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. The Legislature finds and declares the following:
(a) Wetlands are an important natural resource of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley because they provide significant
habitat for migratory waterfowl of the Pacific flyway, for endangered
species, and for many other resident wildlife and fish populations.
Wetlands provide additional public benefits, including water quality
improvement, flood protection, stream bank stabilization, recreation,
and scientific research.
(b) Active and voluntary involvement by private landowners is
necessary for the long-term availability and productivity of wetlands
in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley.
(c) Large wetland preserves in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley,
under certain circumstances, can provide an environmentally
preferable alternative to a number of small, isolated wetland
preserves of the same type surrounded by urban development.
(d) It is the policy of the state with respect to the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley:
(1) To provide for the protection, preservation, restoration,
enhancement, and expansion of the wetland habitat in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley.
(2) To promote the protection, preservation, restoration,
enhancement, and expansion of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley
wetlands in concert with other federal, state, and local programs,
and interested parties.
(3) To improve cooperative efforts among private, nonprofit, and
public entities for the management and protection of wetlands.
(4) To assure that no net loss of either wetland acreage or
habitat values results from activities pursuant to this chapter in
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley that otherwise comply with state
and federal law.
(5) To encourage and maintain a predictable, efficient, and timely
regulatory framework for environmentally acceptable development.
(6) To assure that the construction or maintenance of wetland
mitigation banks in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley does not reduce
any local tax base, does not create any uncompensated increased
requirement for local services, and does not create conditions that
have the potential to adversely affect the public health.
(7) To provide an alternative for accomplishing offsite mitigation
in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley when offsite mitigation is
required under a fill permit issued pursuant to Section 404 of the
federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Sec. 1344 et seq.).
(e) This chapter constitutes a nonexclusive alternative to other
lawful methods of mitigating project impacts upon wetlands and
maintaining and increasing wetlands acreage and habitat values
generally. Specifically, this chapter is not intended to, and shall
not be interpreted to:
(1) Condone or encourage the removal, loss, or degradation of
wetlands.
(2) Condone or encourage the removal, loss, or degradation of
habitat for any rare, threatened, or endangered species.
(3) Abrogate any other local, state, or federal law or policy
relating to wetlands, nor prohibit any city or county from
prohibiting the removal, filling, or other destruction of particular
wetlands.
(4) Establish maximum or minimum standards or any other
requirements for wetland fill or mitigation, except for mitigation
banks established pursuant to this chapter.
(5) Have legal or necessary precedential application to any other
area of the state, or to other lands, resources, situations, or
circumstances.
(6) Preclude other forms of mitigation banking, including private
or for-profit programs, within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley.
(7) Be the exclusive method of providing compensation by
permittees for the loss of wetlands within the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Valley.