Section 1797 Of Chapter 7.9. Conservation Bank And Mitigation Bank Applications And Fees From California Fish And Game Code >> Division 2. >> Chapter 7.9.
1797
. The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
(a) Mitigation banks and conservation banks provide for the
conservation of important habitats and habitat linkages, take
advantage of economies of scale that are often not available to
individualized mitigation projects, and simplify the state regulatory
compliance process while achieving conservation goals.
(b) The department authorizes the establishment of private and
public conservation and mitigation banks that can provide viable
consolidated mitigation for adverse impacts caused by projects. Banks
sell habitat or species credits to project proponents having
mitigation responsibilities that require compensation for impacts to
wetlands, threatened or endangered species, and other sensitive
resources. The state policy on conservation banks was established in
1995 by the Natural Resources Agency and the California Environmental
Protection Agency.
(c) In 2011, the department and other state and federal agencies,
including the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the National
Marine Fisheries Service, the United States Army Corps of Engineers,
and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, renewed a
memorandum of understanding for the purpose of jointly establishing a
framework for developing and using combined or coordinated
approaches to mitigation and conservation banking in the state. The
memorandum of understanding includes provisions for the development
and continuous improvement of standardized banking program documents
and guidance. Existing standardized documents identified in the
memorandum of understanding include bank enabling instruments,
conservation easements, long-term management plans, and bank proposal
review checklists, among others.
(d) The department has properly excluded from being eligible as
mitigation and conservation banks those lands that are not suitable
to become banks, for reasons that include that the lands do not
support significant biological resources or are not biologically
viable, are subject to potentially inconsistent uses, encumbrances,
or requirements, or would not meet requirements of permits or
authorizations that require mitigation.
(e) Greater transparency is desired to ensure that mitigation
requirements of regulatory programs, permits, and authorizations are
fully met when employing conservation and mitigation banks, and that
the monitoring of banks to ensure long-term conservation of species
and habitats is scientifically valid.
(f) The private and public mitigation and conservation banks and
the private and public entities to which bank credits are sold should
fully fund the administrative and regulatory costs of the department
in providing banking program services, administration and oversight.
(g) The department has found that the establishment and use of
conservation and mitigation banks may result in added ecological
benefits and reduced administrative costs over the more traditional
forms of smaller, single-purpose mitigation projects.
(h) It is the intent of the Legislature that banking and all other
forms of mitigation for wildlife species comply with regulatory
requirements, are based on the best available scientific information,
can be implemented successfully, and have adequate funding to
achieve mitigation measures and be monitored for compliance and
effectiveness. The Legislature recognizes that mitigation and
conservation banking is important to the state because banks provide
regulatory efficiencies, environmental benefits, and economic
advantages. Properly developed and monitored banks have demonstrated
their value and efficacy and are important tools in mitigating
impacts to resources and in conserving a wide range of habitat lands.