Bill Text: CA AB498 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Wildlife conservation: wildlife corridors.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Passed) 2015-10-08 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 625, Statutes of 2015. [AB498 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB498-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 498 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 625
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 8, 2015
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 8, 2015
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 2, 2015
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 4, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 31, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 16, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 22, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 28, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 8, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Levine
(Coauthors: Senators Hertzberg and Pavley)
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, 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 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.
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 fish and wildlife resources for purposes of this
section.
(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 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 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 applicable and to the extent feasible and practicable, those means
may include, but are not limited to:
(A) Acquisition or protection of wildlife corridors as open space
through conservation easements.
(B) Installing of wildlife-friendly or directional fencing.
(C) Siting of mitigation and conservation banks in areas that
provide habitat connectivity for affected fish and wildlife
resources.
(D) Provision of roadway undercrossings, overpasses, oversized
culverts, or bridges to allow for fish passage and the movement of
wildlife between habitat areas.
(2) 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 efforts, including, but not limited to, efforts involving
working landscapes, 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 subparagraphs
(B) and (E) of paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Section 2820 of
the Fish and Game Code, or the California Environmental Quality Act
(Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources
Code).
(f) For purposes of this section, 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 fish passage or the
movement of wildlife from one area to another.
