North Coast Chapter - CNPS
Natural Communities Conservation Planning Act
CNPS is circulating a sign-on letter
which lays out the requirements for successful implementation of
Natural Communities Conservation Planning in California. The
purpose of the letter is to outline key principles for NCCPs
that, if incorporated into law, policy, and practice, will
promote genuine protection of rare plants and other species
through the NCCP program. We will be presenting the letter to the
state legislature, with the signatures of many scientific and
conservation groups, in order to make certain that all
legislation on NCCP's incorporates these principles.
Please help us to circulate this letter. If you are a member, or
if you know of members, of local, regional, or statewide
organizations that might be interested in signing this letter,
please pass the letter on to those groups for review and possible
endorsement. Please also let Emily Roberson know which groups are
reviewing the letter so she can follow up with them.
We are operating on a VERY short time schedule here so the
quicker we can circulate the letter, and the quicker it can be
reviewed, the better. Groups should be encouraged to sign-on even
if they have a quibble with this or that detail. The letter is
meant only a general statement of principles, not as the draft of
any legislation.
The letter is below, followed by the names of the groups who have
already signed on.
Emily Roberson,
CNPS Senior Land Management Analyst
emilyr@cnps.org
Joe Willingham
CNPS VP-Legislation
pepe@dnai.com
(510) 841-4681
********** START OF LETTER **********
The Honorable Denise Ducheny, Room 6026
The Honorable Byron Sher, Room 2054
The Honorable Tom Hayden, Room 2080
The Honorable Dion Aroner, Room 2163
The Honorable Michael Machado, Room 5136
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Legislators:
California's Natural Communities Conservation Planning Act, like
the Federal Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) Program, was created
to address conflicts between plant and animal species
conservation and the development impacts on species and their
habitats. Conservationists and biologists had long been concerned
that mitigation measures for project impacts under the federal
Endangered Species Act often failed to achieve long-term
protection and recovery of species. At the same time, developers
expressed a desire for a process that would give greater
certainty as to which projects could go forward and that would be
less cumbersome. The Natural Communities Conservation Plan (NCCP)
process allows the Department of Fish and Game to enter into
agreements that permit the incidental take of species, and may
"cover" both listed and unlisted species. The NCCP
process is intended to insure long-term perpetuation and
protection of species while allowing development and to protect
species in advance of listing. A local, State or Federal agency
can prepare an NCCP independently or in cooperation with other
persons or jurisdictions. According to the NCCP Guidelines of the
California Department of Fish and Game, a Natural Community
Conservation Plan is:
A plan for the conservation of natural communities that takes an ecosystem cooperation approach and encourages between private and governmentarea-wide interests. The plan identifies and provides for the regional or protection and perpetuation of plants, animals, and their habitats, while and allowing compatible land use economic activity. An NCCP seeks to by anticipate and prevent the controversies caused by species' listings focusing on the long-term stability of natural communities.
While the undersigned organizations support of the concepts behind NCCP conservation planning, we find that in practice NCCPs in most cases fail to protect adequately endangered species and their habitats. The NCCP program has many problems:
The plans often fail to promote recovery of wild populations of endangered species;
Plans are often based on inadequate surveys of plants, animals and habitat types;
No provision is made for independent scientific review of the plans and monitoring of their results;
There is a disproportionate focus on a few high-profile animals species to the exclusion of other equally important species, especially invertebrates and plants;
Inadequate protection is made for plant species of limited distribution, which are important both for themselves and because they are often key components of the habitats on which other species depend;
Reserve areas are disconnected, or too narrow to protect species and their habitats;
Management is often assigned solely to local agencies, which often lack the scientific expertise or the funds needed for the job;
Plans are typically locked into place for 50 or 100 years, which precludes the flexibility needed to meet changing conditions and advances in knowledge;
The plans are too often shaped by economic concerns and political pressure rather than biological science;
Plans often lack adequate funding for basic implementation, let alone monitoring.
Legislation on NCCP standards must be based on
1) thorough analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the NCCP process as it affects conservation goals and
2) the best available scientific knowledge. The following principles represent a broad consensus in the scientific and conservation communities on the requirements for sound NCCPs, and we urge you to incorporate them in any legislation on NCCP standards.
PRINCIPLES FOR NCCP/CONSERVATION PLANNING LEGISLATION
1. Where Threatened and Endangered species are included in a conservation plan, the plan must contribute to recovery of the species. For other species, plans must prevent decline to the point where listing is needed. No species take shall be allowed under §2081 of the California Fish & Game Code until mitigation funding is secured to produce recovery of listed species. No net loss of habitat value that would threaten the continued viability of other species covered in the plan shall be permitted.
2. There must be an enforceable interim agreement for protecting the ecosystem during preparation of a plan.
3. No habitat-based conservation plan can serve as a substitute for listing of Threatened and Endangered species.
4. Scientific panels, including
recognized experts on the habitat and species in the
plan, shall establish the specific principles to be used
in the planning of each NCCP - habitat and ecosystem
definitions, survey techniques, conservation guidelines,
reserve design standards, etc. There must also be
standards for what constitutes a viable population and
for
determining whether a species is truly protected. Being
on public land does not in itself constitute protection.
5. The panels shall be appointed jointly by DFG, by appropriate representatives of academic institutions, and by professional scientific societies, and shall be publicly funded.
6. The work of the scientific panels and all draft sub-area and regional plans and plan amendments shall be subject to public review. The panels shall review all resource assessment and conservation planning documents.
7. Implementation plans must delineate roles and responsibilities, specify measurable biological goals and objectives, and set thresholds for remedial action. The plans shall be based on "adaptive management", which requires that programs should describe specific actions that will be taken if monitoring shows that viability or recovery goals are not being met. The plans shall establish specifications for monitoring and provide for public access to the data. Wherever possible, project mitigation protocols will be scientifically demonstrated to meet species management goals before large-scale take occurs.
8. Implementation plans must also specify a method for identifying habitat reserve lands and lands to be developed and for balancing the rate of habitat conservation and land development.
9. The implementation plan shall provide full funding for monitoring, acquisition and management of reserve areas, and for necessary management changes to accommodate unforeseen circumstances. Public funds should primarily support the recovery aspects of an approved plan.
10. Violation of an approved conservation plan shall result in civil and/or criminal penalties and termination of authority to take threatened or endangered species by the violator.
Thank you for your attention to our concerns.
Yours truly,
- California Native Plant Society
- California Trout
- Cal PIRG
- Friends of the River
- Western Ancient Forest Coalition
- National Parks and Conservation Association