Bill Text: CA AB498 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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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-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 498	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


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 introduced, 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 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) Increasingly fragmented habitats threaten the state's wildlife
species.
   (e) There is insufficient incentive for private landowners to
maintain and perpetuate significant local natural areas in their
natural state.
   (f) Efforts to preserve natural areas have been fragmented between
federal, state, local, and private sectors.
   (g) Analysis of the state's habitat connectivity benefits from the
consideration of all relevant data, including information from
private and public landowners.
   (h) The  Department of Fish and Game's  
department's  existing mapping activities and products should be
developed and sustained. 
   (i) 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  w   ildlife  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 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 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 fencing, and provision of roadway undercrossings
and oversized culverts and bridges to allow for movement of wildlife
between habitat areas, as applicable.  
   (d) For purposes of this chapter, "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.