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A Countywide Mitigation Model
A new model for habitat conservation is emerging in Yolo County. Five years of public-private consensus building has produced a self-described "voluntary plan that mitigates the loss of biological resources from future urban and agricultural development."
The county's new draft Habitat Conservation Plan - developed cooperatively by a steering committee drawn from local governments, Cal Fish & Game, U.S. Fish & Wildlife and various stakeholders - seeks to provide an efficient and environmentally sound approach to protecting the habitat of 29 target species, 12 of which are currently on state or federal endangered species lists. These species' habitat is threatened by a predicted "build-out" around Yolo's four cities and four unincorporated towns that will result in the loss of 14,000 plus acres over the next 20 years. Under the new plan, developers must mitigate for every acre of development at a one-to-one ratio. Either they can pay a $2,630 per acre fee, which will go towards securing conservation easements, or they can buy land of high habitat value that will be put aside in exchange for the land they develop.
While not replacing existing habitat mitigation procedures, the plan provides an option that removes the permit applicant from involvement with state and federal resource agencies. Dan Ramos, who represented the development community on the steering committee, says the existing process of getting approvals from all the various agencies is a "nightmare" and "very inefficient and costly." The new plan could smooth the process by providing up-front, uniform guidelines and a locally payable mitigation fee.
The Yolo County plan's major innovation lies in public-private consensus on how to preserve habitat values. Securing community support, however, was not easy. Many citizens, especially farmers, expressed fears of increased government involvement in their lives. Mark Hamblin, of Yolo County's Community Development Agency, aided by EIP Associates (the consultants who helped prepare the plan), spent a good deal of time trying to ease their concerns. "We're not here to take their land or even put additional restrictions on it," he says. A key aspect of the plan, says Hamblin, is its use of "active, productive agricultural fields as part of mitigation." Whereas other plans removed lands from production, this plan strives to maintain agricultural acreage at its present levels.
Use of ag lands for mitigation is possible because the main species of concern is the Swainson's hawk, a raptor that forages in crop fields and nests in large trees along creeks, sloughs, rivers and roadsides. But the Sierra Club's John Hopkins doesn't think the plan, by itself, is sufficient to provide Swainson's hawk recovery. "Recovery requires much more than mitigation for development," he says, "but the plan is a good first step."
The plan was released at a public meeting on January 11. After a sixty-day comment period, it will be finalized and presented to local city and county governments. If they approve it, Yolo's plan will be the first completed among dozens of similar plans on the drawing boards around California. "We were hoping to develop an ideal plan that would become a model for other counties and regions," says Cal Fish & Game's David Zezulak. "I think Yolo has succeeded in creating just that."
Contact: David Zezulak (916)358-2919
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