infrastructure planning
and development, compensatory mitigation for impacts to
threatened and endangered species, and wildlife and fisheries
recovery strategies. RCF's are voluntary, non-regulatory
tools that will serve a number of beneficial purposes
including: 1) incentivizing pro-active conservation planning
in advance of development pressures, which will help reduce
conflict at the project stage, 2) establishing common
standards for regional conservation planning, which will help
in the sharing of data and providing a connected vision for a
resilient California that protects wildlife and habitats into
the future' and 3) facilitating broadly supported regional
conservation priorities to guide public conservation
investments by state, federal, local and private entities.
RCFs can also be used as a foundation for future action for
communities that want to go further and develop more
comprehensive plans such as development of an NCCP.
2)Background: This bill seeks to provide an efficient, timely,
and standardized mechanism for regional, large-scale
conservation planning that will help identify needs and
priorities for wildlife and habitat conservation in regions,
improve the effectiveness of public investments in wildlife
conservation, and at the same time assist in guiding
infrastructure projects and identifying appropriate early
mitigation for those projects. While there are currently some
state programs that attempt to provide comprehensive regional
plans for conservation, such as the NCCP program, those
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programs are time and resource intensive, taken multiple years
to prepare, and are regulatory in nature. This bill would
authorize public entities to prepare voluntary,
non-regulatory, regional conservation frameworks that could
serve as guides for conservation investments, and if specified
criteria for science-based rigor and conservation objectives
are met, and the plans are approved by DFW, could identify
conservation actions which, if taken in advance of a project's
impacts, may meet compensatory mitigation requirements for
projects.
With the advent of climate change, DFW and other conservation
entities have become more aware of the need for conservation
planning on a regional, landscape-level scale. The
Legislature recognized this with the passage of AB 498
(Levine), Chapter 625, Statutes of 2015, which established a
state policy to encourage voluntary actions to protect
wildlife corridors and habitat strongholds. Among other
findings, that bill recognized the importance of habitat
connectivity to protect ecosystem health and biodiversity, and
to improve the resiliency of wildlife and their habitats to
climate change.
The Governor's Administration in March 2016 released the most
recent update in its series of climate change adaptation
reports entitled "Safeguarding California" which includes
implementation plans for ten sectors. The executive summary
describes the ten implementation plans as a "master blueprint"
for executing actions recommended in the 2014 report
"Safeguarding California: Reducing Climate Risk", as called
for in Governor Brown's April 2015 Executive Order (B-30-15).
Among other things, the biodiversity and habitat sector plan
identifies barriers to species migration or movement as a
major challenge facing the sector, and indicates additional
tools are needed to help resource managers respond to climate
change in a meaningful way, and to ensure management and
planning efforts are leading to on-the-ground adaptation
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actions. These themes are also a major focus of the 2015
update to the State Wildlife Action Plan. Regional
conservation frameworks are a practical tool that could
significantly assist in these efforts.
3)Prior and Related Legislation: AB 1321 (Eng) of 2010 proposed
to enact the Advance Infrastructure Mitigation Program Act,
which would have authorized the Natural Resources Agency to
adopt regional advance mitigation plans to provide effective
mitigation and conservation of natural resources and natural
processes on a landscape, regional, or statewide scale, to
expedite the environmental review of planned infrastructure
projects, and to facilitate the implementation of measures to
mitigate the impacts of those projects by identifying and
implementing mitigation measures in advance of project
approval. AB 1321 was held in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee. AB 2655 (Eng) of that same year would also have
enacted similar provisions and was also held in Assembly
Appropriations.
AB 1833 (Linder) of 2016 would create an Advanced Mitigation
Program in the Department of Transportation (CalTrans) to
implement environmental mitigation measures in advance of
future transportation projects. The purpose of the program is
to accelerate project delivery and improve environmental
outcomes of environmental mitigation for transportation
infrastructure projects. AB 1833 is pending in the Assembly
Transportation Committee.
SB 901 (Bates) of 2016 would, similar to AB 1833, create an
Advanced Mitigation Program in CalTrans to implement
environmental mitigation measures in advance of future
transportation projects, and would require CalTrans to set
aside certain amounts of future appropriations for this
purpose. Both bills would also require CalTrans to establish
an interagency transportation advanced mitigation steering
committee. SB 901 is pending in the Senate Transportation and
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Housing Committee.
4)Support Arguments: Supporters note this bill will allow local
and state agencies to develop frameworks to identify regional
conservation goals and objectives, including protection of
wildlife corridors. This bill furthers the goals of AB 498
(Levine) of 2015, which created a state policy to preserve and
enhance wildlife corridors and promote habitat connectivity.
This bill furthers those goals by encouraging a regional
approach to conservation and allowing state agencies to engage
early in identifying mitigation of large, regional
infrastructure projects. Regional frameworks will allow for a
more holistic approach to conservation planning that can also
help guide public investments for better conservation
outcomes. By identifying wildlife and habitat conservation
goals at a landscape level, this bill will ensure that public
expenditures are informed by best available science as the
state seeks to address climate change adaptation and other
stressors.
5)Opposition Arguments: None received.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Audubon California
Big Sur Land Trust
Bolsa Chica Land Trust
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California Council of Land Trusts (Support-in-concept)
California Trout
Hills for Everyone
Laguna Greenbelt, Inc.
Land Trust of Santa Cruz County
Mojave Desert Land Trust
Pathways for Wildlife
Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority
Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District
The Nature Conservancy
Transition Habitat Conservancy
Opposition
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None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Diane Colborn / W., P., & W. / (916)
319-2096